1970 Swinger 340 Hemi Orange 4 speed

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340sFastback said:
Outstanding job on the cowl! Keep those progress pics coming!
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Thanks!! I got my K frame back from the dippers and epoxied it. I took some gun wash and a red scotch-brite and scuffed it up to give the epoxy something to bite to and clean the flash rust off. Having parts dipped is the way to go.. The parts come out spotless!! I will beat some of the dents out of the bottom and put a coat of semi gloss paint on it when I get a chance. The factory welds on the K frame are terrible! They must be strong tho because they haven't broke after 40+ years.

I read somewhere that the washer welded on the front meant it was a 340 K frame and had additinal welds and extra bracing around the lower control arm mounts..this one has the extra half moon brace around the lower control arm mount.







 
I also got my chrome fender extension moldings today. Thanks Joel Cooper! I have been looking for a mint set of these for a long time and finally got a set. I'm going to give them a good polishing and repaint the black and set them aside for when the car is done. I have the hood molding as well (I got that one from Greg) and I will fix a couple dings in it and polish it out with my Dads polisher and it'll be perfect too, the grille surround moldings for these cars are hard to find! The hood one is stainless steel so it can be repaired, but the fender extension ones are chrome plated pot metal and they all seem to be pitted beyond repair.. Especially from around here.



 
I got my K frame painted. I used Tremclad Semi gloss black and mixed it 4:1:1 with acrylic enamel hardener and reducer. I already sprayed a test piece prior to painting the K frame and it turned out great with a low gloss hard as a rock finish. I read mixed reviews online on catalized Tremclad with most of them being good, so I figured I'd try it.. It works great!! It must be the old style Tremclad, not the new water based junk. I like how tough Tremclad is, but it always seams to stay really soft and isn't resistant to chemical spills so catilizing it fixes this problem and its a really cheap alternative to semi gloss chassis paint.

Here is the K frame painted.. It's still shiny since it was recently sprayed. Tomorrow it'll dull down once it's dried, to the finish I want.





Tomorrow I am gonna rough out the body work on the cowl lead seams, weld up a hole on the firewall and a few on the inner fender where the A/C components went and then do some seam sealing down the A pillar area, like factory and then epoxy it. Next weekend I'll start on the roof rust repair and strip the roof of all the original paint. I still have to strip the E coat off the new fenders and epoxy them.. Pretty soon the outside of the car will be all one colour!
 
Yes, that's a 340 K-member as you described. Nice job,i just had to do some creative welding on a non 340 part to make it look as close as possible to yours. Its hard to re-create the horse shoe supports around the lower control arm mounts, but mines close.
 
Vitamin c said:
Yes, that's a 340 K-member as you described. Nice job,i just had to do some creative welding on a non 340 part to make it look as close as possible to yours. Its hard to re-create the horse shoe supports around the lower control arm mounts, but mines close.
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Thanks! Yeah it's not much different from a 318 K frame.. I guess there prone to tearing out the lower control arm sleeve on the K frame and that little reinforcement helps, all the K frames should've had this.

All dry and had the proper shine.

 
Subscribed to your thread. Can't say enough about the outstanding work you are doing. I am very partial to your car. Great Job!
 
Moepar said:
Subscribed to your thread. Can't say enough about the outstanding work you are doing. I am very partial to your car. Great Job!
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Thanks for the compliment!! I am glad you're enjoying the build.

Here's about 10hrs worth of sanding.. I smoothed out all the dents from someone trying to install headers and other misc dents around the trans hump and I also butt welded in a piece where there was a 1/2" hole drilled in the firewall from an oil gauge. I then went over all my welds with dura glass. Tomorrow I'll continue sanding and then epoxy it all. I also roughed in the lead seams with all metal and I'll finish them with a skim coat of filler once it's time for bodywork.







 
I spent another day sanding and welding up random holes (13 holes total) and also got the Z bar bracket welded on. I ground off the vin on the rad support to get rid of any confusion in the future as well.

I just finished epoxying it and it's nice to see it all one colour!



















 
Did I miss two more holes or does something go here?



I also got my Rallye dash reinforcement plate and screws.. Thanks again Joel! Somebody stole the one off my Rallye dash along with all the screws.

 
RS23VOA said:
Looking nice! Great work!
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Thanks!!

So I was doing some research on what those holes could be and it looks like someone mounted something there, so tonight I'll weld them up. I also noticed one of the holes for where the voltage regulator mounts is oversized, so I have to weld that one up too and then drill it out to the proper size for the original bolt. I'm also going to drip check some seams and seam seal the A pillars and then strip and epoxy the fenders. This weekend I want to start on the roof, we'll see how far i get.
 
