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I sandblasted an old Ford frame for a frame-off restoration a long time ago.  While it did a great job, I don't think you ever really get all of the sand out of crevices and from the inside of "sealed" spaces, like the central tunnel and frame horns.

On my Speedster pans, I just used a wire brush in an angle grinder and had at it.   It probably takes a bit longer than sandblasting but is far less messy.  Once it's clean you'll know what needs patching.  There are several places that sell sub-assemblies for the pan like a new front frame mount, the "Napolean Hat" gusset just ahead of the pedals, floor panels and rear frame horns for the transaxle mount.  You may find it makes more sense to go with a new piece than patch what you have and that may save you a lot of time.

Once you get the pan "like new", choose between a spray-on truck bed liner or good old Rustoleum.   There might be a slight noise-deadening advantage to the bed liner if it's put on thick.   That stuff is expensive so look for it on Amazon but get a good brand.

You're a long way from this, but Alan Merklin came up with a brilliant cure to one of the overlooked leaks on most CMC Speedsters - Water intrusion under the bottom windshield seal.

Yes, there is a rubber seal at the bottom of the windshield.  I'm talking about sealing between the body fiberglass and the bottom metal trim strip.  Most people got the strip mounted after futzing with it and the windshield to get it "right", checked it off and moved on.  Others went a little extra and ran a fat bead of silicone caulk along the bottom of the metal trim piece and then fastened it down.

Did Dr. Clock do that?  Heck no!  He used a length of VW Beetle Fender Welting like this:

https://www.jbugs.com/product/...QMx4cphoCxtAQAvD_BwE

They sell it in white, too!

Al assembled it under the trim strip so that the bead is front and between the trim and the body, finishing it off for a nice look.  But did he stop there?  NO!  He continued that same length around the corner posts to seal (and look good) all the way along the trim and corners so it looks like factory installed.   AND, it doesn't leak a drop.

I thought this was so cool I did it on my second build.  It goes on really easy and looks great.

Subaru is a nice substitute. I bought a whole running 1995 Legacy Wagon with 84,000 miles to make sure I got all I needed, and sent the ECU and wiring harness out to be shortened by a pro who specializes in such. Stock ECU works very nice in an OBD II (pre 1998?) application. Obviously donors that old are getting a bit scarce.

The only custom nonsense I had to make was a 5-cog steel wheel (eg "Wheel of Death" to bolt to the half shaft) and a reluctor pickup to give the 5v square wave signal to tell the computer the car is in motion (i.e. VSS). Not everyone bothers.

Rad doesn't have to be very big but it does need to be up front. For coolant lines I used aluminized 1.5-inch exhaust pipe. Aluminum tubing is lighter.

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