Texas 'Cuda or Rusty2 Begins!

[RUSTY Cuda]

With the economy the way it is I'm still worried bout spending the last 2K or so to finish up the interior on the 73.
So I had a couple a pieces off the 74 blasted to start on some rust repair. got a welder, got some scrap metal, so I should be able to keep the money layout down to materials & get a little progress going!
here's some of the carnage!

[RUSTY Cuda]

Cutting out the rust & makin the patches!

[RUSTY Cuda]

Put a flange on the bottom of that last patch cause the lower metal is a bit thin.
Started some of the welding, was waithing on my por15 delivery to do the lower patch(wanted to flood the rear framing before closing that up.

[RUSTY Cuda]

Trunk lid is gonna be crazy , when I cut the rust part of the skin & saw whats underneath I decided to skin it, this lid has a decent frame, my other lid skin is pitted frame is shot, may skin that & put the whole skin on instead of trying to patch this one??
K, lost my picks of the trunk lid carnage, but here's the skin side of the frame & the headlight bucket por 15'd .
Flooded that rear brace on the fender, seems to have leaked out most of the folded areas so i hope most of it's coated in there!

[RUSTY Cuda]

will probably spend 300 hours & 400 bucks  to fix a 200 & change trunk lid, but what fun would bolting on a new piece be? Rich.

[hezzel]

Nice work  Keep it up

[wagesofsin]

looking good, keep up the "fab"ulous work!!

 

[426HEMI]

I understand what you are saying but when you get my age it is better to see more progress faster and I want to have as new of a car that I can get.     Nice work by the way   

[RUSTY Cuda]

Yea, I ain't gettin any younger either.
Got that lower patch welded on & hit that area with the DA to see how much work getting it clean for the epoxy primer is gonna be, it will take some effort.
Por 15'd the back of the fender & tried some reinforcing mesh I bought for the other car & never used, seal up any holes in my welding & the metal back there was thin to begin with, don't know if it will do much good, but figgured it can't hurt!  Rich.

[RUSTY Cuda]

Got my new "Grass" today, got a clean work area for a while, a little more gorund covered this time around.(2 cars to deal with now)
Turned in all my scrap copper early this year, no christmas bonous this year
Anyway she looks good on clean turf & in the shade! 

[RUSTY Cuda]

After I buy stock in por15 I'm gonna find out who makes those tarps & buy stock in them too, 1 storm & it split right down the seam!
Back to the project, decided to skin the other trunk lid today, less issues (or smaller) to deal with, got it off pretty easy, only had to drill one spot weld the rest popped with a screwdriver.
Guess the trick will be when I go to put it back on if I don't end up with a sea going lid (waves) 
some pitting on the exterior
couple a holes(a lot less than the other)
& 2 cuts into the metal, hard to see but a couple a bursts from the mig should cure those.

[RUSTY Cuda]

Got the welding done on the patches & the underside of the skin por15'd the other day,setting up for todays attempt to reskin the frame.

[RUSTY Cuda]

This might cost me, but I intended to silicone all the spots where the frame hits the skin, did a test fit, had trouble getting the edges in & when I finally did I started to bang the edges over & totally forgot the silicone!
So what kind of problem will that cause, rattling? wavy skin? worse? anyone have an idea?
Anyway the other issue was where I patched I ground the edge a bit thin & it split when I hammered em over, a little extra welding & gringing & I think that will be ok!

[RUSTY Cuda]

Etched the fnder & shot a good coat of epoxy primer to seal it up & then 3 coats a high build, next time out a guide coat & rough sanding to see how bad it is, a lot of dings & small dents around the headlight& assorted dings & pits all over, I know I'll need putty where I welded just wanna see how bad the rest will be! Rich.

[bb71challenger]

Wow Rich, you are such a glutton for punishment lol. I love seeing your work though. Did you finish the red beauty? Please tell me that for all that hard work you are cruising that babe down the street by now.