fm3 coded 340 auto duster resto...............

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well, i will tell you.................. i am an idiot!. here i am replacing a frame rail aND INNER FENDER, yet i have been sturggling for over an hour to get the k-frame back in. i had two pipe wrenches on a tortion bar, trying to twist it in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

then something hit me!. all i had to do was turn the other piece with my hand, and it let the bar slip right in!. rofl. what a pain. ah, you live and learn right?

so, i got the frame rail all tacked in, and lifted the k-frame in. it lined up perfectly. going well. now need to spotweld the front rad support upper and lower
 
ok. here is an up to date progress report.

i am done, the frame rail and inner fender is in, all spotwelded and complete. all i have to do tommorow is grind a few of them to clean them up.

to all that gave me advise on here and through pms'. i just want to say thank you very much. i do not think i would of tried witout some pointers i got from alot of you.
could i of just patched the rail up and bondoed the holes in the inner fender?
of course i could have. but i felt this of all the cars i have done work to, deserved to be done right.. THANKS FOR ALL THE MORAL SUPPORT GUYS!
i know as i go, i will need alot more help, so be prepared.lol
 

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It's like watching it live! Looks like excellent work. I dont think you could have patched that old rail in anywhere near the same time.

Grant
 
Dang Joe!

you are moving and grooving!

And let me say.....AWESOME work you pulled off there!,it looks great. And you will be glad you did it the right way and also that you documented it .....you can look back on it and say "yup, I did that....and I did it right!"

at this rate you will have it done in no time flat!.....and then you can come finish mine right? HAHAHA

good job and keep it up, ill keep checking in to see your progress.
 
Good work, I told you it was not that hard it just takes time.
 
well, she is up on her own feet once again. not a bad job at all, and now i would actually feel good to do it again when i have to.
 

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yea, that is true. also right, is, i now know that i can say when done is that i replace all ruster areas with good clean metal, and have all proof with pics!
 
yea, i kinda took a break today, but then started on removing the floorpan out of the scamp, since it is almost perfect.

can i get this floor pan back into my duster in one whole piece???????????????
 
340plot said:
yea, i kinda took a break today, but then started on removing the floorpan out of the scamp, since it is almost perfect.

can i get this floor pan back into my duster in one whole piece???????????????
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It'l take more time but its possible...over size the spot welds when your cutting by a wide margin, and make sure you hit it straight the first time. Although, if you don't hit it right you can take brass as a backing than fill and grind. Just don't force it, and over cut what you need by a large margin.
 
You won't kidding,when you said the front frame rail was bad.After your replacement you can't even tell it was replaced. Your going to have a beautiful car when it's done.
 
To say that I'm impressed by the quality of your work , and your desire to see it through , would be an understatement !

I only wish that resided near each other , as I'd LOVE to not only help you , but also be in your presence as you're working , as it'd be a booster for me to work on my own stuff !

I can't wait to see more progress . Please keep up the great work !

Oh , and thank you for saving another piece of history :glasses7:
 
LH, i would love to have company while i work, and have a hand, then once mine is rolling, we would bring yours in also. sometimes it gets boring doing the entire job straight, so if we brought your car over, i could do one peice of the puzzle, then switch over to yours", till we were done.

MAN, I THOUGHT "AH, FRAME RAIL WAS A PIECE PF CAKE. FLOOR SHOULD BE THE EASIEST THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WRONG
i spent all day cutting out the floor out of the scamp, and it is a no go. i did not know that the metal that the floor is welded to goes all the way under the car!,. i tried to cheat just to get it out, and now i still have to cut all spotwelds before the floor comes out!.

oh, well. maybe i should of asked you guys first.lol

ill be back at it tommorow
 
well, i did not do my homework,a nd jsut been told that the floorpan in a dart is different than a duster, if i use the entire piece, will not work.
so, i cut out all the floor anyway out of the dart, and now will just use the the one i need, and butt weld it together, so i can grind it smooth, and make it factory looking. it think it would be easier to just flare it, but i want the origional look

here is the scamp after being torn apart for the framerail, and floor, plus alot of other little pieces

ready for scrap!
 

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Great. I am glad you found the answer. Sorry I was no help when you called.
 
^^ it is, but someone got black over spray on it. why?lol
 
Hey, your GC is the same color as my wifes! ...... lol....figured id mention it because around here anyways I never see any that color (ours is all that color though....bumpers and all because its the limited edition).

the bumper and lenses on the back of the dart looks clean....so do the side markers. should have stripped that kind of stuff and resold to members here that might be looking for it and made yourself a couple extra bucks.

sounds like you have a plan though. what I did when I was doing similar work on my duster was.....cut out the bad spot in the car,then then measure what you cut out,then cut that out on the line on the new steel with a cut off wheel. by doing so it will leave you with a roughly 16th" gap all the way around so when welding there is room for expansion so the heat wont warp the panel all to crap.

also ....not sure if your aware....but harbor freight sells I nice little air flanging/punching tool ( I had one but sold it to a member ).....you basically cut out the bad spot in the car,then take and cut a peice of new steel a little larger,then flange the edges and punch holes around it,then lay it in place and plug weld each punch and your done. you can get the tool for pretty cheap to and there are discount codes for HF all over the internet too.

and make sure you use seam sealer on all your welds.

check out my build thread (link in my signature below) if you get a chance and you might see a few things I did with metal that will give you some ideas and you might also see some floor pan stuff that I did that you might like.

looking good though. keep up the work!
 
dusterdude, the lenses had cracks, the bumper was dented. i took all the good stuff. trust me!.

i do have a flare/punch tool from harbor freight. i use it all the time on new metal, as i do not on used metal cause it clogs up too easy from the undercoating!. thanks
 
340plot said:
dusterdude, the lenses had cracks, the bumper was dented. i took all the good stuff. trust me!.

i do have a flare/punch tool from harbor freight. i use it all the time on new metal, as i do not on used metal cause it clogs up too easy from the undercoating!. thanks
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sounds like your way ahead of me already lol.

figured id mention that stuff just in case though.

I enjoy watching everything you do with cars man, you always seem to have that "go get em" attitude and knock your projects out fast and they end up looking good.

can't wait to see what this one looks like when its done!
 
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