1970 Super Bee resto!

[Glaser67]

Hey all!

New member, just introduced myself in the welcome forum, glad to be here!

Currently in the planning stage of bring back to life my new 70 super bee. Want to introduce the project, and also get a couple general questions out of the way as I start to shape this project up in my head.

Little background: car belonged to my older cousin whom when he briefly drove it, was a complete, and running 70 SB. As the story goes, haddn't had very long, when a 5.0 Mustang pulled up to him at a light, and as my cousin blew him away with all that 440 power, a plume of smoke came from under the hood. He was able to limp to my aunt's house not to far away, and there its sat for at least a decade. He wanted to restore it to some degree, and of course rebuild the engine. As happens, life got in the way and it just sat there. I mentioned to him over the years, that if he got rid of it, I'd be interested.

Well, when his mother had to move into a home, the house had to be sold, and the SB had to go. I drove down to Columbus, and not knowing much about restoring a car in this condition, took a chance and brought up to NE Ohio where I have it in storage, waiting for the garage space (or barn hopefully) to dig into it.

He really didn't want to sell it, but knew he had to. He had low ball offers and suspected that potential buyers wanted to get it running and flip it for an easy buck. We mutually agreed to keep it in the family, and I acquired it for a steal. He had already pulled the car down to the rolling chassis before life hit the brakes on him. I believe that I have a compete car.

My biggest concern at this point is the bodywork and sheetmetal repair. I'm willing to learn and invest in what I need to, but am curious just how far I'm going to need to dig myself out on this, and if it's feasible for a sheetmetal newbie to pick and learn? not going for a show car here, just a good looking weekend driver. Picks below. I realize some parts are available as reproduction, and some will not be. I suppose I'm asking for the experienced community to guage the level of difficulty with the body work here? More to come, thanks.

 

[440Coronet500]

Don't know you're fabrication skills but she's going to need metal work. It's time consuming and expensive to have done. 440'

 

[davek]

I think you first must ask yourself how much is it worth to you to spend and then multiply that twice. More info on the car please. AC,ps,pb and what engine belongs in the car. Post a pic of your fender tag. Floors and trunk good? Then see what the cars go for finished. Not trying to tell you its not worth it but you can get so upside down on a restoration ,want you to be in real world. Prices have gone crazy in this hobby. As you can see I also have a 70 Bee and thats a 1 year only on some parts.

 

[Glaser67]

Gotcha; Fender tag I cannot get to at the moment, but originally came with 383, PS, no AC, and PB I believe. Here's a pic of the vin. The pics show the best and worst: lower cab corner is worst of all, floors are good I'd say, truck floor has some holes, and most body panels are whole with some rust through on the flanges.

Great point at the money; damn near everything's skyrocketing today. I'm interested in the experience of learning my way through fabrication and body work. By no means do I make that statement lightly, or demean anyone's skills here, I'm stubborn and tenacious enough to invest in tools and equipment to do myself over time than pay a shop a fortune. Heck I'd rather break even tackling most if not all myself than pay a pro, thats part of the journey. I assume next step would be to get her blasted in order to see what I've really got. The rear quarter with the bondo has definitely got to go.

 

[Arlo Price]

One of my sons teaches welding in a local High School addditionally, I have a cousin that was originally 'farm learned' and then progressed to Certified..... If your wallet has a short bottom then you need to find you a local public school or VoTech Community College and take some classes. Both of the aforementioned individuals stressed that the main thing is practice. Friend.... pro welders make real good money & you have a lot to practice on plus, you might find a new career.

 

[wish4hemi]

My biggest concern at this point is the bodywork and sheetmetal repair. I'm willing to learn and invest in what I need to, but am curious just how far I'm going to need to dig myself out on this, and if it's feasible for a sheetmetal newbie to pick and learn? not going for a show car here, just a good looking weekend driver. Picks below. I realize some parts are available as reproduction, and some will not be. I suppose I'm asking for the experienced community to guage the level of difficulty with the body work here? More to come, thanks.

You would do well to follow Project ZomBEE at Mopar Connection Magazine. It’s going through all of this same sheet metal repair on a ‘70 Bee.
Video: Project ZomBEE’s Quarter Panel Predicament - Mopar Connection Magazine | A comprehensive daily resource for Mopar enthusiast news, features and the latest Mopar tech

 

[YY1]

That's a lotta work, right there...

But I likes me a 70 Bee.

