Parting 49 Kaiser; Questions and what do I keep

[Roadmaster49]

I am stripping the 49-50 Kaiser that came with my Virginian. It had a manual trans in the trunk. I won't know it's  a match until I pull the Virginian's.  I managed to get the dash out. It is a radio delete/no clock car. I pulled the rear seat bottom and will probably pull the rear seat top. 

I was only able to get one door off. (I know the door top is not a match to the Virginian) I was hoping to get all the doors for windows/regulators, interior trim. What a pain though.
 
Is the heater/heater box worth pulling?  Is the windshield wiper system worth pulling?

How do I get the grille bars off?   Anything else I need to consider pulling before the car is crushed?

[Roadmaster49]

Heater Box seems to have 4 attaching bolts that pass through the firewall to welded in nuts on engine side, thereby requiring removal of interior heater box shell to gain access to "bolts"  Is this correct?

The "mat" which is up against the firewall-interior - seems to be in good dirty condition. Do I need to save this piece or do you guys have sources for the mat or backing? 

The floor pan is decent where I need it in the Virginian. But it's also flat. Do I need to cut it out and save or are there better solutions?

[joefrazer]

KF floor pans have stiffener ribs stamped in them so I'd save all of it if it's is in good shape. The club remanufactured floor mats, however, I'm not sure if any of that run remain. If you can get yours out without it falling apart, do so. About the heater, do you mean that the heater box bolts are head in place by caged nuts that are welded to the firewall? If so, then the easiest way to pull the hearer is to remove the cover and core from under the dash and then remove the other half of the box.
If the transmission has overdrive and a round flange where the drive shaft meets, then it'll work in your Virginian (provided that it is a BW unit).
The wiper system consists of pulleys and cables and are common items found at nearly every KF vendor. If those in the parts car are good, you might as well keep them...why buy more if you need them and your parts car has good ones!
Another item to consider keeping from the parts car would be the fuel tank. If it's in good shape, it can be coated and reused. Good ro NOS tanks are not easily found...the last NOS one I saw was priced at over $200.

[Roadmaster49]

Thanks Joe F you answered most of my questions.   I'll try to get a little more then it's off to the crusher.

[kfsteve391]

I would save the upper grille bar if it is not too bad. It is the one that has the letters, "K A I S E R" stamped on it. Nice upper grille bars are not too plentiful. The grille bar that bolts on the hood is another good item. The plastic shifter knob is worth saving, too. Another thing that I would save are the bolts that go through the bumper guards. These are unique unto Kaiser and are not easy to find.

[Roadmaster49]

Yea I can't get that stupid grille off. The attaching screws are rusted and I can't get a Phillips on them. I worked Sunday afternoon in the snow. It's nice today. The car is scheduled for pickup to the crusher any day.  I have a die grinder to cut but the grille looks too hard to quickly get out. 

I got the buffalo hood piece which is nice and mine on the Virginian is NOT. My Virginians top grille piece with the K-A-I-S-E-R has some dents and the bottom grille bar has a stress crack.  The parts car's grille bars top and bottom are nice, they are surface rusty but nice and can be chromed - but how do I get them off?  Even if I have to work on them later to get the screws out I see no easy way to get the grille section off the car. Lots of brackets rust.

My doors on the Virginian are OK, as are my front fenders so even though the front fenders on the parts car are straight and OK, I am leaving them on.  Rear glass is good but of course not a match to the Virginian. I trust the community has a lot of back glass left.  Grabbed a couple of the headliner bows, even though not sure they would work in the Virginian. 

[kfsteve391]

After soaking the grill bolts with penetrating oil you may want to try an impact on the bolts. You hit it with a hammer. I believe I got one years ago at Sears. We used it to get the doors off. I would save the rear glass as that is the only piece on the car that is curved. Another item to save is the gas tank. Rust free ones are getting scarce. How are the parking light housings? If they are not rusted they would be worth saving. If the pedal pads are any color other than black, they are a good item, too.

[Roadmaster49]

Thanks kfsteve

The car is gone now. The 'screws' on top of the grilles were what I could not get off and I did not know if the whole grille would come out.  So, unfortunately, a good grille is gone. I saved the hood emblem piece.  The gas tank was missing on this car but my Virginian has a gas tank of unknown quality.

The back glass was no good to me as I have a Virginian and my thinking was this same back glass is out there on millions of KF cars so no need for the hassle there. The parking light surrounds were no better then my Virginians so they stayed. I did get some pedal covers, color grey with some stress cracks.  But overall nice with no wear indicated. The car crushed was a 60,000 mile car. 

Car is gone now. It appeared to have been a Kaiser Special with radio delete and clock delete. I have the dash if anyone wants a radio delete plate. My Virginian is missing the radio, so I need a radio.