1972 Duster, 340/4, black on black (the endgame)

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So cool to see that car brought back to life. Looking forward to seeing more progress.
 
I really like that wire cage you made for all the little bits. GREAT idea!! Sorry to be a copy cat,but I have to make one for all my little bits,lol.

As far as your K frame ,well sounds like an aftermarket might be the ticket if a stock replacement cant be found. Johnsparts and usgcharger here are working on a k frame that will use stock susp components and will be very reasonably priced.
 
WoW,great thread and you work like a man on fire LOL.Just wondering why you,ve skipped passed the frame connectors?With your skills,you should beable to wip a pair up quite easy.Anyways,great work,skills and determination.You,ve saved another!:cheers:

P.S Is great to have this site for info and pics eh?
 
Well thanks guys. It's been a pretty grueling month but it's paying off.

I really like that wire cage you made for all the little bits. GREAT idea!! Sorry to be a copy cat,but I have to make one for all my little bits,lol.

As far as your K frame ,well sounds like an aftermarket might be the ticket if a stock replacement cant be found. Johnsparts and usgcharger here are working on a k frame that will use stock susp components and will be very reasonably priced.

Thank Al Hesselink of Hillside Coachworks (yup-shameless plug there :pirate: ) for the wire box idea. I'm sure he didn't create it but he passed it on to me.

WoW,great thread and you work like a man on fire LOL.Just wondering why you,ve skipped passed the frame connectors?With your skills,you should beable to wip a pair up quite easy.Anyways,great work,skills and determination.You,ve saved another!:cheers:

P.S Is great to have this site for info and pics eh?

It's a great site for tips and I'm taking advantage :glasses8:. I would've never beefed up the lower control arms if not for this place. And the subframe connectors were ordered Thursday, BTW. I had to get some primer on the bottom so I could keep it outside. Hopefully I can weld those and the rear torque boxes on next weekend.

Ken
 
Nice Work!
I remember the Frames and he rear bottom from my Dart looks the same.
Is not the nicest work of all!

Keep on!!8)
 
This one's not pretty either, but at least I know it is solid. :thumrigh:

Final primed:
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Still need to work out those lines but the flat sections of the quarters are nice and straight.

Got some primer on the hood & trunk lid too:
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The trunk lid is pretty straight but the hood needs to be blocked out and reprimed. All that's really left is the doors. They're straight, but there are a few rust holes under the seals that need attention.

I'll be spraying an awful lot of TX-9 next month...

Ken
 
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A question of shear ignorance Wyman. Whats up with the bars in the door area? It is to prevent flex in the body or something? Can u explain its full purpose?
 
subscribed!

love watching cool in depth work, gets me in a motivated mood and now I am itching to work on my duster!.

just waiting on cash flow to allow me to get some parts I am needing so I can get back to work on it.

keep up the good work, its looking awesome!
 
A question of shear ignorance Wyman. Whats up with the bars in the door area? It is to prevent flex in the body or something? Can u explain its full purpose?


'zactly. This one flexed when I used a floor jack to jack it up. The doors would bind shut. The holes that are in the support plates are zero tolerance (and were a lot of fun to make) so there's absolutely no flex in the shell while it's on the rotisserie. Once the subframe connectors are in (along with all the repair work that's already done), those will come out for paint.

Another tip learned from Hillside Coachworks (yep-another shameless plug :yawinkle: ).

Ken
 
(edit 24 Feb 2018: Going through this thread reloading pics after the photosuckit disaster and it seems the pics that are supposed to be in this thread are lost. To save the post I'll use pics of the "fill prime" wetsanding as the procedure is similar)

Thanks guys. Hope the final product looks as well as it does in primer...

It was my intent to get the shell ready for paint this weekend. The original plan was to wrap up the welding, but they're still processing my order for the subframe connectors (after over a week). So I started to tackle this. And just my luck-as I started into it, I could feel a cold coming on. Didn't get as much done this weekend as I wanted to, but there was some progress.

