calling all metal men!

[Rooster]

Soooo in my inexperienced venture here I am looking for a push in the generic direction for the best way to go about this metal repair.
First off is I want to do it as everyone says “correctly”. Meaning it hopefully won’t rust in a few years and hold up well. Plus I want to do it looking original, almost as if it wasn’t ever replaced.

I’ll try and show and explain in sections here... this tail panel along with the rear crossmember is not very pretty...rusted where it connects to the quarters and pretty much everywhere else. For a replacement I will probably need an AMD crossmember but I have original metal for the tail panel from a donor car.

 

[Rooster]

As far as quarter panels go they are great...except for behind the wheels which have already been cut off and I have replacements

And a little bit in front of the wheels as well on passenger side

 

[Rooster]

Maybe trickier but rear windshield area has some cancer

Even scarier the door post

Trunk lid along the lip

Passenger door jamb which I have a original patch for

And I believe it is called the a- frame... behind the fender under the cowl

And not sure what to do with the rocker panels. All fine except for the leaded seam at quarter which just shows a little bulge

 

[Rooster]

The rear of the car is the worst of it and needs the most work. The frame rails appear ok except for a few sports eaten through...

the driver wheel well has some holes through it and previous owner tried to do a patch along the bottom

And the trunk... I have a trunk pan and just need the extensions

It’s in two pieces as seen....

 

[Rooster]

As far as everything else goes I will need to replace drivers floor with an AMD piece. And that Dutchman’s panel behind rear windshield with a panel as well. I don’t have pictures right now but there Are few pinholes behind front tires on fenders and door.

 

[mopwrd340]

I would replace the rear frame rails they are pretty thin and the quarter panels and inner and outer wheel wells the more you open that car up you are gonna find more rust .

 

[droptop]

Unless this is an ultra rare car, I would look for another body. The amount of time and money you are going to spend on this is going to well exceed the value of the finished product. :2cents:

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Number ONE, Rooster, is get that damn gas tank out of the car and out of the shop before ANY cutting and/or welding is done. Otherwise you could end up just a big puff of chicken feathers floating in the wind.

 

[Ironbuilt]

I would click on the following link...

http://www.autometaldirect.com/

And bring your credit card. They have everything you need to bring that Mopar back to greatness. Good luck!!

 

[slimt]

I predict 4 years work on the body . thats a huge task. Becarefull how and what you remover .Take lots of pictures of overlaps on the tin .

 

[Ironbuilt]

I predict 4 years work on the body . thats a huge task. Becarefull how and what you remover .Take lots of pictures of overlaps on the tin .

As a hobby, yes. But to purchase the metal he needs from AMD, he could be paint ready in 6 months. Of course, it also depends on his welding skill level.

 

[beanhead]

Number ONE, Rooster, is get that damn gas tank out of the car and out of the shop before ANY cutting and/or welding is done. Otherwise you could end up just a big puff of chicken feathers floating in the wind.

Yes, please...it doesn't take much

 

[Bb70charger500]

Run and hide on that one! That's alot of Swiss cheese! Thank god for amd. Just do your self a favor don't try and fix patch stuff on that car cut remove replace . Blow threw will drive you insane! That is worse then the 1947 Buick I was welding on no repop metal so I tried saving as much as I could ! It drove me insane . Burned me out quick on that project.

Take your time and do it right the first time. As for the trunk pan I dislike two piece pans since you have so much metal fab already a little extra effort and you can get a solid one in there.

Good luck keep us up to date on what's going on !

 

[moparnation74]

Unless this is an ultra rare car, I would look for another body. The amount of time and money you are going to spend on this is going to well exceed the value of the finished product. :2cents:

Wise words!

You have a ton of rust repair and body work ahead of you......

Just getting the trim to fit right for the channel replacement will drive one crazy........

 

[Richard Cranium]

No offense, but I don't see anything that's good on that body.

 

[451Mopar]

I'm not a body / metal guy, but looking to maybe attempt some repairs like these.
From other restoration posts, it looks like if you have the rear panel out, you can put the one piece trunk floor in.
I also think you may want to make a frame jig to keep the car aligned and square?

 

[WileE]

Just remember rule #1, "Where there's rust, there's more." Keep as much original metal as possible, however on structural metal as the rails, I would replace them entirely.

 

[threewood]

I'm not a body / metal guy, but looking to maybe attempt some repairs like these.
From other restoration posts, it looks like if you have the rear panel out, you can put the one piece trunk floor in.
I also think you may want to make a frame jig to keep the car aligned and square?

He showed a picture of a two piece trunk pan but yes the rear tail light panel needs to come out for the one piece to slide in.

Number ONE, Rooster, is get that damn gas tank out of the car and out of the shop before ANY cutting and/or welding is done. Otherwise you could end up just a big puff of chicken feathers floating in the wind.

It looks like it was blasted already and if there were gas in it I'm surprised the static charge didn't blow it up!

Rooster, that is going to be a lot of work. There are guys on here that started with less but saved them. I'm on the fence.....I saved my rusty GTX but yours has more issues. I had donor panels (entire roof and pilars, front dog house) and you do not.

If you charge ahead, go one step at a time. Don't jump around or it will get overwhelming. The rear looks nasty so you could start there and I don't see much there that can be patched besides the window corners. What I see is outer/inner wheel houses, dutchman, window corners, trunk pan, taillight panel, trunk lock bracket, gutter channels and framerails. Weld up a frame jig to hold the rear rails in place before cutting and replacing. From the new rails weld up a jig to hold the roof c pillar and quarters in place so you can remove and replace the wheel housings (rear roof support it welded to the inner housing). And so on, one step at a time.

How are the front frame rails?
You will need to melt out the lead rocker seams as I guarantee there is rust under there.
You are going to need spotweld cutters and a lot of mig wire

How much do you have invested so far?

 

[moparsaver]

Post #4, picture #4 that frame rail is not "ok". It's shot. Personally, I would put the would be restoration money towards a different vehicle. Can it be restored?....... Absolutely. Will you be upside down on it when it is restored?.......Most definitely. Again, as others have said, no disrespect but there is not a lot of good going on with this car.

 

[Moparstyle]

No disrespect but there is no generic way to do that like you said in your first post its going to take a lot of money and a lot of time it’s definitely not a first time restoration car like the other guys said might look for a more solid car to restore use what you can off that one for patches and so on but if your willing to spend the cash and time go for it good luck rooster