Mopowers' 66 Dart Build

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I had a few minutes after work today to treat the rust in the driver's side quarter. My product of choice is phosphoric acid. You just have to be careful about washing it all off before it dries, so I always have a bucket of water, or a hose near by. I used a funnel and hose to direct some acid down into the inner wheel arch crease.

Now, I just have to shoot on some Zero-Rust paint and start gluing in the patch panel.

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I also made a small makeshift puller with some odds and ends to try to pull some small dings out around the wheel arch. Since I don't have a stud welder, my idea was to weld a few finish nails to the low spots and use the puller to gently pull them out, or at least closer to where they should be. Whether it works or not remains to be seen. It only took a few mins and was free to make, so no harm if it fails.

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Finally time for some updates. Got the patch panels in on both sides. Not my best effort, but it'll do the job.

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Filled in the GT trim holes on the sail panel. I'm kind of a minimalist when it comes to trim. For this, I like making plugs to weld in. For me, it helps minimize heat input into large flat panels and helps curtail warping and oil canning.

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I also did a little experiment with some citric acid to de-rust the inner structure of the decklid. It worked like a charm. It took two days, but at a 30:1 mix ratio by weight, this 10 lb bag is enough for 35-ish gallons.

I also ended up soaking both doors, but didn't get any photos. I'm very happy with the results, considering the 10lb bag of citric acid was less than $40. And I still have some left over.

Before:

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During:

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After:

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Finally, I got the rear interior panels sprayed with Raptor liner. I'm happy with the finish. I think it'll look good once the interior is all put together.

Sorry about the lighting on the photos.

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Next up is painting the door/trunk jams, inner side of the deck lid, doors, and reinstalling the re-finished windows/mechanisms, decklid, and doors. I'm excited to see in all back together with the jams all painted. Then, it's just a matter of wiring before it's drive-able. Famous last words...
 
Nice work. Did you thin out the Raptor Liner at all? That stuff can get heavy if applied over larger areas.
 
MidnightSwinger said:
Wiring! Let’s do it!
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Can you tell I'm putting it off? haha!


rmchrgr said:
Nice work. Did you thin out the Raptor Liner at all? That stuff can get heavy if applied over larger areas.
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Thanks! I did not, though I sprayed it at 60 psi at the gun. I didn't get the most uniform texture because I don't have the steadiest hands, but it'll do the job. I laid down one medium-heavy coat and followed it up with a drop coat from about 2 ft away. I just wish I wore gloves. The **** got everywhere!
 
mopowers said:
Thanks! I did not, though I sprayed it at 60 psi at the gun. I didn't get the most uniform texture because I don't have the steadiest hands, but it'll do the job. I laid down one medium-heavy coat and followed it up with a drop coat from about 2 ft away. I just wish I wore gloves. The **** got everywhere!
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Yeah, it's messy. It's not regular paint for sure. I only used it in my wheel wells. I didn't want it to look like a truck bed but wanted some texture to sort of mimic the factory undrcosting. Most nyone can tell it's not original-appearing but it's close enough I suppose. Reducing it allowed me to spray it with my primer gun. (requires a larger tip though like a 1.7-2.0) It does not spray out like paint. I imagine the Schutz gun would have been easy to use but that seemed harder to control and likely more prone to making mistakes and getting Raptor Liner on stuff it wasn't intended to be on.
 
rmchrgr said:
Yeah, it's messy. It's not regular paint for sure. I only used it in my wheel wells. I didn't want it to look like a truck bed but wanted some texture to sort of mimic the factory undrcosting. Most nyone can tell it's not original-appearing but it's close enough I suppose. Reducing it allowed me to spray it with my primer gun. (requires a larger tip though like a 1.7-2.0) It does not spray out like paint. I imagine the Schutz gun would have been easy to use but that seemed harder to control and likely more prone to making mistakes and getting Raptor Liner on stuff it wasn't intended to be on.
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Exactly. I failed to mention that I used a schutz gun. And you're right, it's very tough to control and maintain a consistent speed, distance, etc in order to achieve a consistent finish. But I'm sure that just comes from experience, which I have none of. haha! It's good enough for me though. I still have two quarts too that I'll likely use on the under side of the fenders eventually.

I was even thinking of using the tintable version in the trunk area, but I'm 75% sure I'll just shoot some single stage urethane on it and call it good.
 
Had some more time to tinker today.

I prepped the interior portions of the doors and jams for paint, sprayed the insides with some epoxy primer, and smeared some seam sealer on the lower inner seams to hopefully direct water out through the drain holes in the future instead of the rusting out the seams.

Next up is prepping the inner deck lid, then hopefully start shooting some color on the jams, trunk, and windshield channels, and bolting everything back together.

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Got the inner deck lid prepped for paint. It's amazing how long this type of work takes. At this point, it's just a matter of cleaning and scuffing the door jams on the car and the trunk, then I can start getting some color on it finally.

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Got a little more done this weekend. First, I put in a hand winch to help get this thing back in the garage when I have to push it out. The wife had foot surgery last month and it's been killing me pushing it in on my own. I actually injured a disk a few weeks ago and said enough is enough. I'm getting too old for that ****. Haha!

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Also got the doors jams cleaned up and prepped for paint:

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Then I finished painting the interior panels and put a fresh coat of paint on the dash.

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Now it's just a matter of touching up a couple spots on the cage, painting the jams, window channels, trunk, and inner deck lid and I can start getting this thing all put back together so I can start wiring it.

Here how it currently sits:

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It's been a while since an update but nothing I've been doing is worth taking photos of in my opinion.

After some issues with the paint place, I did finally get the right color figured out. Here are a few of the samples I was provided. I ended up going with Auto Aura single stage WW1. It's made by PPG, so it's pretty dang close to the original. It's the one in the middle of these photos. The other two were another shop's attempt at WW1 using Motocryl. I wasn't fond of either, so I'm going with the AutoAura.

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