Gotcha. I was planning to buy kit that comes from mopar performance. That’s what I’m not sure how it plugs into stock under dash harness. I haven’t seen any pics of it on here yet.
69 Roadrunner - For the Boss
- Thread starter EJL
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GetX'd
Making Life Great Again!
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Yeah - I have to tell you I admire you guys that take on projects like that. I simply don’t have the skills, knowledge or patience. That one’s a big job but I”m sure you’ll have saved another mopar that likeLy would have gone to the crusher and have her looking fine in a couple years time. Purple - I’ve never seen a Roadrunmer that color - but it’s not mine nor any of my business as to want your wife desires. I’m sure it’ll be a beauty and if she loves it that’s all that matters. Good luck with it all.
Yes, second the good luck with it part. They are fun to rebuild but they also make you pull your hair out. The satisfaction of that first road test is pretty high up on the scale. Since your are doing everything, only a few educated people will know the color she wants was not a factory color back then. Hope it all goes well.
Been a little while since I’ve posted an update. I spent some time a few weeks ago gutting the interior. I couldn’t believe how bad the floor boards were. It didn’t have original carpet in it and the carpet that was in it was really good at one thing, holding moisture. When I pulled out the orange plaid carpet all I saw was rust. Good thing I already bought a full replacement front floor pan.
When pulling out taillights I noticed some shoddy welding. I knew it wasn’t factory welding that held the end of the quarter panel to the housing so I started inspecting it further. There was no sound deadener on the inside of quarter on passenger side and then I saw it had been replaced. They didn’t put a full quarter on, they just cut below sail panel and welded new quarter on top of it. You can see the radius of the original quarter if you closely.
This weekend I cut out a hundred spot welds and removed what was left of trunk floor.
Rear frame rails were amazingly better than I thought they would be. They look fairly solid, but I’ll know more once it comes back from dip and e coat. I will need to replace rear cross member and corner pieces as they are toast. Driver side inner wheel well is pretty bad too so I should get a new replacement.
I see AMD only sells the entire radiator support assembly or lower support piece. I really only need the vertical piece that attaches to the inner fender for 26” radiator. I can’t see spending $500 for the entire assembly when I only need the one piece. If anyone has a passenger side vertical piece available, let me know.
When pulling out taillights I noticed some shoddy welding. I knew it wasn’t factory welding that held the end of the quarter panel to the housing so I started inspecting it further. There was no sound deadener on the inside of quarter on passenger side and then I saw it had been replaced. They didn’t put a full quarter on, they just cut below sail panel and welded new quarter on top of it. You can see the radius of the original quarter if you closely.
This weekend I cut out a hundred spot welds and removed what was left of trunk floor.
Rear frame rails were amazingly better than I thought they would be. They look fairly solid, but I’ll know more once it comes back from dip and e coat. I will need to replace rear cross member and corner pieces as they are toast. Driver side inner wheel well is pretty bad too so I should get a new replacement.
I see AMD only sells the entire radiator support assembly or lower support piece. I really only need the vertical piece that attaches to the inner fender for 26” radiator. I can’t see spending $500 for the entire assembly when I only need the one piece. If anyone has a passenger side vertical piece available, let me know.
Basket case
Well-Known Member
Floors look normal for Ohio, ODOT loves the road salt.
My brother and I have been making some progress the last few weeks. We reinforced the opening to maintain spacing and finished removing trunk floor and extensions along with rear finish panel and cross member.
We have a small section of the drivers side frame rail to repair and it appears to be the same area we had to do on the last car. Must be common problem area. Ordered and received new AMD rear cross member and corner extensions, but I’ll wait to install until after car comes back from dip and ecoat.
We moved to front passenger inner fender and radiator support that was heavily damaged from previous wreck. I looked at picking up either a used or new radiator support piece, but my brother had the idea of just converting another good piece by cutting out middle section and rewelding it together. I figured what the hell i’ll give it shot. I don’t think it turned out too bad and all the dimensions match up for the opening and cross car checks.
Once that was fabricated we needed to replace inner fender and shock tower. Fortunately all the damage was above frame rail so no replacement needed on that. Those pieces came from same donor section.
We have a small section of the drivers side frame rail to repair and it appears to be the same area we had to do on the last car. Must be common problem area. Ordered and received new AMD rear cross member and corner extensions, but I’ll wait to install until after car comes back from dip and ecoat.
We moved to front passenger inner fender and radiator support that was heavily damaged from previous wreck. I looked at picking up either a used or new radiator support piece, but my brother had the idea of just converting another good piece by cutting out middle section and rewelding it together. I figured what the hell i’ll give it shot. I don’t think it turned out too bad and all the dimensions match up for the opening and cross car checks.
Once that was fabricated we needed to replace inner fender and shock tower. Fortunately all the damage was above frame rail so no replacement needed on that. Those pieces came from same donor section.
Next I moved onto cutting out the front floor pans to see how bad rear sections of front frame rails and cross member were. There a few small areas that will need patching, but overall they are salvageable. We left the center section of pan in place until it comes back from dipping just for support.
