My 1978 Dodge Monaco 4 door sedan.

[Gary P]

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Our job went well in St George Utah, and we rode our mountain bikes in some spectacular places!

Anyways, back on topic!!

After a day of scooting around getting prices and other assorted nick-nacks, I got to working on the car. I've come to dislike welding quite a lot, but infortunately there's a ton of that to do on the car, so I just pushed myself into it....although I only cut the rust out and sat looking at it (like it's going to do itself) I feel I have an easier time on this side of the car, than the other side.

Cutting out that nasty passenger side lower quarter.

And the leading edge of the rear wheel arch, again, needs to be rebuilt. As with the quarter panel, I feel this is going to give me less of a hard time on the passenger side, although I have tempted fate/turned on Murphy's Law by saying that!

I cut all the crap out, and used one of those paddle wheels (if that's what they are called) to sand it all down. It's getting late so I won't be cutting a new piece today.

All that glitters is gold? What the?

I cranked the welder on and filled in the trim holes from behind. Unfortunately, I suffer from light sensitivity and the welder immediately gave me a migraine headache, so I had to stop just as I got going. Oh well.

The passenger rear door is the only panel on this car without dents. The passenger front has a nice one I have to figure out.

And this is how she sits this evening. My head is pounding and I'm a little frustrated with my lack of progress today, but every little helps, right?

Thanks for looking you guys!

 

[HawkRod]

A little progress is still progress!

Keep at it. Some days you will make great progress, some days it will be little, some days you might even go backwards - it happens (at least to me!).

Good work and keep at it!

BTW - I love the Utah pictures - it has some great places to see. Zion is one of my favorite parks!

 

[YY1]

Nice progress on the repairs.

Wish I was that confident with body work.

In case you're into these things, thought I'd post this-

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MPC-1-25-1...913528&hash=item445213adfb:g:E4wAAOSw3F5eJgW7

Might could find it cheaper, it's the first one I found.

 

[YY1]

PS, the wife and I were in Utah (SLC) last summer for her business.

We did get a chance to spend a day up in the Wasatch mountains.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

 

[Gary P]

A little progress is still progress!

Keep at it. Some days you will make great progress, some days it will be little, some days you might even go backwards - it happens (at least to me!).

Good work and keep at it!

BTW - I love the Utah pictures - it has some great places to see. Zion is one of my favorite parks!

Thank you for the encouragement - I definitely need it some days. You're right, on a good day one can achieve so much. On a bad day, no matter how hard you push it, it just seems like the achievement was zero - but again you're right, a little progress is still a little! Thanks again for your words, I'm glad you take the time to see what I'm doing and I thank you for that (this must be the least popular "build thread" on this site hahahah)
Zions is a magical place, you're right! I love Moab, I've recently fallen in love with St George, anywhere that there's red rock I simply adore it!

Nice progress on the repairs.

Wish I was that confident with body work.

I'm taking this approach, which I will say, I'd NEVER take with a high value car:

"Cut that out. Fix it. If you don't know how to fix it you better learn because you just cut it out!!"

Baptism by fire. The hard way. Learning from necessity. All of those things have meant I HAVE to be able to fix it. Like I said, it's not the way I would do it with $100k worth of Charger, but it's all I can do at this stage. My methods and techniques are probably wrong, but in 12 months when the car is finished, I'll get to see what I did wrong by the body falling apart hahahah!

By the way I DO like model kits, I'm tempted to buy that one and create a replica of mine! I saw one in Hobby Lobby the other week that was Joker from Batmans car or something. It was definitely a Monaco. Should have taken a picture of it. Thanks for sharing that kit!

PS, the wife and I were in Utah (SLC) last summer for her business.

We did get a chance to spend a day up in the Wasatch mountains.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

It is very beautiful here - I never take the mountains for granted. It's right outside my doorstep so every day (particularly the mountain biking) makes me so thankful I'm here.

Ok back on topic.....today, I'm going to do some more welding, because if I have to weld for much longer, I'm going to throw myself off one of the aforementioned mountains in total frustration :-D

THANKS YOU GUYS!!

Here we go...

 

[Gary P]

Good afternoon. I've been chasing my tail with awkward customers this morning, but I have found a couple hours to do my least favorite thing....welding and fab on a rusty old car that keeps blowing through regardless of the settings I have my MiG on. Moan moan moan....


I began with cutting cardboard templates again.

Fits nice.

Once this piece was in, I cut the straggly bit below off completely and made new metal. Can't stop blowing through everything, which is frustrating.

I did the usual fab of a shaped piece which worked well.

Blowing through got the better of me so I decided to use some of the products that are available to me. Some epoxy really helped with pin holes.

First half of the afternoon was a low to medium success. I stopped for a minute to look around me and re-evaluate my life and situation, and felt much better.

This afternoon into the evening will be productive, so here goes...

 

[HawkRod]

I think it turned out good!

Just don't ask me for welding advice - I am a novice welder...

 

[Chargerjase]

I assume you have played around with your MIG settings? Usually blow through is a result of too higher amps.

 

[Gary P]

I assume you have played around with your MIG settings? Usually blow through is a result of too higher amps.

I have buddy. I'm constantly pissing around with settings. I changed to 023 wire on the advice of a good welder I know... I've settled on a setting that gives me the best success but the results vary!

 

[Gary P]

This afternoon went completely crazy at work. Jobs flooded in - I don't know what happened but holy Hell I got busy - so thankful!

