Love your idea.
I am currently doing a complete restoration of a very rusted 70 aar cuda. I have completed the front frames, front torque boxes, torsion bar cross member, front floors, 4 spd hump and trans tunnel.
I just now finished installing a replacement pass side rear frame, wheel house, suspension mount and rear portion of rocker panel. I have lots of photos, but the photos are not digital. I may be able to scan and add text, I will try if you are interested. Let me know.
I am now starting to replace the drivers side rear frame rail and wheel house. If you want , I will take digital photos and post as I go.
I will do the trunk floors and extensions and then the rear quarters after the drivers rear frame rail.
The front of the car and the pass side rear frame turned out great and is ready for the trunk floor, extension and quarter panel, I can post photos of this if you want.
This stuff is really not that difficult, you just remove the panels that are rusted, being very careful to pay attention and document or photo as you go and replace with new or donor sheetmetal. I do one side of the car at a time so I can reference the other undisturbed side with dimensions and correctness. It helps a lot to be able to measure and see the other side if you do not have another car to reference. As you take it apart, you think you will remember, but my experience is that you wont
. So having the undisturbed side to reference is great.
I will shoot a pic of the just finished pass side rear frame rail and wheel house tommorrow and post. Tell me what you want to know about the procedure.
I am teaching youth in the community body work, frame work etc with this car. Its great. They love the old muscle cars, but have no idea how to restore them. They are great help drilling spot welds and positioning panels etc. I even give them a try at the mig welder and initial body filler application over the welds. Everyone hates the sandblasting, but having bare clean metal to work with is the only way to go.
I always try to remove the old metal on the factory spot welds and replace the new with the same pattern of spot welds (I actaully mig weld the spots not spot weld) and it is stronger than original when completed although you can see the difference between spot and mig until sanded and primed, then it all dissapears.
Eastwood makes a great spot weld remover that works super for removing the hundreds of spot welds. After the spot welds are removed, the original panels come out just like they went in. Then drill 3/8 holes in the new replacement panels to duplicate the locations of the original spot welds and then mig weld (rosette) the holes in the same spots as the original spot welds. In floor panels I weld the seams complete instead of just spot welding to eliminate any chance of moisture entering from below. Not original, but much stronger and no moisture concerns. Its under the carpet and not seen anyway. If you sand blast down to bare metal and study it (for days if necessary), you will see how the original panels are put together, drill out the spot welds and then just replace each panel one at a time with repro steel or sand blasted and cleaned used panels from a donor car. Make sure you brace the car to prevent any movement or twisiting of the body as you remove each panel. Another reason to do one side at a time, is that the undisturbed side helps keeps the bodies structural integrity and correct shape and dimensions. If you do this right, the car will be straighter than when it came off the assembly line. They were not actually all that perfect so dont worry to much.
I love this part of car restoration. There is nothing better than bringing a rusted piece of history back to its as new (or better) condition (well maybe one thing
) The worse to start, the better. I am hooked on body work, muscle cars and kids. If I can just figure out how to make a living combining those 3.
b5blueaar aka: street rods by steve
