moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Exhaust fan at the ready. 3 coats of 2K primer. It makes me feel good inside sealing that up. Now i cant wait to unwrap the paper lol. My son was so excited to see it like that in primer.
67/68/69 cuda dilemma
- Thread starter moparmat2000
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moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Door has defects in it, but thats what high build primer and a sanding block are for lol. My main concern currently is treating the corrosion and stopping it.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Started on stripping front fender. Unfortunately our supposed straight fender had a bit of plastic in it. Its ok, i'm an artist w bondo. Looks like they beat it out pretty close to where it needs to be. All i need is my longboard and a dream. I need to pull the fender off however. Theres some cracks i need to weld up, and the back edge where it meets the door needs a bit of tweaking. After this one is done and primered, i am thinking cowl and A pillars are next.
When the guys did the work on mine there was significant attention paid to the A-pillars the windshield and rear window openings. I took the window trim to the shop for them to use as a guide and they added metal, sanded, and shaped the edge so that when the trim was installed the edge would be clean and even. That was definitely not the case from the factory.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I know. Factory leaves a bit to be desired. We arent going for jewel like, but i will be looking at making sure the trim fits well. I will be installing a new dutchman panel, and will be cutting and reworking the rear window corners in the quarters with steel patches since theres pinholes in these spots.
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moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I think i over did a bit it last weekend. After that all this past week i had been dealing with lower back issues. Feels like somebody drop kicked me in the tailbone. Been resting a bit and feeling better although yesterday i had a need to strip the paint on the fender, and had to finish up the bodywork and get that door in epoxy primer to seal it. So its gonna be a bit slow going for awhile until i can work on it and not hurt. Getting old sucks
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I am changing the quarter half skins, but have to repair everything else. The nasty and poorly repaired body job on the LH rear quarter that rusted has been bugging me pretty hard. Initially my thought was to derust it and reevaluate what i have. Second thought was derust the perimeter of it so i can see whats decent enough to save, the typical sheetmetal gage on one of these old A bodies is 19ga. Which is fairly thin. I have a 4'x4' sheet of it to fab whatever i need. Decided where i am going to cut and buttweld in a new patch, and fabbed up a patch section. Heres current pix. As i cut it all out, prep it to weld it in, and weld it together i will take more pix. I have sheetmetal buttweld clecos, a thick aluminum plate, and some heavy duty magnets to hold it in place so i can tack it in.
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moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Got quarter repair patch ready to weld in. Going to put pix in order. Gap is approx .030" all the way around to allow for penetration and expansion. Using spray on machinest dye i scribed where i needed to cut and file using the patch and a circle template as the templates, Part is taped from underneath with aluminum tape. Will be using high strength magnets to hold it as i tack it in. I prefer rounded corners. I am in aviation sheetmetal repair for a living. In my line of work, sharp inside corners are stress risers for cracks. These probably would be ok welded up in a car using square corners, but old habits die hard, or are hard to change lol.
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dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Cool build I'm following along! (I know I'm 5 years late haha)
I cant wait to see your wife's face when she sees the finished product. I bet she regrets that Facebook post Haha.
You did alot more work on that quarter than in would have I would have neutralized the rust and bonded the pitting! Nice work cant wait to see more!!
I cant wait to see your wife's face when she sees the finished product. I bet she regrets that Facebook post Haha.
You did alot more work on that quarter than in would have I would have neutralized the rust and bonded the pitting! Nice work cant wait to see more!!
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I concidered complete rust removal, then beating the dent out of the panel, and applying body filler, however it was soooo thin with what was left that my fear would be that it would end up too weak. However with this repair, its back to original thickness and strength, and only a skim coat of filler will be needed to get it perfectly level.
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dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Yea I agree you did it the right way. I would have done it the easy way. Lol your welding skills and body skills are a million times better than mine too!!
IMFURYS
IMFURYS
You're doing awesome work. Let me know when you're about done, I might need to tow a certain '69 fastback a couple miles down the road to your place, lol.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I am detailing repairs as i go in order to help others who may not have the skills that i do. Where i work, i run a sheetmetal shop, as well as train people up to do aviation sheetmetal for the company i work for. In a lot of ways aviation sheetmetal differs from this. Such as rivets, rivet spacing, aluminum, and stainless steel sheet being used come into play instead of plain carbon steel sheet, a welder, spot welding, then hiding the repair with body filler. However the fabrication of repair pieces is quite similar in both. Replacing floor pans, and quarter skins is similar too.
