Josh's 73 Dart Sport - "Fred"

-
Might be putting the cart before the horse a little... Josh has a vision for the car and found a set 4 of these on marketplace for $200. The tires are better than 3/4 tread and will be sold off eventually, as that part will not be right for the car. Although two of them turn letters in could work for he rear. Going to do a big bolt pattern disc brake swap eventually, so that won't be an issue. We'll just have to do something with the rear axles to make it BBP as well. we just got home from picking them up...

Screenshot_20230530-220849_Chrome.jpg
 
Well, I am feeling much better about my learning curve and Fred's new roof.

I spent the last couple of day's lunch hour removing the structure from the donor roof off of the brown turd. I managed to get all of the old structure removed, while leaving the rain gutters attached. Looking at Fred's gutters, most of the right side was toast. I thought about it for a few days and decided if I could prep the donor roof like my brain saw it, I would then be able to take a sawzall or a cut off wheel on the angle grinder (my new best friend on this part of the project) and zip the gutters off Fred at the outside edge, leaving the entire original lip.

So I laid the new roof in place for an initial look. I believe it will work just as I imagine it will. Next move will be to mark the existing gutters for the 1st cut, zip them off and set the new lid back in place for a final trim of both the new roof and existing Fred gutters. Once we get it where we feel real good about it, Josh will flap-disc the underside of the roof and spray it with a rubberized undercoating. I figure that will keep some of the "tinny" sound of the sheet metal to a minimum. Then it will be final edge prep/clean of both the roof and of Fred, and panel bond this puppy together, not forgetting to caulk/bond the middle cross brace to the new skin in the process.

I truly do feel a whole lot better about the whole thing now.... WHEW!!!

Oh, and Fred has a flat tire. The dry rotted right rear has finally lost it's ability to hold air for longer than 12 hours... go figure.
20230602_115442.jpg


20230602_115753.jpg



20230602_115813.jpg


20230602_115925.jpg


20230602_115323.jpg
 
Got the old gutters zipped off. Made the final 3 test fits and trims done. Prepped the underside of the new scalp and the original structure. Test fit it again. I'm liking it. Won't have time to bond it in place tomorrow or Wednesday. Hoping for Thursday when Josh gets home from school.
 
I think it is rather customary to include pictures when you describe incredible work done. Jus' sayin'.
 
Josh sent me these pics at work today. He was off school today and stripped the lower front fenders to see how bad they really are. Not to bad, I'd say... I'll show him where I want to cut them out and then we'll make our own patches.

28250.jpeg


28233.jpeg
 
Bonded Fred's new scalp in place this afternoon. Says 4 hrs to cure in 70* Temps. And 72 hours to full strength. We're still in the 50s and 60s at night, so I'll leave it clamped and screwed down until Monday.

20230608_214003.jpg
 
Panel bond is good stuff.
 
sireland67 said:
The panel bond goes along way, plus it is re-usable just leave the twizler tube on the end of the tube.
I would get another tube, just in case.
Click to expand...

So one tube surprised me. I was able to do the "skim" coat on all 4 sides/edges of both the receiving and new roof edges and do the 1/4 bead all the way around all 4 sides. I'm starting to think when we finally get to the quarters, this just may be the way to go.
 
ragtopfury said:
So one tube surprised me. I was able to do the "skim" coat on all 4 sides/edges of both the receiving and new roof edges and do the 1/4 bead all the way around all 4 sides. I'm starting to think when we finally get to the quarters, this just may be the way to go.
Click to expand...
I did the 1/2 quarters on my Duster this way, no warp from welding, just use a flange tool and float them in place
 
No real big progress on Fred with vacations and life in general going on. However, we finished harvesting the floors out of the brown turd and picked up a running rebuildable 904 from a 318 Duster this past weekend.
At Carlisle we brought home a 340 k frame, an Offy 4 barrel intake, FMJ spindles rotors and brackets, a pair of factory sport mirrors, tail light lenses and a couple of Dodge and Dart emblems. And a couple of t shirts. LOL

Still need to harvest the trunk extensions, b pillars and outer rockers, just in case.

Nothing to show on Fred, but here is the turd and the trans. The other parts are in the shed, already.
20230725_121044.jpg


20230725_121119.jpg
 
Well, today we finally got around to finishing the floors we harvested out of the brown turd. Fred now has floors to hold our feet in. I think we'll finish the roof seams before cutting into the quarters.

20231007_152852.jpg
 
Looking good, you are teaching your son well.
 
Update from post #63.... Right side trunk gutter is pretty much done. So is the A pillar on the right side. Just some finishing body work to do on them. Saving all that til after all the big stuff is done.


1697738017687.png


1697738074895.png


1697738103328.png


1697738144187.png
 
JDMopar said:
Well....at least you're fixing it so all the other cars don't say "Here comes Fred with the knotty head!"

:lol:
Click to expand...

After thinking about it, the roof did come from the donor carcass that we call "the brown turd". So it is only appropriate that it was lumpy......:rolleyes:
 
A little more progress. Left side of the roof is done as much as the right side. Just needs finishing body smoothing. I am very pleased with the roof, as a whole.
I might end up kicking myself for leaving every thing for the final bodywork til the end, but my thought process is get the big stuff done and real close, then primer the whole car with a high build primer to block it out and find the high and low spots all at once....
In the meantime we did the home made patch for the right fender the other day and I finished it today during my lunch break.




Lf Sail Panel.jpg


Rt fr fender.jpg
 
Nice job! Any pics of the fender patch construction and repair? I have a nice fender that needs a little rust repair in the dog leg area. I wish to keep it as a spare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top