Replace panels before or after dipping?

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Dana67Dart

Dana67Dart

The parts you don't add don't cause you no trouble
FABO Gold Member
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FIRST....

Please please please I do not want to get into the pros and cons of dipping a car.


My question is...

Would it be better to dip the car then replace the bad sections.

Or replace the bad sections then dip.



Car...

67 convert

Needs at minimum
  1. Driver's front foot well
  2. Pass front foot well
  3. Pass quarter behind rear wheel opening
  4. Small patch (6" x 3" L shaped) under the top opening area on the pass quarter
  5. Small patch behind driver's side rear most front seat floor mount

Dip first...
  1. Find other areas that need replacing
  2. Clean metal to weld to
Dip after...
  1. Structural rigidity
  2. All metal treated the same


Thoughts?
 
My opinion, cut away most of the bad metal giving better access to see hidden damage and provide better access for neutralizing after the caustic dip..

You have full access to the back side of the replacement metal so it can be sealed to protect it...
 
Dipping before you cut out metal.
Liquid will get everywhere. They dip them power wash, then dip and power wash and typically a third dip and power wash and then a neutralize bath then a primer of some sort. It’s not like sand blasting where you are paying for the time by the hour. And the more metal exposed the better.
Put up some photos if you can get them.
Very exciting.
Syleng1
 
PXL_20240115_042432726.jpg


PXL_20240115_042439140.jpg


Between the tape directly on the bottom side of the top of the quarter
PXL_20240115_171351769.jpg


The wire of the top circles the rusted area
PXL_20240115_042410522.jpg



Frame Rails and torque box look perfect

Black spots on floor of driver's side just past the console brackets are rust through.

Sorry for the loss than good photo

TOO MANY photos!

I'm torn between full floor or partial.

There is so much of the floor that is good


PXL_20231219_233409085.jpg
 
Dip first. Any metal you cut away will weaken the structural integrity of the unibody. I have watched a BUNCH of videos of cars being dipped on YouTube (it's actually quite interesting), and they have never been cut up before dipping. I have also seen a bunch of car shows where the cars were sent out to be dipped, and they also were not cut up before.
Call the place you are thinking about using and see what they think.
Also take a look at some of the YouTube videos. They are interesting and informative.
 
Dip first.

You will be amazed at what you missed if you cut first.
 
Dana67Dart said:
FIRST....

Please please please I do not want to get into the pros and cons of dipping a car.


My question is...

Would it be better to dip the car then replace the bad sections.

Or replace the bad sections then dip.



Car...

67 convert

Needs at minimum
  1. Driver's front foot well
  2. Pass front foot well
  3. Pass quarter behind rear wheel opening
  4. Small patch (6" x 3" L shaped) under the top opening area on the pass quarter
  5. Small patch behind driver's side rear most front seat floor mount

Dip first...
  1. Find other areas that need replacing
  2. Clean metal to weld to
Dip after...
  1. Structural rigidity
  2. All metal treated the same


Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Hey Dana67Dart,

I wish I would have had the option of dipping. It's not available where I live, not even the option to have my car professionally sandblasted!

Here's what I ended up with that was reusable after stripping every area we could access to bare metal. Took weeks to do.

Then, we used a rust encapsulator to treat everything that wasn't accessible.

A hell of a lot of work!!

1707318419207.png
 
If you insist on dipping it, at least cut away the rusty lower quarters etc so all the crud can drain out. If you don't, all the junk, dirt, bullets, bottle caps and wrenches that fell in the quarters over 50 years will still be in there. Having restored a car that was dipped, I would never do that again. It will haunt you until you sell the car. Think about a 1920's car body that's been sitting outside for decades. It will have a brown rusty surface. Metal wants to oxidize, and that's the nature of bare metal. The acid solution dissolves some of the rust between the flanges, and now you have bare metal in there, that wants to oxidize. Not to mention that it is pretty much impossible to wash away and neutralize the acid solution from all those tight overlaps and boxed sections. Formerly oxided metal between those overlaps is quite stable. The result after dipping is, it will start to rust between all the flanges again, and brown rust stains will creep out of every edge. Forever.
 
