My GY8 '71 Road Runner

Last weekend I blasted my K frame in preparation for reinforcing it with the Firm Feels kit and then Epoxy. I also have to fix a few spots. The kit from Firm Feel does not come with instructions but, there are a few pics for reference on their website…they’re not all that helpful, in my opinion. I did find some other pics on the internet which were marginally better. I did my best trying to figure out where and how the triangular pieces mount. The other pieces were easier to locate where they go. As with anything, the pieces needed to be modified to fit properly (or at least what i think is proper).

The small triangle goes here:



It needs a bend put in it:



The medium sized triangle goes here. This only needed a trim at the point:


The large triangle goes here:


It needed a lot of bending:


Full circles go here. One on each side:


The larger circles go here:



A little epoxy primer on the backsides:


I have to fix this areas too:

Welded in.

Smaller Circles:


Larger Circle:

Second Large Circle (cut top), Large Triangle and Small Trianle:


Medium Sized Trianlge:


Skid Plate:


Damaged area fixed:


And, I also reinforced the LCA’s with Mancini’s pieces:


I still need to cleanup some of the welds a bit more.

Not much to report. I soaked the K frame in a big plastic bin filled with Simple Green purple degreaser for several days to help remove all the crap stuck inside. After scrubbing for a bit, I dried it with a torch and sprayed two good coats of Eastwood’s inner frame paint.

I couldn’t find anything on the internet that would work for the bushing/grommet in the LCA’s sway bar mount so, I decided to try to make it. I used 18ga sheet metal. I started out drilling a small hole then carefully tapping in/through small punch tools then progressively wider sockets to get enough metal to go through the hole and have enough to peen over on the other side. After numerous attempts, I finally got it (the best I could do, anyway). And the hole in my anvil was the exact size of the hole in the LCA which turned out to be extremely helpful.

The tools i used:


Finished punching through. I then traced the appropriate outside diameter and cut it out:


Anvil hole:


I sprayed primer on the grommets and LCA before installing:


Peened over:


Not the prettiest, but will do. I’m not sure this was necessary, I thinking I became overly obsessed with finding a solution to this problem - I’m a bit mental.

ct71rr said:

I couldn’t find anything on the internet that would work for the bushing/grommet in the LCA’s sway bar mount so, I decided to try to make it. I used 18ga sheet metal. I started out drilling a small hole then carefully tapping in/through small punch tools then progressively wider sockets to get enough metal to go through the hole and have enough to peen over on the other side. After numerous attempts, I finally got it (the best I could do, anyway). And the hole in my anvil was the exact size of the hole in the LCA which turned out to be extremely helpful.

The tools i used:
View attachment 1833392

Finished punching through. I then traced the appropriate outside diameter and cut it out:
View attachment 1833394

Anvil hole:
View attachment 1833393

I sprayed primer on the grommets and LCA before installing:
View attachment 1833395

Peened over:
View attachment 1833396

Not the prettiest, but will do. I’m not sure this was necessary, I thinking I became overly obsessed with finding a solution to this problem - I’m a bit mental.

Click to expand...

Nicely done!

I got some epoxy sprayed today on a bunch of different parts.





Slowly eating the elephant.

After applying epoxy to my hood inserts I noticed that they were a little wonky. I filled the lows with Upol 7061 flexible filler, sanded and applied more epoxy. They are much flatter now.

You can see the waves in the reflections:



Upol 7061 applied:




Sanded & epoxied:



Another step forward.

Wow, it’s been a bit since my last update. I finally finished painting the hood inserts which, turned into a bit of a fiasco. While painting them (the first time), I knocked one of them off the table I had them on and cracked it. A small hairline crack, about an inch long. I hand to sand it back so that I could fix the crack with some JB Weld plastic adhesive. Then reprime, recoat with a bit of filler, rebase and then clear. During this time I also decided to respray my hood because there were a few small hairs in the clear that were driving me crazy. I then began installing the splash guards inside the front fenders. Fast forward to today, I started cleaning up the window tracks. When I bought my car, the quarter window glass was and the glass from one of the doors was removed and stored in the trunk. When I laid out the glass today to start cleaning, I realized that I have a quarter glass set (tracks & glass) for a different car (possibly a Charger) and one and a half sets (missing glass for one side) that I believe to be original to my car. I was always planning on replacing the glass, so I’m not too concerned about that. I’m guessing that a PO was planning on using the different set for parts which, I did. I gave everything a good degreasing and then a quick media blast. I’m going to need some replacement t parts though.

Hood Inserts:


Front splash shield:

Rear splash shield:


Window sets:

Original to car:


From a Charger?


Cleaned on left:


Cleaned channel too, the rubber was brittle and rock-hard:


All clean:

Does anyone know where to find this clip?




It goes here:


And the riveted bolt (above image) that attaches it to the mounting plate:

And these rivets?:

Continuing on with cleaning and repairing the widow parts. I soaked the bolts/nuts and mounts in evaporust for a couple of days. I then blasted everything in my cabinet. I then applied a black oxide treatment to all of the bolts/nuts and some of the mounts.

Before:


After blasting:


After black oxide treatment:


I can’t wait to put all this back together and in my car…