Now it’s time for some serious grunt work – stripping the car. The goal here is to remove all nonessential pieces, mechanisms, wiring, etc. as allowed by the rules. Of course, you don’t have to do much of this if you’re just looking to get done as quickly as possible, but I opted to go for the full-tilt gutting. If your car is in decent shape this process can be somewhat rewarding and even fun – it’s nice to come home from a long day at work and tear something apart. The best part is, 90% of what you take off stays off, so you can wantonly hack away without regard to reassembly. Keep all of the fasteners you remove! You will need them during reassembly! I kept every nut, bolt, washer, and screw I removed, and even after leaving most of the removed components out, my fastener supply is dwindling dangerously low as the car nears completion. Whenever possible, bag the fasteners that came out of a part you intend to reuse and keep them with that part. Start with the interior. The process is simple: just start unscrewing/unbolting stuff until you can’t find anything else to remove. It all comes out. There are a few things you need to keep: Dash pad – this needs to go back in to conform to PRO7/IT rules. Shifter boot/plate Accelerator pedal assembly Clutch/brake pedal assembly/steering column brace Hood release cable That’s about it for the interior. I chucked all of the upholstery and that kind of stuff, but it’s a good idea to keep the sheet metal, wiring, and other junk around. It comes in handy later for scavenging parts to contribute to your more creative fabrication jobs. But wait, you’re not done yet. What follows is the most distasteful part of the entire project, end-to-end: removing the tar-type insulation/sound deadener from the floor pans. You don’t necessarily have to do this, but it looks ugly, and amounts to 25 or 30 pounds of weight or so. When this stuff is installed, it consists of semi-pliable mats. After 20 years in the car, it has become a rigid, baked-on layer that you will soon regard with much disdain. If it weren’t for some great tips from Tom at 7s Only Racing, I probably would have taken a sledge hammer to the car and written it off. I’m sure this is one of those things that varies from car to car, and maybe yours will just come out no sweat, but I was not so lucky. Here’s the process as Tom describes it: Either cool the insulation with bags of ice or something or do the work on a cool morning. This makes the mats more brittle so they break up easier. Chip away the bulk of the insulation with an air hammer/chisel. I got a cheapo one on sale at Harbor Freight for $6.95 that worked fine. If you don’t have an air compressor, borrow or rent one. If you can’t do that, you’re in trouble. Now about 95% of the stuff will be out, and you’ll be faced with chunks and residue still adhered to the floor pans. Get a big jug of mineral spirits and a bunch of old rags. Soak the rags and spread them out in a single layer over the remaining insulation. Caution: the solvent creates heat as it evaporates, and layered or piled rags can spontaneously combust! You do not want this to happen! Do this in a well-ventilated area and keep an eye on things the whole time. Wait a couple of hours for things to soak. Get in there and start wiping up the mess! If any of this text seems incoherent or garbled, it is due to the brain damage I sustained from breathing fumes during this process. Again, ventilate as well as possible! Do a bit of additional soaking/wiping as necessary. I didn’t do step one and the chipping still went OK. The air chisel is absolutely key though – I tried to just use a paint scraper and it was torture. Next we’ll do the engine compartment. This is a big decision point – are you going to pull the engine or not? If your engine runs strong and you’re going to leave it alone, there’s really no reason to yank it. That is, of course, unless you want to make the thing look sweet under the hood as I did. The value and utility of this undertaking are somewhat questionable, but that’s never been something to stop me anyway. This is another great project as, once again, most everything you remove will stay out. Most of the spaghetti mess under the hood is there to provide you with comfort and convenience, neither of which are inherent to a race car. When you get done with the project, the wiring and plumbing under the hood will be the minimum required to make the car function. The largest wiring harness you'll have will be the size of a pencil (ok, maybe one of those fatty pencils we had in first grade) instead of the size of your arm. Anyway, yank all of the wiring out and keep it for parts. Pull that crazy-looking vacuum manifold rig off of the top of the engine and lose it. If you have the later style water cooled oil cooler like I did, take it off along with all of its associated plumbing. Take out the radiator (you'll need a much bigger one) and all of the sheet metal radiator support pieces. Continue along these lines until there's nothing left under there. If you're not planning on pulling the engine, you should at least thoroughly clean everything under the hood so it'll be a lot easier to find leaks, etc. It's really no big deal to yank the engine out -- maybe just compared to the big V-8s I'm used to dealing with -- so if you have a little extra time go for it. There are two motor mount bolts up front, two starter bolts, and several bolts connecting the transmission bell housing to the engine. Buy/borrow a hoist and pull it out. Don't mess with trying to put the engine on a stand -- it's so light you can just set it on the floor on a couple of blocks of wood or stand it on end on the old clutch. Finish off this phase of the project by removing all of the exterior trim, windshield, rear glass (leave the quarter glass in), and anything you don't want to get painted. You should essentially have a rolling shell, ready to get a roll cage and a fresh coat of paint. Check out the photo gallery and the VR images to see what this looks like.