My GY8 '71 Road Runner

[ct71rr]

I got the small area patched and in epoxy too. This small patch was difficult to make. It curves it two different directions. The bottom slopes down and the top section bends around the corner. I also finished cleaning off the sound deadener material on the door skins.

Small patch:

Epoxy:

Skins sound deadener gone:

 

[71Beeper]

Chad, I'm gonna have to send you my spare doors to fix with all the work you are doing to yours!
Excellent work

 

[battlebornfarm]

Some more progress this morning.

K Member out:
View attachment 143460View attachment 143461View attachment 143462

Thanks for the step-by-step instructions Louis (71airgrabberRR). The torsion bars and K Member came out relatively easily. The hardest part for me was the two upper control arm bolts that are toward the firewall. They took me about an hour to get out. The two forward facing ones popped right out:

View attachment 143463

And, I added some internal bracing:

View attachment 143464

Could you please share how to remove the K member

 

[ct71rr]

Could you please share how to remove the K member

71 Road Runner Restoration Started

This is the process I used posted by another member (Louis). Starts about the middle of page 16.

 

[ct71rr]

Chad, I'm gonna have to send you my spare doors to fix with all the work you are doing to yours!
Excellent work

Thanks man! I’m no pro. Just trying to make things better than they were. I actually enjoyed making these patch panels.

 

[ct71rr]

I started working on the door skins. The passenger’s skin needs a lot of attention. First up, the California hole. This is my first attempt at a patch for an exterior panel so the pucker factor was high. Using ninja focus, I think I did ok. I started with a poster board template and after measuring, re-measuring and comparing to the driver’s door, I moved on to making the patch in metal. This patch is kind of complicated, it has a bit of a radius in the top an bottom sections with a bend/crease that has another slight bend flowing into the bottom section. There is also a curve at the bottom left of the door. I used my english wheel for the radius’s and press for the bends. I also tipped the edge using my bead roller for the part that wraps around and onto the door frame. After getting this done, I was pretty impressed that my patch lied flat on the skin when done - no bulges or weirdness. I then welded it in which was pretty stressful.

The area to be replaced:

Patch test fitted, fits flat to the panel:

Patch panel:

Second pass of tacks, ground down and ready for planishing:

Welded in, needs some hammer/dolly work in corner:

Pretty excited that the corner matches the template after welding in:

All in all, I think it came out pretty good for my skill level. Obviously I’ll need to add some filler to it. I like the process of making patches for some weird reason. I wish my hammer/dolly skills were a lot better. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the technique.

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I completed the second patch in the bottom right corner of the passenger’s door. This one was smaller and easier to make. After getting this patch in, I went around and drilled out the holes filled with bondo and filled them in with weld. I then knocked out some of the dings as best I could. There are three holes where I’m guessing a mirror was installed. I’m not sure if these holes are correct or not. I’ll have to see if I have a right side mirror.

Original “patch”:

Area to be removed:

Test fit:

Welded in:

Holes, there were several scattered around skin:

Filled in:

These are the holes I’m thinking were for a mirror:

I then moved on to the driver’s side door skin. There was a rough area near the door handle. I hammered and dollied this out. I then had several holes filled with bondo scattered around this skin too. I also banged out several dings. No patches though...thankfully!

Rough area:

Smoothed out:

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I got the door skins in epoxy today. Doesn’t seem like much but there is a ton of prep work getting them ready. I was hoping for a bit warmer weather today, 40’s, but it didn’t quite get there. It’s 81 degrees in my garage with both heaters running and a little help from a space heater to keep the metal warm while the skins dry. - - Can’t wait to see the electric bill for this month

 

[Nxcoupe]

I got the door skins in epoxy today. Doesn’t seem like much but there is a ton of prep work getting them ready. I was hoping for a bit warmer weather today, 40’s, but it didn’t quite get there. It’s 81 degrees in my garage with both heaters running and a little help from a space heater to keep the metal warm while the skins dry. - - Can’t wait to see the electric bill for this month
View attachment 1424789

Looking good. It was pretty warm here today, got a lot done on some projects. Actually opened the garage door.

 

[ct71rr]

Of course after I finish, the sun comes out and it’s getting warmer.

 

[It’s just me]

I completed the second patch in the bottom right corner of the passenger’s door. This one was smaller and easier to make. After getting this patch in, I went around and drilled out the holes filled with bondo and filled them in with weld. I then knocked out some of the dings as best I could. There are three holes where I’m guessing a mirror was installed. I’m not sure if these holes are correct or not. I’ll have to see if I have a right side mirror.

Original “patch”:
View attachment 1424337

Area to be removed:

View attachment 1424338

Test fit:
View attachment 1424339

Welded in:
View attachment 1424340

Holes, there were several scattered around skin:
View attachment 1424341

Filled in:
View attachment 1424342

These are the holes I’m thinking were for a mirror:
View attachment 1424343


I then moved on to the driver’s side door skin. There was a rough area near the door handle. I hammered and dollied this out. I then had several holes filled with bondo scattered around this skin too. I also banged out several dings. No patches though...thankfully!

