Resto started!

[ShelbyDogg]

I do like those hoods but funny thing my friend showed me on his around 1978, You pull the pins, then have to stick your hands into the fresh air hole to open then lift open the hood. I would put a light spring and safey release on it like I did on my T/A hood after it blew up after I accidentally left my hood pins off.

[Sean]

bb71challenger, I've wanted an AAR for as long as I could remember.  The hood is a vital piece and I have a little piece of mind knowing I have one in the garage!

Yikes, ShelbyDogg!  That had to be a scary situation!  Hopefully you weren't going too fast or on a busy street.  Your tips are definately something to look into.

Sean

[bb71challenger]

On my first e-body I robbed a remote hood release handle, cable and underhood mechanism off my then toasted out Cordoba. It was a really neat feature that worked very well when installed. I am going to do that again unless I modify the hoodpins to have locks in them. It really sounds like the way to go on a car with an AAR hood. I am happy to see members so stoked about their projects. 

[ShelbyDogg]

Yikes, ShelbyDogg!  That had to be a scary situation!  Hopefully you weren't going too fast or on a busy street.  Your tips are definately something to look into. Sean

My Friends T/A hood blew up on the highway and broke 2/3rds off. It blew over the car and landed on the highway. They took it to a corvette shop and they glassed it back together.

I just left my street and started speeding up. Hood popped up, I slammed on my brakes. The hood cracked both side supports right before the hinge areas. I glassed them back together with an oak broom handle inside each support to flatten it. (no crumple zone, get a stick in the head)

Both of these happened because we left our pins off. Sooner or later you will do the same. You work on something, close the hood, 2 weeks later, you go for a drive and your hood pops up.

Rob

[bb71challenger]

Is the hood release that weak on an AAR? Does not sound like fun at all having to make double sure that the hood pins are secured before driving. I can remember my brother in laws 'Cuda running down the street with the lanyards and pins hanging down, not hard at all to forget to secure the pins.

[ShelbyDogg]

Is the hood release that weak on an AAR? not hard at all to forget to secure the pins.

NO HOOD RELEASES on T/As or AARs.  Only pins hold them down.  That's why I said that you should install a release or at least a safety release.

Rob

[Sean]

Hey Guys,

Glad to hear no one was hurt from the LEARNING experiences!  Fiberglass is so much easier to replace/fix than people.  I think I may have to put together a pre-flight checklist.  Just to make sure!!!

Sean

[bb71challenger]

Wow, I never knew there was no latch for T/A's and AAR's. That would absolutely suck to have that happen. I had the hood on a 74 Ford truck fly up and wrap itself around the windshield one time. At 17 years old lemme tell you its a very big buzz kill when that happens.

[Sean]

Hey guys!
Been a while since an update!  Now the trunk pan and extensions are completely out.  Undercoating is off the wheelwells and frame rails.  I've picked up a '70 grille, trunk pan, trunk extensions, tail panel, and tail panel support brackets.  I've even started a blog on the project where you can see more pics and commentary by visiting www.mopars.com/blog2

Sean

[Travis72]

Yeah it's never fun laying on your back scraping off undercoating....  Just keep at it.

You might try using a 1" or 2" putty knife instead of the paint stir stick.  That's what I used.  The metal blade is flexible enough to get under the undercoating and get down to the metal.  I still went over everything with a 3M clean & strip disk just to make sure I was down to clean metal.

Travis
72 Cuda

[ShelbyDogg]

Looks like you had a trailer hitch on the car.

[Sean]

Travis,
I'll have to try a clean and strip disk.  I used a wire brush disk on my drill and it seemed to just smear the remaining undercoating around.  I ordered some undercoating remover from Eastwood to help clean up the residual.

Shelby,
I really don't know what the brackets were for.  Like you said, probably a trailer hitch would be my guess too. 

Sean

[dutch]

I worked with all kinds of tools to get the ubc off.  It was winter when I did the job so the stuff was hard as a rock. advantage?         I used different sizes and shapes woodchisels... 3/8 to 1" wide.  In several spots the ubc was more then half an inch thick... that`s where the hammer came in.  After that I used stainless wool ( the rough ones )  Next wirebrush on drill and on anglegrinder, than sanding and primer.
You might want to experiment a little with the sharpness of the chisels, too sharp will leave scratches in the metal, too dull won`t get that stuff off...
I also built a rotisserie before I started... the best tool I had 

[Sean]

I worked with all kinds of tools to get the ubc off.  It was winter when I did the job so the stuff was hard as a rock. advantage?         I used different sizes and shapes woodchisels... 3/8 to 1" wide.  In several spots the ubc was more then half an inch thick... that`s where the hammer came in.  After that I used stainless wool ( the rough ones )  Next wirebrush on drill and on anglegrinder, than sanding and primer.
You might want to experiment a little with the sharpness of the chisels, too sharp will leave scratches in the metal, too dull won`t get that stuff off...
I also built a rotisserie before I started... the best tool I had 

Dutch,
I thought about using chisels as I've got an old set laying around, but was too afraid of the potiential damage they would do to the wheel housings.  Before I used the heat & scrape method, I used the wire brush in the drill.  Although that worked, it kicked up so much dust!!! 

I was planning on walnut shell blasting these areas anyways, will the walnut shell media take off what little bit if undercoating I have left to remove (see pics above)?  I'm thinking it wouldn't but don't know.

I'd love to have a rotisserie, especially when doing this kind of stuff!!!

Sean

[dutch]

for the wheelwells I took a chisel, not too long , heated it and bent it to where I could work with it.