1969 GTX....The T stands for tetanus

[Donny]

Use the Panel Bond...look at my Satellite thread...for the roof, much better than welding it on.

 

[threewood]

Too late lol. I was pretty excited to get going on it. Window fit great as well as the trim, front and back. Lifted it up, layed some seam seal to the supports, dropped it down, re-clamped it, checked fit again and started filling those 205 spot weld cuts. Started on drivers side front, working my way back and across.

Going to take a while, filling every third hole, then grinding them down with my cutoff wheel. With it clamped down I hit the seam with a wire wheel to clean off the weld through in the holes and the surface.

 

[threewood]

This is way more tedious than doing the trunk lol. Working around the car switching between welding up the holes, taking a cutoff wheel to the welds and then a sanding wheel to smooth them out. Back and forth between the compressor filling up. The front is welded and dressed as is the back. Finishing the drivers side, need to dress it and then more holes to fill on the pass side. And I want to clean up the qtr seam welds.

 

[threewood]

Couple more...Interesting divot marks that were under the lead.

 

[threewood]

A few small spots of rust to patch but the big stuff is done. My welding mask stopped working so I am waiting on a replacement.

In the meantime, I received my repro right side radiator yoke. Found it on Ebay and I believe it is made by Southwest Reproductions. Thought about the adapter plates but seeing as I will be driving in 100* plus temps I wanted as much air flow directly on the radiator as I can get so I opted to swap em out. It is made OK not great. The flange made on the radiator side needed worked to get to 90* and was an incomplete bend. Shape is good and it seems the welded nuts are in the correct location. I do have to transfer over the harness holder and bolt backing plate. Otherwise it will work fine.

Old yoke out...

New yoke clamped in checking fit with new aluminum radiator...

I went with this particular radiator because it has the factory look, but is aluminum.

And here are the two pieces that need to be transferred to the new yoke...

 

[threewood]

And welded in...

 

[threewood]

On to the doors. First up, the passenger side. The front and rear lower corners need to be patched, both sides. The lower flange looks pretty good. My first surprise came as I was pulling the door weatherstrip off. The front upper 3 holes were rotted out. Not a huge deal to patch but it will take a few hours.

Here are some of the before pics...

Weatherstrip holes rotted out.

Front lower

Rear lower

 

[threewood]

For the repairs, I will start by cutting and patching the backside keeping the front intact for a guide. Once the back is welded in I can start the face and wrap the edge flange.

I started with the rear section which was filled with bondo and window screen. Built up a pretty good match using two pieces of sheetmetal. It was a treat to finally weld something and dress it on my bench, laying on the ground is getting old. I will weld it in tomorrow when I have more light.

 

[Mike67]

TW you are doing some awesome work....a lot of it too!!! Enjoying the thread, keep it up!!!

 

[threewood]

TW you are doing some awesome work....a lot of it too!!! Enjoying the thread, keep it up!!!

Thanks for the encouraging words, it always helps! And again, I looked at AMD for a replacement door and got sticker shock. Each door will take me about a day if I move it to strip down and fab up patches which I don't mind. More cash in the pocket for my Vintage Air

OK, I am REALLY done tonight. I snuck back out there and welded in my patch and fabbed up the face side. I couldn't determine if it was easier to bend the door edge off or on the car so I did it on the car eyeballing the line to keep it straight. After I tacked it in place I put the door back in the door opening and it looks fine to my tired eyes.

 

[jason79]

That is awesome work! Love the shells with the magnets.

 

[threewood]

TI would be enjoying this more if the temp wasn't 110* today. I am on shirt #3, the other 2 are soaked. Posting is my favorite part because I get to sit in the A/C under the fan.

Finished up the patch I started yesterday, couple low spots but both edges are straight. I expected to use some filler so it isn't going to keep me up at night...

And I started on two of the weatherstrip mounting holes. Pretty simple patch, just a S shaped piece of sheet metal. Got the bad ones done, one left in the middle. As you can see some cutting had to be done beyond the patch as the corners are tight and I ran out of small Dremel cutoff wheels. Does someone have dimensions on the top hole? Mine was rotted out so no hole to go by.

 

[threewood]

Got the other weatherstrip hole patched up. Smaller patch than the others and I found out welding near a magnet isn't the best option. It did weird things to my arc but it was the best option for holding that small piece in place.

 

[threewood]

Finally got around to finishing up the passenger door.

And here is a pic I got at the range where I work...

 

[moparnation74]

This is an amazing thread as I have said before.......

You are doing some awesome metal work by far....I give you props for not trashing the doors and other rusted out parts etc...

 

[threewood]

It's going to be a driver so I don't mind fixing the rust. I am trying to keep costs low where I can as well which means more work for me but I enjoy fabrication.

I got the pass side fender bolted in place, besides cosmetics there is nothing wrong with this side. I need to re-adjust the door to get it better. I either lost or never had the lower and upper fender nuts so I had to order some (the kind with the large free spinning washer) but I found some 5/16-18 nuts to hold it in the meantime.

When I bought the car, both fenders were held on with only a few fasteners and I can remember seeing the fenders swaying in the breeze so to speak as I towed it home. I would guess the previous owner got around to fixing it up when he ran into the frame rail rust, got discouraged and left the front in pieces for the next owner.

I got the driver's side fender from the side yard and started messing with that. This one, despite no collision damage, is going to need a bit of work up front. Considering the rest of the car, the fenders are surprisingly rust free. The drivers will need a few new pieces of metal behind the lights and a dent in the very front pulled so tomorrow I plan to cut the spot welds and get it apart for repair.

 

[threewood]

Pretty straightforward on taking the front headlight support out except for some hidden welds near the top. I started by doing some sanding on the front edge of the fender and found some more bondo and a couple of other dents. Drill holes where the dents were "pulled" lol.

After some dolly and hammer work, they started to come back into shape. Still a little tweaking to do but I think it will cover with a skim coat.

Update: Worked on the fender some more and found a few more spots that needed a patch. More trouble than it was worth but it is pretty much done. Screwed it together to check fit and will pull apart tomorrow and coat it with rust bullet and weld through.

All 3 welded nuts that secure it to the inner fender were gone so I made some out of a thick piece of steel. Cut em to size, ground a flange on the sides and threaded it 5/16-18 and welded them in. It will look fine once I get the wheel wells undercoated.

 

[threewood]

Got delayed as the rest of my Rust Bullet was hardened. So I ordered some more and while I waited I played with the front facia. There were a couple of broken mount tabs that I welded back and a tear in the support brace and one near the middle. Got it welded and dressed and slapped it on for a test fit. Starting to look like a car...

That was earlier today. Rust Bullet was sitting by my door when I got home from work along with some other goodies. Got a gas pedal, pentastar emblem and a full body seal and gasket kit. I am sooo glad that repro parts like this are available.

I got my parts cleaned up and applied the RB. I also went ahead and painted the areas that are going to be covered when the car is together and have limited access to. Going to get the fender welded back together tomorrow and get it in place. Getting exciting!

 

[Sixtynine_Bird]

Good to see that you are in a great progress ;)
Keep up great work! For sure must be exciting!

 

[69 GTX]

Great work, moving right along.