I've hit this site enough times...

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DaveBonds

DaveBonds

Garage Trash
Joined
Feb 11, 2013
Messages
2,173
Reaction score
187
Location
Lakewood, CO
...over the past couple of years on search engines, so I figured I'd just bite the bullet and join.

The awkward part about this, is that I don't technically own any A body mopars, but I have been around them for my entire driving life. I've parted out six of them, bought a couple of them for friends, restored two from the ground up and painted a few more.

At the moment, my girlfriend is driving her '73 Plymouth Scamp that I signed over to her and restored, after her ex husiband to ok both of their crappy cars in a divorce. I also have a '72 Plymouth Duster that I gave to a friend of mine in Australia, who is almost done building a garage to put it in. That car will be getting the full treatment before spending the cash to ship it over the pond.

So, I'll be documenting the restoration of that car with pics. I have a few pics of the Scamp online I can show you guys, but I need to borrow my boss' HD camera and do a good photoshoot of my lady with her car, to do it justice. :angel12:

Before-

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Prior to Work Left Front.JPG

After-

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp finished 01.jpg

Owner/Driver/Parter in crime-

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Amy in blue.jpg

I restore cars every day at work and we love Chrysler gear, so I may be collecting crap from here in months to come, but I have some myself and I'm always happy to help like minded folks!

Dave
 
Welcome . I was here for 2 years before I bought my first A-body . Its all good .
 
This is sort of a summary in chronological order of the work that I did on her Scamp. The pictures aren't resized yet, so I'll just post links and a brief description -


2nd picture of the car before I did anything to it, cosmetically, with the exception of completely dismantling the dash and restoring it, with a new windshield that went in, after. At this point, it retains it's stock drivetrain, rebuilt front suspension, rebuilt brakes on all corners and master cylinder, I went through the 904 (even though it's leaving) and went through the entire fuel and ignition system to replace all of the wear components -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Prior To Work Right Rear.JPG

After I pulled the carpet, I discovered that I was too late when I replaced the wiper pivot bushings and rust took it's toll on the driver's side floor pan. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Original Floor.JPG

From one of the many cars that I have helped part out, I found a solid donor panel... from a stick shift car (hell yes!) -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Floor Donor.JPG

This was just before I finished the center hump welds in after it was plotted and before I seam sealed it -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Trans Tunnel and Floor Fitted.JPG

At this point, I had removed the, hood and refitted it, removed the doors and rebuilt the hinges, hung them square on the quarter panel and rocker, removed the decklid and corrected the lack of adjustment at the hinge, for perfect gap and fitment of all the hinged panels. The fenders were pulled to repair some rust at the lower bracing-

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp%20Front%20End%20Disassembly.JPG

This was after tons wiring and electrical component removal. I also pulled the radiator, hoses, belts, pulleys, alternator, P/S Pump, fuel pump, fuel lines, battery, tray, horns, headlight assemblies, exhaust manifolds and anything else that needed to be media blasted and restored or removed for engine bay prep painting. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Engine Bay and Underhood.jpg

This shows the flat black enamel area painted for the grille area and restored headlight assemblies with new bulbs, aluminum radiator with cooling fins masked off and shot black and a few more of the components installed. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Radiator Support and New Radiator.jpg

This shows just before I pulled the exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, valve covers and power steering gearbox. At this point, I have reinstalled the restored wiring harness that was tested and gone through with replacement wires from a donor, retaining the original tracers and component locations. I have also restored the wiper motor, reinstalled the master cylinder, installed the restored battery tray, horns and other electrical components. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Engine Bay Wiring and Components Restored.jpg

This was after I removed, media blasted, cleaned and reinstalled the new-ish water pump, valve covers, intake manifold and cleaned the cylinder heads with a wire wheel, as well as the timing cover and as much of the engine block that I could get access to with simple green and a wire brush, then pressure washed and blown dry. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Engine bay 02.jpg

This shows the new steering gearbox and gloss chrysler blue paint. At this point, I had also media blasted everything that went semi-gloss black, like the fan, the pulleys, brackets, etc, but hadn't put them on yet. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Engine bay 03.jpg

This shows the body in bare metal, after it was chemically stripped and D/A sanded with 80 grit paper. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp in metal drivers side.jpg

Another shot of it in metal, with some minor filler work. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp in filler passenger side.jpg

After the bodywork was completed, the car got a wash coat of acid etch primer and two coats of buff colored 2k primer surfacer. I didn't want gray primer for the color combo Amy picked out. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp in primer.jpg

