Yeah, I'm taking the welding class at my local community college. 3 hours a night on Wednesdays. All of $200, and I've burned that much gas and welding rod easily. I've done wire feed, MIG, TIG, and all sorts of cool stuff. Check into it!
The outside will be painted at some point. The whole roof is bare metal 
What an awesome thread! Keep fighting the good fight.
Your build has inspired me so much that I just went and bought a 71 Javelin ...
on Forza 4. 
DaewooOfDeath wrote: Your build has inspired me so much that I just went and bought a 71 Javelin ... on Forza 4.
LOL! That's a good man! (Sounds amazing, doesn't it? The real-life one sounds just as good )
I forgot to mention that I took the prize Javelin in Forza 4 and painted to match my car (when it was new).
Mine's metallic yellow with white racing stripes and 18 inch Salt Flat style wheels.
I just read through the entire thread... Both the car and the progress are great. Can't wait to see some more updates.
If they control arms are the same from the non-disc and you have the old left overs laying around, I'd like to buy'em since I have to replace my worn out nuked parts.
They are the same. I'll have my old ones out soon. 
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.
Just one caution with the tarp right on the car, if it can't breathe it will trap moisture underneath, sunshine will turn it into a jungle climate under there accelerating rust on the roof etc. I've been told you're better off uncovered so it can dry out or ideally with a car cover with a breathable fabric.
On an unrelated note, Saw this car http://www.coloradoamx.com/1973page.html featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines, drooled and realized this car lives single digit mileage away from me...
That Javelin that was in HMM is truly awe-inspiring. I love that car, and it's very, very close to what mine will (hopefully) end up like.
As for the tarp, I live in Washington. Where my car is it literally does not get any sun until March. The sun doesn't get high enough to make it through the mountains, houses, trees, etc.
I'd get that tarp off of there like it's a bad toupee.
pres589 wrote: I'd get that tarp off of there like it's a bad toupee.
And do what, just let it rain in the car?!!?
In reply to Javelin:
If there's glass missing then I'd leave it. I didn't realize that was the case and apologize for not re-reading the thread.
pres589 wrote: In reply to Javelin: If there's glass missing then I'd leave it. I didn't realize that was the case and apologize for not re-reading the thread.
There's no glass missing, but neither door glass seals all of the way (due to bad hinge pins and bushings), and all of the rubber is dry-rotted.
I'm just trying to keep water from collecting in the interior and window channels, the tarp seemed like the best thing for right now.
amiller34 wrote: On an unrelated note, Saw this car http://www.coloradoamx.com/1973page.html featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines, drooled and realized this car lives single digit mileage away from me...
The red 1970 Donohue with the Minilites in the background of the shop looks pretty amazing in it's own rite.
ST_ZX2 wrote:amiller34 wrote: On an unrelated note, Saw this car http://www.coloradoamx.com/1973page.html featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines, drooled and realized this car lives single digit mileage away from me...The red 1970 Donohue with the Minilites in the background of the shop looks pretty amazing in it's own rite.
You really owe it to yourself to look up their past builds. That Javelin is actually Big Bad Orange, and is an original Donohue car. It's called the "Orange Crush" and is more hardcore than the Silver Bullet. Those guys have made some seriously wicked AMC's.
Here you go: http://www.coloradoamx.com/crush.html
That is absolutely gorgeous.
The 69 Javelin is SUCH a good looking car. 
DaewooOfDeath wrote: The 69 Javelin is SUCH a good looking car.
You're right...'69s are good looking...
I prefer the exterior of the '70, with the scoop (like the one up above--with the Minilite wheels etc.). I do like the 68-69 dashboards better however.
70 is my favorite. Unfortunately, a lot of the 68-70 Javelins were cut up to save AMX's, so I can't afford one. It's okay, I like my 73 (plus is has the better suspension).
I think 68 had the best door panels, 70 had the best dash, 72+ had the best seats, and 71+ had the best console as far as interior goes.
Updates 2/4/2012:
Prepare to sand:
Today was a very nice day, so I had de-tarped the Javelin so the interior could air out. I decided now was a good time to sand that rusty roof…
That's a lot of work!
An hour or so later, and many sheets of 80-grit gone, we had a somewhat sanded roof. Some areas were bare metal, but most of it still had factory paint on it. It was the surface scale, grit, and glue from the white vinyl top I was interested in getting off.
Pillar rot
Unfortunately, the a-pillars are rotted out. This is very common in cars this old, and ex-vinyl-top ones in particular. There’s a little around the entire windshield area. It’s okay, this is all actually quite easily fixable. That’s a project for another day though.
Primer bomb!
After hand sanding or wire brushing in the channels, using compressed air to spray all of the sanding dust away, and then wiping everything down with cloths, it was time to prime. I used some high-build primer on the quarter panel joins, but otherwise everything got a coat of plain light gray primer. This is not a permanent situation, this is just an attempt to slow down any corrosion and protect the good metal that’s left.
Finished (for now)
That wraps up the primer-thon for now. I removed the tape and I’ll let it stand overnight, as it’s supposed to be nice again tomorrow when I’ll re-tarp it before the big game. I will just snap the window trim back on for now as well.
That was a BIG project that’s been needing to happen since I bought the car. It feels pretty good to be finished with it.
The primer isn't going to slow down corrosion, it will promote it. Primer is porous and absorbs the water. You'd be better off with a light coat of cheap paint (keep it light because you'll have to sand it off later)
Great progress though, I dont want to be a downer, I just dont want you to have more work down the road.
You'll need to log in to post.
