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73 Roadrunner 340 Auto

Builderguy

Builderguy
FBBO Gold Member
Local time
11:08 AM
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
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Location
Alma, mi
Purchased this car after a large branch fell on the hood and the owner finally decided that he didn't have enough time left to restore it. I had been sitting in the same spot since 1994 and the small tree he parked it next to (that also protected it from most of the sun) grew large and
in a wind storm dropped a branch on it last year. Okay, that is the back story. Here is how the project is going so far. It is numbers matching and is in really good shape with just a couple of small rust holes on each lower front fender. Not hard to fix just takes some time that I thought I would have more of. Spring of 2020 is the goal. Rebuild the engine, trans, rear end, interior, along with all new rubber and paint. Then on to the next one! This is how I relax. :)

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Looks like a fun project! I’ll be following along.
 
Looks like a nice car..gonna be sweet when your blasting down the highway
 
Can't wait for retirement! Only get to spend a couple of hours a week on this but it is moving forward.

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Still going. Very solid car!!! So far there has only been a little rust hole on the quarter behind the left rear wheel. Still need more time and more space to work on this but it is moving forward:) Should probably fix the date.
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Superbowl Sunday and I am out in the garage again. Started on the passenger side to see how bad it is. Not bad for a 48 year old car. Found a lot of bondo that I don't understand. There was a scrape that went from the back of the door to just before the wheel arch and then some damage to both sides of the wheel arch (top). They filled the #$%@#&* out of this for no reason what so ever. It did not look too bad from 20 feet but the body lines were all wrong. All they had to do was bang a little more of the high spots down, weld in the holes they made, and they could have just glazed it. I don't get it, I took off prob a gallon of bondo and will have this repaired with about 3 hours of work. It was their car so I guess they could do whatever they wanted. I would rather do it right so I removed it all. Few more hours of paint removal and I can switch to pulling the motor and trans. Good for me cause I need to change it up a little:)

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Thanks guys. Body work to me is fun. Making the metal do what I want it to do and take the shape that I need just kinda floats my boat. Could use a couple more tools but I am working on getting those. It is the upcoming motor work that stresses me a little. Mainly cause I am not that good at it and it has been a few years since I tore one down. I love FBBO because I get great advise on areas I am not sure of. I ask a lot of questions because I don't like to make mistakes or do things over. On this site, if I see a question I think I know the answer to, I will chime in. Give and take information because you guys/gals are the best. Just my $.02 worth.
 
Had a couple of hours so striped the last of the paint. Was a little worse than I expected but not as bad as it could have been. Patch panel or just cut out the bad and weld in new pieces. Not sure yet but I am sure that a rotisserie (should have bought one instead of another car) would make life much easier. Oh well, maybe after taxes are paid, if there is any $$$$ left.

As for the lead filler in the joint between the quarter and roof, the guy on the left side did a much better job than the guy on the right.

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Had a few more hours over the weekend and was able to knock off a little more on the to-do-list,

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Wish you were closer the body stuff is miserable to me everything else is the fun stuff!!
 
Nice work, nice car and nice avatar!

My first car, and the car I gave to my son, is your avatar picture! My 73 has the 340, 727 and 3.55 rear, so it looks to be very much similar to yours.

Good luck with the car - it does look really solid!

Hawk
 
Left rear quarter rust repair:
1) All jacked up
2) Rusted area
3) Area to cut out
4) Little tricky as it has a double bend
5) Rust cut out
6) Rust stop applied
7) New piece
8) Tacked in place
9) Welded in
10) Done

I gotta learn to take less photos. probably gets a little boring to look at after awhile.
You will notice that I didn't cut the patch to the exact size on this repair, and I usually do,
but since this was a small piece I was afraid it would expand a little too much when being
welded and cause some issues with matching the existing metal. I can fill the gap so it is not
a big issue, just uses more wire and makes for more grinding. Six of one 1/2 dozen of the other.
Either that, or I forgot to allow for the thickness of my cutoff wheel.

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I still can't believe how solid this car is. Either it was not raised in Michigan or it was very very well taken care of. Someday when I get some time I will try and do a VIN history but for now work needs to continue. Filled the holes left by the rear mud flap and laid out a template for the body lines to be used on the damaged passenger side. I will transfer this over, mark where the lines should be, and start working to metal to meet the template.

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Very nice work. My first "good" car was a 74 RR, 318 3spd, gun metal grey, white with plaid interior. I very quickly changed it to a 340 4spd and painted it yellow Emron. I loved that car but really wanted an Ebody; I ended up trading it for a 74 Challenger 318 AT. I had spun a rod bearing in the 340 and it was losing oil pressure but it was still a sweet car. Interesting enough, a buddy of mine back home (ND) saw it at a car show last summer and send me a pic; still looks good.
 
I would trade you skills in a second. my mechanical for your metal and body working. everything comes easy for me except getting a panel flat. great work , I wish it was that easy for me.
 
I never did body work growing up building cars, back then I "had a guy", for $300 he would paint any car. Of course body work wasn't that much of an issue because the cars were usually 3-7 years old. Anyway, when I did my 70 Challenger I begin learning how to do body work and I pretty much hated it but could not afford to take it to someone. I painted the car as well and while it looks decent, it is far from good. Then I did my 73 Cuda and had to replace quarter panels, fenders, door skin, etc and then got into the body work; after a while I started to get it and now can do it to a degree. I can get a panel flat and make it look pretty good. Its all about patience, knowing what technique to use, what products need to be applied and LOTS of sanding... I learned that there is a reason for long boards, DA sanders, etc.
 
70chall440, you are 100% correct. The right tools make life a lot easier. I have tools now I didn't even know about several years ago much less own. A spray gun for primer, another for BC, and then yet another just for CC when I used to have just one gun for everything and a few different size tips. I still get stuck in my ways a little but I hope to Never be too old to learn something new.
 
Builderguy - I know exactly what you are talking about. I know have something like 3 or 4 guns, a pile of sanding blocks, pneumatic long board, DA, paint depth gauge. etc. I have an entire rolling cabinet with nothing but auto body tools. On the Cuda I developed a "paint book" with instructions, mixing ratios, etc.
 
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