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I'm with you Falcon, the body is definitely in well worth it condition, no reason to not take a bit of time and attend to a few more rough areas!!!! It'd be a booger to spend the time and money to repaint the body then have bubbles coming back in 6 months time!
Amazing what a few bubbles in the paint can hide. This is really ugly once I cut it open. The only way to really fix this whole area right is to pull the body off the frame but I'm not going there. You have to draw the line somewhere so I cut back the metal until I hit something solid to weld to and I'll rebuild from there. The surrounding old stuff will get cleaned up best as possible and coated with POR 15 to stop any further deterioration. Not perfect but it should last a long time. Every one of these old Mopars I've had rusts out in the same area; must be a moisture trap.
Im rebuilding this part a piece at a time; pretty tedious but it's looking ok so far. Also, I finally got my header flanges and intake spacers back. I think Im going to finish the rust repair on this side and then jump back to the headers. Once they are done I can pull the drivetrain back out and concentrate on the body front to back.
Yeah I'd let the body work wait too. not a fun job, headers should be more enjoyable
Falcon you do the good things , and like you said drawing the line is not a bad thing . Many have done it and I have the same thoughts on the 37 just want to see it rolling and strong enough not to fold up :( .
Yeah, what I welded to was good and solid, just pitting and surface rust you cant get to in order to remove without pulling the body. But if it's treated with POR15, it should stop to rust progress. Got a few more pieces made and fitted today; should be able to get the last two pieces in tomorrow after work and this side will be done.
Good work Falcon! All that tedious cut and patch stuff is really worth it when a few years from now the body is still intact and none of those ugly rust bubbles!!!!
Thanks Dave, I think Ive got a long ways to go before I can match your skill but Im getting better.
Thanks Falcon, but I doubt I'm any better at tin bending then you or others, just been doing it longer.....
Well I can't bend metal to save a baby carriage :) , but since being here and watching I have been able to get by . Kudo's to you guys and the learning so many get from following your threads .
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Falcon, great rust repair work! you're doing a fine job! Your flanges and spacers look great!
Needs a little more finish grinding but this side is pretty much done. I was going to jump to the headers but I guess I'll bite the bullet and do the other side first.
I got lucky, this side was not nearly as bad as the first side once I opened it up. I had one 5"x 5" piece of the inner brace that was gone but the rest was solid once I wire brushed it down really good. So I made a pice for that, welded it in, cleaned everything up, and hit it with POR15. The green stuff is some zinc based rust converter from Eastwood that's for spraying inside hard to reach areas like inside frames. The other side I was able to get a brush into but since I didnt remove as much metal over here, I used this stuff to get up inside the channels. Once this all dries I can button it back up with just a few small pieces of sheet metal.
Yuppers, this side looks to be in much better shape, Falcon!!!! You should get it whooped out in no time! Appears the patching phase will be soon, headers still next on the agenda??
Nice work! That rust can be a drag. It looks like you got pretty lucky with this one!