I managed to work on the car this evening and welded up the two holes on the firewall.. They were bugging me all day! I also fixed the holes where the voltage regulator goes, since they were both oversized (explains why the voltage regulator was bolted to the inner fender) I just added weld around the holes and then ground them down and re drilled them and then ran the proper self tapping bolts into the holes. Now I won't have any future problems when it comes time to assemble.

I also drip checked a bunch of seams including the inner fender to firewall seam just to prevent water and dirt going into there.. I know it's not original, but it'll be practically unnoticeable once it dries because it sucks right into the seams and dries rock hard. I also seam sealed the A pillar area and made it close to original as possible, it's hard making it look messy after how much work I did in these areas, but that's the way it was!



















 
dammit...just dammit....this is frickin some top notch work here man...wish i had that skill...
 
Project looks like it is coming along very nicely. Great work. What did you use for drip check?
 
mopardude318 said:
dammit...just dammit....this is frickin some top notch work here man...wish i had that skill...
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Thanks!

340duster said:
Project looks like it is coming along very nicely. Great work. What did you use for drip check?
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Thanks, it is 3M drip chek.. I believe you took a picture of it when you were here. I got it from Carlsons here in Edmonton. It's really nice stuff, you just can't smear it with your finger like regular seam sealer so you get one shot at it.

No progress today, I ended up cleaning the garage, since it got pretty messy!! Tomorrow I'll put the hood back on and hopefully strip a fender. I would like to get them epoxied and mounted back on.
 
I stripped the fender with tonight.. Tomorrow I'll do the other one.

Stripped with 80grit on the orbital.


The turn signal hole was to small so I opened it up a bit for the turn signal bezel to fit. Hopefully the repop ones are the same size as the originals.












One piece at a time!
 
Got some more things done today! I repaired the lower A pillar near the bottom of the windshield frame by welding in a patch and added some more welding rod to the top of my door to even the gap.. I also added some weld to the edge of the lower fender to tighten the gap too. I then adjusted the door and it's now perfect, the fenders will be bolted on tomorrow once the hood goes on and gets adjusted to the cowl. (The fender is just sitting on the car, I'll get that gap perfect tomorrow)

I mixed up to much epoxy for the fender and I didn't wanna waste it, so I stripped the lower valance and epoxied it too. Tomorrow I will do some more panel adjusting and do some repairs on the drivers door gap, then start on the roof.













Fender isn't booted on, it's just sitting on the car, once I bolt it on the gap will be nice and even.




 
Looking good. I wish I could get as much work done as you do. You're making great progress!
 
Once again - thanks so much for all these detailed photos. I use them as a reference when I need to look at something for my car. Front Fenders!!! This is getting exciting now! Keep on Randy - this is great stuff.
 
RS23VOA said:
Looking good. I wish I could get as much work done as you do. You're making great progress!
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Thanks! I have a pretty forgiving girlfriend because I spend so much time in the garage, haha.

340duster said:
Hey randy, why did you remove the AMD primer? just curious.
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I just want to eliminate any possibility of adhesion problems on the exterior of the car.. I don't trust the E coat unless it's a new panel from the original manufacturer. I'd hate to do my bodywork over the E coat and have it peal/flake off down the road. If I orbital the metal with 80grit and epoxy it I'll know for sure my bodywork will stick to the epoxy.

replicaracer43 said:
OUTSTANDING quality work your doing, its going to be SUPER nice!
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Thanks!!

Geo4K said:
Once again - thanks so much for all these detailed photos. I use them as a reference when I need to look at something for my car. Front Fenders!!! This is getting exciting now! Keep on Randy - this is great stuff.
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Thanks!! I played with my hood hinges today and your hood problem will indeed adjust down by those bolts.. I don't think your hood hinges are ruined. With those hood hinge bolts loose the back of the hood will pop up really high! If you can remove your fenders and adjust the hood to the cowl that would be best.

Michaeluser said:
Great work. Thanks for the inspiration.

Looking forward to the finished product.
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Thanks! Yeah I can't wait to see the body in paint.. I know it'll be a few more years of piecing it together after that, since it'll get really expensive when it comes to suspension, drivetrain, interior, glass and all the other pieces that will nickel and dime me to death.. I couldn't imagine what this car would have cost to do the sheet metal/ bodywork at a resto shop!
 
Spent the day messing with the gaps and got them all pretty close. I have some more welding rod to weld to my door edges on the drivers side, so hopefully I can get to that this week! I repaired the lower section of my hood support tonight and tomorrow I'll sandblast it and epoxy it. It was bent out of shape pretty bad from the hood pulling on it without the lower support... I got it perfect now. I made a plate on the backside of the broken piece and welded it in solid, so it won't stress crack.





















Looking like a car again!






 
Any chance that you might come to Australia for a Holiday. I have a 1970 Valiant VG Pacer Hardtop that is needing to have a new front welded on.
 

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