71 Road Runner Restoration Started

[71airgrabberRR]

Great !!! Just include one with the total price for shipping purposes.
Thanks again....

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Changing out the package tray too !!!!!!!!!!

I have some really nice package trays available too.

It looks like I can now change out my package tray as well, thanks to Moparmarks. Great place here on FBBO!!!!! I'll definitely be posting some photos of this ....................

Thanks again Brother !!!!!

 

[Ron 73]

Moparmarks is one of the good guys for sure, i spoke briefly to him in a PM about parts for another car that he didn't have quite some time ago but seemed to be well informed and friendly! Louis, i need to ask you a question, with the welding you do on these cars, have you ever tried a "MIG welding light"? Age creeping up, new glasses but any added help seeing is a good thing lol.. I was looking at one thru Eastwood, ive bought from them before and as yet not been disappointed.. Thanks... and good for you on the new parts!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Moparmarks is one of the good guys for sure, i spoke briefly to him in a PM about parts for another car that he didn't have quite some time ago but seemed to be well informed and friendly! Louis, i need to ask you a question, with the welding you do on these cars, have you ever tried a "MIG welding light"? Age creeping up, new glasses but any added help seeing is a good thing lol.. I was looking at one thru Eastwood, ive bought from them before and as yet not been disappointed.. Thanks... and good for you on the new parts!

No Ron, I haven't tried out one of those lights. But I'm right there with you, and my vision isn't what it used to be for sure. It might be something that I need to check into as well. I have ordered stuff from Eastwood before, and I agree they are good.

And yes, Moparmarks is a good guy for sure. Very knowledgeable and friendly too.

On my cars I MIG and spot weld. I currently have a welding helmet with a large vision opening so it's easier to look out of. I've been considering buying an auto darkening one though.

One thing I have tried and it "kind of" works is I sometimes use a clip on style spot light and focus the light beam right on the area I'm getting ready to weld. If you get the right angle sometimes the light helps you to see where your welding tip is before you strike an arc. Welding outside in the direct sun light can have a similar effect. But you need to be careful with any nearby bystanders. They don't need to be exposed to the arc light unnecessarily. In my case this would mean my shop dogs..........

Sorry I wasn't too much help here............

 

[mopar4don]

I have an auto darkening helmet, and if I'm having trouble seeing I hold a cordless light in my other hand.
works good for me.

 

[Ron 73]

Thank you bud, I ordered it this AM, ill give it a try! and there's only two hear i need worry about and one in particular and thats my grand daughter who lives with us, she likes to come out to the garage (wife doesn't come out much anymore unless i need her help) and ive educated her of the affects of welding, using the sun as an example and showing her what and how and the why for the helmet, she knows if she sees a bright light coming from inside to wait and yell to see if its ok to come in, same with grinding metal. i use a self darking one from Eastwood and it works great but there was a couple guys here who bought one from HF that swears they work as good and are cheaper,, im not buying one to try both to see but they said the HF has a skull on it, maybe that helps with welding! lol, mine just plain blue/grey.. rofl

Don, I do the same thing, focus a light where im welding to help out which it does but this one puts the light beam right on, kind of like a scope on my rifle i guess.. ill give it a try, tax and all it was 31.97 bucks, if it helps its worth every penny and i think it will inside enclosed areas where the helmet is hard to squeeze in, ill be able to use my shield held regular one, i hope this works better anyway.. Thanks gentleman!!

 

[roadrunnerman]

When I first started welding on my car, I used to just put on my sunglasses. Then up graded to a helmet, but it had a dark lense so I had to use a flashlight. My wife found a guy that was selling an auto-darkening one for a good price. If I find that I need to weld in a spot where the garage lights don't shine too good, I have a LED flashlight that is about 4-5 inches long (oval shape) with a magnet on the back of it that shines pretty good.

 

[Chase383]

View attachment 144722View attachment 144729

How bad is the passenger side under seat pan on your 71?

I can't really see anything in the photos.

The reason I ask is because I have some localized rust damage in one spot on my pass side under the rear seat. It actually looks like my car slipped off a floor jack one time and crushed the area... allowing water to sit only in the kinks.

If yours is solid right there I might be interested in it.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Rear Mounting on Rotisserie

Great info on the power washing! I might give that a go myself. Could you post a pick of how your rotisserie is bolted to the rear bumper mounts? Is there any metal inside the trunk added for support? Thanks!

Here are a few photos. Sorry it took so long to post them. Hope it helps you with your car.

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How bad is the passenger side under seat pan on your 71?

I can't really see anything in the photos.

The reason I ask is because I have some localized rust damage in one spot on my pass side under the rear seat. It actually looks like my car slipped off a floor jack one time and crushed the area... allowing water to sit only in the kinks.

If yours is solid right there I might be interested in it.

Sorry, mine is pretty bad in that spot. The pictures with the rust holes I posted above are of the passenger side.

 

[ct71rr]

AWESOME!!! Thanks again :VB toast: :VB toast: :VB toast:

 

[tallhair]

Moparmarks is one of the good guys for sure, i spoke briefly to him in a PM about parts for another car that he didn't have quite some time ago but seemed to be well informed and friendly! Louis, i need to ask you a question, with the welding you do on these cars, have you ever tried a "MIG welding light"? Age creeping up, new glasses but any added help seeing is a good thing lol.. I was looking at one thru Eastwood, ive bought from them before and as yet not been disappointed.. Thanks... and good for you on the new parts!

I concur Mark / Moparmarks is a hell of a good guy and not just when he's selling you something. He's always a good guy and answers questions and helps out whenever and wherever he can.

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It looks like I can now change out my package tray as well, thanks to Moparmarks. Great place here on FBBO!!!!! I'll definitely be posting some photos of this ....................

