Not mine, but it followed me home! 
Another straggler followed me home!
- Thread starter gdrill
- Start date
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Well, now the shitty part. Grinding! It has to be done, but I dislike it. However, solid floors are worth all the effort involved. I showed in the first pic how I plug weld to the frame rails. A friend suggested that a hole into the actual rail will ensure good penetration though it. So, I use a self tapper, then remove it when its time and drill a larger hole in the panel being attached. That way I concentrate the weld heavily into the frame hole and circle my way out onto the panel. Then there is the patch I had to fabricate to close up the missing area.
Ground, cleaned and primed. The passenger side is good now. The driver is about the same condition.
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The driver side is tacked in place. It was actually in a lot better condition, but there is no point putting half the replacement panel in. So it gets the same treatment as the other. Tomorrow, the floors will be rock solid in this 69!
![IMG_6830[1].JPG](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/img_6830-1-jpg.1715217106/ "IMG_6830[1].JPG")
I was so glad to get this part behind me on my 66, looking great and congratulations
I agree Mike. I don't mind repairing floors, but I am damn glad when they are done! It's actually one of those jobs that make a car much more sale-able. Most people see the floor rotted out and run. I see the floor and then get underneath and check the rails!
The floors are done! Yeah!!!! 
And into the engine bay. There is a hole in the cowl that looks way worse than it is. It is the only thing that nearly stopped me from buying this car. But it is really superficial. Then the inner fender has a couple issues. I have a few inner fenders around that have various good pieces on them. So I will cut patches from them and avoid the whole process of removing the entire inner. If this was a show car or something with pedigree, I would replace the whole thing.......but it's not! As a good friend told me, white and yellow make every bit of rust look soooooo much worse than it really is!
Well, it'll do! I'm not real happy with it, but it's solid and secure. If I happen to come across a good inner I may end up changing the whole thing.
And the cowl is ready to grind.....yea! Cleaned out a bunch of pine needles and gave it a wire wheel the best I could. Then a shot of Tremclad to help seal it and on goes the cover. Another little task off the list. I'm glad this was an easy repair, as I said, I darn near didn't buy the car because I couldnt be sure how deep it went.
I decided to start timing myself to see how long this is taking me. This morning I repaired the inner structure, ground the cowl and fabbed in the inner bench. This took me 3 1/2 hrs to do. I may not be a super fast repair guy, but I think I'm doing OK. In hindsight if I had realized how good of shape this inner fender was in I would have just changed the whole thing. Oh well, live and learn!
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Another 2 hrs and the engine bay is rust free. Weather permitting, I plan on sand blasting and priming the bay tomorrow.
Today was a day I have been waiting for. I finished up all the rust repair, sand blasted and primed the engine bay. I have to say, this makes it a whole new car. She looked pretty rough when I got her, but looks are usually very deceiving..........both ways. What looks bad can sometimes be good and vice versa.
And I have to leave in order to stop working on the car! I'm going to a buddies place for a bit. Otherwise, there is plenty more I can do!
Dartnut
Don't hate me because i'm beautiful
Lookin' good, George!
It's come a long way from last weekend when i last saw it.
What's next?
It's come a long way from last weekend when i last saw it.
What's next?
Thanx Tom. It is a different car now. Very solid. I was thinking of taking a day off........but you know me! I woke up pondering cleaning up the Duster hood and installing the scoops I got from Rob. It only has two little spots in the bay to repair and then it's good. I don't know.........
I decided the scoops are not going on for now. But black out was in order. This hood will likely be replaced. I think it looks better this way.
![IMG_6904[1].JPG](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/img_6904-1-jpg.1715219089/ "IMG_6904[1].JPG")
I degreased the trunk, wire wheeled the black paint out, and degreased it again. Then it got a coat of primer. There a few pinholes, but overall it's in very good condition. The holes in the tire well are from the trailer hitch. It was installed very well so I think it may have been a dealer thing.
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I am converting the Duster interior from Blah to Black. I did some repairs to the panels and gave them a coat. That tan color just isn't very appealing. These panels aren't perfect, but they are far from destroyed.
The Duster's interior soft parts aren't too bad. Whoever buys this from me can get new door panels, but the look pretty good for their age. Now I will quickly do the sail panels and dash frame. After that I'm going to get the doors into primer and change the color to black inside as well. I noticed yesterday the Dart was ordered without rear arm rests and radio delete as well. Now I need a delete plate!
I didn't get to the sail panels. But I got the dash frame done up. I painted it in my favorite Krylon high heat BBQ paint. This stuff just looks so good when it's done! Not too dull, not too shiny. Then I looked around and found a pad that wasn't too bad, as the Duster's is fairly rough. I decided I'm not giving up my mint one unless somebody want's to pay correctly for it. So I figured I would give the JB Weld in the cracks a try. We'll see how it sands out tomorrow. Then I'll paint it black as well.
Far from perfect, but a heck of a lot better than it was! If you wanted to spend hours and hours, you could actually repair a dash very well.
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Doors are primed on the outside and getting black on the inside. The driver door is nice but the pass side has some putty in it. If I would have remembered that I would have grabbed another door while I was at Tom's parts yard! OH well, next trip. For now it will get paint to match everything anyway.
Thank you Darren. I am motivated too! Here are the interiors of the doors. The Duster now has a black interior vs blah. Mind you, it still needs seat covers, headliner and carpet!
The last pic is for 89on35s. This is my 84on35s!
The last pic is for 89on35s. This is my 84on35s!
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