The Dismantling Continues!

It was another hot morning in the garage but I wanted to get the car to the point where I could remove the belly pan -- which I did.  I continued to work my way to the back of the car and removed the coil, shift linkage, fuel cell cover, etc.  Here is a pic of the fuel cell. 

I noticed that there was a lot of sand and dirt around the sides of the fuel cell, especially on top of the belly pan that extends past the frame.  This is a sure sign of fluid gathering in those areas.  After I got the fuel cell out, I realized why that was the case -- it had been leaking.  Looks like I will be buying a new fuel cell which is not a big surprise.

Notice how the duct tape at the bottom of the firewall is coming off -- another sign of a fuel leak.  When expecting the cell I found green discoloration of the cell.  Definitely time for a new cell  -- that won't be cheap!

Here is a pic of the fuel cell area with the duct tape removed and cleaned up a little bit.

Time to move to the engine bay and the rear suspension.  I removed the fire retardant material that was on some of the tubing that was next to the exhaust.  It was not only safety wired on but also glued on with hi-temp silicone.  The material was not easy to get off and as you can see there is still lots of hi-temp silicone left.

All those tubes are probably going to get cut off anyway so I don't plan on removing the silicone.  I then removed the shocks and the other rear suspension parts.  Here are a couple of before and after pics.

So, the easy stuff is done.  I plan on tackling the belly pan next weekend.  Here are a couple of pics of the frame after being cleaned up.

And probably one of the most important tasks -- I made room for my street car!