tqfastfish
Well-Known Member
Very Nice dart,, Love this project... Did you ever find a heater box? I am very active at FABO and I have one I will sell you
Free dent filled, bondo laced quarter up for grabs folks!! Better strike while the iron's hot!
Obviously it's time to clean up, seal and paint the areas that were underneath. Not use to seeing whole solid metal around wheel houses, rockers and extensions. I may have entered The Twilight Zone! Up next, make my cut line on the new skin, fit in place, then cut along the established cut line on the new skin, into the old metal.
Very Nice dart,, Love this project... Did you ever find a heater box? I am very active at FABO and I have one I will sell you
Will you talk about that like you are telling someone you just opened a fresh can of peanut butter. Does your wife know how hard it is to do what you are doing to her car and have it come out looking really good and within as short a span of time as you get this stuff done LOL ? I'm worried she may think everyone does this all the time and not appreciate what you are doing.
So don't be to matter of fact about telling her when she asks about it, or maybe just show her this thread ;)
I for one, am interested in a step by step
Yes please Will!
Step by Step... edumacate us pilgrims in the finer art of a quarter skin replacement.
Thanks tqfastfish! I see your post's over there at FABO quite a bit. Don't post much over there, but still skim over the threads here and there.
The fella I bought the rood skin from is checking on a decent heater box for me, but it it doesn't pan out I'll definitely swing you a line. Thank you!
Hehehehe! Good way to put it Bryan! I know she realizes it's a bunch of work, but I don't think she really understands the type of work or the physical demands of it. She does see me come in covered in dust, dirt, scrapes, burns and bruises...so she knows it isn't easy. Honestly, I think that just as much as she want's her own little Mopar to cruise around in, having a happy husband in the garage with a mopar to fiddle with is a win for her both ways. I do respect she gives me space in the garage and more than ample time to do what I love. Her getting a car out of it is just the icing on the cake.
So the right quarter skin is trimmed down, drilled for spot welds, fitted and temporarily secured for me to make my cut line on the edge of the new metal vs. the old. I didn't get much time this weekend considering I had to watch Wisconsin beat Kentucky in the Final 4, as well as Easter today. Hopefully I can get the cut knocked out, final fitment and then weld up this week.
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All in all the AMD panel is pretty decent. There is a few AMD fitment issues that will need to be tended to. I'll be addressing those on here in the near future. Also, I have quite a few more pic's I've been taking along the way. If anyone is interested, I will probably put out a step by step set of photo's & commentary of a quarter skin replacement, once the skin is all wrapped up.
Same here Prop . . . I did put on a quarter myself, so now you can teach me, and show me what I did wrong ? ?
Great looking progress on the Dart Prop . . . love to follow your threads . . . Thanks !
I've seen A body cars there were barely 10 years old with the striker problem. And yeah, peoples likes to slam doors. Had my almost future niece start to slam our Durango rear hatch with all her might until I caught it and then just let it fall closed from about 6" up. She looked at me in disbelief lol.Well wayyyyy overdue for an update on the dart. I've been pegging away here and there.
Newly replaced roof skin is stripped, and sealed. All welds cut down and leveled.
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Also stripped a good chunk of the body. Drivers side has a couple dings and minor dents. Nothing a little skim coat won't cover right over. Passenger side is a different ball game.
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This must be an A-Body issue. 3rd one i've had with this issue. Both driver's and passenger side strikers in the jam were cracked around them pretty bad
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Fixed
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Also dealing with some rot on the upper lip of the deck filler at the rear window opening. Not to big of deal to hit hard with a wire wheel to peel back the thin/weak metal and weld in, along with the old vinyl top trim holes. About 8 spots opened up on the lip.
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Welded
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Everything was rolling along pretty good until the passenger quarter. Forest Gump must have been of referring to old cars when talking about "Box of chocolates"....Never know what you're gonna get. Anyways, kinda like opening a crappy x-mas gift, the passenger quarter was a bit sulking moment. Stripping it, literally about 1/2 the quarter was covered in mud, and not thin mud. The car had some serious damage up by the door, mid panel and back by the side marker light. No idea why someone wouldn't just do the right thing and waste all that time leveling filler, but oh well.
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So I'm not one to half-*** things. I will be calling Jeff at 521 this week for the 4 speed hump, and it looks like i'll be ordering a new quarter skin as well. Already started drilling out the spotwelds for the quarter, just need to re-hang the door so I can use it for alignment for the skin.
Couple things I need to find.......A heater box! Thing came out in pieces. Really surprised how flimzy/cheap the heater box is compared to a B-Body. Oh well, economy car back in the day. Need a 3 spoke steering wheel insert as well. Other than that, I have quite a few parts sitting on the shelf.