Topic: 76 wagon 2.8 rebuild

[Randy Holman]

Hey yall this is the best place to get advice so I come to ask this. I have my 76 pinto wagon I've owned for about 3 years and have daily driven for about 2 of those. Recently I got into a wreck and "totaled" my car according to the insurance company. So now I have the money I've been needing for her. Her motor is completely stock and the tranny feels like it's going out due to the fact that when she warms up I lose 3rd gear. I've started on the rebuild already, just rebuilt the front suspension and rebuilt the carb, next is a nice good tune up. My question is what should I do to it to bring it back to its glory days and maybe make it quicker in the process. Any advice helps. I'll add a few pictures of how she looks.

[amc49]

You just gotta love a purple air cleaner housing....... .............. ..........

[dianne]

The rear quarter panel can be an easy fix if you know how to weld and do some bodywork. You'll want to find a donor car and cut out the section you need on the quarter and the other parts. You can also find quarters on ebay for around $300, but are for non-wagons. You only need that small section it appears in the photo. You can cut out a donor, ask in wanted here for that section of quarter panel, and then cut out yours to match or the other. Tack weld it in place and then grind it down and fill it and paint.

I don't know what other damage is from that impact, but you'll need to fix whatever than cosmetic of course Nice car and love the seats!

[DBSS1234]

By the looks of the damage the quarter panel should be savable. Find a body shop with a frame alignment rack and get a quote on them to pull out the major damage. From there on it will be hammer and dolly work with just a little filler.