Gerahead's 71 Dart

[gerahead]

Are you officially "in it to win it" when you have a glob of hardened on the toe of your shoe? LOL! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

i'm working my way through the body panels. Filler, hammer and dolly metalwork to remove some dings and lots of sanding! I think the doors and fenders are also now ready to attach and do the final smoothing. I have had the car apart for so long that it wasn't until I bolted the grill support on for mock up that I realized it is also the body color. Another part to strip! I was looking over the valence panels and noticed that there seem to be a couple of 1/2" holes drilled by a previous owner. They are about 19-1/4 inches from the center of the valence (red circle in photo). I am pretty sure that these are not factory holes so I have some more welding to do, can someone please verify? Thanks for your help! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Nothing very interesting to update. I did end up welding in the holes in the front valence pictured above. Other than that, I have gone through and realigned the cowl vent ribs. I had figured out the method a while back, but never really fine tuned them. They are not perfect, but you will have to look hard to notice it. I have also been hammer and dollying some small dents that I have found and did some additional welding on some repairs that I had made previously to better finish those areas. All panels except the hood (gotta dig it outta the corner) have been touched up to start the "final" panel smoothing and paint prep. As many of you are well aware . . . it's very time consuming manual labor! Not exciting stuff, but hammer down! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Way back when I stripped the trunk of it paint, I found some minor rust holes in the floor of the spare tire well. I had originally thought that I might be able to remedy that with some POR epoxy putty. It seemed to work reasonable well, but I had acquired a replacement well just in case. When I blasted the underside of the car, it blew all the epoxy out of the holes so I knew I had to replace the floor. Every time I sat down to try to strategize the replacement, it gave me a headache. I finally had to dive in and get it done. I got the new floor in but still have to finish the body work on the weld, but I need to let my fingers heal a little first! The unfortunate part is that I need to body work both sides of this weld so it is a lot more work! I still need to weld the fuel tank mounting bracket into the floor and reattach the rear valence mount as well. I screwed up when I took the valence bracket out and the mistake will cost me a bunch of extra work! I measured the crap out of the location, but measured it from the nearest large drain hole. The same hole in the new floor was not in the exactly same location, so in essence, I have no datum to use to reattach it. I will need to attach the valence and use it to determine the location for the bracket. The trouble is that the valence can't be attached with the back half rotisserie mount in place. So I will need to prop up the rear half of the shell and remove the rotisserie mount, bolt up the valence, mark the location for the bracket and then put it all back together!
Besides that, the roof and C-pillars have all been smoothed and the "final" coat of epoxy primer have been squirted on. The previously applied epoxy on the exterior has all been scuffed up and I plan to start applying high build primer today and then the sanding marathon will begin! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

I have gotten one coat of high build on everything but the hood and valences. I only did one coat at this time so I could check to see how close to flat everything is to start with and make corrections as needed. I applied a guide coat and sanded it down. I was presently surprised at how straight and flat everything is at this point. There is something very gratifying about sanding through the guide coat and seeing a nice smooth surface and imagining the color coat on it! In case anyone is interested, I am using the Omni high build 2K primer. This stuff is a dream to work with! I sands quickly without gumming up the 180 paper I'm using. I have gone over every panel and marked the areas that need some additional filler and have started that application. The plan is that after this is done, I will do a multi-coat application of the high build and start working it for color. L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Got the initial sanding done and applied 2-3 coats of hi-build to all the panels, except the hood. Sanded them all down and there were still some small low areas. I decided to skim coat those low spots, reapply hi-build to the treated areas and sand. I have the doors and deck lid done and I am stokes about how they turned out. They are now as smooth as a baby's booty!
I attached the front and rear extension housings to check fit and it's a good thing I did it now! Due to the new, aftermarket quarter skin, the pass side had a huge gap between the edge of the quarter and the housing. In some spots, the gap was over an 1/8". I welded some 3/32 tig wire into the area of the gap and then ground it back for a nice finish between the two parts. The front pass side housing had a subtle dent in it that created an edge mismatch to the body line in the center of the fender. I know hammering pot metal is dangerous, but I gave it a try anyway. I got it pretty close that way and am in the process of tweaking the shape with filler. It is turning out pretty well.
Between the cost of materials and the beer consumed doing this work, this part of the project is costing me a fortune!! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

This is the gap that I was referring to in the previous post on the pass rear extension. You can clearly see the gap between the cap and the quarterpanel.

