71 'cuda finally getting some love after 28 years

[JS29]

Old school method! 

[RacerX]

Fish is fully gutted...   off to the blaster it goes!

Last time seeing it look like this!

[X3v614]

To help you stay motivated, this was a Rally Red BS23N0.. Texas find sent East.
Now fully restored sporting a MP 472 Hemi which is a beast.
IMO.. 1. stroke the original 340 2. Use the 440 in the imperial 3. MP Hemi

[RacerX]

To help you stay motivated, this was a Rally Red BS23N0.. Texas find sent East.
Now fully restored sporting a MP 472 Hemi which is a beast.
IMO.. 1. stroke the original 340 2. Use the 440 in the imperial 3. MP Hemi

Nice looking '70!      Have always liked the red on these when it is "fresh"

Have been wavering on painting it the original color versus changing to some other
factory issued 1971 color.   Not sure...  still figuring on Rallye Red but always a
lingering "what if..."

Back in the day it was bad news to order a red car...  looked great for a while but faded
and oxidized heaps faster than the other colors.   Modern paints seem to have this licked
though.

For the engine, not really looking for a race car, just something fun to drive and starts
reliably when the key is turned because wife wants to drive it also!   

Current front runner for motor is 5.7 hemi using the A518 we have stashed in the garage.

[Tony 73]

When do you get car back from blasters ? Are you expecting any surprises.

[RacerX]

When do you get car back from blasters ? Are you expecting any surprises.

Should get it back in a couple weeks.   

Not expecting many surprises with the body...   during the strip down process I already
saw most of the trouble spots.    The quarters looked good from the outside but there
were a few decades of amateur repairs concealed inside them.   They were not really
salvageable so we cut them open for easier access for blasting the inside structures.
Everything inside looks nice and clean. 

The passenger fender revealed some surprises though.   Look at the top of it...   looks
like someone attacked it with a pick axe.    Not just holes, but major low spots.   That
was perfectly smooth and level before blasting, and surprisingly I did not see any
evidence of that damage and repair on the underside when I removed it from the car. 
Guess it was concealed by the dirt and undercoating!    There is other damage I already
knew about not shown in the pictures.    May not be economically repairable, looks like
AMD repop fenders may be in our future...    I am sure it COULD be fixed, but I feel it may
be beyond the point where the time and effort is worth it.

[Tony 73]

Thanks for the update.

The top of the fender door look a mess, good to have options of fix or replace. The right body guy can work wonders.

Strip and blast is the only way to go if you the time and budget, gives you piece of mind in the future. I can see the rust in the sill and floor form photos.

Look forward to the photos in couple of weeks.

[RacerX]

Got some of the parts back from blasting.

Expected some of the results, but also got a few surprises...

Header panel is pretty crispy.   Lower valance salvageable.

Doors have more damage than thought, but not as bad as some I have seen.

Fenders are pretty swiss cheesed...   Not sure I want to invest the time in repairing them, probably make more sense to just get the AMD repops and be done with that.

A bit of a curiosity on the driver side fender...   someone bored a hole (two holes, actually) through the skin and the frame inside.  Almost looks like the antenna hole from the passenger side.   I cannot think of a reason someone would have done that??   

Trunk lid has more damage then expected, and also a curiosity of it's own...   what is up with the holes drilled along the back edge?   Some ham fisted attempt to mount a T/A style spoiler?   They are not evenly spaced but still too organized to be "just random".   Drilled all the way through.     

Anyone have any guesses?   

All of these holes (and other damage) were filled with bondo so before blasting we did not know they were there.

Don't have the body back yet but not expecting a lot of surprises with that.

[RacerX]

It's back...

Brought back a bit less car than I took...   

Notice the beautiful lace floors...     we even have a nice lace cowl!

Some more questionable body "work" exposed.    Love the "repairs" in the
windshield frame and not quite sure what was going on around the ends of
the tail panel...     

Sure can hide some horrors under thick enough bondo, no?

Rear passenger frame rail pretty bad, rear driver side good.   Front frame good.

Rockers a little ate up at the ends.

Windshield and rear window frames pretty bad.   Roof is decent though.

A bit of a bummer that so many of the panels are damaged but the exciting part is this
is the cleanest the car has been since August 1970.   Soooo nice to work on CLEAN parts!   
No more rust and dirt falling in my eyes!

[cudamadd]

Wow ok were will you start ? 

[anlauto]

....and this is exactly why I start every project the same way. There is no way to tell what you actually have until you clean them down to bare metal 100%...Good job

[E74cuda]

Find someone that can do the metal work and let them get to it!

[RacerX]

....and this is exactly why I start every project the same way. There is no way to tell what you actually have until you clean them down to bare metal 100%...Good job

Agreed...     definitely the best way to do it.    Without blasting a lot of this may not have been readily exposed.

A lot of work to prepare it for blasting by removing absolutely everything but well worth it for exposing every flaw
and giving a clean canvas to work with!     A benefit of the tedious tear down phase is you get up close and personal
with every portion of the vehicle get to know it and the issues you find while removing each part.

[RUNCHARGER]

No surprises now. When it's over and it's painted you'll know it wasn't all a waste of time.

[RacerX]

Wow ok were will you start ?

Probably with the rear frame rail since that is a key piece many others pieces will base
from.

Considering going with that Dynacorn pre-assembled rear section.   Trunk floor, frame rails,
crossmembers, the whole inner rear section except for the wheel houses pre-assembled at
the factory on a jig so no need to line up and weld each individual piece.   Also seems much
cheaper than the individual pieces.     That will solve the rear frame rail problem along with
the trunk floor.

There is a logical order for doing most of it as some pieces affect others but the rest of it is
pretty much chipping away at an iceberg with an ice pick.   A little at a time and eventually
you get there.

Trying to decide what to do about the cowl...   it is pretty crispy and the easiest way out here
is to just change it for the new AMD piece.   The concern is what do to with the VIN stamp on
the original cowl.   We can leave it off, transfer it by cutting it out of the old one and welding
it into the new one, or re-stamp it.    None of these options are really attractive and each has
a downside...  transferring or re-stamping tends to raise flags and get people thinking fraud,
and not putting the VIN at all can cause issues when folks like DMV try to verify the VINs.

What is the commonly accepted procedure with regards to cowl replacements?