 

[Hilljack68]

A buddy of mine acquired a 66 GTO, and is facing the same daunting task. He's never done body work, but is learning as he goes - by necessity. Everyone is willing to paint it, but no one wants to do the (very extensive) body work. He's inspired, determined, and is looking at each tree - not the forest. If you have time, tools, and passion, you can do it.
On the other hand, I farmed out my engine build, and have no regrets. I knew I didn't want to pull the engine back out three or four times because I screwed it up. There's wisdom in knowing your limits.

 

[Hilljack68]

By the way, I'm over in the Wadsworth/Medina area. If you need a good paint guy or a good engine guy, let me know.

 

[Llamaback]

You would do well to follow Project ZomBEE at Mopar Connection Magazine. It’s going through all of this same sheet metal repair on a ‘70 Bee.
Video: Project ZomBEE’s Quarter Panel Predicament - Mopar Connection Magazine | A comprehensive daily resource for Mopar enthusiast news, features and the latest Mopar tech

The 69 quarter panels do work very well to repair 70 quarters. I used AMD 69 quarters and cut off the lower quarters and the rear window corners and butt welded them onto my 70 quarters and they fit very good. I am not sure how I feel about putting the whole 69 quarter onto the 70 though. The shoulder of the quarter panel has a sharper radius on the 69 than the 70. I would do everything possible to save the upper 2/3rds of the original quarter panels if you can. It would be helpful to buy a 69 AMD full quarter and a 70 skin and once you know what you are looking at decide the best plan of attack for that passenger side quarter that looks real rough on your car. Watching Junkerup on youtube, getting some Craig Hopkins CHP videos, and going through the project car galleries on MCR (Muscle Car Restorations) website helped me a lot.

 

[19bee70]

I think I can put my $.02 in here too. I started exactly what you are, about 2 years ago. I pulled the interior, exterior body panels, and glass out. MY car needed floor pan + extensions. It needed all front pans up to the rear seat ledge. It needed the rear window filler panel AND lower quarters. We are all in the same boat for AMD quarter skins. They don't make them and won't be anytime soon (if ever). There IS a company that does make 70 skins and I can't remember who I got mine from, but I bought them. I suppose the first thing to consider is how much patience are you gonna have? We all know somebody that started and couldn't finish a car for one reason or another and it ends up getting sold. Let's start with an entry level welder like a Lincoln, Miller, Hobart or even a relabeled welder thru Eastwood, Northern Tools or such. You won't need some huge welder with big power needs. I've done all my welding with my Lincoln 135. Autobody is just fine for that. You're gonna grinders, cutoff wheels, sanders, compressor and air tools. You'll see some people have a place or a huge garage to accommodate a rotisserie. I have done mine without and was still able to strip the bottom of my chassis and epoxy it in chassis black from a creeper and engine hoist to lift the front of the car thru the shock towers with eyebolts. You CAN learn to weld on your own with some practice. Take some scrap sheetmetal and practice on that.
The sheetmetal which I got from AMD, with the exception of the quarter skins, fit good but not perfect. You will have to trim, tap and maybe even bend a little to get it to fit perfectly...but that's to be expected. The ONLY issue I had with the quarter skins was 1)- they are looong. Once I had them screwed on prior to welding, I noticed the rear wrap around flange was an inch too long. I had to cut and section that. 2)- I DID NOT have the doors on and was worried about body panel alignment with the quarters and doors, soooo I saved the factory quarter section from the door jamb to right past the body scallop. I knew my factory original doors would line up with the original quarter panel body lines so that's where I seamed it. I also dressed the blind sides of the wheel well housings and had to amke some patch panels there. From what I can see, it looks like you could do patches in most of the areas in your pics. (The quarters--nope) I never knew how INITIALLY how much in over my head I was going to be and I'm speaking of strictly welding skills. I still have to assemble the engine and the rest of the car but it's about ready for paint. I already rebuilt the 8.75 rear and 833 4sp. Yes...I did those myself too. Am I an ASC certified mechanic? Nope. I HAVE worked on cars, especially MOPARs since I was a kid. Now that I'm retired, I do have more time to practice what I've learned!
Don't feel intimidated!! Like someone else said...tackle this one piece at a time. Before you know it, all the pieces will be fixed! You will find...it will be time consuming. I will cost money that you may find yourself having to budget for. Will it cost twice what you think it will? Yeh, probably more than that. I agree with the point being made that will you be upside down on costs vs. sale value? That depends....if you can do 90% of the work yourself from start to end, you'll probably be fine. The more you have to pay for the closer you get to that break even point. If you car was V- code car with the 440 or maybe a hemi car, then it's likely to be a money maker but I would guess a pro would want to do it too. All in all, I wouldn't run away from it. Just do a step at a time and you'll be fine. Money and time permitting. I'll follow up with some pics....