Thanks again Brother !!!!!

I'm glad you got some help so quickly so you can continue this exhibition. Excellent work brother!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today's Progress

AWESOME!!! Thanks again :VB toast: :VB toast: :VB toast:

Your welcome. Tomorrow I will try to post a few photos of how the rotisserie is attached on the front end of the car for you.


I spent the last 2 days removing all of the bolt on sheet metal parts and front disc brakes from this 72 Satellite that I originally bought for a parts car for this project.

I need these parts for my 71 Road Runner.

The more I remove from this car, the better the body shell looks. This so called "parts car" is 10 times better rust wise than my "Dirty Bird" is. I mean the floor pans, firewall, inner fenders, frame rails, trunk floor, etc..........all rust free. But she will need a full OEM style driver side quarter panel, from previous damage and rust issues. The passenger side quarter could probably be fixed with a lower rear patch panel. The roof has been blasted down to bare metal after someone removed the vinyl top and chrome trim.

The 318 with automatic runs good and the AC is still holding a little Freon!!!!

Someone years ago removed the original carpet and body plugs, which saved her from rusting.

So I vacuumed the inside of the car so the floor can be easily seen. I have been replacing all of the bolt on sheet metal with the old parts from my 71.

This car is just too good to cut up. I have a clear FL title for it registered to me.

I'm planning on trailering the 72 Satellite over to the 'Mopar's with Big Daddy" show to sell it at the swap meet, and score some new AMD parts for the Bird while I'm there.

It will make a very good solid body restoration candidate for someone else. I would keep her, but I still have my 2 Challengers to restore.

Now I'm really glad I decided not to cut her up for parts.........

It's a good show and is always on the first weekend of November.

Maybe I'll see some of you all there.

 

[Ron 73]

That really is a good looking car and i agree, it would make someone a great project, Im to involved with my stuff to even consider it but just for the sake of others who may be, what kind of money are ya looking to get out of it if i may ask..

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Asking Price

That really is a good looking car and i agree, it would make someone a great project, Im to involved with my stuff to even consider it but just for the sake of others who may be, what kind of money are ya looking to get out of it if i may ask..

I'm just looking to get back part of the money I paid for the car. I'm not trying to get rich off the car, and I want it to sell, so it can go to another good home.

I'll start the asking price at $2499 and go from there........... No reasonable offer will be turned down.

I can then use this money to buy more parts for the RR.

 

[Basket case]

I've had the parts car thing bite me acouple times. ended up fixing the parts car a parting the one I was getting the parts for.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Front Rotisserie Mounting

AWESOME!!! Thanks again :VB toast: :VB toast: :VB toast:

Here are the pictures of the front as promised.

Ive been busy today bolting all of my old sheet metal from my Road Runner back on the Sebring. If things work out as planned I will post some photos and list the car here on FBBO tonight.

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Does anyone have the factory frame dimensions for my RR?? If so could you please post them or send them to me in a PM???

Thanks in advance.

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My book is for 72 Dodge and I'm not 100% sure if the 72 Charger has the same dimensions as a 71 RR.
If anyone knows for sure please feel free to chime in.
Thanks.

 

[ct71rr]

Thank you!

And here you go...

 

[Ron 73]

I was searching for something totally different and this came up, i thought id show it to you all, the HEMI is cool...

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Awesome !!!!!

I was searching for something totally different and this came up, i thought id show it to you all, the HEMI is cool...

That car is a thing of beauty !!!!!! And a HEMI to boot..........

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Getting ready for the show..................

During the last few days I have been very busy with getting the 72 SSB ready to sell at the Garlits show. Because of this, not too much to post about the RR.

I gave the engine a tune up, fixed a few small coolant leaks, cleaned out my original gas tank from the RR with compressed air, and bolted it in.

Then I installed a new fuel pump, all new rubber fuel lines, and installed a new remanufactured 2 BBL carb.

The little 318 purrs like a kitten now.

Then I started looking at how the fenders, doors and trunk lid from my RR looked so horrible in multiple shades of color, after one or more of the previous owners attempted to do some shade tree body work at best.

These parts looked as if all they did was sand off some of the paint down to bare metal in some areas using a DA sander.

In other areas, it looks as if they used a wire wheel, them smeared body filler on and didn't even attempt to sand it down.

So I decided to take all of the paint off my original Road Runner parts and began sanding them down to bare metal. Once this was achieved, I used Ospho and wiped the bare metal down and let it set for a while.

Then I sanded the areas again and sprayed the front nose clip with some good Southern Poly Urethanes epoxy primer to seal the metal from rusting.

The original SSB rust free perfect hood was left on the car, so I sanded it down to the original paint, and then sprayed it with epoxy as well.

After all of this work was done, I was amazed at how much better the car actually looks.

I didn't apply any body filler, and left the rusted areas at the bottom of the fenders exposed. I want the next owner to see exactly what the condition is of the bolt on parts. I'm not trying to hide anything with filler. Doing something like that is under handed and definitely not cool. (although it probably gets done at some used car lots)

I just can't do that to people. I have to live with myself. The car is solid and it will speak for itself.

It looks as if it will be a drivable project car now for someone to fix up. It has come a long way since I bought it as a parts car.

Tomorrow I will try to sand down the doors, and trunk lid, then spray them in epoxy too. If this gets done, I will snap some photos and post them.

I'm actually amazed at how good these front fenders look now. They will both need to have the entire lower section behind the wheel replaced.

Luckily there is a nice patch panel made by AMD that will solve this problem.

Until then.....................

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Thank you!

And here you go...
View attachment 145580

View attachment 145581

Thanks for the dimensions. I compared them to my 72 Dodge chassis service manual and they are identical. I had a strong suspicion they were, but was not 100% sure.