Body dismantle begins

With the engine out, and the engine bay easy to access, it's time to start removing all the mechanical stuff in there. Brake master, heater hoses and tap, fuel equipment and so on. All must be out before I can paint the engine bay before the motor can go back in. I'm kinda on a timetable as I only have about 3 months left of suitable painting weather. I'm under no illusions that the car body will be done this season, not a chance, but I'd like the engine bay done at least and then all the mechanicals can go back in and be finished during the colder months.

Coke Can bog repair

So naturally I get distracted and start taking the guards off. It only started as I had to take the grille and radiator support out so they can be painted and also to allow easier replacement of the motor. And then the bumper came off and finally the passenger side guard. The guards have rust in the bottom corners, but alas I hadn't expected to find a coke can in there as a base for an earlier bog repair job! Home repairs from the 80's I say! I can hardly comment though, given my bodywork skills are mediocre. I can paint pretty well, but rust removal and panel beating?  No way! 

Chassis rust

So the guards, and the doors will be going to a crash shop for rust removal and priming. Oh as will the bootlid. It has a weird rust hole through the back of it. Where the guards have rusted, the chassis has a few small holes, which I will grind back and just fill with Mig weld (the picture makes it look worse than it is). The rest of the chassis appears pretty darn good.

Bootlid with weird rust hole and the side of the car without the guard / engine. 

What's Required?

So, where to start, and what needs doing? Ideally I'd hope to have the Corona completed by Bay to Birdwood 2011. Dreaming? Probably. There's some rust spots in the bootlid and the bottom of the front guards and the passenger door. The rear quarter may have taken a knock at some stage as I can see what looks like bog, but not sure to what extent. Not sure what to do about any of that at this stage either. My spray painting skills are quite okay, but my bodywork is terrible. No matter how much practice I've had, I just can't get rust removal to an acceptable level, so most of these parts I'll have to take it somewhere. Any suggestions?

Rear number plate light is rusted out which is common, but apart from that it's pretty clean. That's it's a one family car is obvious. Oh and Craig the previous owner sent through a scan of the ad from the paper. What an awesome bit of provenance!

The Corona pictured in this ad is the one I bought! The 1000th car sold by John Cahill Motors.

Interior is pretty clean too, although the crashpad is utterly cracked, not sure if it's even salvageable. I might take it to Dash Original and wait for 3 years for them to have a look at it. The passenger seat has some splitting on one of the seams, I'm going to take this to a trimmer, my usual is Jim's Trim is Salisbury, great service and turnaround, but they are a bit pricey.