The first and foremost task is to tackle the chassis. The easy bit is the floor pan. Arshad has worked with a supplier who produces floor pan halves in 16 gauge steel with the proper indentation pattern as per original. It saves him time and the pans are available at a days notice. The hard part is the frame head. The frame head on this car was repaired at some point in the past and the repairs were shoddy. The frame head was badly rusted once again as no effort was made to protect it by way of rust proofing. In addition to the swiss cheese like surface four thru bolts with nuts were holding the front axle as the threads on the frame head were stripped.
It was an easy decision to 'behead' the chassis as this frame head did not have any promise and the health of this section guarantees the rigidity and ride quality. I had driven the car after it arrived in Islamabad and it was going all over the place as the frame head did not have the required strength and as a result the rigidity. No matter what we did by way of new tie rod ends, ball joints or shock absorbers the suspension would have remained wobbly.
