1969 Charger 340

[Jesse6869]

Much easier with the quarters off. I had a hell of a time with them on. Good job

 

[Bighouse]

All welded up. Going to grind it down and smooth is out.
Then I need to repair the tail panel that was sandblasted earlier, repair the rear edges of the roof skin and start fitting the body panels

 

[Bighouse]

Did some grinding, cleaned up the little rust pitting with some phosphoric acid.

 

[Bighouse]

Stuck the quarters back on and began fitting them tighter and closer to where they going to wind up. So far so good. Some pushing and hammering and some self-drilling tek screws.
It’s looking good.
Started at the door edges and will work my way back.

 

[hunt2elk]

You have some great metal fab skills and make it look so easy. Nice job.

 

[Bighouse]

Nothing big this evening. Just set the passenger door gap. One more step

 

[Bighouse]

Things are starting to fit nicer and nicer. Still a bit of tweaking to do! But I’m happy so far. I can’t wait to start welding.

Before I do I’m going to shoot a little paint here and there on what can’t be reached when it’s together.

Does anyone know what to do with the tab that hangs from the corner?

 

[Ricardo]

Some surface rust and dirt in the rails. I extended some wire brushes and cleaned them up nice. New gas tank brace welded in. The rails and edges were por15’ed and hit with some weld-thru primer to get them ready for the AMD 1 piece trunk pan.

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I am very impressed with the work you are doing, just stunning. Had no idea of a weld thru primer, thank for that tip.

 

[Runcharger]

It's been awhile but I think during final assembly/welding you fold those little tabs up and weld (supposed to spot weld) them to the bottom quarter/trunnk extension seam.
Getting that whole corner/rear valance/quarter panel/trunk drop off deal all fitting perfect is pretty finicky. I ended up having to cut the quarters at that point and add a pie cut in to make it perfect on my son's 68. Really take your time with it.

 

[Bighouse]

It's been awhile but I think during final assembly/welding you fold those little tabs up and weld (supposed to spot weld) them to the bottom quarter/trunnk extension seam.
Getting that whole corner/rear valance/quarter panel/trunk drop off deal all fitting perfect is pretty finicky. I ended up having to cut the quarters at that point and add a pie cut in to make it perfect on my son's 68. Really take your time with it.

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Thanks and yes I am going to be spending a lot of time getting those corners right. I got the door gaps nice and still tweaking the trunk/quarter ends. I’m going to attach the tail panel trim and the rear bumper as well.
I’m going to plug weld it all with the mig. Then I have access to a pro, liquid cooled tip squeeze spot welder. The plan is to then spot over it all for the correct look
I wish I could do it all without the MIG plug welds, but time/space/transport doesn’t work out. And its a 100amp 3 phase machine so I can’t bring it here!

 

[Ricardo]

Some surface rust and dirt in the rails. I extended some wire brushes and cleaned them up nice. New gas tank brace welded in. The rails and edges were por15’ed and hit with some weld-thru primer to get them ready for the AMD 1 piece trunk pan.

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Can you talk about your experience with POR-15 weld-thru primer and how you use it? Do paint all surfaces, just the backside, clean just the weld area? So many questions. How long have you been using it and any long term observations. Thanks

 

[Bighouse]

It's been awhile but I think during final assembly/welding you fold those little tabs up and weld (supposed to spot weld) them to the bottom quarter/trunnk extension seam.
Getting that whole corner/rear valance/quarter panel/trunk drop off deal all fitting perfect is pretty finicky. I ended up having to cut the quarters at that point and add a pie cut in to make it perfect on my son's 68. Really take your time with it.

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I’m on the corners now and I see what your talking about. I’m going to give the quarter a slice to the left of the fold and bring the line back to match the corner and then fill the pie-cut gap.

That’ll be tomorrows project. I’m going to continue with getting everything back here dialed in better tonight.

 

[Bighouse]

Can you talk about your experience with POR-15 weld-thru primer and how you use it? Do paint all surfaces, just the backside, clean just the weld area? So many questions. How long have you been using it and any long term observations. Thanks

I haven’t used POR weld thru- I used the rust paint in the rails mainly because I just had some here.
I’ve used the 3m weld-thru a while ago and the cap would clog all the time. I switched to SEM copper weld and that was better, but clogged cans again.
So my last venture has been SEM ZincWeld. So far so good. I’ve actually been able to use the whole can.

Drill/punch your plug weld hole, clean both mating surfaces with your grinder/sander. I use 40/50 grit Roloc. Spray 2 light coats on each side and let it dry.
When you make your weld I sometimes will scrape/clean the primer in the plug hole with a little screwdriver if it looks like it’s contaminating the weld. Other times I just burn through it.
The idea is having some rust protection between the layers of metal.
Then I’ll even follow up with a cavity wax/rust proofing product that wicks between the panels

 

[xs-ivv]

Those rear corners are a part that i am concerned about on my build as well. How do you decide that the quarter needs to be sliced and moved back instead of the corner/rear valence moving toward the quarter?

 

[Ricardo]

Some surface rust and dirt in the rails. I extended some wire brushes and cleaned them up nice. New gas tank brace welded in. The rails and edges were por15’ed and hit with some weld-thru primer to get them ready for the AMD 1 piece trunk pan.

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Did you have to replace the shock mount cross member or is it por-15 painted? Are the edges only coated with the weld thru primer? I love watching you work through the process, you certainly are a master of your trade. Thank you for sharing your skills and the process.

 

[spoolinhard]

Those rear corners are a part that i am concerned about on my build as well. How do you decide that the quarter needs to be sliced and moved back instead of the corner/rear valence moving toward the quarter?

This can be repaired without any slicing, by bending the rear cross member that is behind the valance. The corners are welded to the crossmember and by bending the ends of the crossmember forward, it pulls the corner in to close the gap. This is the way the factory did it. Most people don't realize this and cut and weld.

 

[xs-ivv]

This can be repaired without any slicing, by bending the rear cross member that is behind the valance. The corner is welded to the valance and by bending the ends of the valance forward, it pulls the corner in to close the gap. This is the way the factory did it. Most people don't realize this and cut and weld.

Thanks for explaining this! Tips and tricks like that save alot time and frustration.

 

[Bighouse]

This can be repaired without any slicing, by bending the rear cross member that is behind the valance. The corner is welded to the valance and by bending the ends of the valance forward, it pulls the corner in to close the gap. This is the way the factory did it. Most people don't realize this and cut and weld.

It is interesting that you say this. I have no other car/pic to compare that line to. I was actually trying to see it in a above avatar pic. I’m going to keep looking for the answer before I cut.
But I second guess the cut because the fit of the rest of the 1/4 is so well everywhere else.

And it you look at the pic, you can see where the rear valance can be pushed forward and “rolled” up to meet the crossmember.
There is a gap I’ve been watching and trying to figure out if it’s a problem I have based on adjustment, or a problem with the part.
The rear valance came with the car and I don’t know the brand.
More bending, moving, pushing and pulling.

 

[Bighouse]

Sorry for the repeat pics, I had a problem.

 

[Bighouse]

Did you have to replace the shock mount cross member or is it por-15 painted? Are the edges only coated with the weld thru primer? I love watching you work through the process, you certainly are a master of your trade. Thank you for sharing your skills and the process.

I did not. I cleaned it really well and POR’d the side that faced up toward the trunk pan.
It only had dry surface rust. Here in NY I call it Texas-rust. This car is pretty clean and I wish the last guy didn’t slice it up, because it wasn’t that bad.
But then again if he didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have been able to buy it because that deterred some people.