67/68/69 cuda dilemma

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Rust on cowl skin is all gone. Clean steel with some pitting spots. Wiped it down with TSP and water mixture, scrubbed the last of the naval jelly off, and neutralized it. Then scuffed it all down with 80 grit on a DA sander. Have to do a bit of bodywork to it. Weld fill a few holes from what was a cowl mounted gage panel. Clean off the paint from the rest of the cowl inlet fins. Then it will be time to primer it. I figured i would clean up and primer the windshield opening all the way around while i was at it as well. Need to fix a few issues where the lead fill is in the lower corners of the windshield opening as well.

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What do you neutralize the jelly with? Does the jelly seem to affect the lead filler any?
 
Doesnt affect the lead filler, i use a gallon bucket with TSP and water. Wipe the majority of the naval jelly off with a paper towel, then keep rinsing and scrubbing with the wire brush and the TSP water solution. Use paper towels to thoroughly dry it off. It will foam up when you put the TSP and water on it. Its neutralizing the acid.
 
Love the detail in this thread. So the process is naval jelly, tsp and water (what ratio ?) and then drying.
What do you use on your DA to smooth out before you spray the primer ?
 
4 tablespoons to a gallon of water is what i been using to neutralize it. Wipe off excess first with paper towel, then scrub the area in question well with small wire brush dipped in the TSP water solution, and wipe it with paper towel wet in tsp water solution, then wipe dry. I try to rinse and rinse multiple times. i keep 2 buckets. One for dipping and scrubbing with a wire brush, second one with a cleaner tsp water mixture. That second one is for dipping the paper towels in. Then i use 80 grit on my DA to smooth it out.

The clean pitting gets filled with a skim coat of evercoat fine scratch filler polyester glazing putty and sanded smooth with 220 on a DA so only the pits are filled. Then an epoxy primer gets sprayed over all of it.
 
4 tablespoons to a gallon of water is what i been using to neutralize it. Wipe off excess first with paper towel, then scrub the area in question well with small wire brush dipped in the TSP water solution, and wipe it with paper towel wet in tsp water solution, then wipe dry. I try to rinse and rinse multiple times. i keep 2 buckets. One for dipping and scrubbing with a wire brush, second one with a cleaner tsp water mixture. That second one is for dipping the paper towels in. Then i use 80 grit on my DA to smooth it out.

The clean pitting gets filled with a skim coat of evercoat fine scratch filler polyester glazing putty and sanded smooth with 220 on a DA so only the pits are filled. Then an epoxy primer gets sprayed over all of it.
Thanks so much, will be trying this on my valve covers and whenever the mood strikes.hahah
 
I gave a lot of thought to how i intended to fill these 2 holes where a gage panel was mounted to the cowl when this was a drag race car. I have no access from the underside, and if i weld onto it to fill it, the holes are so big, all i would do is warp the metal and put a blobby mess on the inside of the cowl. The cowl plenum and standpipes are super solid, and so theres really no reason to remove the upper cowl skin. Heres what i came up with.

I used a screwdriver and carefully hit it with a hammer on the eges of the holes to slightly concave the holes a little more. Using a ball rotary file i cleaned up the edges of the holes, then hand sanded them with 80 grit to rough up the metal. I originally thought about applying JB weld directly to the holes with a bondo spreader but thought if i did that, i would have globs of JB weld push through the holes. Well theres more than one way to skin a cat so to speak. LoL.

What i came up with was using squares of sandwich bag plastic. I applied the mixed up JB weld to flat unwrinkled plastic sandwich bag and smoothed it out leaving it a little high in the middle. Then i stuck the plastic and JB weld over the 2 holes in the cowl, and rubbed down the edges of the JB weld on the plastic sandwich bag fairing it into the sheetmetal. I pressed lightly in the middle to make sure it was stuck down but did not so hard it would make stalagtites on the underside of the cowl.

My theory if i am correct, is that the plastic will peel right off when the JB weld dries leaving it intact. I can then sand it to shape, and apply a skim coat of body filler over it if need be.

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I gave a lot of thought to how i intended to fill these 2 holes where a gage panel was mounted to the cowl when this was a drag race car. I have no access from the underside, and if i weld onto it to fill it, the holes are so big, all i would do is warp the metal and put a blobby mess on the inside of the cowl. The cowl plenum and standpipes are super solid, and so theres really no reason to remove the upper cowl skin. Heres what i came up with.

I used a screwdriver and carefully hit it with a hammer on the eges of the holes slightly concave the holes a little more. Using a ball rotary file i cleaned up the edges of the holes, then hand sanded them with 80 grit to rough up the metal. I originally thought about applying JB weld directly to the holes with a bondo spreader but thought if i did that, i would have globs of JB weld push through the holes. Well theres more than one way to skin a cat so to speak. LoL.

What i came up with was using squares of sandwich bag plastic. I applied the mixed up JB weld to flat unwrinkled plastic sandwich bag and smoothed it out leaving it a little high in the middle. Then i stuck the plastic and JB weld over the 2 holes in the cowl, and rubbed down the edges of the JB weld on the plastic sandwich bag fairing it into the sheetmetal. I pressed lightly in the middle to make sure it was stuck down but did not so hard it would make stalagtites on the underside of the cowl.