Tonight I moved onto passenger door jamb. This was heavily damaged from impact at some point. It was hit hard enough that the latch mechanism tore away from sheet metal and they just blobbed some weld on to try and hold it in place.
Based on the amount of rot and bondo in the quarter to jamb area I knew it needed replacement. Again, I had a good donor piece from another car so I removed the bad jamb.
I’ll work on cleaning up spot weld areas tomorrow night and prep putting on replacement jamb.
Hours of fun……
Tonight I moved onto passenger door jamb. This was heavily damaged from impact at some point. It was hit hard enough that the latch mechanism tore away from sheet metal and they just blobbed some weld on to try and hold it in place.
Based on the amount of rot and bondo in the quarter to jamb area I knew it needed replacement. Again, I had a good donor piece from another car so I removed the bad jamb.
I’ll work on cleaning up spot weld areas tomorrow night and prep putting on replacement jamb.
Hours of fun……
Moved onto the drivers front frame rail that was completely rotted out under shock tower support. Had a donor frame rail and support from another car so decided to cut out bad section and replace.
Replacement rail spot welded into place now. Just need to double check dim’s and tweak as needed before finishing up welding. Getting closer to having certain areas addressed before sending to dipper.
Replacement rail spot welded into place now. Just need to double check dim’s and tweak as needed before finishing up welding. Getting closer to having certain areas addressed before sending to dipper.
More progress pics from this week. First I needed to repair rusty area on driver inner fender behind hood hinge.
Then I replaced cowl with one from donor car that was in a lot better condition.
Moved to the back of the car and decided to remove dutchman panel as it had a lot of rust holes in window channel and the bottom corners above troughs. Had a replacement panel I bought at bats several years back so I figured I may as well use it.
Need to tweak some areas before panel will drop in place, but it appears it will work nicely. Ran out of argon so no welding till I can get the tank filled on Monday.
Then I replaced cowl with one from donor car that was in a lot better condition.
Moved to the back of the car and decided to remove dutchman panel as it had a lot of rust holes in window channel and the bottom corners above troughs. Had a replacement panel I bought at bats several years back so I figured I may as well use it.
Need to tweak some areas before panel will drop in place, but it appears it will work nicely. Ran out of argon so no welding till I can get the tank filled on Monday.
Progress has been slow going as of late. Based on the amount of metal I’ve been removing due to rot, my brother thought it best to get the frame jig done and under the car before I get too carried away.
Since his charger is way more solid than this roadrunner, we used his car to set up the jig. Took some time to get everything fit and bolted/welded into place, but it turned out good. Will be handy for keeping frame rails in position on this car as well as future projects.
I also picked up a new helper about a month ago. Meet Blue, aka satans little helper. You don’t want to be working at floor level too long or your liable to loose some flesh as he’s far from being out of the biting phase.
I hope to start making some more progress soon.
Since his charger is way more solid than this roadrunner, we used his car to set up the jig. Took some time to get everything fit and bolted/welded into place, but it turned out good. Will be handy for keeping frame rails in position on this car as well as future projects.
I also picked up a new helper about a month ago. Meet Blue, aka satans little helper. You don’t want to be working at floor level too long or your liable to loose some flesh as he’s far from being out of the biting phase.
I hope to start making some more progress soon.
Hilljack68
Well-Known Member
Nice looking woofer. And nice work on that jig!
It doesn't 'plug in', you have to wire it up and then tune it somehow. Holley is hands down the best route and it can control an electronic trans as well. I do a ton of Holley installs and will be putting a sniper system on my 66 500.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Does Blue like to taste everything within reach? I'd swear my little Toga used to be a goat in another life. Gotta taste everything. Must be the breed.
I would say yes. When we’re in the shop he’s into everything. He’s even gone as far as trying to taste hot weld slag that hits the floor. Hopefully he learned his lesson on that……..
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Toga has slowed down on tasting between getting scolded and sampling most things. She still has the occasional bored pup chew whatever is handy session. Like some of the redwood on the deck.
Our shephard mix Bella finally stopped the constant chewing and eating anything she found. She stopped at around 2 years old.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Back to the subject at hand. Your rust repair project is pretty extensive. I'll bet you're glad you can DIY it.
Yes I am. Couldn’t afford to pay someone to do it for me. Since it’s not a super high dollar car it doesn’t have to be perfect. Not that we are doing shoddy work, just making sure it’s solid and it lasts is the important thing. Still a little pricey getting all the replacement sheet metal and everything else that goes with it to make it a finished car, but it’s worth it to me to say we did it ourselves versus buying it finished.
Slow progress again, but moving forward. Finally got the replacement floor a rear footwell pans installed.
Got pans installed just in time to take car to dipper. I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks when it’s done there.
Until body is done at dipper, figured I’d start welding up trim holes on doors and fenders that aren’t needed.
More to come.
Got pans installed just in time to take car to dipper. I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks when it’s done there.
Until body is done at dipper, figured I’d start welding up trim holes on doors and fenders that aren’t needed.
More to come.
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