1966 Factory V8 Valiant Signet Restoration For My Other Daughter

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Nope I can't wait.... The trunk pan is not really for a '63-'66 so it needs to be modified.... What a difference getting those wheel lip profiles back... Nice putting back many of the same parts... just line up the drilled out spot welds and weld away!

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Morning on the Valiant till it got too hot outside. Working on the tail panel... I have 3 an I can make one good one out of the 3. The bottom half of the original was only mangled from the collision damage so I cut it off on the horizontal lip where the bumper is and massaged the crumpled corner back into shape. Used the original trunk floor as a template. Notice the replacement floor does not have the pre '67 lip so I will be cutting the curl out of the original and spot welding it along the edge to weld to the tail piece. The benefit of using the originals is I can align it _exactly_ where it originally was using the drill outs as guides. This is useful when you have to realign the rear. Notice the rear rails dropped about 3/8" and it is easy to tell because of the alignment of the original parts. I can jack it back up to be aligned. That is why I did _not_ cut both quarters out at the same time. I can use the one original as my guide to get the first and trunk back in alignment. Trunk extensions all welded in and the trunk pan fits perfectly after a bit of reworking in the front corners as the early A's are a bit different there.

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Extension and tail piece all welded in. Cleaned the trunk and blasted the welded areas so I could shoot the remaining Southern Polyurethane Epoxy Primer. Need to run to town tomorrow to get some filler to form the wheel well you can see in the trunk where I patched in lip piece to get the original quarter wheel lip. Tomorrow is "install the trunk floor day"! It looks like maybe the summer rains are starting to form... we need rain so bad I am praying for a wet monsoon season. The last picture you can see how the LH side is a bit lower than the right. If you mock up the new quarter panel the RH side does NOT need to be jacked up 3/8" and this shows that fact clearly.

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Jim Kueneman said:
Extension and tail piece all welded in. Cleaned the trunk and blasted the welded areas so I could shoot the remaining Southern Polyurethane Epoxy Primer. Need to run to town tomorrow to get some filler to form the wheel well you can see in the trunk where I patched in lip piece to get the original quarter wheel lip. Tomorrow is "install the trunk floor day"! It looks like maybe the summer rains are starting to form... we need rain so bad I am praying for a wet monsoon season. The last picture you can see how the LH side is a bit lower than the right. If you mock up the new quarter panel the RH side does NOT need to be jacked up 3/8" and this shows that fact clearly.

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The skills and the work are top notch. Doing amazing job as usual! I'm sure it will be as good or better than new.
 
Needed to cut and prep the rear edge of the original trunk floor since the floor was really for '67 and up. Again being able to use the original weld plugs makes sure we are in original alignment.... Trunk prepped for welding. Need to go to town to pick up a few things for the Dart to fix the transmission leak before the trip while the epoxy drys on the salvaged and blasted lip. Should be welding that in later and then can mark and drill the spot welds for along the rear of the trunk pan to weld to this rear lip.

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Sometime big jobs require big tools.... she required a bit of persuasion to get lined back up.... Then with 3 welds left...... out of wire....DAMN! A bit of filler to make the inside of the trunk area look nice some day...

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Just more welding grinding and epoxy priming... then some dry fitting... you can't ask for better I don't think.

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I can see a pinhole light at the end of the tunnel.... I am basically ready to start the final fitting and welding of the quarter panel!

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at least the metal work isn't as boring as the next part. filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding and.......... :(
neil.
 
mygasser said:
at least the metal work isn't as boring as the next part. filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding and.......... :(
neil.
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I LOVE that part! I feel like a sculptor creating a masterpiece... this is like hacking toghter the wire frame for the masterpiece....
 
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Jim Kueneman said:
I LOVE that part! I feel like a sculptor creating a masterpiece... this is like hacking toghter the wire frame for the masterpiece....
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Hi Jim you are a sculptor and you are creating a masterpiece. I've never seen anything like what you are doing here. Absolutely amazing. I'm so glad to see this build. I'm glad for this old MOPAR also to see you are breathing new life to her. SOOOO glad you are the one that bought it. Looking forward to the rest of the build. Vern
 
pickels said:
Hi Jim you are a sculptor and you are creating a masterpiece. I've never seen anything like what you are doing here. Absolutely amazing. I'm so glad to see this build. I'm glad for this old MOPAR also to see you are breathing new life to her. SOOOO glad you are the one that bought it. Looking forward to the rest of the build. Vern
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she is a labor of love for sure Mac!
 
Fun weekend in the mountians with the other 3 cars last weekend... back at it only the heat is on. 110 in Tucson this weekend so around 95-100 here. 6 hours is enough 5:30am to 11:30am and it is time for AC. Metal work is not so hard, just cut out what is not part of your car and throw it on the ground.... Well 3 tail panels to make one without a dent and all the correct tabs to weld!

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Hi tech holding fixture are not cost prohibitive here are Kueneman Mopar Works! I am really getting MUCH better at good deep penetration welds.

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Not bad for a pile of scrap metal to start with! The daughter has said she is coming out to sand blast that tail panel so I can get it epoxy primed. Heading out to South Dakota for the next 2 weekend to ride off road motorcycle in the Black Hills so need to get it sealed up as the summer rains are coming!

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A couple hours of fine grinding to get the edges lined up where I am grafting the old lower with the new 3x grafted upper tail piece. I use a lot of masking tape to help make obvious where I needed to lower a high spot and make if very straight... After blasting and painting I am clearly not the metal master I thought I was :), but there is more welding to do so no use trying to work it any more yet. Even the owner got some time in this morning but she is on a lot of medications and got shaky under that blasting hood at 95F out... Need to go up the Phoenix in the next few weeks to get the bucket seats and a nicer trunk then I can align it all to that trunk and start welding this all back together.

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Great building and restoration going on here. Hope the heat is not stopping you been reading the news out west!
 
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