Add some welding wire into the gap . . .

And after finish grinding . . . .

Now there is a perfect fit between the two parts!
When I replaced the spare tire well, I had not replaced the fuel tank hanging bracket. When I placed the bracket into the slots, there was a huge gap between the bracket and the slots in the pan on the top right corner of the image. I have no clue how this would have occurred, but this bracket was really slathered with seam sealer when I removed it.

I did not think that this space could be easily filled with sealer and my ADD/OCD tendencies took over. I cut and welded in some steel to make the bracket more closely resemble something rectangular. Now the fit it much better and only a small amount of sealer will be needed to make it look like it did when it left the Windsor plant.

Now I just need to drill the holes in the pan to plug weld the bracket back into the floor. L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

last weekend my son and his family were visiting, so I had some badly needed assistance available. I got the front of the car repositioned on the rotisserie so I could attach the front valence. Also temporarily took the rear of the rotisserie off the car so I could put the rear valence in place to mark the location of the mounting bracket welded to the spare tire well. Welded in the fuel tank hanger/spare tire mount bracket, the valence mounting bracket and finished up the body work on the outside of the spare tire well. Need to get some more primer so that I can repaint that portion of the underside. Got the body work on the inside of the spare tire well repair seam roughed in and shot some primer over it. Check off a couple more items on the list.
Question for you guys who have done this . . . . I am having a hell of a time chasing the body lines down the quarters to get them nice and straight. These were new skins, so I am not trying to fix underlying damage. I am looking for suggestions on what has worked for you. Part of the problem is that the lines are so faint in some areas that they are hard to even follow. The most troublesome is the line down the middle of the quarter (all 6-1/2 feet of it!). I need to sharpen this up so that I can make sure the contour going up from there to the top edge nice and smooth since that is where the welded seam is located. Last night I ran a tape line along the top side of the edge from the jamb to the rear edge of the panel and then ran another parallel to that, about 4" down from there. In between the two lines I applied some filler up to the tape edge on the body line using the upper tape line as a guide for the area I wanted to use to blend to the edge.

Will be pulling the tape and sanding that hard edge to smooth it and then repeating the process, coming at the hard edge from the other side with filler to recreate the edge. If you can follow my attempt to describe what I am doing, am I on the right track? Do I need to do something differently? Recommendations from lessons learned the hard way? I have never tried something like this before and to be honest it is kicking my ***! Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

It has been quite a challenge! After about 3 weeks of fighting to improve the appearance of the largest body line on the quarter panels, I think I have finally reached the point where I have something that I can work with! The lines on both sides are straight and are close to what I was looking for. There is still some final tweaking needed, but at least now I can move on to finalizing this stuff!

Last week I also got the body work on the inner and outer surfaces of the spare tire well done, primed and painted (on the outer side). So that is another item I can scratch from the list. Last night a buddy came over and helped me hang the doors back on the shell and set the fenders on so I could check the alignment of the panels and lines on the car from bow to stern. They will need additional fine adjustment, but I was able to see that they will all line up and will look good. I was stoked to finally be able to visualize the whole thing again. I will need to adjust the radius of the lower rear joint between the door jamb and the rocker because they do not match the door and the gap is pretty tight. That should not be a major undertaking! It sure feels good to be able to see some progress! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Before and after of the spare tire well replacement.

 

[gerahead]

I dug out the last panel needing attention, the hood. I got this hood with the car. Someone ahead of me started to chemically strip the hood and never completed the job. I eventually had the hood dipped and then I covered it with epoxy primer to protect it until I got back to it. I sanded down the surface to prep it for a new coat of epoxy and body work. Busted out the hammer and dolly to take care of some boo boos that I could reach from the back side. I have recoated it with a fresh new coat of epoxy and applied some filler to the areas where there are some low spots. With luck, I will be able to block these areas and get a final coat over the body work before the weather here turns to crap!
Question for you guys . . .
The deck lid is not original to the car. I just noticed in the past few days that the lid has no holes punched in it for the Dodge or Swinger badging. The access holes are present in the inner frame and it clear that there were never any holes for these emblems. Is anyone aware of a source for the measurements needed to drill the needed holes in the lid? Thanks for your help in advance! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

