Top replacement?

[azaustin]

Today I found rust along the drip rail under the seam sealer that goes through to the inside in a few places. There are also some pretty well rusted areas at the bottom of the A-pillars on both sides and some rust in the plenum of the cowl. I have already replaced both rear quarters from the door jamb back, the complete trunk surround, package tray with the bottom of the window surround, floor pans, trunk floor, partial and complete wheel houses, upper shock mount, half a rear sub frame, the cross panel under the rear gravel pan, etc. I was just getting ready to finally put the car on the rotisserie after I got the dash out and front end removed, and the K-frame out. Waiting for my torsion bar removal tool from Mancini for that. Today’s discoveries were a big disappointment. I’m not even sure how to go about replacing what needs to be repaired. I have a donor car that is a two door post. It’s an Arizona car and has pretty much rust-free the parts I would need.

My car is a ‘65 Dart GT with the 235hp 273 and a four-speed. It’s also an original yellow car with the black vinyl half-top. I’m trying to make it a clone of the Dart GoGo I had in high school. I’d consider buying another car and just junking this one, but 4-speed 235hp ‘65 coupes are extremely rare. I have a lot of parts for this car (and for my ‘65 GT 235hp/904 convertible), Kelsey disc brakes, tabbed LCA’s, sway bars, etc. Should I just junk my coupe, or go a little farther? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Put the whole roof on or you'll be chasing the rust . I did a 62 years ago and after cutting out all the rust I ended up putting the cowl on with the a-pillars.. I had others where I just cut the a-pillars at the bottom.

I am sure you are going to find the a-pillars are rusted on the inside. Once the rain gutter rusts through the water runs through all the inner framing and the moisture will be behind all that inner structure of the roof where it was bare metal from new.

The moisture evaporates up and usually moistens the whole inner roof structure. Remove the roof skin and you can clean up the frame. But you will never clean out the a-pillars and you will never know how far they are rotted on the inside. Been there.

 

[azaustin]

That‘s what I was thinking. Not sure if the cowl comes off of the plenum by drilling the spot welds above the firewall, or if I have to take the whole thing, plenum and all off. I ordered a body assembly manual from ebay that is supposed to show how it all fits together. I’m going to study that and try to come up with a game plan. It’s just disappointing to have to go a little further after all the work I’ve done already. I already have the body braced with steel angle across the door openings and crossed braced between them. I guess I could rig up some cross bracing from the inner B-pillar panes and across the inner roof supports to keep it all square. I made jigs up keep the spring hangars square and correct when I replaced part of one of the sub-frames, and cross-braced the entire trunk surround from my donor car when I removed it. It all came out square and true, but it was a lot of work. I don’t want to end up with a windshield that doesn’t fit, or side windows that won’t seal. For my rear window I made a plywood jig before I took it apart and then fitted the donor trunk surround/lower window frame to that. It came out pretty close.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Get some square stock and make a fixture using the other car before you cut it apart. You need 8 legs on a a sturdy frame There are holes in the rails . 2 at the front and 2 at the back of the front rails . And the same on the rear rails . I have seen guys make them out of 2 inch square stock. and set the fixture on a level concrete floor. Ours is made with a I beam fixture it is over kill. I included pictures of ours and others. This keeps all the rails square and in place.

 

[azaustin]

That is a nice setup. Thanks for your advice. I used 2” square tubing and 2” angle when I did the rear of my car and it worked real well. I used a factory frame chart and checked for level before and after using a digital level. My lift is very level, so I set the car on it and leveled it to that. Since I don’t have an old Hunter alignment rack I will try to come up with something that will basically let me do the same thing that you did. My inner fender supports are welded on from the firewall to the radiator support, so I may try building some jigs that will tie the top of the firewall to the sub frames on each side. I can triangulate from the inner firewall to my existing temporary bracing on the inside. I‘ll brace the top on the donor car before I remove it the same way I did the trunk surround so it’s rigid when I remove it. I can add some bracing between the B pillar inner structure below the leaded joint to keep that in place as well. I glad I cut the B pillar below the lead joint when I installed the quarter panels. The lead joint will give me a good, solid mounting point when I mount the roof from the donor.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

If you set the car on a fixture you can cut it apart and reassemble it. As long as the fixture is made correctly by using a straight body it will always stay square and straight. The most important is to measure the 4 heights to the frame of the car front to rear under the alignment holes if making a permanent stand.

If you look at the stands made of 2" square tubes they are adjustable. Set the car on and slide them up and lock them down. The car will always stay where it is. My stand is made for A-bodies 67-76 . It is very strong and heavy and the stands are a fixed height. We use it to straighten cars that are bent. We can pull or jack the a car to straighten it using the fixure.


We have the gold Demon on it right now. When we went to install the new AMD quarter it would not fit. The car was hit sometime in its life and was up in the left rear 3/4"

 

[azaustin]

An adjustable frame jig is definitely the way to go. If I’d known I was going to have to do this much work I might have built one. Then again, if I’d known that, I would probably bought a different car. too late now. Some pictures attached of how I did it. My car had mostly old rust repair damage, poorly done. Interestingly enough, the distance between the passenger side spring perches was 3/16” short - from the factory. When I replaced the part of the driver’s side sub-frame I built it to factory spec. I plan to shim the passenger side rear spring hangar to make up the difference when I’m done. It was probably just luck, but when I got everything back together it was still straight and square, and met the specs on the factory frame chart. Thanks again for your advice.