Subie on the rotisserie and awaiting a total restoration of the sheet metal including floorboard replacement.
As you walk around the front of the car, the necessary work to make this a real nice car becomes evident. Notice in the lower portion of the middle and right pictures, there is a substantial portion of the floorboard cut out and a new one will be fabricated and welded into place. The same will be done to the other side once the structure regains its rigidity.
When you walk around the rear of the car, the factory engine compartment access panels behind the rear seat have been removed. You can also see that the rear shock absorbers (oil dampers) have not been removed yet.
The rotisserie mounting points are shown in the above two pictures. The picture on the left shows the mounting point at each of the factory rear bumper mount locations. The picture on the right shows the front mounting point is at the factory front fender / apron / bumper mount. With the monocoque construction of the 360, careful planning was of the utmost importance when mounting the structure to the rotisserie.
Here's an interesting perspective of the center tunnel that has been stripped of all the Subie's critical controls. The main wiring harness, the shifter rod, clutch cable, throttle cable, emergency handbrake cable, and brake line have all been removed. This is one of the Subie's interesting designs with the monocoque body structure. The tunnel provides both great strength to the structure as well as a "conduit" for many of the front-to-rear elements that are necessary for the rear-mounted power unit. At the top of the picture you can see the front mono coil spring mount (round recessed socket area).
This is a picture of the new sheet metal floor boards being welded in place. Although the decision to use a simpler design in the stamping of the new metal may not be as complex as the original design, the heavier gauge metal will be extremely strong. The original floor was equivalent to 21 gauge metal (.033") while the replacement is 18 gauge (.047").
Converting the original 4-wheel drum brake system to a 4-wheel disc brake system is taking some design and machine time. Click here for more information of this portion of the project
While working on the body and brake modifications, the rest of the front and rear suspension / drive components are being restored. Here is a picture of a before (left) and after (right) of the rear drive axles and hubs.
The steering rack has received a complete rebuild that included a complete disassembly, cleaning, and fresh lube. It was at this time a torn rack boot was discovered and good used ones were needed. The contact through the Subaru 360 Driver's Club is very helpful in finding such items. Chris, a fellow member of the club, was very considerate in selling two at a very friendly price. A damaged one is pictured at the left as well as the two good ones installed on the reworked rack assembly.
Here, the Subie is on the rotisserie and rolled outside so all the rusty surfaces of the underbody could be sandblasted. The tunnel was in need of a thorough cleaning as were the rocker panels. Click here for more details of the body modifications.
BARE METAL BEAUTY
Cover the eyes of the young.....
here's a totally nude Subaru 360 picture that's sure to tug at the heart strings of all SUBARU enthusiasts!
Project 360 is starting to come along in these two pictures with fresh bodywork using USC's "ALL METAL" and Evercoat's RAGE "EXTREME" body fillers over Ditzler's DP90 Epoxy Primer. Also in this picture are the new fiberglass headlight eyebrows in gray gelcoat mounted on the front fenders.
