Gerahead's 71 Dart

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Nice job and we'll worth the extra effort. Nothing like a "clean" canvas. Good choice on the satin It is what the California Flash Duster will be getting inside and out except where the outer color scheme is.....ordered by Mr Hoover when built into the Flash. He liked the way the black helped hide certain modifications......whatever that means????
 
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HemiDenny said:
Nice job and we'll worth the extra effort. Nothing like a "clean" canvas. Good choice on the satin It is what the California Flash Duster will be getting inside and out except where the outer color scheme is.....originally ordered that way from Mr Hoover. He liked the way the black helped hide certain modifications......whatever that means????
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I am sure that there is nothing there that wouldn't have passed muster if it had been painted yellow! LOL!
 
gerahead said:
I am sure that there is nothing there that wouldn't have passed muster if it had been painted yellow! LOL!
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Forgot to mention that I have been watching the California Flash restoration. I just absolutely loved the the first generation of the pro stock cars. You guys are doing some awesome work! L8r

Jim
 
Thanks....I love turning it back into what it was when initially built and raced by Butch Leal.
 
Swinger340Canuc said:
Glad you managed to get that bit of a dirty job done Jim, looks great, check that one off the list.
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Thanks, Danny. I was kinda procrastinating on this job for a while because I had an idea of what it was going to be like and I didn't disappoint myself! I have decided that if I ever have to do this again, I am going to find someone to do it! I am very happy with how it turned out. Now to rearrange the garage a little bit and add some shelving for storage so I can get some stuff put away instead of on the floor and work bench. Then I can get her moved back inside and back to work on the exterior. I plan to mechanically strip the paint and as dirty a job as that is . . . . it is much more pleasant than that blasting!
 
gerahead said:
it is much more pleasant than that blasting!
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I hear that, I can only imagine what you went threw. I sand blasted headers at a friends outside and for two days I was finding sand where I thought I would never find it. LMAO!!! Underside looks FANTASTIC love the build so far.
 
bkd said:
I hear that, I can only imagine what you went threw. I sand blasted headers at a friends outside and for two days I was finding sand where I thought I would never find it. LMAO!!! Underside looks FANTASTIC love the build so far.
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Thanks bkd, I am very happy with the way it turned out. I didn't expect it to look as good as it does when I was done! I think that the satin paint that I have left will look perfect on the core support for the "blackout" treatment. Assuming that I can get to it before the left over paint goes bad! L8r

Jim
 
In the event that this winter does end soon, I hope to be back out into the garage soon. The plan is to get the old paint stripped from the body, prime, reassemble to check gaps and alignment and then start the prep for paint. Doesn't sound like much, but I want to get some racing in this year and there is work to do there too!

Question for you guys that are into the "real" details. My intention has always been to replicate any of the factory markings that I find along the way. There is nothing really driving me to do this other than attention to detail. I have found markings on the rear axle and Swinger340Canuc posted some picks he found on his project (thanks Danny!). Are there any other places that I should be careful of or be checking out closely when I degrease where I should be looking for some of these factory gems? The car was built in Windsor in case that helps. Any and all information or suggestions is appreciated! Thanks for sharing, guys. L8r

Jim
 
Haven't gotten much done on the car, but have gotten some small garage organization projects out of the way. I was tired of constantly tripping over, or stepping around the collection of jack stands that I have accumulated. I kicked around several ideas, but I finally landed on using a narrow space between an existing shelf unit and the back door. Each shelf holds a pair along with some dimension lumber I cut to fit under the stands.
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The second project was making the rear end more mobile. Every time I needed to move it, I had to roll it around to where it needed to go. Typically not easy to do by yourself cuz it wants to spin around the tire your turning. You could grab the snout of the diff, but you all know what happens when you do that. Go ahead an laugh, we have all done it . . . you get your fingers smashed when the yoke jams your fingers against the pinion snubber! I took the side boards off a small Harbor Fright furniture dolly and replaced them with longer boards along the side to stretch out the length. Then I fabbed up a couple of stands to support the two ends of the axle near the ends. Took the wheels off and a ratchet strap keeps it in place. Viola! it rolls around easily wherever I need it. Now, back to work!
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L8r

Jim
 
Looking for advice . . . .
I am getting close to starting the stripping process on the body and fenders. I will be sanding these clean, meaning lots of dust. I will be working in a garage to do this. What has worked well for you guys that have done this to kinda control the dust. It would be great to move the car outside, but that just isn't going to work. I was thinking of just draping some poly around it as close as practical. Anything else that works better or is that as simple as it gets? Thanks in advance! L8r

