70 Roadrunner restoration

[Ron 73]

Dawg, m loving your thread here, im learning some and enjoying, great work i think its going to get me back at mine! Keep it up its soon going to get faster, or slower depending i guess how you look at it, once all this is done it just seems after paint it takes forever to finish one, maybe its just me, anticipation! lol...

 

[TDawg]

Stripping the hood and surprise, surprise.... a chunk of cheese...

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dammit dammit dammit..... 1/4 inch thick.... oh well, dig in for more surgery

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[HawkRod]

That sucks with the hood. Unfortunately, it is only too common. I was upset when I saw the whole right side of my car had been "fixed" with bondo when something scored the whole right side. Like you said, nothing to do but dig in. Hope it's not too bad to fix...

 

[TDawg]

I'm hoping it won't be too bad to fix, Hawk. I thought about it for awhile, and I think I have a plan. Mark out a grid on both sides (left and right) of the hood, cut out the dent, and use a contour gauge to match both sides, then re-weld the piece back in. Fingers crossed that it works that way, lol. Maybe someone has an easier way of doing it......

 

[GetX'd]

Nice thread. I just picked up on it. You have a sweet ride and sure looks like you do quality work. Unfortunately with these 45 year old cars we can't always tell what we're buying. I've had my 68 GTX for 43 years and it's going thru a restoration. Most of what's there I knew about but still got some surprises when things get torn apart. Like you said we all live and learn.

Good luck with your project and I'll be watching your thread now that I've seen it. Love 70 RR and GTX.

 

[TDawg]

So here is what I think could work. I just have to repeat this on the driver's side of the hood, cut it out and use a contour gauge along each letter/number and massage until they match. Then weld it back in....

 

[TDawg]

Grid work is laid out and....

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...no turning back now...

 

[Donny]

I'm interested in what you're doing to this Hood? Repops are available for the 70 RR, and the re-welding back in of this Hood will (I fear) cause more damage than the waviness respective of the Bondo you've uncovered. One way to 'solve' this damage is to slightly augment the Hood in a Resto Mod manner. The local shop here in town that's Mopar specific (musclerodshop.com) has started to 'get ahead' of the repairing damages from 40+ yrs of service by modifying Hoods' damages with bulges and accentuating the normal factory lines with a bit more flare and flair resulting in a 'new' Hood, and now a unique Hood. It's cost effective and affects the perception of the car and has shown over the past 5+ yrs to increase the value and desirability of these old cars. At any rate, good luck with this Hood surgery, I fear you may not get the results you're looking for, but, this is why I like this site because many people here have new ideas and methods that actually cause a net gain on these cars' values, looks, function, etc.

 

[TDawg]

Thanks for your concern, Donny. I did look at the repop hoods, but at almost $1100 Canadian ( the dollar is shite right now @ around 25% ) I decided to try and fix it myself. If it doesn't turn out, then I'll probably go the repop route. Nothing ventured, nothing gained eh? I checked out musclerodshop.com and their project "THOR".... that is going to look awesome! I really like the hood treatment. I could see doing something like that to a clone, but I'm trying to keep this close to original looking since it is a Roadrunner.

 

[Seventy]

You can weld a piece in there with ou warping the hoop, I have faith in you...

Are you using TIG? I found warming the entire panel helps, supports especially, I added a scoop to a chevelle hood years ago, it was a massive amount of welding, I picked a super HOT day, left the hood in the sun a bit, heated it a bit, and welded it nice and slow stopping and letting the beads cool but keeping the entire panel hot the entire time. I notice its not really the heat but the unevenness of the heat, heating up the skin while the supports remain cold will get you wavy metal every time..


good luck, you are doing very well..

 

[TDawg]

I am using a MIG welder, Seventy. I'll just take my time, and make sure I don't get too much heat in the area. The welding I've done so far that way has turned out pretty good. I wouldn't mind trying TIG, but I think that would require a lot of practice before trying it on something like this.

 

[Seventy]

I am using a MIG welder, Seventy. I'll just take my time, and make sure I don't get too much heat in the area. The welding I've done so far that way has turned out pretty good. I wouldn't mind trying TIG, but I think that would require a lot of practice before trying it on something like this.

It can be MIG'd too, really have to take your time, I would zap it in keeping beads small and as far apart from each other as possible. You are correct, tig is something that is hard to just pick up and do, but with steel and aluminum you can get the hang of it pretty fast, stainless took me a while to get used to...

 

[TDawg]

Ah yes, small tack welds Seventy..... lots and lots of small tack welds... lol

 

[Ron 73]

Your going to win with this TD, The work you do is more then enough to bring this ole gal back to the road!!! keep on buddy, MOPAR guys don't look the other way, makes a build stronger, us to ;)

 

[TDawg]

Thanks Ron, I haven't been doing too much to it lately, I decided about 3 weeks ago that I am going to retire at the end of the year and move closer to my parents. They are getting on in years and are starting to need help around the house, so I am buying a house (with a MUCH bigger garage) near them selling mine and moving, along with working 6 days a week until December (no rest for the wicked,eh? lol) then I can get back at it! in the meantime, another piece of the puzzle was purchased today...

 

[TDawg]

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Tah Dah!! It made the trip in one piece! YAY! lol

 

[gdrill]

Excellent. I forgot you were moving. I bet that was stressful having on the trailer like that. Probably looking in the mirror more than ahead! A bigger garage, you're styling now. Ok hurry up and get unpacked so we can watch you build again! Oh congrats on the new place too.

 

[TDawg]

Thanks gdrill. It wasn't too stressful, I had it strapped down tight enough it didn't move an inch. Moving at night was better, not so much traffic. It may be another month or so before I can get at it, I have one more car (you'll like this one!) to move and it is dependant on the weather (which doesn't seem to be co-operating). Thanks for the congrats!

 

[TDawg]

Number 2 ready for the trailer...

 

[gdrill]

Hey hey. You're right I dooo like that alot! Looks like it is in great shape too. Did you put a new floor in? That quarter looks good, lucky as you know how the replacements are!