The Dark Horse project

[A110235]

Wow man that is some great work.  It looks like you and I will need to do all the same rust repair.  Keep up the great work and post more pics when you get a chance.

[rtgambit]

Wow man that is some great work.  It looks like you and I will need to do all the same rust repair.  Keep up the great work and post more pics when you get a chance.

Looks like almost the exact same rust! Except I had more rear seat, and you have more rear floor. How is the drivers-side rear frame rail? Mine was giving a very good swiss cheese impression. 

[A110235]

Both of my rear frame rails are pretty thin and I plan on capping them.  I hope that I don't screw anything up too bad when I replace the drivers side front spring hanger.  It will be fun though!  I just can't wait to get back into it.  My sheet metal brake from Harbor Frieght is on it's way and that will help me out with my floor pan fabrication.  I probably just should have done like you and tracked down a useable rear seat floor and gone from there.  My car probably won't be in any shows and I don't care if my floor doesn't look all factory pretty.   

[rtgambit]

Okay, I've been lax again. But I have a very good reason! Honest!
For the past month and a half I've been working on the baby nursery (Sarah is due in August). I put the last few touches in this past weekend, so I'll be starting back in on the projects very soon!

[Rev-It-Up]

Congratulations!!      That is a very good reason indeed! 

[rtgambit]

Let the frenzy begin!! The sandblasting cabinet is pretty much finished (just needs a few minor touches), so it's time to dig back in on the Challenger. The baby is due August 27th, so I have just under 2 months of "freedom" left.     You never realize how much time you've wasted on little things until you look back on it.

Anyways, the main things I'd like to finish before then are the trunk floor, quarter panels, drivers side wheelhouse (at the front), the lip around the trunk and the rear filler panel. That's it for main sheetmetal, so I'd be able to start sandblasting the entire car. Let's see how far I can get! 

[willhaven]

You made significant progress on the first pass, you'll probably get a lot done between now and then.

Interested to see more before & after progress shots. Seeing this stuff is inspiring.

How long do you think it takes to get good enough at metal work to do what you've been doing?

[rtgambit]

You made significant progress on the first pass, you'll probably get a lot done between now and then.

Interested to see more before & after progress shots. Seeing this stuff is inspiring.

How long do you think it takes to get good enough at metal work to do what you've been doing?

Well... if you're like me - as long as it takes to buy a welder! 
I didn't even practice on scraps before I started on the floor (which may have been a bad idea, thinking back on it now). Of course, for welds that no-one will see it's perfectly OK. Before doing any work on the quarters I want to make sure that my welds are looking a lot better. I've still got a little ways to go before getting to them.

[rtgambit]

Hey, while I'm at it, I should also post the latest pics! 

Here's the almost complete sandblasting cabinet. I've made the arm holes bigger and added a ring to clamp the gloves onto.



The first piece fresh from the cabinet, and sporting a fresh coat of primer.



Both gas tank braces with primer (weld-through primer, that is). These will be welded onto the trunk floor very shortly.



Cross member extension being fitted on. I'll need to re-work these a little bit, as they don't come very close to the trunk extensions.


I'll be hiking again this weekend, so I won't have any more updates until Monday. Hopefully I'll have a ton of pictures for you guys! 

[360 'CUDA]

My sheet metal brake from Harbor Frieght is on it's way and that will help me out with my floor pan fabrication.    

Did you get just the brake or did you get the one with the rollers and the shear.
I know the tools at Harbor Freight are not professional quality but even I can get great results with them

[rtgambit]

I need to buy a brake at some point, too. I'm sure it'd help with some of the stuff I need to fab for the car (such as the piece that needs to connect the trunk floor to the tail panel).

Here's the update!!

OK, what you didn't see in the last picture was how much clearance there was between the trunk extension and the rear crossmember extension. Take a peek:


At the bottom there's almost an inch that needs to be closed up. That's where my state of the art metal-working tools come in (oops, the fire extinguisher is not part of the tools).


Here you can see how I carefully position the "tool" against the trunk extension.


Fitting the re-worked trunk extension.


Now it's time to get the gas tank braces put into place! I traced around the seams so I know where to drill the spot welds.


Spots drilled...


Now I've flipped the panel over and screwed the brace into place.


And voila! We have spot welds!


I think these came out pretty good! The heated area is about the size of a nickel.

[rtgambit]

The updates are flying pretty quick now that I can devote most of my spare time to the car. I was supposed to go golfing today with my operations manager, but we got rained out. So I figured I'd try to get the trunk floor ready for install.

Pretty much the same process as the other side. Trace the brace, flip everything over, screw it into place and start welding. I put more use into the c-clamp pliers this time - it really helped get the brace and the floor almost flush against each other.


Everything put back into the trunk for one last fit.


I've trimmed the driver side half and put it back in.


And finally I've stiched the two halves together. It's almost scary, I can see forward progress on the car now!

[Street_Challenged73]

Very nice work, RTGambit!!!   You've done a ton of work to that car and definitely saved it.  I don't think I could've tackled that much work if I were you.  Congrats man!!!!

[rtgambit]

Very nice work, RTGambit!!!   You've done a ton of work to that car and definitely saved it.  I don't think I could've tackled that much work if I were you.  Congrats man!!!!

Thanks Street! I have to admit though, if I knew how much work I had ahead of me when I bought the car I might have run screaming! 

[rtgambit]

Oops! Almost forgot the update for today...

I've finished up the weld along the entire seam. I'll admit that it's better than the ones I was doing on the floor inside the car, but I'm still not 100% happy with the results. Course, it was a lot harder doing this seam than the one in the car, since I can't sit almost overtop of it to keep an eye on the bead.


While I had the welder fired up I might as well get the crossmember extension welded onto the passenger side. In this pic I've got it clamped onto the crossmember and have the holes drilled for the spot welds.


Now that the floor is all one piece I can start welding it to the frame. I started at the crossmember and plan on working my way forward.