Jim
 
Last couple of nights I have been trying to to check out the quarter panel weld seam for straightness and warping. Doing this by feel,. Ya I know, not the greatest method, but it is a start. Quickly realized that when I start the body work in earnest, I will need something better. Today I made myself a template to use for that. I traced the curve of the sheet metal where the seam is located onto a piece of scrap 1x6, using the front edge of the door as a pattern. Then cut it out with a band saw and sanded it into "tune". I also cut a notch into it to mark the body line reference. The fun will start soon! L8r
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I had about a half dozen of the ribs in the cowl vent that had been pushed in slightly. You could feel it and worse yet, see it. I could not reach them from the back side so I have been trying to figure out a way to lift them back up for quite a while. I decided to finally give it a go. What I finally settled on was to loop so hefty zip ties around the "ribs" that needed lifting. I have a radiator hose tool designed to break the bond around the hose and the radiator fitting. Was is nice about this tool is that it has a bend in it that I could use for a fulcrum. I placed a short piece of 2x4 across between the firewall and the windshield channel. Then I threaded the tool through the zip tie loop, placed the fulcrum bend on the 2x4 and pry the rib upwards. Once I got it close, I could either just pull on the zip tie with my hand or press down on the ribs with my fingers to fine tune their position. Mission accomplished. It worked out a little easier that I thought it would! L8r

Jim

Dart Cowl.jpg
 
Well, I thought that I had it dicked! While cleaning the last of the undercoating residue off the driver's side front apron, I noticed that the sheet metal between the firewall and the front edge of the cowl vent is dented in a little bit too. Dammit! I was just feeling across the vent louvers for straightness and didn't check the sheet metal. The front edge of the cowl isn't damaged so I'm thinking I might try the shrinking attachment on my stud welder first to see how far that gets me before I bust out the slide hammer! L8r

Jim
 
. . . well, pretty quickly resorted to the impact device. The dent needed to be pulled back out, shrinking wouldn't have accomplished what was needed. A little body hammer work and calling it good. L8r

Jim
 
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!!
 
gerahead said:
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!!
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Since last posting, I have stripped and primed both quarter panels, the tail light panel and the outside of the front valence. Man, this is a lot of work! Last night, while cleaning up after squirting the primer on the valence, and in spite of being as careful as I possibly can, I somehow lost the little seal for the air volume adjustment screw. I am thinking that this is "just freaking dandy". I can't be the first person to lose one of these and should be able to get a replacement, right? WEll, about an hour later, I found the seal laying on the floor of the garage, quite a way away from where I was standing while cleaning up the paint gun. Whew! I'm calling that a break! Progress has been slow because at the same time as doing this, I tore the engine in the race car down to the short block to do some inspection and (subsequent) repair work completed. Too many projects! Hope you all had a great weekend! L8r

Jim
 
There's no getting around it Jim it is a ton of work and you do have to push yourself at times but like so many told me the payoff at the end is rewarding. Keep up the good work.
 
I knew going in that this was probably the hardest way to do this, but I was bound and determined to do it anyway! At times it seems nutz how long it takes to strip off some areas that are smaller. The more detail, the more time it takes. Seems like just the outside of the front valence took more time than the whole roof. I still have the inside of the valence to do, but other than the surface rust, I don't think I will strip it completely. I guess I will first see how it cleans up. Unlike the rear valence, the inside of the front is somewhat visible after it's installed. Thanks for the props, Danny. Seeing how your project turned out, that is meaningful! L8r!

Jim
 
Well, it has been a long time since I posted a progress report! I was making pretty good progress last fall and then ended up in the hospital for a week and a half with a ruptured appendix. That pretty much killed the project for the winter. This spring has been a long time coming and can finally get back after it. So to recap, the door jambs, cowl area, inner engine bay, outer aprons, quarter/fender extensions and passenger door still need to be stripped. The inner side of the pass door got stripped and primed over the weekend. tonight I stripped and DA'd the outer surface of the door.
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There was a lot of product on this door. I really had to work that 3M stripper to get through it. There were 7-layers of primer, sealer and paint on this thing. Not to mention a couple of puddles of mud!
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Got the surface rubbed with the DA and 80-grit. Will DA it with 150 tomorrow night and squirt some epoxy primer on it. Moving right along! L8r!

Jim
 
Passenger door stripped and in a dress of epoxy inside in out and ready for some body work! I dug the fender and quarter panel extensions outta the storage shed and they will be next. What works good for stripping them? I am kinda concerned that the 3M wheel might be a little too aggressive. I am thinking about trying a fine gauge wire wheel. Any suggestions? L8r

Jim
 
I think I used some none destructive (Walnut shell) in my blasting cabinet Jim, but the next best way I would use would be paint stripper. I’m not a huge fan of the stuff because of the mess but these are small parts and it’s easy to contain that so that’s what I would suggest.
 
We must be connected telepathically! My blast cabinet is probably a little too small for the rears for sure, but I hadn't thought of that. I was giving strong consideration to the chemical stripper for the same reasons! LOL! L8r

Jim
 
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