4spdragtop said:
How much more in time/labour to install full pan vs sections
Click to expand...
Labour..

You Canadians spell things funny!

:poke: :rofl:

To answer the question.

This will be the first time I will be tackling anything like this.

I would prefer patches to leave as much OEM integrity in place.

I don't have a frame jig (yes I know I could use jack stands or make a jig)

This is not going to be a 100 point concourse restoration but I want it structurally sound and pretty.

BTW when I say patch I'm talking remove offending metal, put a lip on the patch or body or both and plug weld the patch in place. Then seam seal the area on both sides to make it water tight.

I do not have any welding skills at this point so I'll be learning that and the thought of learning by making 1000 spot welds while trying to keep two pieces of 18 gauge sheetmetal aligned is not in the cards for me.
 
Dip it first and see what you have before you do any cutting. I'd replace the whole floor pan. I have a 69 Dart GT conv that is a Flintstone mobile also..lol. I already have the full AMD floor to put in it. It will be less welding to replace the full floor, and you will gain valuable welding skill and confidence doing it. you Tube is your friend to learn stuff. Watch Fitzee's Fabrication channel to learn about patching and welding. Be forewarned though.....he's one of our great Neighbours from the north and he may have already heard about you making fun of their spelling and blocked you from his channel. :poke:

:rofl:
 
Super-Cuda said:
Hey Dana67Dart,

I wish I would have had the option of dipping. It's not available where I live, not even the option to have my car professionally sandblasted!

Here's what I ended up with that was reusable after stripping every area we could access to bare metal. Took weeks to do.

Then, we used a rust encapsulator to treat everything that wasn't accessible.

A hell of a lot of work!!

View attachment 1716203634
Click to expand...
Wow! It's a rare Barracuda Fastback Convertible. 67 I think, since I don't see any side marker holes in the quarter.
Seriously though, what did you use to strip it? I would guess a combination of 80 grit disks on a 6" DA with some 60 or 80 grit disks on a 2 and 3" die grinder for tighter places. You are right; a LOT of work. I spent weeks stripping mine too. I used paint remover and LOTS of the above-mentioned sanding disks. I was lucky to have some good help. My wife helped every step of the way. She stripped paint and then sanded with the above-mentioned tools and sanding disks.

Cuda04.png


Cuda05.JPG


Cuda06.JPG
 
Dana67Dart said:
FIRST....

Please please please I do not want to get into the pros and cons of dipping a car.


My question is...

Would it be better to dip the car then replace the bad sections.

Or replace the bad sections then dip.



Car...

67 convert

Needs at minimum
  1. Driver's front foot well
  2. Pass front foot well
  3. Pass quarter behind rear wheel opening
  4. Small patch (6" x 3" L shaped) under the top opening area on the pass quarter
  5. Small patch behind driver's side rear most front seat floor mount

Dip first...
  1. Find other areas that need replacing
  2. Clean metal to weld to
Dip after...
  1. Structural rigidity
  2. All metal treated the same


Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I would suggest again to speak at length with the dipper to get good answers to any questions you might have. Lots of people have their cars dipped. Maybe they have figured out how to alleviate the problems listed by FM3 Dart. I can't imagine that there would be so many dippers and so many people having their cars dipped if the results were so poor.
 
JDMopar said:
Dip it first and see what you have before you do any cutting. I'd replace the whole floor pan. I have a 69 Dart GT conv that is a Flintstone mobile also..lol. I already have the full AMD floor to put in it. It will be less welding to replace the full floor, and you will gain valuable welding skill and confidence doing it. you Tube is your friend to learn stuff. Watch Fitzee's Fabrication channel to learn about patching and welding. Be forewarned though.....he's one of our great Neighbours from the north and he may have already heard about you making fun of their spelling and blocked you from his channel. :poke:

:rofl:
Click to expand...
Here's the link.

Fitzee is in my area and does a great job of making difficult process simple with easy to access tools.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6JPmJ_aicru8XPWr3EvJnw
 
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