I dug out the last panel needing attention, the hood. I got this hood with the car. Someone ahead of me started to chemically strip the hood and never completed the job. I eventually had the hood dipped and then I covered it with epoxy primer to protect it until I got back to it. I sanded down the surface to prep it for a new coat of epoxy and body work. Busted out the hammer and dolly to take care of some boo boos that I could reach from the back side. I have recoated it with a fresh new coat of epoxy and applied some filler to the areas where there are some low spots. With luck, I will be able to block these areas and get a final coat over the body work before the weather here turns to crap!
Question for you guys . . .
The deck lid is not original to the car. I just noticed in the past few days that the lid has no holes punched in it for the Dodge or Swinger badging. The access holes are present in the inner frame and it clear that there were never any holes for these emblems. Is anyone aware of a source for the measurements needed to drill the needed holes in the lid? Thanks for your help in advance! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Geez, it has been longer than I thought since I did an update! Got wrapped up in a home remodeling project that took me longer to finish than it should have.
When I stopped work on the project last Fall, I had applied a couple of good coats of high build primer thinking I was pretty much done with the body work. I had done the body work to that point with a sanding block that was about 22" long. When I was getting ready to block out the high-build, it looked like the body accent lines still weren't where I wanted them. I bit the bullet and got a sanding block about 32" long for this work. Applied some guide coat and went to work with my new acquisition. For the most part, the doors and quarters turned out pretty well. There were still some low spots in the stampings, but all in all, pretty decent. Over the last few days I have added some filler to the low spots, roughed it back in and squirted a couple new coats on the panels needing attention. Today I will get back at it with the sanding block and see where I'm at. I'm hoping that my work with filler is done! Fingers crossed! L8r

Jim

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Some progress is better then no progress Jim, these bodies are trickier then they look to get straight, I’ve had many compliments on how straight my car is so it’s worth the patience and extra effort. I’m still watching, Danny.

 

[gerahead]

Thanks Danny! I'm sure it will all be worth it when it's done and I'll be happy that I put in the effort. Just very tedious at this point. I'll have biceps like Popeye when I'm done! LOL! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Well . . . it's been almost exactly a year since my last post! Progress has been slow, for sure. As several others have mentioned here, I have been having some back problems. Those of you who have had this affliction know how much it can slow you down! I have still been plugging away with the paint prep. The mid-body line in the quarters has been kicking my a$$, but I have it nearly "perfected". All of the epoxy that I laid down years ago in the trunk interior, engine compartment, front wheel wells and passenger compartment have all been scuffed up. Last week while fine tuning the passenger door alignment, I noticed the lower rear corner was bent in about a 1/4"! How did I not see that before? It doesn't look like it will be too hard to line it back up. Just need to pull the door back off and buy a buddy a couple of beers to help with the man-handling. Everything has several good coats of high build and I am getting the pieces all guide coated and sanded slick with 240. My favorite job (he sez sarcastically)! I absolutely hate it, but once I get started, it goes pretty quickly.

 

[gerahead]

I got the quarters sanded down and applied some additional filler to the low spots. I shot additional high build on the fenders, doors and quarters. Yesterday I media blasted the back side of the dash panel and squirted some self etching primer onto the treated side. today I stripped down the front side of the dash panel to bare metal. It was in really good shape, some surface rust under all the previous coating, but not too bad.

 

[gerahead]

In spite of what I posted almost exactly 2-years ago, I was nowhere near happy with the body line on the quarter panels! I am there now!!! Everything except the hood has had several coats of high build primer and been sanded to 280. Man, this has been a struggle! I got the dash panel primed and two coats of semi-gloss black paint applied to it. Then I realized I also need to paint the ash tray cover and the glove box door. As many of you are probably aware, it is virtually impossible to match satin finishes that are applied at different times. So I dug out the offending panels, which are both different colors than what I want. Into the blasting cabinet they went. I have the glove box door in self etching primer and I will be masking off the ash tray so I can paint just the outer cover. I am just going to clear coat the zinc plated parts and let it go at that.

 

[gerahead]

I took some pics of the work that has been accomplished over the last week.