My theory if i am correct, is that the plastic will peel right off when this stuff dries leaving it intact. I can then sand it to shape, and apply a skim coat of body filler over it if need be.

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That's awesome Matt.
 
Well we will see how ingenious it is, if the plastic peels off nicely in a little bit. JB weld is some pretty tough stuff. The concave i tapped around the holes was to give it a little more thickness for more strength so it doesnt crack or chip out.
 
Well we will see how ingenious it is, if the plastic peels off nicely in a little bit. JB weld is some pretty tough stuff. The concave i tapped around the holes was to give it a little more thickness for more strength so it doesnt crack or chip out.
Your brain must get tired every now and then. Hope the back is doing better. Hope doc visit went well too. I'll be testing my back out on my road trip tomorrow.
 
It never shuts off. Back doing ok. Little tweaks n pains here and there. Part of getting old i guess.
 
Went out there for about an hour or so tonight. Plastic peeled off like a charm. Just like i thought it might. I sanded the JB weld down, applied some fine polyester scratch filler over the top of the JB weld, and on all the clean pitted steel areas (yellow filler). Those areas will get sanded smooth all the way down to bare metal with 220 and the filler will only stay in the pits to hide the pitting.

I also used my stud puller and pulled the 2 dents on the left side of the cowl out a bit, filled them and the screwdriver pry marks around the LH wiper shaft hole with regular dent filling body filler (pink). Once those get sanded to shape, i will apply the yellow scratch filler over them, and sand them smoother with 220 sandpaper.

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Went out there for about an hour or so tonight. Plastic peeled off like a charm. Just like i thought it might. I sanded the JB weld down, applied some polyester scratch filler over the top of the JB weld, and on all the clean pitted steel areas. I also used my stud puller and pulled the 2 dents on the left side of the cowl out a bit, filled them and the screwdriver pry marks around the LH wiper shaft hole.

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Genius!!! I am curious as to it’s longevity. Heck of an idea
 
Its pretty tough stuff. It has a heat and cool rate similar to steel. Prob never crack out. Have 2 spots in windshield lower corners i had to use a rotary file to dig out the lead, and there was surface rust under there. Currently letting naval jelly eat it out of there. I will use JB weld in place of the lead i ground out of there, and rework the opening so the windshield stainless fits good.
 
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Its pretty tough stuff. It has a heat and cool rate similar to steel. Prob never crack out. Have 2 spots in windshield lower corners i had to use a rotary file to dig out the lead, and there was surface rust under there. Currently letting naval jelly eat it out. I will use JB weld in place of the lead i ground out of there, and rework the opening so the windshield stainless fits good.
Can’t wait! I’ve got a set of caliper brackets basking in navy jelly as we speak
 
Not looking forward to sanding the paint off the rest of those fresh air vent fins. Only 1/3 of the way thru.
 
Not looking forward to sanding the paint off the rest of those fresh air vent fins. Only 1/3 of the way thru.

You know it's just more of the fun that ya gotta do. Getting ready to roll. Maybe give you a call or you can call me tom morning around 10-12 if I see something I think you'd like or if you think of anything, give me a call. I'm going to be looking for a couple of items for another member and will bring back if he has it so no shipping for that guy either.
Keep up the good work while I'm out hunting , or is that road runners/barracudas?
 
Will be on the road by then. Headed to father in laws place. Pretty good here. Not too much more i need thats hard to find. Actually cant think of anything right now thats a must have, but thanks anyways.
 
All this work i am doing on the cowl panel when one new is available. Well i dont have $500 to spare for a new replacement plus anybody with basic sheetmetal repair/welding knowledge can replace one. IMHO, it takes a true craftsman, or maybe an effin nut to repair a battered and beat up one lol.
 
A bit more today. I dont think those windows had soap and water put to em for at least 20 years. Lol

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Yep gettin there. Finally got last of rust out of bottom corners of windshield opening where cowl seam meets. Gonna repair where the lead was with JB weld. That ought to be tough enough. Got a couple good hours to go on it like maybe a day to go and i can spot prime it all.
 
Went junkyarding today. Found a 74 Valiant with 10" manual drum brakes. According to Hemi71X the 73 up SBP cars with 10" front drums will have 73 up disc brake lower ball joints, and will have LBJ UCAs. Well this was a LBJ UCA car with 10" drums. I grabbed the Lower ball joints only to keep it a roller for now. I borrowed a set of disc brake lower ball joints from a buddy of mine that builds dirt track mopars so i could get this car home. These are a set of the mock up joints he uses, so now that i have a set just to keep it a roller for now, i can give them back. The UCAs are indeed LBJ arms. These are typical clean west Texas parts. A good sandblasting and the metal will look great on these. This stuff fought me a bit getting it apart, but not too bad. I have SBJ arms currently installed just to hold everything together for now. Will swap in the other arms just so its all together for a later rebuild.

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