1973 Roadrunner-Colemans Project

[idrivemopar]

Nice choice of car!!! I was almost going to do that combination of colors but stuck with original!!!!! I will be watching your progress. My car was a rotisserie restore as well, thankfully I had someone else do the undercoating removal!

Good luck with the build!

 

[moparmuscle]

Does anyone know the gauge steel for the body and frame rails for my car?

 

[moparmuscle]

 

[moparmuscle]

 

[roadrunnerman]

you've got a good start on your resto. Especially doing it on a rostiserie. Yellow/black is a great combo. Not sure on thickness for the frame rails but would take a guess and say 14-16 guage.

 

[moparmuscle]

Hi...I'm Colemans father...I just hijacked his thread to post a picture of me with my car when I was 17...this is in 1979...I didnt have to do any restoration back then...383 pistol grip 4 speed with a bench seat...loved that car

 

[coloradodave]

Welcome. Two of my 3 sons picked up the gearhead curse from me. Working on their cars with them are some of the best memories I have. To this day they still remind me of stuff I showed them years ago. I've got to thank my Dad for passing on the car nut genes. Kudos to you for helping Coleman out. BTW, nice car...

 

[moparmuscle]

Good morning everyone...I have a question regarding the drivers side frame rail repair that can be seen in the pictures above---the area in front of the rear K-member mount has some "soft spots" on the 3 angles seen in the picture...would you replace the metal as one piece and bend the metal patch or do it as 3 separate pieces and weld them in--the metal is strong just past the holes that are seen---thanks!

 

[moparmuscle]

 

[Ron 73]

I think maybe and its hard to tell not being there looking but i would go with separate patches myself, others probably can tell you different its just my thinking and if im not mistaken i think AMD just may have a patch for that area, you may want to check out.....
Here is a link, If your interested...

http://www.autometaldirect.com/

 

[moparmuscle]

Hi Ron--this is Mike (Coleman"s father) I have the day off and I am browsing the other restorations on here trying to find all the good tips...also having trouble getting the drip rail trim off..any ideas that may help? I looked at AMD they didnt show a patch...however like Summit shows the lower rear quarter panel patch from AMD and AMD doesnt show it on their page? Oh and since we have it on a rotisserie do you think we have to brace the door openings? I didnt want to remove the door hinges because the doors closed like a new Mercedes...Thanks in advance for your insight!

 

[Bigal75]

You can buy a used frame rail. Cut out the section you need and weld that in...or replace the whole rail.

 

[Ron 73]

Hi Mike, Im no expert on this kind of stuff i just know what i would do if i had to... First of all and i am in the process of new spectacles going over the pics lol, but from what i seen i would use a grinder with a thin disk and cut out one area and get some like metal, same gauge and i wouldn't patch it with an over lap, i would butt weld it in myself, grind it off and coat it with a good rust converter, and then go with the next one, Bigal is right with the rail, i wouldn't do it myself with what im looking at but its another solution... Your drip rail I learned from Louis, 71RR project and i hope i got the user name right but i think he said use a old bottle opener and put some tape on the end of the point and use it to pry the chrome off.... If your car was a convertible i might say maybe with braces but i cant see it,,,, but, there are others here with more knowledge then myself... Just my thoughts, but don't hold me to it! lol...

And when the doors are put back on there will be adjustments to get them where they were...

 

[moparmuscle]

Hi Ron that was my thought to...the frame rails have soft spots concentrated around those holes seen in the pictures by the k-frame mount... I used the pointed end of one of my body hammers and found the soft areas to fix..so it was just my thought to go a little past that and hopefully get solid metal to butt weld to and hose the inside down with rust inhibitor, however never have to do this before so thats why we were asking for advice... and further back where the bottom of the rail is gone, the sides are solid, so that should be easy...and was thinking maybe welding a couple of gussets inside the frame rail from the top before putting the new front floor pans in for added strength? Then sub frame connectors from XV...Coleman really enjoys welding and is excited to get this RR together

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Hi Bigal...I looked at that option but holy that looks like alot of work to replace the rail...I think we are going to do some surgery and see what we have in there...I picked up some 14 guage steel and going to give that a try first--thanks for your advice! Btw..what kind of car you got that monster in?

 

[moparmuscle]

some

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We spent some time in the garage tonight modifying the rotisserie...the rotiserrie was to tall with the RR on it for ceiling clearance (and that I-bean wasnt helping either) so we drilled another hole 9 inches lower on the main support..it clears now

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Then Coleman welded up the doors and windshield frame for a '35 Ford truck chop top ratrod project

 

[DWilbur]

Cool project. I bought a 73 Satelite about 2 months ago. I going to build this as a running project until I have to paint. Thanks for the tip about Summit having patch panels. I been looking for about a month for some.

 

[moparmuscle]

Hi Dwilbur--I called Summit and they said that didnt have any and it would be a minimum 45 day before they "might" get any and couldnt give me a definite if and when they would get them---we have a good passenger side quarter panel with the trunk drop off that we wont be using since its the drivers side that has the rot on thiscar

 

[moparmuscle]

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Its a lot of work cleaning the underside of all the undercoating and paint...we are going to sand blast all the hard to reach spots this week hopefully and get to replacing the bad metal

 

[747mopar]

Looking good and your not kidding about what a pain the underside is to clean but just think how much worse the cars would have been without it. I envy the Rat Rod project, I've really got the itch to build a T bucket right now.

 

[DWilbur]

Thanks for the offer but I ordered the part from Summit. I'm not in a hurry to do any body work so I will wait until they deliver.