 

[ckessel]

Broaden your skill levels for sure. If you are squeamish about a task, check in with car friends/neighbors/business contacts. Maybe you have a tradable skill to barter with. Minus male pandering of course.

 

[19bee70]

I don't think I have a pic of the trunk pan but that got done too.

 

[19bee70]

Driver's side fender painted inside; going on the car tomorrow

 

[19bee70]

There you go...this much ahs taken about a year but I don't work on it everyday. The point being...take your time and have patience. It WILL come together IF you still want to do it!!

 

[mopar4don]

@Glaser67 Any progress?
I am interested in your progress as my resto is very similar to yours.

 

[pdiz]

My resto is also similar as Glaser67 says. Just bought my favorite car (a P.O.S. '70 Super Bee because that's all I could afford, and no, it wasn't cheap), a 140 mig welder, and lots of determination, practice, studying. Not new to Mopars, but new to welding. Don't forget, bodywork is equally important. Also, even getting it to a point where you have something to weld TO is a job in and of itself. I suppose if I acid dipped it it may be easier, but then I'd be on a time constraint to get it all done quickly before it rotted out again, I don't know. But I swear, the images 19bee70 made my heart skip a beat, because I literally thought it was my car in the first few pictures, until I saw the final progress (definitely NOT my car, lol). But it is an FC7 4-speed car, and I'm going to stay motivated by looking at what he did. Chris Birdsong (junkerup on YouTube) is also very motivating. He's a guy that just restores a bunch of old Chargers at the side of his house. He's very talented.

 

[19bee70]

My resto is also similar as Glaser67 says. Just bought my favorite car (a P.O.S. '70 Super Bee because that's all I could afford, and no, it wasn't cheap), a 140 mig welder, and lots of determination, practice, studying. Not new to Mopars, but new to welding. Don't forget, bodywork is equally important. Also, even getting it to a point where you have something to weld TO is a job in and of itself. I suppose if I acid dipped it it may be easier, but then I'd be on a time constraint to get it all done quickly before it rotted out again, I don't know. But I swear, the images 19bee70 made my heart skip a beat, because I literally thought it was my car in the first few pictures, until I saw the final progress (definitely NOT my car, lol). But it is an FC7 4-speed car, and I'm going to stay motivated by looking at what he did. Chris Birdsong (junkerup on YouTube) is also very motivating. He's a guy that just restores a bunch of old Chargers at the side of his house. He's very talented.

I'd be happy to talk about your project and what your end goal is and what should/needs to be done. For example, I didn't do it this way but some guys will acid dip their car and then prep the surface for a complete poly primer spray to seal the car. Rust won't be a problem and you can then work specific areas at your own speed. Yes, you'll have to sand the primer back off where you need to do the rust repair or bodywork BUT at least all the metal is protected in the meantime. The downside is the cost of the poly primer to get the car covered in a couple of good wet coats....probably a gallon or
two! You can contact me here or call if you like. I'm in Florida.

 

[19bee70]

Here's a few more ..test fit my 440 too

 

[pdiz]

Wow, 19bee70, thank you for the extra pictures. Right now, it's just a little overwhelming because there's new quarter skins on both sides, yet the wheel wells are rusted out and the trunk hinge on one side is separating, etc. Also, not sure if he sandblasted the subframe rails before welding the floor pans in (they look rusty on the outside), nor if he used the factory spot weld locations, etc. Not that it's a big deal, but I think I see where he welded on the OUTSIDE of the floor pans (underneath) to the subframe rails, I need to check. I guess I'm not looking for concours quality, but just things to be done correctly so there aren't problems going down the road. Strangely, it's also motivating to see you did this in a small garage versus a shop dedicated to the car, as all I have is a garage attached to a house. Also, I see you installed the engine from the bottom as the factory did, very cool. I was wondering how I was going to get the cherry picker high enough without hitting the ceiling to get the engine in there, and the driveway is at a slope, etc., but looks like you figured it all out!