And supported, too.
The last thing to do to the control arms was weld in side plate supports. The arms had a tendency to bend and collapse at the corners. The Trans Am Javelins were actually the first to employ this modification! Both sides of the arm had a single plate welded in the corner, top and bottom. The ends are left open on purpose. After all the welding was done, I did some minor grinding back, checked for any cracks, and declared them ready for primer and paint.
Mother nature gets mean
We had a freak snow storm drop 12” in 24 hours this January, which was way over the maximum weight on my car canopy. Needless to say, it collapsed! I woke up to this site out of my window…
Close one!
I have to give my canopy credit. It may have collapsed, but it didn’t damage the car! No cracks in the glass, no dents in the trim, nothing! I got really, really lucky!
Linkage restored
One of the next little jobs on the Javelin was to restore the throttle and trans linkage. I put everything back to the factory colors after sanding down the surface rust and cleaning off the grime. Re-assembled to factory spec. Now I have a smooth throttle action and I know the return springs are good.
More brackets being restored
Even though the Javelin came from a dry area and has minimal rust, there’s still 39 years of surface scale on everything. This is the upper grill support bracket. I wire brushed the whole thing and wiped it down, and here it’s getting a fresh coat of primer.
And of course, painted too.
The bracket then got coated in the original semi-gloss black. Every little bit helps on this project. Not only does it look better, but it will help protect the parts from any corrosion in the future.
Top tip: Restore your hardware!
One of the reasons all these little jobs take up so much time is that I restore the original hardware, too. Not only is it cost-effective, it also ensures I have the correct fasteners for every part. Here’s a tip: get some cardboard and screw the screws in after wire-brushing. Then you can paint them without them blowing away.
Re-covered
I was able to tarp the Javelin quickly after the collapse, but I wasn’t happy. I was able to let the car air out pretty well yesterday and then I used the heavy duty tarp that was on the awning to cover the car for the rest of the winter. It’s not ideal, but I’m trying to keep water intrusion to a minimum.