With the guidecoat on. The panels came out pretty flat with the Featherfill but I didn't like the lines so they got the attention:
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I started with the fenders. Got those cleaned up so I could get them off the car (they'll be hung from a rack and painted inside and out):
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I was always pretty happy with the left one but the right one still bulges out at the wheel opening. It's easy enough to replace a fender down the road tho when I get the money and it's not 'horrible'.

Then the roof and quarters:
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This one turned out pretty good. The other one is and probably will be funky with the flip-top gas cap sheet metal in there. It gave the quarter a curve that's not going away. Which will be OK as long as I can get the lines straight. The quarters got another coat of primer today so I can doll everything up.

I also got the rear axle apart so our Fab guy can get it narrowed:
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It's degreased, pressure washed and ready.

And I now have a target date. I'll start spraying paint on the weekend that starts Feb. 18. We have Monday off for Lincoln and Washington and since we work 4-10s, I'll have Friday off too. The plan is to paint the shell Friday, interior parts (semi-gloss) and whatever I have time for on Saturday, the rest (hood, trunk lid, fenders, doors) Sunday and Monday I'll mask off the shell and spray my rubberized on the bottom and wrap up whatever is left.

My frame connectors better show up by then angry9:

Ken
 
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you are plugging along at a pretty good clip! That's gonna turn out good too. Wish I had body skills equal to my wrenching skills, I'd be dangerous! I'm following your thread.
 
Time for an update. No, I haven't been neglecting the car-just the thread :yawinkle: It's been about priming and wet sanding and that's just not all that interesting.
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But.

The subframe connectors showed up Friday. I blasted them and burned up some epoxy primer on them, if anything just to get something in the inside to protect it from the elements:
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I got the first one in Friday night:
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That piece of steel in the foreground is the torque box.

I reworked the connectors (of course). They're designed to connect the front and rear frames, but in doing so they would've "Veed" toward the front. The rear frames are 4" further apart than the front. Since I didn't like the idea of having them in there like that I cut them to run straight from the rear rails. They ended up getting welded into my torsion bar mount reinforcing plates so I'm pretty comfortable that they'll do the job.

Here we are, welded in (along with torque boxes-good thing I waited), blasted and primed:

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Another nice thing about this is the outer seat mounts are welded to the connectors, further reinforcing them too.

Tomorrow and next weekend will be about repriming the doors and quarters and working over the hood. The hood is trash. I tried to be the hero and blasted the rust off the inside but of course it warped the hell out of the outside. It hit me last night however that I could get some factory style scoops for it which will hide the worst of it. Someday down the road maybe I'll run across a straight(ish) hood and I'll replace it then.

By next Sunday I should have the beast ready for paint. My target date to start spraying black is the 18th. I'll have a 4 day weekend and should be able to get it all.

Ken
 
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Thanks guys.

Here's how I wrapped up the weekend. Blocked out the hood one last time:
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You can see a high spot in front on your left. It's actually normal; the rest of it is low/warped. Pretty sure 'Twister' style scoops will hide the worst of it until I find a straight one.

Also blocked out and reprimed the doors:
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And hit those body lines one more time:
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The flip-top gas cap steel is still a little screwy but I'll accept it. Having the cap on will distract the eye.

It's gettin' close...

Ken
 
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Blackened:

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The interior parts and the last batch of bike parts were painted Friday, the shell, fenders & trunk lid today. I still have to paint the outside of the doors:

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I also have to reshoot the hood. The primer sealer I used sprayed on dry in spots and the first coat looked like hell. I had forgotten an adage I learned long ago in this biz-friends don't let friends spray Imron :x

If the shell sets up enough to mask tomorrow I'll get the undercoating/sound deadner/rustproofing on too. Otherwise, I'll do it Monday.

Time for some rest.

Ken
 
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looks great!! I am thinking about building a rotisserie for mine.
 
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