408 front subframe / crossmember removal

[dwomby]

Originally Posted by Kevin H

Wow, that's pretty serious corrosion!
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Do you know much about the history of the car?


Kevin

Yes, that rust is bad and in a strange place. John Tullett says it must be from mud sat there for a long time. It's actually hard to see in there which is why I think it has been undiscovered over the years. I only found it investigating the upper spring supports and even then only by accident.

The car is 408 Mk1 7023. Its history from leaving the factory to c.1990 is unknown to me. It was sat with no engine and transmission when Tony Crook took a prospective buyer to see it at somebody's house. The buyer was an Air Force Chaplain whom I have spoken to. He had the body restored and repainted in the UK in 1991. The work was not done by SLJ but they acted as project managers and I have various reports they sent on the restoration. The owner then brought the car with him when he moved to the Minnesota in 1992 and had a later 360 engine fitted with a period correct 727 gearbox.

The chaplain sold the car, I think around 2000, and it seems it had 2 other owners before me. It was in West Virginia in 2001. I bought the car here in Florida from a gentleman who had it from 2009. He did a lot of restoration on the brakes but not the springs, etc..

I suspect the rust was missed in the 1991 restoration but it could be from salt in Minnesota. So far, there doesn't seem to be any other rusty area to the frame or this subframe but I will keep checking and there may be more visible once the subframe is out.

David