Back to school!

"deekster_caddy" (deekster_caddy) 08/28/2013 at 17:29 • Filed to: rust repair resurrection 1973 Buick LeSabre

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I've been working on rust repairs at the local Voc Tech school on my '73 LeSabre. Most of the rust on this car is my fault - my grandparents who bought it new kept it in their garage and it was immaculate (besides a few scratches and a lot of door dings) when I received it around 1990. I put it through many new england winters and parked it outside for years before I stopped driving it for about 10 years. Recently resurrected (it was patiently waiting for me to put an engine back under the hood) it and started going after the rust. It's rust issues are at the corner/bottom of the back window, trunk floor, lower quarter panels and wheel arches. Typical for one of these given the outdoor new england treatment. School is back in session and I'm psyched to continue my evening classes. Here's my current progress.

The entire set on Flickr: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

A few starters:

exploratory grinding - where does the rust stop?

Deep. It's deep.

Yeah, it's on both sides... I'll let this finish up my post here. Go on over and look at the whole set if you are interested in more. I'm going to go after the trunk floor and back window this winter. Next spring I'll try to be prepping for paint.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > deekster_caddy 08/28/2013 at 19:20

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Well done. looks like a lot of work. Not envious. what do you do with the rust on the inside of the body panels? Just brush it clean and paint it?

deekster_caddy > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 08/28/2013 at 19:30

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Been grinding it down as possible. The inner lower trunk panels I cut out and replaced.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > deekster_caddy 08/28/2013 at 19:42

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I would be so paranoid about missing some and then having it come back haha.

deekster_caddy > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 08/28/2013 at 19:49

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It's going to see an easier life from now on. If I did miss some yeah it'll be a problem 20 years from now. It's never going to be a 'show car' - I just want it to be solid again and not have embarrassing blemishes on it. I'm more interested in the engine I'm planning for the mighty moose, but it will be awesome to have some bodywork I can take pride in.

Dunnik > deekster_caddy 08/28/2013 at 20:26

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Wow, I don't think I've seen one of those since I was a little kid. Love those taillights. Are those the original wheels? Seem a bit too "sporty" for a '73 Buick, and I swear I've seen those wheels before.

Funny how the trademark Buick portholes actually look appropriate on this car, and they are actually holes, are they not? Sending some negligible amount of air into the engine bay, and therefore not 100% useless like the modern ones?

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > deekster_caddy 08/28/2013 at 20:49

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Agree. Keep the updates coming!

deekster_caddy > Dunnik 08/28/2013 at 21:05

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These are unfortunately 'fake' portholes, purely decorative filler pieces. The rims are optional although they didn't come with this car, the famous "buick rallye wheels" used by thousands of chevy C10 pickups! These wheels I bought from a '73 Buick Riviera that was being scrapped.

The taillights are one of my favorite pieces on this car. They are very visible at night and remind me of what the back of a car "should" look like in the dark!

I grew up with this car in my grandparents garage - my memories of it start with driving to NJ from Boston most weekends in our VW Microbus (Dad's van) and then taking this car out to the cemetery so my grandmother could plant flowers for her friends who had passed... hard to break memories like that. There were a few points in my life where it almost had to go away, but I ended up always finding a place for it.