Michael's AMC Javelin Build

[SuperBuickGuy]

very nice, it's back from the dead

[mike343sharpstick]

Congratulations!
Seriously cool to see you knock through the car and get it on the road.

[Javelin]

Thanks fellas!

[mrocketscience]

The car looks great! I like it..

[milner351]

Great work - we were out on a walk last night and a guy drove by in an orange and black amx javelin - very clean obviously freshly restored car, sounded completely stock.

It's great to see cars like this be brought back by careful owners, well done!

[Javelin]

I ordered some Hooker Aero Chamber mufflers for it and my cruise pass for the 25th came in the mail. I hope to get some work done on the doors and interior this weekend (passenger door doesn't open, windows hard to roll down, locks INOP, etc). Then get the exhaust done next week, bleed the brakes again, change the oil, and do some polishing.

[Javelin]

Phew! I've been working on this car non-stop all month. Here's the first part of catching-up the build thread:

Door panel disassembly



The next item on the list was to rebuild the doors. I started with the driver’s side and pulled off all of the parts. I bagged and tagged the hardware and went and bought all new stuff at the local hardware store.

Door innards rebuild



Of course the main reason for popping the door panels was to rebuild the innards. I took the glass off the track, rebuilt all of the seals and felts, lubed the winder and tracks, and reinstalled. I also took the time to lube all of the locks, hinges, latches, and linkage inside as well as clean out the door and drain plugs.

Upholstery work



Don’t be afraid of interior upholstery! After fixing the plastic inner piece’s cracks with JB Weld Epoxy, I glued the original rubber outer back on with 3M adhesive and liberal application of vise-grip.

Door complete!



After a thorough scrubbing of the door panel pieces and a coat of 303 Aerospace Protectant, I put the door panel back together with the new hardware. I also cleaned and polished the chrome latch handle and door lock, and installed a new window crank (from the Hornet). Now it all works like it’s supposed to and looks great, too!

Repeat steps 1-100...



The passenger door didn’t even open when I got the Javelin. It took longer than I want to admit to coax the passenger door open, but once I did accomplish that I repeated all of the steps from the driver’s door. The passenger side turned out even better (due to less use/wear), but needs the fake woodgrain trim piece to be finished up.

[Javelin]

Finally!!!



The rest of the front suspension finally arrived! My special welded LCA’s got damaged beyond repair in shipping, so these are stock ones with new bushings and a stubber (my car was only built with one…). Now I just need to find an entire uninterrupted day to install it all…

More cleaning...



Lots of vacuuming, de-carpeting, scrubbing, de-molding, etc, etc got me to here… You can ride in the car without a bio-hazard suit again! No more mold growth plants, either…

Driving places!



Now I can finally drive this project places, like to work! It’s still loud (no exhaust), ugly (flat paint), and unknown (25 miles in the last 26 years…) but it got me there and back!

[Javelin]

Break out the polish!



I was tired of the outside looking like absolute trash, so I spent a day with the polisher. The fender is washed, cleaned, and polished with the Porter-Cable, the door is just washed. See the difference? It’s not “saving” the paint, but at least it’s smooth, no longer chalky, and finally has a bit of gloss. The Javelin now looks more like a “driver” and less like a “I was in a field 10 minutes ago” car.

Phew!



And quite a few hours and many 6” buffing heads later… Voila! Again, it’s not a miracle, but it’s at least an improvement. “Polishing a turd” is how Mrs. Javelin put it…

Close up



Compare this shot to the earlier ones in the build and you can really see the smoothness difference. Now I can do a Duke’s slide across the hood!

I also installed a starter button under the dash.

[JOES66FURY]

you underestimate the difference, it is nothing short of a miracle...wht a diff...nice work!