Gerahead's 71 Dart

Wow, it looks like it has been longer than I thought since I have paid my site a visit. I finally started on the body stripping process. I am using the 3M Sandblaster disc that I referenced some time back to do all the quick stripping. I started by removing all of the staples that were used to hold the original vinyl roof down. They actually came out easier than I thought they would. I was able to tap a thin screwdriver blade behind them and wiggle them out. Much faster than my original plan to cut them first. Then I welded up the holes left by the staples and ground them down so they won't interfere with the fit of the trim and gasket. I started by stripping the roof, c-pillars and upper edge of the quarter panel. There is some kind of oxide colored primer covering most of the car's exterior. Its origin is unknown (on the car when I got it). It is some really gummy crap and does not give up easily. I used a twisted wire wheel to clean out the front and rear window channels. I was having so much fun that I stretched the area that I stripped to include the dutchman panel and the tops of the quarters, back to the tail light panel. After getting these areas down to bare metal, I went over them again with the DA and 80 then 120 sanding discs. the sheet metal was in remarkably good shape for an original vinyl roofed car. I was pleasantly surprised to see pretty good metal after I ground out the filler in the roof/quarter seam. Then I figured while I was at it, I might as well scuff up the package tray deck too. For the tray deck, I just hit it with a scuff pad since it was pretty much unmolested factory finish. After vacuuming as much trash as I could and blowing it off with the air gun, all of the bare metal got a good bath in wax and grease remover. This was followed by a couple of coats of the Omni black epoxy primer that I had left over from painting the underside of the car. I had gotten some gray primer to use for this, but I figured I might as well use up the left overs first since I didn't have a specific plan for it. So now with the hood, decklid, interior, trunk, roof and top rear done, I fell like I have most of it ready to go. Still have to conquer the doors, jams, taillight panel, front wheel wells and engine compartment to go. Seems like a lot still to do!!