My 71 Duster Project

[Old Tired Rebel]

Gotcha...I also just did a search on the rails and mine are in really good condition. The only place I saw rust and slight cancer was in the upper windshield channel. I am going to wire wheel the drip rails and windshield channels tonight and evaluate how much repair will be needed. Should be pretty minimal stuff. I am still curious as where to seal the rails. I already bought seam sealer and auto body sealer from TCP Global and plan to do all that prior to Primer/Paint so this is all good gouge! Thanks!

I posted a link up (post#99) which will give you a step by step instructions on how to prep ans what sealer to use. I am a member there and like you I want to do all my body work and paint. Great part about autobody 101 is it is run by professional body men and women.

 

[smartken22]

I posted a link up (post#99) which will give you a step by step instructions on how to prep ans what sealer to use. I am a member there and like you I want to do all my body work and paint. Great part about autobody 101 is it is run by professional body men and women.

Thats good stuff...Thanks for the info!

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Thats good stuff...Thanks for the info!

Yeah It's a good site and I am slowly reading and studying there.I don't post because 9 times out of 10 there is already a thread on what I am looking for. The search button works great there and I use it a lot.

 

[unknownsnake]

Doing some good work there

 

[KosmicKuda]

Gotcha. So do I just cap off the four lines coming off the tank and remove the emissions tube in the trunk? What is the routing of the vent line. That would be nice to get rid of all that crap back there.[/QUOTE

******
OR...
with your electric pump, you could add a bypass style fuel regulator in the engine compartment and use the return line to dump the bypassed fuel back into the tank. I have not tried this yet but it is supposed to eliminate hot-soak starting problems and vapor lock.
When my car sits for maybe 10-15 minutes after driving, it's kind of hard to start because of the heat transferring from the aluminum intake manifold to the aluminum Carter 4 barrel. I bought a heat insulating carb gasket but my air cleaner is within 1/8" of my hood and I don't have the room with my current setup.

I like your car! Looks like a very solid body to start with.

 

[smartken22]

Well, I worked on the roof some more last night and everything is in really good condition. I took a wire wheel to the drip rails and the windshield frame to get all of the glue and crap from the top off. The drip rails are still sealed and in good shape so I am not going to reseal them. I layed down some filler on the roof to clean up the pitting and everything is looking good and smooth now. Next job is going to be welding in my new torsion crossmember, tunnel hump and closing off the floorpan.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Great on the drip rails. Your car will be near perfect when you get ready to paint.

 

[smartken22]

Here is the latest on the torsion crossmember install. I made sure everything aligned with the tranny and then welded it up. I plan to weld in the tranny tunnel hump and weld in some metal on the other side of the hump today and the interior should be close to completion. I have also had lots of questions on how that crossmember was made in my PM's. Basically just drew it out on sheet metal, cut it out and welded it up. Here's a pic. My Dad's neighbor did it up for me when I was in San Diego. More to follow...

Ken

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

That crossmember looks great. But I do have one question what is the purpose of it other than strength?

 

[smartken22]

That crossmember looks great. But I do have one question what is the purpose of it other than strength?

From what I understand it keeps the load from the torsion bars from twisting the floor pan. It was cut out by the previous owner because it had a B/E 4 speed in it and that was the only way they could make it fit. I have converted that 4 speed back to an A-body tranny so now I am making everything correct again.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

From what I understand it keeps the load from the torsion bars from twisting the floor pan. It was cut out by the previous owner because it had a B/E 4 speed in it and that was the only way they could make it fit. I have converted that 4 speed back to an A-body tranny so now I am making everything correct again.

Thanks I have seen that mod done here in a couple of threads and wondered why. It makes perfect sense now.

 

[smartken22]

Here are some pictures from today. I got the tunnel hump and new metal welded in. Interior is starting to come together!

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

wow hard to believe that is the same car inside.

 

[smartken22]

OK, time to jump to the next area of the car...the trunk lid. This thing has all sorts of cancer all around the outside gasket area. It actually looks worse than it is. I pulled it off the car and I plan to just weld in some metal patches and blend it to get it back into shape. Here are the before pics and some after I cleaned up the lip.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

With Your fab skills,I know you can have it looking like new.

 

[smartken22]

Thanks Cliff. Heres one for you all that I need some advice on. This is another hacked repair that was done for the Z-bar. It looks like the firewall got rotted out, so someone drilled through the frame to add a mount in order to make the z-bar work. I want to put it back to normal with the proper frame ballstud bracket pictured. The question is, how to I know where to weld it to since the dimples are gone. I do not want to weld it in and then have an alignment issue when I drop the motor and tranny in.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

WOW!!!! That is bad. this is one question I better leave to the experts here. I know nothing about 4 speeds. I am sorry.

 

[smartken22]

WOW!!!! That is bad. this is one question I better leave to the experts here. I know nothing about 4 speeds. I am sorry.

I think I am going to shoot a new thread over at the 4 speed section of the forums as I may get more hits on this one.

 

[Dartnut]

This should help you.

 

[smartken22]

This should help you.

That helps for reference, Thank you!

 

[green1]

I only shot that piss can stuff on there for now to identify the high and low spots to smooth out. Once I get this body all smooth, I plan to sand it all off and shoot the high build urethane gun primer. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that etching primer was for new metal that has never been treated? Yes, this has been taken down to bare metal, but it was treated with the last time it was painted so is it required again? Please let me know before I shoot the REAL primer. Thanks for looking out on that one!

If you see black, it is treated; if you see brown-future rust/blisters.

 

[smartken22]

If you see black, it is treated; if you see brown-future rust/blisters.

Thanks for the gouge. As soon as I finish the trunk lid and trunk interior, I am going to sand this whole car down to bare metal with some 80 grit. I will go from there. I have an appointment with the paint booth on 4 Nov to shoot primer so I am getting excited! Thanks all for the tips and advice...shes coming along nicely!

 

[smartken22]

Here are some pics of the trunk lid progress...still in work, but shaping up! Once I am done welding up the bad spots, I will grind everything down, seal and then re-install. More to follow...

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

I need your skills. That looks great. When I get a project I might have to hit you up for welding tips and fab work.

 

[smartken22]

I need your skills. That looks great. When I get a project I might have to hit you up for welding tips and fab work.

Thanks...anytime! Thats what we are all about here!