1970 Roadrunner A.K.A "Lazarus"

[threewood]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you. But it is doable and thank the lord AMD repops much of the needed metal. I have seen some here way worse and come out looking new. Looking forward to progress reports.

 

[70rr4spd]

Thanks again threewood; I'm excited with the progress that has happened so far and have some more posts to make showing where I'm at now. I absolutely agree regarding AMD and am pretty sure the only panels i'm not going to have to replace are the roof and firewall.

 

[70rr4spd]

I moved up to the front of the car and removed the hood and hood hinges. Then the headlights and the lower grille piece, followed up by the front bumper. With all that out of the way, I pulled the original engine and stuffed it into a corner of the garage on a stand.

 

[70rr4spd]

Does anybody know what the piece behind the silver headlight buckets is called? The drivers side has rusted through on a few of the tabs that bolt it to the fender. If anyone has any leads on one, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[70rr4spd]

I tried to remove the torsion bars, but they wouldn't budge - cut them in half instead. Removed the top nut holding the shock to the shock tower and unbolted the upper control arms. That just left a couple brake lines and the K-member bolts holding the entire front suspension in. Pulled everything out as one unit and then stripped the K-member.

 

[70rr4spd]

Next, the front fenders came off and it's starting to look like less of a car. The hidden rust and needed repairs are starting to come into focus.

 

[70rr4spd]

I wanted to be able to move the car around - I don't have the widest garage to work in. So I bought some casters with 8" wheels and some box steel. Fabricated a plate to bolt to the K-member mounting holes on the frame and then welded 2" x 3" rectangle box to the plate and then to a small plate on the other end that bolts to the caster.

I then welded a cross brace in between that isn't pictured. I learned later that the width is too narrow and i'll have to make some modifications in the future.

 

[70rr4spd]

I also made some caster mounts for the rear that bolt to the front leaf spring hangar location

I then removed the drivers quarter panel - although there wasn't much holding it on except for spot welds/lead at the roof

I also removed the dash frame, heater box and both doors

 

[70rr4spd]

This left me with just the shell - I loaded it up on a trailer and dropped it off for media blasting. If you are close to the Knoxville area, I would recommend Strip Technologies America. I dropped the car off on a Friday and it was ready the next Tuesday - here are the pics I received from John at STA

You can see in this last photo the previous repair to the outer wheel house - good thing I've got new ones.

This is pretty much where i'm at now. I've got the car back in the garage and will start replacing metal from the front and working rearward.

 

[threewood]

Just like a clean, blank canvas. How does the cowl look? Everything else looks standard for Mopar lol.

 

[70rr4spd]

Just like a clean, blank canvas. How does the cowl look? Everything else looks standard for Mopar lol.

The outer cowl shell is rusted through on the ends where leaves accumulated and water couldn't drain - I will get some better pictures this weekend but here is what it looked like before blasting

The flange that the bottom of the windshield seals to is gone - I haven't ordered a new outer cowl panel from AMD yet, I think the inner cowl panel is okay but won't know for sure until I pull that outer panel.

I'm ready to start moving this project forward and start replacing metal. It's good to know that i'm not the first one doing this and there are great resources here on the boards.

 

[GetX'd]

Wow you must have some big balls taking on a project like that. Good luck and you're at the right site support. Looking forward to following your progress.

 

[70rr4spd]

Wow you must have some big balls taking on a project like that. Good luck and you're at the right site support. Looking forward to following your progress.

Ha! I know it's a huge project but I think if I take it in small steps and don't try to rush just to get it on the road - it should turn out pretty well.