Roger's Roadrunner

[roadrunnerman]

Finally got some pictures for you guys and gals.I've owned this car for 24 yrs.Painted it in trade college vitamin c w/black stripes.It is due time for it to be done again the right way now.It is a 383-4 auto w/bench but has buckets in it now.I would like to keep as much "original" metal as possible but will take any ideas you members may have as far as repair or replace.The hood was bought from another member(thanks greggs70,told you i would put it on).i plan on replacing the whole floor and trunk pans.It was painted with a BC/CC system.Not sure if it was ppg,dupont,ditzler.I look forward to hearing all your comments and ideas.Thanks.

 

[Propwash]

Well there she is huh Roger...Nice Roadrunner. 24 years! wow! That 6 pack hood does look good on there. Like the sticker! Looks like our cars share a lot of the same cancer. Any idea on where you want to start your project?

 

[roadrunnerman]

i was thinking about starting at the floors.I talked to craig at AMD installation center and he said i shouldn't have to support anything when i replace the floors and maybe do something with the roof pillars and window channels.Not sure where to start.I've worked on them my whole life but never undertook anything of this magnatude.

 

[roadrunnerman]

what would be the best way to repair the pillar?Cut and weld in a patch,or other idea?

 

[Propwash]

When you do your floors, are you doing the full one piece or the smaller two piece sections? If you do the floors in sections, you shouldn't have a problem with not jigging. If you take out a full one piece pan, you will need to brace her up. These cars are uni-body's and tend to parallelogram themselves when you remove that integral part of the the stucture.

As far as your quarter to roof seam, I guess the way i would approach that would be change out the whole quarter. That would give you fresh metal up to that seam as well as taking care of your window corner issues and any other problem areas below the seam. As far as the roof side, I would take a spot blaster or media blast that area to see fully what you have. If you don't have one, a wire wheel and some patience would do.

Clean her up real well and see what you got left. A small area or two of patch work wouldn't be too hard, but if it's to the point of hand fabricating large sections or multiple patches that could become cobbled, I would recommend either finding doner sections being the unique shape of the area. I don't know if i would take the task or replacing the whole roof over it. I guess that depends on the shape of the rest of the roof, but be aware, its quite a bit of work.

These are just a few ideas I got.....Hopefully some other folks will pipe in with some more ideas/experiences.

 

[detmatt1]

Wow, looks like a typical rustbelt car, but it is nice to see it and will be a fun project(for me to watch). I would be interested to know how your inner rockers are and the connection point where the a-pillar/front door jamb meets the tops of your rockers.
To me this looks like a good candidate for fabricating a fixture to restore this car on. It will save you lots of time over the course of the project as well as keep things lined up and true.

 

[TheSwede]

It looks almost as mine ;-), when do you start?

 

[northerndave]

That's what I call an honest car right there, it aint hiding anything from you. What you see is what you've got & you'll be able to plan accordingly, I don't see nuthin that can't be fixed there, she'll be sweet!

 

[Propwash]

Exactly!!! :yes:

 

[roadrunnerman]

i was planning to do a one piece floor replace.the people that had the car b4 me cut out the console/shifter section and screwed it to the floor.As far as the roof is concerned the only rust that is there is just by the rear window pillar. the front a-pillars are in good shape.don't have media blaster,but do have wire wheel and a whole lot of patience.I do have a guy i know that went to the same school as i did that has a blaster,just don't know what he uses(sand,silicone,??).

 

[roadrunnerman]

It looks almost as mine ;-), when do you start?

have been trying to start on it for some time now,but when i have the time,no money,and when i have the money,no time.I'm basically home once a month with driving truck so i'm always trying to get a week's worth of honey-dos into 3-4 days.

 

[Propwash]

Well the professional's and high end DIY's use plastic or a plastic/oxide or mix majority of the time depending on application..... You need a serious air system for that. I've used Black Beauty from Fleet Farm on thicker stuff like my shock crossmember, control arms, underside, with my 100lb blaster, and Aluminum Oxide (80-90 grit) on the thinner stuff. The trick is high volume (cfm)/low pressure(PSI).

What ever you do, don't go using sand at 90PSI out of a little hand blaster or Harbor Freight Special. Good way to warp the living heck out of stuff. The nice thing about plastic's is they use the abrasiveness of the material to remove surface. The other medias I have listed use friction thus heat!

 

[roadrunnerman]

Well the professional's and high end DIY's use plastic or a plastic/oxide or mix majority of the time depending on application..... You need a serious air system for that. I've used Black Beauty from Fleet Farm on thicker stuff like my shock crossmember, control arms, underside, with my 100lb blaster, and Aluminum Oxide (80-90 grit) on the thinner stuff. The trick is high volume (cfm)/low pressure(PSI).

What ever you do, don't go using sand at 90PSI out of a little hand blaster or Harbor Freight Special. Good way to warp the living heck out of stuff. The nice thing about plastic's is they use the abrasiveness of the material to remove surface. The other medias I have listed use friction thus heat!

will keep that in mind,thanks.Any idea how much a good blaster cost for DIY in my garage?

