No idea where to begin!

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Okay cool sounds good thanks for the description monook, so you're saying you prefer layout B?

As for taking out the glass I don't believe so, I suppose to fix the pillar i would have to... So 36 grit sand down all the rusted areas as well as the rest of the car?
 
Don't sand the whole car with 36. 320 on a D/A (dual action) sander or with a sanding block would work well for the whole car. A D/A would be faster. Remove all the trim and emblems before you sand. That roof pillar rust is probably worse than it looks. I think you will be happier in the long run removing the glass and getting rid of ALL the rust on that pillar. It looks to me like it has infiltrated the glass sealing area as well. Take a pick hammer to that floor pan rust. I can see in the pics that it is also worse than it looks. Whenever you find rust, you find more rust. The ONLY way to stop/get rid of rust is to cut it out and replace with solid metal. Always cut past the rust until you are on solid metal. That door lock hole can be repaired either by hammer and dolly work, or possibly cutting out and welding in a new piece from a donor door. Your car needs a lot of work, but it is a good solid starting point. I have brought much worse back to life, and I'm just a hobbyist myself. Everything I've learned, I've learned on the fly. YOU CAN DO IT!!! Good luck. We're here for ya!!
 
Thanks bud! So tackle the rust with 36 and the whole car with 320? I do have a sanding block but I here it needs to be on a flat surface to use it. What do I do on curves?

Also how do I remove the front glass and side chrome on the door pillar?
 
How good of a mig welder do I need? I found a 85amp craftsmen mig welder on Craigslist for $200, seeing I dot know much I would like to know what I should have. Thanks
 
i would strip the car and have it soda blasted. then undercoated and then off to paint. let me know if i can help ya find any parts i have a couple of sources. have a good-one, mike
 
If you are stripping all the paint start with 36 grit followed by 80 grit to finish once you get near the metal-you`ll be forever trying to use 320!
 
torredcuda said:
If you are stripping all the paint start with 36 grit followed by 80 grit to finish once you get near the metal-you`ll be forever trying to use 320!
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X2 Thats what I did! Attack it with 36 where a good dust mask and
just go for it.

Darryl
 
Andre68 said:
Thanks bud! So tackle the rust with 36 and the whole car with 320? I do have a sanding block but I here it needs to be on a flat surface to use it. What do I do on curves?

Also how do I remove the front glass and side chrome on the door pillar?
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Yes, 320 on the whole car. 36 is good for surface prep before laying down filler. It gives the filler something to hold on to. You will want to cut the rust out completely. Your Dart is mostly flat surfaces anyway. You can learn to use the flat block on curves to a degree. There are curved sanding blocks available, or you can improvise by using a paint roller or short length of PVC pipe wrapped with sandpaper. You'll get a feel for it in a short period of practice. The drip rail trim will have to be CAREFULLY pried off. I'm not sure about the front glass on a '68 Dart. Someone will chime in on that one.
 
You are far far far away from needing to block sand. That comes when all the damage/rust has been fully repaired.

I agree with soda blasting that one so you can see what is really there and won't miss anything.
 
These guys are right on. If you are stripping the car down to bare metal, 320 will take forever. My suggestion with the 320 is if you plan on keeping some of the old finish as a substrate. If you can't afford or don't have access to media blasting equipment, I would suggest buying a D/A sander and strip it with 36/80 grit. When I strip a whole car to bare metal, I use a chemical stripper. It's nasty stuff, but it works great. Wear long sleeves, rubber gloves, safety glasses and do it outside if possible. KleenStrip Aircraft Remover is a great way to strip paint. Get a good metal scraper and some steel wool, this stuff will take it right off. Start with one fender or a door to get the gist of how it works. It's messy, but effective.
 
I bought the 3m paint and rust stripper and man does that thing work great! luckily there wasn't too much paint on the car... looks like rattle can grey primer, yellow paint, primer and then metal.

my question now is, do I use the wax and grease remover before I sand? Or after I sand?

I know I said I sanded already but I just did a little part on the fender panel, to see how it works. read on car craft to use some scoth brite afterwords to kinda fine it out.

Also seeing im gonna go through the whole car and take it down to bare metal, fix dents and rust patch. I know its probably gonna take me about 2 weeks to sand it down so I will have bare metal exposed. On one of the dvd's I was watching it said that if your not gonna be able to get to that panel in a while after its been sanded to spray some metal finish on it to protect it.

do you think I should buy some?
 
