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71 SSP build

The not so tall man

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The plan.

Weld all drain plugs shut.

Weld in US car tool frame connectors after making pass through for brake cable.

Patch rockers and inner structure where needed.

DP epoxy and paint as much as possible. This will keep the car from rusting and make many things that need correcting visible.

Many people will think its a waste of paint, but an old body man once taught me the best primer is a good paint job.

Mount doors.

Weld tail panel and cross member.

Weld trunk gutters.

These pieces I have confidence I can alighn correctly using the old panels I have kept as templets.

Trial fit all rear metal. Begin welding in place.

Address A pillar, and cowl.

Address rad support.

Stitch weld along inner fenders.
Make mistakes, fix mistakes.

Decide where to go at that point.
 

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Oh Jeezuz.

I admire you guys who take on these massive projects. Your wives must be angels :angel12:.
 
I'm gonna need more vise grips.
 

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Man I like your style. Your build is bringing back some memories.

I think our cars were twins !!!!! LOL

Keep it up.

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Mine will be heading North in October.

Please keep us posted.

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Words of wisdom. Invest in some Cleco's.
 
Thanks.

I signed up a year ago but never spent much time on the board until recently when I found your build thread.

I was thinking of using panel adhesive where possible instead of welding as not to have any air gaps in seams which is why I haven't gone the cleco route yet.

Mark is a great guy, the same place you got your inner structure is where my tail panel came from.



But I'm starting to wonder if the panels won't be such a tight fit that while installing them I'll probably be smearing to much adhesive around and not get it where it needs to be.


I still can't figure out how to deal with the tab on the quarter at the dutchman panel.

It always winds up being on top of the dutchman.

I start by sliding the upper quarter forward into the roof, popping the the sail panel over the inner structure and leading corner over the door jamb, then I slide it back wards which tucks everything into place Except getting that tab where it belongs, which in turn won't let me get that back quarter top edge over the trunk gutter.

But for right now I'm just evaluating things.

I need to order a set of door hinges, so I can use the doors to help check for fitment before I even attempt to do anything meaningful.
 
Thanks for letting me know my resto thread helped you. That's the reason I started it was to help out our fellow Mopar owners.

On my car the "Dutchman" or trunk filler panel had some rust in the area where the trunk gutter attached to it. For that reason I decided to replace the whole part instead of patching it since the new part was available.

Since my filler panel has been removed and I still haven't completed the installation of the quarters I can't give you any advice or insider tricks. However in a week or so I should be getting back out in the shop. The car's new owner wants me to hang all of the new sheet metal and reassemble the car for transport.

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions and if I have an answer I'll let you know. If I don't I can try to steer you in the right direction, but I will NEVER make something up just to make you think I know something that I really don't.

As far as welding and gaps in the metal goes:

On the tail panel and around the wheel wells at the trunk floor joint, all of my cars had big gaps there. The factory applied seam sealer in these areas to deal with the gaps.

Personally I have never used panel adhesive but there are some here on FBBO that have. Donny spoke of it a little while ago and how he used it on his trunk lid. He would be a good one to talk with about that.

Rock on brother.

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BTW it's a very good idea to have the door hinges squared away and the doors hung before you install the quarters. Also bolt on the trunk lid. This will give you a real feeling for how the car is going back together.

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Oh yeah. One more thing. I agree with you about Mopar Mark. He's a good dude.
 
Getting closer, making a few mistakes and learn'n as I go. There trunk lid is not tightened at all in those pics. Even as such there is no gaps at the quarters, in fact one is slightly under the trunk lid. End of quarters need to move out.

The trunk extensions have me really annoyed. The right one lines up with minimal aggravation. And it kind of pulls in/tucks the bottom of quarter under the car.

The right one.............. front edge goes out a little past the wheel well. Where the top inner edge meets the trunk floor and inner wheel well line up, huge gap between outer wheel well and trunk extension.

Pretty confident I can hammer and dolly that. BUT unlike the right side that tucks the quarter in and under at the bottom a little, the left side seems to let it be fine just letting it hang downwards. I might try to mount the rear bumper and valance to help me see how things go.

Got the window trim in and its pretty close.

Relying more on clecos and screws. still no welds, still just trial fits.

I go out, turn on the music and put in a couple hours once a week or so, I'll get there.

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More patches, End of rocker is completely incorrect being completely sealed off, this was done by choice. Its hard to see but the bottom of the rocker has small upward bumps of indentations I kept those.

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Did other rocker last night. Wheel house is welded in its final place but I have finished welding. I was at it until 3:30 am and was getting tired. I only work one night a week from 10pm to usually around 4am when the garage is cool. Wish I had AC! Getting to the point now where I am gonna have to epoxy, seam seal and paint sections before I weld the quarters on while I still have access. Its gonna feel SO good when the back half is done.

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This is the drivers quarter fitment. Anyone see anything that needs addressed this is my first time doing this type of stuff.
The only thing that bothers me is the bottom extension edge goes past the quarter further then I like. I also may run stitch welds on the seams of the wheel wells and extension along the trunk floor and wheel hump on the interior side.

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I'm down to final fitment of quarters. The gap on the top right between trunk and quarter is a bit large. Also the gaps get smaller towards the ears of the quarters. Anybody got suggestions because the only thing I can think of at the moment is to cut a small triangle out of the ears to move them in an 1/8th of an inch or so.

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You have a lot of patience. I was wondering if you have the latch installed yet. My car is pretty much the same as I got it from dealership back in "the day" (well except for decals, dual exhaust). I removed the bumpers, doors,hood, ect and re-installed. I don't think it ever was perfect, but I noticed that when the lid came down free, it didn't line up. When I installed latch and tweaked it a little, it lined up better.
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You have a lot of patience. I was wondering if you have the latch installed yet. My car is pretty much the same as I got it from dealership back in "the day" (well except for decals, dual exhaust). I removed the bumpers, doors,hood, ect and re-installed. I don't think it ever was perfect, but I noticed that when the lid came down free, it didn't line up. When I installed latch and tweaked it a little, it lined up better.View attachment 608711
The latch is in. I suppose I could play around with the latch more and split the gap between right and left. But with big gaps on the top, the corners the corners just touch at the bottom edge of trunk/quarters. I'm starting to think I may have to take a fine slice out of each quarters end tip and move it in a hair and reweld. I took a long break during the winter as the garage is unheated. I couldn't weld anything for risk of condensation. Instead I drywalled the ceiling, and insulated the garage door to make working in it nicer this summer.
 
I should have said the rear of the car and trunk lid was the same. I had to do some replacing and patching. The panel behind the rear window was from a donor car, which happened to be blue as well. The driver side quarter was rotted at the corner of the window and I cut that side in one piece to fit. The passenger side attached at the seam and I had to clamp down hard on that side to get it close. Its a little hard to see with the tape in your pic, but could the seam be too wide.
(don't want to fill up your thread with my pics, but one more)
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