After using a 2' longboard with 400 dry sanded the entire body, 2 more coats of 2k primer surfacer were applied and then the entire car was guide coated and wet sanded with 600, cleaned, masked and shot. This shows three coats of Sassy Grass Green basecoat and 3 more coats of Glasurit 550 very high solids clearcoat. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp Painted In Booth.jpg

Here is a shot from the rear, after I pulled the top, ran white pinstripe, put new whitewall tires on it, ordered white upholstery, installed it, dent finished and polished all the trim, installed new parking and taillight lenses and found a box with some A body chrome tips that my boss said I should use. I took his advice and didn't hesitate. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/Scamp finished 02.jpg

I'll get some more pictures of the car that are better quality. I'm a good photographer, but I haven't spent a decent coin on a camera yet. This car is a daily driver. It's garage kept and detailed whenever it's dirty, but it does see the road!

This was the first night I returned with the car completed from the shop, when I handed her the keys. -

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/100_0894.JPG

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/100_0897.JPG

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/28/95442/100_0893.JPG

I'll see if I can find a picture of it with the christmas tree tied to the top, from last year.
 
jamesdaytona said:
Welcome . I was here for 2 years before I bought my first A-body . Its all good .
Click to expand...

It's all about the enthusiasm!

Quite honestly, though, it's just a technicality. I owned that car for ten years before I gave it to her, when I met her. She's never had anything nice to call her own and she needed a car. So, what kind of a hotrod boyfriend would I be if I let that slide? haha...

The car was in my name in 2001. I bought it for $600 and it was pretty tired at the time that I bought it. I had it in and out of tags over my ownership of the car while doing mechanical repairs on entire systems within the car. When my ex that I had been with since High School flipped a switch and ended up moving to L.A. with her family, it was something that I didn't need anymore... Then, I meet this other girl who needs a car... I start doing stuff to it and the next thing you know, I'm out thousands of dollars!

It really is terrible. ;)
 
Welcome aboard - I don't technically own an A body yet either as I'm still in research before buying mode. Lots of good folks here
 
Thanks for the kind words on the car, Dallas, n' thanks for everyone's welcoming attitude!

Scotty67 said:
Welcome aboard - I don't technically own an A body yet either as I'm still in research before buying mode. Lots of good folks here
Click to expand...

All of the A body cars are fun. I also own a '72 D100 Adventurer SE 360/727 cruise control and A/C in spring special non metallic blue and I still have my first car in the garage; '68 Charger 318 in Surf Poly Met. / black vynil top/ int.

This is the next thing I'm doing to Amy's Scamp:

ccrp_1209_01_street_demon_carburetor_the_new_625_cfm.jpg


With one of these:

7264.jpg


And one two of these:

P1002109.jpg


I figure those should wake it up. I'm getting everything ready and hopefully tackling the project this weekend, if not next weekend. I'll get some before and after shots.

I've already gone through the new Demon and set new metering rods and jets for 6000ft elevation. Gaskets are in. Now it's just a matter of lapping the valves, installing seals and painting everything before bolting it up.

I'm also debating on a clutch fan. haven't decided yet.
 
Welcome and congratulations:cheers: it's about time Dave :D
I am sure you know we have some of the best of the best tec's and folks here.
 
64 SRT8 Dart said:
Welcome from a fellow Colorado member!! Don't have any early A stuff layin around do ya?? lol
Click to expand...

Yeah. Mostly Valiant stuff. My friend and I have parted out about 4 '63-65 cars. Some of it's interchangeable for your Dart, though. Let me know what you're looking for. I know a lot of people in the Denver Metro area who have early A body stuff.

Abodybomber said:
Welcome Bond,Dave Bond........
Click to expand...

bond+board+game.jpg


This game is fun to play. It's all espionage and strategy related. We have it in an old '60's cone leg display case with some other crazy stuff, in our house.

d55dave said:
Welcome! Nice work you do. I see the floor hump - did you plan on a 4 gear conversion later?
Click to expand...

I have the pedals, Z bar and shifter. I put a blockoff plate over the opening with seam sealer and put 4 speed carpet in it when I did the interior, so as soon as I can get an A833 O/D, it's going in! :)

memike said:
Welcome and congratulations:cheers: it's about time Dave :D
I am sure you know we have some of the best of the best tec's and folks here.
Click to expand...

As per all of the hits that I've had on this site, over the past two, possibly three years, I'd say this place has a lot of information and it has a lot of active members.
 
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