Rough area:
View attachment 1424344

Smoothed out:
View attachment 1424345


Thanks for looking!

What are you using to cut your patch panels so perfect?

 

[ct71rr]

What are you using to cut your patch panels so perfect?

I use a sharpie to trace the outline of the patch on the panel. I then remove the patch and make the sharpie line a little wider. I then put the patch back on and trace it again but this time with a metal scribe pen. I then cut almost to the scribed line with a cutoff wheel. I then sneak up to the scribe line with my mini belt sander. I make any minor tweaks, if needed, with the mini belt sander on the patch until I get a good fit. I also round off any corners so I don't run into issues when the patch and panel shrink from welding. To cut patch's I mostly use sheet metal snips.

 

[ct71rr]

Today I worked on getting the doors back together. I sprayed LizardSkin on the inside of the skins first. After letting it dry to the touch, I rejoined the skins to the frames. I still need to put a few plug welds around the perimeter of the skins where the factory welds were. I also have to fix a small area of one of the skin seams where it separated. Then I’ll touch up everything with epoxy.

LizardSkin:

Skins on:

 

[ct71rr]

On to the fenders; I started with the passenger’s side. I knew there was some bondo in it (of course) because, as usual, there were worms poking in to the backside. I decided to sand the panel down outside so that the dust wouldn’t engulf my entire garage and to take advantage of the balmy 30 degree day. It was fun sanding during the snow squalls! And, of course, I found a ****-ton of bondo. I removed the interior bracing and headlight bucket unit thing first. I’m going to need to do a bunch of patch work on the fender and bracing, Yea!! After getting the exterior to bare metal, I hosed the interior down with GooGone to start removing the undercoating that was expertly applied with care at the factory. This stuff is 1/2” thick + in some places.

Passenger’s side fender, looks good:

Yup, bondo:

More bondo:

Some rot:

More rot:

Crappy patch:

More rot:

Crappy patch, covered over with about 1/4” of bondo:

Another stellar patch, the entire are was covered over with about 1/4”+ of bondo:

It must have been a slow day at the factory, someone tried to recreate the Rocky Mountains:

I must have removed about a gallons of filler off this one panel!

 

[ct71rr]

And the driver’s side; this panel is a lot worse than the passenger’s side. It looks like the front took a hit at some point in the car’s life. From the edge forward, the end of the panel was rebuilt with about a 1” thick bead of bondo running about 10” long. There is also a huge patch riveted and welded in at the bottom rear, to the right of the wheel opening. This area had about 3/8” of bondo smeared over it. I’m pretty sure I removed about 2 gallons worth of bondo from this panel. Also, the headlight bucket thing is pretty much gone as is the top and bottom of the interior bracing piece that runs along the inside of the fender at the door opening. Awesome!!

Rot:

More:

More:

Quality repair:

Ahh bondo:

This must be close to some sort of record:

Don’t know what to say about this:

This was buried in, you guessed it, 1/4” of bondo:

Not good, headlight bucket:

What was left of the headlight bucket was bondo’ed to the front of the fender to “hold” it in place. Looks like I’m in the market for a driver’s side fender!

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I started working on fixing (trying to anyway) my fenders. Last weekend I took a little field trip to upper state NY to pick up a driver’s side fender from a member on here, thank you Dutchrebuild. It was a 14 hour round trip! At least I didn’t have to cross the GWB to get there!! I only need the front section of the nose and one of the pieces of the headlight bucket assembly. There was a little bit of rot in the section I needed but nothing a small patch wont fix, plus, I’m desperate.

The donor fender section I need:

There was some bondo covering rot and a few creases:

You can see the creases better, this was while I worked them out:

My original fender, all this was buried in bondo:

The front section was crushed in and buried with 1” this of bondo:

I did a little hammer/dollie work to straighten out what I could:

This is the section that needs the patch, yes, I’m patching a patch:

The patch welded in, I didn’t sand the right side of the patch because it will be cut in that area:

 

[ct71rr]

After getting the patch finished, I made a flexible shape pattern off of my passenger’s side fender so that I can line everything up when I weld the new front section on.

Flexible shape pattern:

Cut line:

Patch:

Test fit for shits & giggles:

I also started removing the horrendous patches that were already on the fender:

Awesome:

Super:

Why??!!:

Removed:

I also decided to soak the fenders in a shower of Rust911 to remove as much rust as possible. I hung the fenders from my paint rack and sealed them in with plastic:

Thanks for looking:

 

[T2R9]

Your are doing a clinic on how to fix rust and damage! Great stuff!

 

[71Beeper]

That's a ton of work Chad - too bad AMD doesn't re-pop 1971-1972 fenders.

 

[ct71rr]

Thank you both! It’s a LOT more work than I anticipated. I didn’t realize how messed up my fenders were. These are going to take a bunch of time to fix.