I carried on rebuilding the wheel arch trailing edge...

It felt good to get going on this. Not a restoration-quality job, but it'll do for me.



I then found a great way to make templates for my metal shapes. Instead of using cardboard, I grabbed some scrap signmaking vinyl and stuck it over the hole that needed a metal shape. I got my dirty welding gloves, put them on, and ran my thumb gently around the edge of the hole. It left a dirty edge that was then easy to draw on with sharpie...

This could then be transferred onto my sheet metal...

And then using an Exacto knife, cut around, which leaves a score mark for me to follow with my cutting wheel. The score mark can be drawn on in Sharpie, too, so I can see it better.

It was then, that I heard in the distance a rumble. Thunder? Earthquake? No, although it's increasingly likely....it was my buddy Dylan in his Chev. It has a 400ci, new wiring loom, new electronic ignition, and all kinds of amazing stuff I wish mine had...

...but best of all, his radiator expansion tank :-D

We stood around and listened and laughed as the big burly men in the gym next door pumped iron to The Spice Girls. Yup. That's all I managed to muster tonight. I have much work to do tomorrow, I'm hoping to get an hour on the car :-D

 

[HawkRod]

Nice idea with the signmaking vinyl. Seems like it might be faster than cutting out cardboard templates.

 

[Gary P]

Nice idea with the signmaking vinyl. Seems like it might be faster than cutting out cardboard templates.

So much faster!! I would recommend just going to your local sign shop and asking them for some scraps of anything they have - doesn't really matter what color, although white would work best I would say - as long as you can see where your marks are... I'm sure most sign shops would just give you a bunch of offcuts or scraps out of the bin - I know I would. Definitely a nice little hack I stumbled on today.

My business just went full-on busy, so no car stuff today.

 

[Greg Ducato]

The business income will support the hobby, I find I either have time or money but never both, I hope you can achieve the balance.

 

[Gary P]

The business income will support the hobby, I find I either have time or money but never both, I hope you can achieve the balance.

Oh I hear ya Greg! Hahaha

 

[Phantom440]

Hey- I just came across this thread and read it all in one go- I got into these 4-doors at a young age as well, seeing them in the Dukes and every other car-stunt show that were big in the early 80s; I liked the General Lee and all, but Roscoe's cruisers could keep up with it, and he was a terrible driver! I've been slowly going through my '72 Coronet, and has a lot of the same rust issues as yours. You're making amazing progress, and I love your attitude about learning as you go. I'm trying to do the same thing, and like you said, it's not some $100,000 Charger that you're going to "mess up forever," and it's not someone else's car, so you can take your time and do it over if you have to. I'll follow this build for sure. I wish you the best of luck in getting it done. I'm rooting for you! (PS- these 4-door B's deserve so much more attention than they receive, so I'm always excited to see another one getting some love!)

 

[Gary P]

Hey- I just came across this thread and read it all in one go- I got into these 4-doors at a young age as well, seeing them in the Dukes and every other car-stunt show that were big in the early 80s; I liked the General Lee and all, but Roscoe's cruisers could keep up with it, and he was a terrible driver! I've been slowly going through my '72 Coronet, and has a lot of the same rust issues as yours. You're making amazing progress, and I love your attitude about learning as you go. I'm trying to do the same thing, and like you said, it's not some $100,000 Charger that you're going to "mess up forever," and it's not someone else's car, so you can take your time and do it over if you have to. I'll follow this build for sure. I wish you the best of luck in getting it done. I'm rooting for you! (PS- these 4-door B's deserve so much more attention than they receive, so I'm always excited to see another one getting some love!)

Phantom440 - thank you brother! I really appreciate your words and love that you're tagging along on this little build thread! Thanks man. Hey my buddy has a '72 Coronet, damn nice cars and if yours is like his, very similar to my Monaco - except I have to say, the Coronet is much prettier in the front I'm gonna go check out some of your posts and take look at your car! Thanks again for your words!

Fortunately, I was so freaking busy with actual work today, I had no time on the car. I did clear up and make some space though.

In the interests of keeping this thread alive (now that I have some great people reading it) I wondered what I could post today to keep it interesting...

Alas, I couldn't motivate myself at 8:30pm, so as I was locking up I ran upstairs to the mezzanine and took this pic...

...and while I was up there took this, which are my seats stacked in the box my wide format printer came in!! :-D



That's all for today, I'm sorry I got nothing done! Tomorrow I promise I'll do something!! Good night all!

 

[Gary P]

Hi Guys!

Another full-on busy day in the shop and it meant I got nowhere near the car! Dang it!!

So in keeping with pushing this project thread going so I don't lose the few of you that actually read my diatribe, here's a picture of a Road Runner! Absolutely glorious!!!

:-D :-D :-D

 

[HawkRod]

Hi Guys!

Another full-on busy day in the shop and it meant I got nowhere near the car! Dang it!!

So in keeping with pushing this project thread going so I don't lose the few of you that actually read my diatribe...

No worries Gary - you won't lose us. These are all long term projects - my "Tune Up" has been going slow due to work as well. It happens.

 

[YY1]

My $8 weekend "Change the freeze plugs" project turned into a 2 year paint the motor then blast and paint the engine compartment project.


It happens.

 

[jprather]

My $8 weekend "Change the freeze plugs" project turned into a 2 year paint the motor then blast and paint the engine compartment project.


It happens.

YY, why does that not surprise me ?