Printable View
I'm with you Falcon, the body is definitely in well worth it condition, no reason to not take a bit of time and attend to a few more rough areas!!!! It'd be a booger to spend the time and money to repaint the body then have bubbles coming back in 6 months time!
Amazing what a few bubbles in the paint can hide. This is really ugly once I cut it open. The only way to really fix this whole area right is to pull the body off the frame but I'm not going there. You have to draw the line somewhere so I cut back the metal until I hit something solid to weld to and I'll rebuild from there. The surrounding old stuff will get cleaned up best as possible and coated with POR 15 to stop any further deterioration. Not perfect but it should last a long time. Every one of these old Mopars I've had rusts out in the same area; must be a moisture trap.
Im rebuilding this part a piece at a time; pretty tedious but it's looking ok so far. Also, I finally got my header flanges and intake spacers back. I think Im going to finish the rust repair on this side and then jump back to the headers. Once they are done I can pull the drivetrain back out and concentrate on the body front to back.
Yeah I'd let the body work wait too. not a fun job, headers should be more enjoyable
Falcon you do the good things , and like you said drawing the line is not a bad thing . Many have done it and I have the same thoughts on the 37 just want to see it rolling and strong enough not to fold up :( .
Yeah, what I welded to was good and solid, just pitting and surface rust you cant get to in order to remove without pulling the body. But if it's treated with POR15, it should stop to rust progress. Got a few more pieces made and fitted today; should be able to get the last two pieces in tomorrow after work and this side will be done.
Good work Falcon! All that tedious cut and patch stuff is really worth it when a few years from now the body is still intact and none of those ugly rust bubbles!!!!
Thanks Dave, I think Ive got a long ways to go before I can match your skill but Im getting better.
Thanks Falcon, but I doubt I'm any better at tin bending then you or others, just been doing it longer.....
Well I can't bend metal to save a baby carriage :) , but since being here and watching I have been able to get by . Kudo's to you guys and the learning so many get from following your threads .
.
Falcon, great rust repair work! you're doing a fine job! Your flanges and spacers look great!
Needs a little more finish grinding but this side is pretty much done. I was going to jump to the headers but I guess I'll bite the bullet and do the other side first.
I got lucky, this side was not nearly as bad as the first side once I opened it up. I had one 5"x 5" piece of the inner brace that was gone but the rest was solid once I wire brushed it down really good. So I made a pice for that, welded it in, cleaned everything up, and hit it with POR15. The green stuff is some zinc based rust converter from Eastwood that's for spraying inside hard to reach areas like inside frames. The other side I was able to get a brush into but since I didnt remove as much metal over here, I used this stuff to get up inside the channels. Once this all dries I can button it back up with just a few small pieces of sheet metal.
Yuppers, this side looks to be in much better shape, Falcon!!!! You should get it whooped out in no time! Appears the patching phase will be soon, headers still next on the agenda??
Nice work! That rust can be a drag. It looks like you got pretty lucky with this one!
Yep, dad be da plan, Dave!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
Good day today; I got the other side buttoned up and ready for some filler and I got the passenger side header built. This one was easy; driver’s side will be a lot harder. I have a question for you FI guys regarding the 02 sensor bungs; the factory ones were pretty close to the heads on the manifolds. I'm planning on moving them down to the header collector. Will the increased distance be an issue or should I put them in one of the tubes the same distance from the head as the original ones?
IMO the increased distance for the O2 sensor is not an issue, provided there's no place for air to leak in and mess up your sensor reading. All you care about is a good mixed sample location. In the top of the collector would be OK in my book.
Headers look great Falcon! I'm with Roger on the sensor, the EFI cars I've done all got the O2 sensor in the collector.
Sounds good, Dave; that's what I'll do. I'll probably do a header wrap, too. Got the other side done today; not bad for my first header building attempt. Now I can pull the drivetrain back out, start smoothing my welds on the firewall, and getting it ready for paint.
If I'm seeing this correctly, it appears the header pipes are wrapping around the steering box and column? Won't that add too much heat into the steering box, and with the pipes trapping the column, it might make taking the headers off a little difficult?
falcon great looking headers just one question ? how do you get the header off of the steering ...ted
Yeah, Because of clearance I didn't have much of a choice but to go around the steering column with two of the tubes. I'm going to use a header wrap to keep the heat off the box. As far as removing it, I took off the steering wheel, unhooked the tie rods, unbolted the box, and slid it out the bottom. Then the header comes off. Not the easiest but it works.
"...... I took off the steering wheel, unhooked the tie rods, unbolted the box, and slid it out the bottom. Then the header comes off. Not the easiest but it works......" Sometimes you do what you have to. The headers look good. regardless of whether it's the first time or not.
.
Great work on the rust repair and the headers look awesome! What tricks are you going to use to weld the areas where tubes block the welder tip getting in there?
I tried to weld anything that would be blocked before I added the next tube and it worked out pretty well. I got the motor pulled back out tonight and finished welding everything on the headers except the O2 bungs. Now I'm going to get the engine on a stand and stick to the body until it's ready for paint.
I was curious about the RH header middle tube. Just looking for tips for if I build fender well headers for my 40. Thanks Ryan.
Say Pat you still have the 48 cpe
.
[QUOTE=bluestang67;504760]Say Pat you still have the 48 cpe
Yes, I do. It always sees to get pushed to the back burner but it's still going. I just wet sanded the primer on the hood and gravel pans; as soon as we put some paint on them the whole car will be painted. But it'll probably sit in dry dock until I get this one wrapped up.
Got some primer on the firewall today; now for a little wet sanding and I'll put some color on it.
Firewall looks good! Lots of time in it to get it finally ready for primer!!!!
You aint kidding, Dave. Now some of my 5000 little weld burns can start healing. Here she is in red; like Sammy says, "Red, red, I want red. There's no substitute for red!"Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
Lookin' great! Resale red always works.... Lots of us redaholics on here!!!!!
WOW.. what a change that makes!! Good Job!!!
Very nice! This will transform your car. :LOL:
Always liked RED
Does this mean the whole thing's going to be red or just a splash of color on the firewall?
Thanks! Yeah the whole car is going to be this color; i'm going to work my way all the way around until the body work is done. It's not too bad overall; just a few spots to fix and smooth out some older repairs. Im not taking the whole car to bare metal; just fix some issues, prime/sealer over the old stuff and shoot it.
Sounds like a good plan and it will look awesome!
I'm having to take a little hiatus from the fun stuff for the nessesary stuff. My youngest son mashed his Cavalier; thank the Lord he wasnt hurt. Got him another car for school and was going to scrap this but as it's only got 80k miles, I decided to fix it and use it for work transportation. I spent the weekend swapping out the K-member and all the componants on the right suspention. Luckily the unibody wasnt hurt. Now for a fender, bumper, windshield, and airbags and it'll be back on the road.
I did get this side of the bodywork where I wanted it and got several coats on 2K primer on.
Good to hear the son isn't hurt! Guess the ol' wallet took a hit too.. but it's all good - you're still making process!