In this pic you can see the corner misalignment in the lower rear corner of the passenger door that I mentioned before. After I got the glove box door and ashtray masked off, I applied another coat of paint. My paint gun chose this time to act up. The paint came out in a pulsing fashion. Case for conducting a test spray pattern! Shortly after getting the paint on the parts, a f'ing insect decided that the middle of the dash was a good place to die! Didn't see anything obvious in the subsequent gun teardown and another coat went on without any further issues.

My car is like many others, the door striker on the driver's door had broken around the edge of the shims. A previous owner had tried fix it and the bolt was booger welded to the b-pillar. So I had fabbed up some plates to reenforce that area on both sides that bolted into the b-pillar.

When I drilled the holes in the pillar to mount the plates, I broke my previous attempt to repair the prior damage. So I took out the anchor nut and capture plate. I have cut a plate of steel that I will weld to the inside of the pillar that will increase the strength of this area. I will be welding the capture plate/anchor nut to this plate. I will plug weld the plate to the b-pillar and then add the reenforcing plate on the outside. I should be getting that assemble all welded back in today.

 

[gerahead]

Well I got the b-pillar reinforcement plate welded in, the facing of the pillar welded back in and finished. I have to throw a little more primer on it to cover the bare metal. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but if I have, you may have forgotten too! I got an original ram air hood with the car. Someone had started to chemically strip it, but never finished the job. So many years ago, I had the hood dipped to stop the rust that had already started in the areas where the paint had been removed. The dipping process caused some of the bonds between the hood skin and frame to separate. I got some panel adhesive to glue the skin and frame back together. The adhesive came in a standard caulking tube with a mixing tip that had a very small orifice in the tip. After identifying all of the joints that had separated, I VERY carefully spread them apart and squirted adhesive into the gap and allowed the panel tension to "clamp" the surfaces back together. It worked great!
Final sanding has started, FINALLY! So far I have gotten the deck lid, front and rear valences and the fender extensions done. It's exciting to finally be getting closer to paint!

 

[gerahead]

I took a little break from the project to go racing for the first time in 3 years. It turned out to be quite an ordeal getting to the track. About half way there I blew a tire on the tow vehicle. When the cap exited the wheel well, it took out the quarter panel, front wheel well brace, both splash shields, dinged the rear tank fill tube and broke the rear fill cap and dented the front of the trailer. Two other awesome racers headed to the same event stopped and helped get me back on the road. About a half hour further up the road, a tire on the trailer blew. This one was only three years old with no more than 200 miles on it. At that point, I was ready to head back home. Jeech!
Back to the Dart. I have both sides of the front and rear valences in sealer. The back side of the hood is sealed and the front side has two good coats of high build primer, ready for sanding. The inside of both fenders and the hood springs have been sealed. I have also applied all the seam sealer except for the door jambs. Question . . . do the door seams also have sealer applied to them?? Seems like they should, but I didn't see anything in the service manuals. I didn't take the car apart, so I don't know if there was sealer applied there originally or not. Making progress!! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Last Thursday and Friday were pretty successful. I got the outside of the hood sanded down to 240. There were a couple of very small depressions that I spot filled and sanded smooth. The good news is that I didn't create any more body work for myself by re-bonding the hood skin to the frame on the inside. Yay! Then I got the hood wet sanded to 400 and it is now ready for sealer. I rehung the fenders on the aprons to make it easier to sand them. The outside and inside of the doors, outside of the fenders, cowl, a-pillars, dutchman and quarters have now all been sanded to 240 and ready for wet sanding. Now everything is ready for wet sanding, finally!!

 

[gerahead]

After two long days with my hands in the water bucket, the Dart has been completely wet sanded to 400 grit! All that is left are parts I don't have (gas cap on its way and hood scoops that are backordered). What a great feeling to have that behind me!! After wet sanding the hood and the entire passenger side of the car, I realized I had been using the wrong grit! Doooooooh! I had to completely re-do everything that I had already thought to be done. I have run my hands over the whole car like a prom date and it is as smooth as a baby's bottom. Found a couple very minor flaws needing fixing and the glazing has been applied. I will sand those spots down tomorrow. Have I mentioned that it feels good to be done with this? Now to seal it and paint the interior.

 

[gerahead]

I know everyone likes pix! I have all of the exterior sheetmetal in sealer,except for the driver door and the two fenders. I think I have enough materials to get that done tomorrow. I am very happy with how it is turning out!

 

[abdywgn]

all that work, the garage floor is clean and the yard is cut. How do you do it?