1966 Factory V8 Valiant Signet Restoration For My Other Daughter

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Jim, I fully agree, better paying $90 to a professional sandblaster, than risking getting lung cancer and having all that mess in your garage. Lot of people don't know about, or underestimate the health the risks of sandblasting.
Looking forward following your next high quality restoration. Always a pleasure to read your detailed and informative posts.

Cheers,
Wolfgang

I actually do it outside in the driveway. I have a hood but don't have the positive pressure fresh air source.
 
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Ok day 2 of restoration.... I bought some silicone off eBay this week and soaked the rear gasket for the last 3 days in the sun. The rear glass is one year only and no one makes glass or seals, had to save both... very very carefully worked it loose with Steele Rubber plastic bones and out she came without incident. I took out the wooden block spaced buckets and pulled the carpet. Man too bad she has that rear quarter damage, if that was not a big job this would be an easy few months to get it ready for paint... Tomorrow will work cleaning out the trunk and start drilling out welds to get the rear end parts off.

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Found a Unilug wheel washer and the missing original knob for the temperature control lever under the carpet! I think someone jacked on the floorboard but a few smacks with hammer and it is back to normal.

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Jim, my trick to keep/make plastics, seals and rubber soft is simple Vaseline. It's not aggressive, non poisonous, and does a great job; especially on all rubber seals.
Excellent job! As usual!
Cheers, Wolfgang
 
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What is the definition of depression? When you plan out where you are going to graft in your quarter panel and you get it all cut out and you realize that this was the SECOND accident this car has been in.... with the previous repair an old school overlap and braze... can't leave that so kept hacking... now I find the patches don't have all the metal I need so do it in one shot so there is more fab work I have to do.... sigh.... oh well there was a reason my sensitive kid was drawn to this car, it has had a rough life and she feels for it I guess. We will bring it back to its former glory.. Man they hacked a lot out of that wheel opening for the fatty tires... Can't wait for the lift to go in Friday so I can get out of the sun...

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Wow, you're not wasting any time are you? I better get a move on or you'll have this one done too before I get my 63 done. Great work as always. Looking forward to seeing this one progress. I started using those stripping discs on this car for the first time and I have to agree, they are probably the best thing I have found for paint and rust removal with the least effort or damage to host metal.

Following along again, as usual
 
Here is what Kylie is zeroing in on... Go-Go Dart style Valiant Signet... I think I dig it....

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Which stripe? I always liked the off center stripe. Kinda a racy European flair.
 
Just a spot weld drilling along. You really need to drill pilot holes to not go insane chasing the spot weld drill all over the panel. You can see why I took this off. It was all bent and cracked from one of the accidents. Spent a quality hour with the dolly and hammer getting it straightened out.

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A little patch work and she is ready for blasting, epoxy primer and reassembly.... I am out of welding gas so I am glad I did this little bit of welding today to learn that.. nothing worse than ready to attack the spot welds and finding out you are out of gas.....

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I never really like them either but after the wife's '63 Dart if they are done up nice they are as cool as any A-Body!
WOW Jim you are a true artist. I sure didn't know there was that much damage. This little A body will be better than new & more safe than it was when new. I thought PLUM CRAZY with a stripe would look really cool. MAC
 
WOW Jim you are a true artist. I sure didn't know there was that much damage. This little A body will be better than new & more safe than it was when new. I thought PLUM CRAZY with a stripe would look really cool. MAC

You can never really know till you start digging into it! There are always hidden surprises from days gone by.
 
Major work to get two solid trunk extensions from the originals and the partials that came with the quarter panels done. Man I wish these were available new... Need a few more welds for cracks and fill in where I drilled through for the spot welds and the owner daughter wants to try her hand at sand blasting. Prediction is that won't last long :)...

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I can’t thank @cosgig enough. Look what he cut off a rust bucket going to the scrap metal yard for us!

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I actually do it outside in the driveway. I have a hood but don't have the positive pressure fresh air source.
WOW what a nice surprise, great pieces. Don't forget MOPAR John may have some sheet metal for the Valiant also. Your daughter may surprise you & enjoy doing the sandblasting.
 
agreed, it is very satisfying to see it come back to life from a rusty piece of crap for sure.
neil.
It’s not really rusty, just in the normal places you would expect an AZ car that likely saw most it’s life outside. The bigger issue is it was used as a battering Ram twice in its life in the same quarter. :)
 
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