 

[Propwash]

Well Roger, I guess that all depends on the type of compressor you have. Your gonna need at least a decent 5HP+ compressor with a good designed piping and dryer/dessicant system.

Keep in mind, this is how I went, by gathering information from Donny on here, other internet resources, asking lots of questions, and actually buying a book as well. If anyone else here has experience to share or ideas, please do so.

Ideal would probably be 10HP+ Two Stage...Big stuff! But most of us average hobbyist can't afford or don't want to invest for something that's not supporting a full time gig.

The problem you run into with smaller compressors is yeah, they may be able to keep up with CFM requirments to operate the blaster, but they will be running non stop trying to keep up. The constant air getting compressed and heat from the motor creates condensation in your tank and lines and so on.....You have to keep that moisture out! It's bad for your lines, tools and it clog's up the media or creates horrible paint jobs for you.

One way I approached that was 1st designing an adequate piping system that has a very small angled slope in the long stretch from one end of my garage to the other (I'd have to go back and look up approx degrees). Coming down from that, I have a couple deadleg traps with drains. Follow it down it splits into two manifolds, one for air tools (lubricated air) and one for blasting/paint (Dry Air). They both have piggyback air filters, but my dry air side has a De Vilbiss dessicant filter (removers water/moisture) as well. Lubricated side has a cheaper throw away dessicant filter and a in-line Lubricating filter

I bought a 100lb pressurized Media Blaster ($179)from Eastwood for the system and a small (3' X 3') blast cabinet($150 at Fleet farm). I also installed those $5 plastic toss away dessicant filters on those as well..........So far, no issues! I found on very humid days and demanding air usage, it helped to purge the tank via drain on bottom while running and purge the air/water filters
also. I wasn't seeing moisture coming out but was spotting condensation in the sight glass of the filters..Seemed to help out if I purged every now and then.

I've seen guys on here and the dodge coronet registry do stuff like, from their compressor, run small diameter copper tubing in a coil in a 5 gallon bucket filled with cool water to cut down condensation. Or guys running straight out a spot blast gun with a regulator from the compressor and a throw away dessicant filter. Some had great luck, some gave up. I think if you do want to upgrade to being able to blast yourself, do your research, ask plenty of questions and then go from there for picking out a plan for your air system. After that figure out the caliber of blaster you can efficently run.

 

[roadrunnerman]

the air compressor i have is an EAGLE standup 60 gal/5hp dual.i would like to pipe some lines that run to both sides of my garage (4 car) 2-n-2, not side to side. I think once i can do that and get a moisture trap and filter,i can really go to town on just about anything i need to run an air tool with.

 

[Propwash]

You bet roadrunnerman! Sounds like you're well on your way

 

[northerndave]

I know there are great new ways to run air lines these days but I like old school black iron. 1/2" to 3/4" is plenty for most small shops/homeowner garages. Go with a flex line from your compressor to a vert wall stem that runs up to your horizontal wall runs. Slope both runs slightly down hill in the directions the runs go. put T fittings where you wand them for couplers and poin the T's up. Put a trap at the end of the run with a drain. Best to rinse the pipes out with solvent too, oil...

I have a 7.5hp 2 stage on an 80 gal tank. my 100lb blaster will bring the compressor to it's knees in a short time. Home shop sized blasters are very tinker toyish compared to the real deal, they have there uses though.

 

[Propwash]

I know there are great new ways to run air lines these days but I like old school black iron. 1/2" to 3/4" is plenty for most small shops/homeowner garages. Go with a flex line from your compressor to a vert wall stem that runs up to your horizontal wall runs. Slope both runs slightly down hill in the directions the runs go. put T fittings where you wand them for couplers and poin the T's up. Put a trap at the end of the run with a drain. Best to rinse the pipes out with solvent too, oil...

I have a 7.5hp 2 stage on an 80 gal tank. my 100lb blaster will bring the compressor to it's knees in a short time. Home shop sized blasters are very tinker toyish compared to the real deal, they have there uses though.

That pretty much sum's it up!

 

[Bens69PlymouthSatellite]

WOW Roger cant wait to see the progress on this!! Over 20 yrs. in the making! Good luck!! And post alot of pics!!

 

[roadrunnerman]

WOW Roger cant wait to see the progress on this!! Over 20 yrs. in the making! Good luck!! And post alot of pics!!

hey ben,yep 20+yrs.my plan is to order the pieces for it when i can but i also have to do some body work on my 4x4 ramcharger(the beast) to get it ready for winter(that will be here soon,ugh) then move some cars around in my garage and put the runner in the middle of my front stall space so i can have access all around it,plus try to work on my wife's volare at the same time(needs lower fenders,anybody have any laying around :grin::grinNext year i will get the engine rebuilt and have the tranny looked at.I just hope i don't lose my sanity by the time everything gets done(not much left to lose :rolling::rolling