If I had it to do over again, I would have and had it soda blasted; your lower quarters and severe damage/dents will dictate need to remove/replace them, before you take it to the blasters.

I took the hard way and it's many hours with aircraft stripper and this wheel for the big areas. :banghead:

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-half-inch-nylon-abrasive-wheel-94017.html

Been there, done that, have many sweaty t-shirts from it.


As far as a welder, I did my entire car with a flux core HF welder, grinder and flap disk/cutoff wheel/grinding wheel 10pk, and dremel with the grinder bit and little carbide tip. Did the job great.


Gloves, glasses, and hearing protection is mandatory!!!


Also pick up this set of hammer and dolly set, you will use them a lot.

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-door-skin-repair-kit-46781.html


Flux core runs too hot for patches on long runs on big panels; like a door skin or quarter panel patch. Which I'd recommend a backing strip anyway but that's my .02.

Don't get caught up on butt weld too much, these cars are put together entirely by lap welds, one more isn't going to hurt it.

Perfect is the enemy of the good when it comes to body work on these old cars, the tolerances are ridiculously loose. Don't worry about getting too picky.

Rustoleum hi temp bar-b-que paint works great as a weld thru primer; spray it on areas that will be seeing atmosphere before and/or after you weld it. New welds tend to attract moisture, and some type of protection needs to be there between two pieces of metal or it will rust out quick.

WD-40 is excellent to keep flash rust away from panels you can't get to immediately, wax and grease remover will clean them up in no time.

Last thing, enjoy it, take your time and don't rush it. You'll be doing a lot of work, it's worth it... At least that's what I keep telling myself. :burnout:
 
By the way do u guys have any recommendations for hvlp spray guns? I was checking out the devilbliss ones but the I keep reading about the HF ones, so yea I don't know hahah
 
HF is the one I'm going to use, you need to order the 1.9-2.0 tip for it to spray primer, gotta call the hotline though, if you go to the store they will look at you funny.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
 
Andre68 said:
Btw what do you mean by backing strip? Thanks
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A backing strip is a piece of metal located behind a butt weld or groove weld. It helps eliminate burn through on light gauge sheet metal. When you get a minute, post some progress photos of what you've done.
 
heres what ive done so far, pressure washed the whole car. front , to back, top to bottom. cleaned out the engine bay removed the front end panels and the doors.

Began to sand one fender panel down with the 3m paint and rust remover but after going through 4 just to do 1 panel I realized that those discs were maybe not the most cost effective way of going about it. Poisondart74 has been a great help, and he told me about these sanding discs that I plan to buy, I guess they go in an angled grinder?
 

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its funny how horrible some bodywork is done over the years. I thought this panel was straight until I started sanding it down and hitting alot of filler hahaha
 
Looks like you've got it. There's no telling what you'll find under 40+ years of who knows what. You should start a build thread in the Members Restorations section and document the whole process. We would love to track your progress.
 
Andre68 said:
Began to sand one fender panel down with the 3m paint and rust remover but after going through 4 just to do 1 panel I realized that those discs were maybe not the most cost effective way of going about it. Poisondart74 has been a great help, and he told me about these sanding discs that I plan to buy, I guess they go in an angled grinder?
Click to expand...

Weird, my experience has been just to opposite. I found the 3Mm disk to be much more effective at removing paint from large surface areas than a DA with 60 grit disks. The HF disks are imitations of the 3M stuff and will probably work ok but won't last anywhere near as long. Yes, they are used on a 4-1/2" angled grinder.
Another very effective paint remover is a wire wheel on an angled grinder. Use the coarse wire variety, not the short, fine wire versions. You will need something with grunt. The flat wheels can be turned over periodically as well because the wheel will take a set and flipping it over rejuvinates the stripping action. Be careful on exterior flat surfaces though so that you don't overheat them and distort the metal. That creates a whole new source of fun. Good luck. L8r
 
1968dartman said:
Make sure that you label or bags things so you will know where they go when you put it back together!
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Ditto! I have discovered a method of storing and then locating screws and fasteners on the cars. I take sheets of cardboard and draw the panel on it. I then punch holes with an awl at the location of each fastener. I then push the fastener through the hole. I end up with a stack of cardboard sheets, one for each panel or subassembly. This was especially helpful for storing the fasteners for the giant interior panels that cover the rear wheel well areas on the fastback Cuda.

I use the same technique for engine teardown.
 
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