Preparation is key to a solid long lasting job. If you can solder wire or sweat fit copper pipe, you can wire weld. The key to welding thin sheet steel like this is to NOT get in a hurry. A patch this size will take me about 2 hours to weld in fully. A quarter panel half skin with a non stock seam across the top typically will take me an 8 hour day to fit, ensure panel gaps are correct, and hang in place. It will then typically take 8 hours then to fully seam weld it.
I will space the tack welds about 1 inch apart all the way around then let it cool. All the while checking with a straightege across both pieces that the panels are flat and even with one another. Then place tack welds 1 inch apart centered in between the first tacks all the way around while again checking to maintain flatness between panels and letting the metal cool. Every time you go around the patch you check this. High spots you carefully knock level with the pick side of a body hammer, or use a sharpened screwdriver and a hammer to carefully bump the high spots down.
The keys to not warping the **** out of it are quick tack welds, spacing, not getting it too hot in one spot, letting things cool down. I also use a small 1/4" thick aluminum plate i hold underneath pressed against the seam where i am welding if i can get to it, as well as a copper spoon looking thing with a handle. These 2 items act as heat sinks to help by drawing the heat and help hold the liquid metal in place where its being tacked in. Steel welding wont stick to either of them.
Also cover up any glass and trim with a heavy welders blanket, and leave it covered for the grinding process afterwards, or remove the glass or trim if possible. Orange and red hot sparks from welding and grinding will embed themselves in metal trim and in glass, and ruin it.
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IMFURYS
IMFURYS
Matt,
You are an awesome worker/fabricator/innovator and instructor. From my job, I'm more familiar with the latter and you do a great job of showing us novices what is involved.
Now if I can just find that tow dolly and head west about 1,525 miles, lol.
Dan
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Shes long forgotten the fakebook post. My son is gonna have something cool though.
Any reason not to TIG weld?
An old friend stopped by yesterday on his way home to Amarillo. We got to talking about old times. Beer drinking, riding bikes, chasing women, racing and cars. He asked if I still had that old '69 Barracuda. He said that car was a bad *** at Kennedale, Paris, Thunder Valley and several more drag strips. He's gonna look through his old stuff to see if he's got some pictures of the Taz.
I'll send them to you if he finds any. Might be cool to find out a little history on the car.
I'll send them to you if he finds any. Might be cool to find out a little history on the car.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Dont own a tig, got a mig though. I used to flux core weld, but thats super messy. Its ok for fixing a fence line, or doing a stick built steel building. I love having a mig setup.
Did you happen to show him this thread of us redoing it?
If he finds some cool old pix of it racing at the strip, i would love to have them.
Did you happen to show him this thread of us redoing it?
If he finds some cool old pix of it racing at the strip, i would love to have them.
No I didn't. He saw the car parked by the shop years ago but didn't realize it was the Taz. He said he never beat it with his '70 Duster. However, he thought the guy was from the Sherman area, not Paris, TX. Maybe the car just ended up in Paris after his death. IDK.
I'll send you pics if/when I get them.
I'll send you pics if/when I get them.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Cool, thank you.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Latest installment. Slow going letting it cool between rounds of tackwelds until its solid. Then angle grinder to knock em down, followed up with a 3" scotchbrite 36 grit roloc on my air angle die grinder. I will follow this up with 80 grit sandpaper on a DA sander.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
You can see how well the evaporust gel worked on the rust in the quarter to dutchman seam. We are sanding the quarter down only about 4 inches from the top edge and door opening since its gonna get cut off and a new half quarter will get seamed in. Little hands work well in tight spots. LOL !! Still got to finish a little sanding on the C pillar, and work the A pillar. I need to do some evaporust gel on some of the pitted spots in the quarter, and a little bodywork, then its time for some more 2K primer.
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IMFURYS
IMFURYS
I love seeing Patrick working with you, awesome father/son time.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Heres where i stopped tonight. A lot of work for 1 day. Pretty far i think for only being at it for 19 days.
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IMFURYS
IMFURYS
That's an awesome amount of work Matt. I'm glad Patrick is showing you how to get things done, lol. I actually looked at mine for almost 5 minutes yesterday-awesome progress too, huh?
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