Project 440DD

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naturally it is relative to the angle of the car.... my silver Duster is at zero....most factory I have measured is -2 maximum
 
Got the transmission squared up and the angle right. Started on the crossmember pattern. For something as simple as this, it took about 3 hours and a stack of card board templates that I didn’t like before finally getting one I did.

I do think the seat brackets on my challenger seats are going to have to be cut down about 4 inches. May just order universal sliders to build off of and ditch the powered seat option. Powered seats would be awesome but it it’s simply too tall. Only gives me about 3/4 of an inch of head room. It’s that, or try and sink the floor 4 inches but that limits exhaust options.

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Took the day up and spent it mocking and re-mocking things up. I’ve found tape, which I have a large supply of from a closed resto shop in ton a few years ago, works great for helping to visualize before cutting

I tell ya, I’m fairly impressed with this 7.99 cut off wheel from Harbor Freight. It’s cut a TON of sheet metal and today, made work of 1/8th steel plate. The discs suck and eat up quick but the tool works great.

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Rear rails and trans crossmember cut. Now the real fun begins

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Massive dana 60 35 spline axles from dr diff are here!! Now to put her all together. Dart running driving by Christmas? Nah, body work won’t be done by then but she should be down on all 4s and all mock up work done! Ready for Paint by spring is the goal

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Dana 60 track lock unit converted from 30 spline to 35 spline.

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So Friday I spent the day sanding, wire wheeling and welding.

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Nasty job scraping off undercoating.Hit it with solvent,it gets goopy again and much easier to scrape off.
 
Goo Gone Pro-power works well.
thanks!

Anyone got any suggestions for a primer, an etching one for bare metal? should have this car stripped entirely to bare metal by middle of next week
 
thanks!

Anyone got any suggestions for a primer, an etching one for bare metal? should have this car stripped entirely to bare metal by middle of next week

The way Matt does it. Strip, Epoxy primer. Metal work. Body work. Polyester primer. Finish body work. Urethane Primer. Paint. Add craptons of block sanding in between.
 
I love how you're usin all the cardboard for templates. A lot of folks would get the slide rules and blueprints out and try to look all impressive. Redneckin it will have the same outcome a lot quicker. lol Good job.
 
The way Matt does it. Strip, Epoxy primer. Metal work. Body work. Polyester primer. Finish body work. Urethane Primer. Paint. Add craptons of block sanding in between.

That's exactly how it's done in a bodyshop.Never leave bare metal exposed for long and don't touch it with your bare hands either..And yes TONS of sanding...curses....
 
Anyone ever bitches about the price of bodywork needs to work a few days in a bodyshop lol. I spent years sanding,painting,welding,applying bodyfiller.It's labour intensive,and supplies are not cheap.
 
On the suggestion of one of the coffee shop thread regulars, I made some of these a while back to help hold the sheet metal down. They work great so I made some more today.

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yeah, Sublime's idea really works great. and it's cheap, 2 bucks a clamp and some scrap metal
Could go a step further and put them on magnets. We use some very strong magnets for mounting things on presses at work. Would have to experiment with strength. Some of the ones we use could bend sheet metal trying to remove them...
 
Could go a step further and put them on magnets. We use some very strong magnets for mounting things on presses at work. Would have to experiment with strength. Some of the ones we use could bend sheet metal trying to remove them...
I tried a 50 pound magnet and that popped off once I tried clamping down I just need something In the 100-150 pound range I think and itd work
 
Making tubs. Needed a 33 inch diameter tub, figured a 33 inch mud tire off my w200 would work and by golly it did

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