Donny's 1970 300

[Donny]

What a cool idea to put this Forum here, for guys like me that have 3 ongoing projects. Pics coming...

 

[Donny]

Here's my Grandfather's car in 1984 after he gave it to me as he was getting too old to drive it. He bought it new in 1970 after he was hit in his identical 1969 model which totaled that car. I have the window sticker, and I am sure the build sheet is still under the rear set!



Here's me in 1987, doing what I thought was 'body work'. I was 'repairing' the rust in the lower fenders, I had NO tools, no money, just ambition and a goal of learning as I 'restore' this car that had the 400 TnT.



Here's a donor car I found in a local wrecking yard here in TX that I bought, and used many parts from; and lots of spares!



God, this picture was taken a long time ago to! Here I am with a recent Drum to Disc brake conversion I engineered myself in 2001 (?) from the donor car, and 73 Newport.



I did the 440 first. My avatar is this same engine. I may have goofed as I put 10.0 to 1 pistons in it!!!??? Looks like I'll be running 93 octane aye?



Needed a new frame (the C Bodies have a big, removable K Member type frame but it's HUGE!!! Here's the donor from the junkyard jewel!



Before I had my Media Blasting system, the guy I bought it from I had hired to Media Blast the underside of the 300. In this picture, I had just finished the 8.75 rear end, and installed it with freshened up with new components.

 

[69 Runner]

If you used the steel shim headgaskets you can drop your compression about 1/2 a point by going to FelPro blues (or something similar).

 

[Donny]

Hum...maybe a thing to do! Thanks!!! Oh yeah, it's the 440 TnT, I put 400 TnT above.

 

[Donny]

This is still cool to look at occasionally, original window sticker to my 300 my Grandfather bought new for $5400.00 in April 1970. That was a lot of money for a car back then.

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[moparstuart]

my best buddy in high school had a 70 300 convertible , man that car was a boat . It was really a blast to cruise around in . He rear ended a 84 camaro with ABS brakes . Totalled the camaro trunk in the back seat . Only bent the Ft bumper and steel grille on the 300 .

 

[Chris-Turbo]

Wow, the first bill worth ones weight in gold.

 

[old tired rebel]

Sweet.

 

[Propwash]

We won't discuss the steady progression of grey hair that goes with the restoration in the pics...

 

[Donny]

HAHA, you should see my mug today!

 

[Propwash]

Just kiddin around! How does soda blasting compare with media as far as removing paint from body panels? I have a 80 gallon air compressor, I was thinking about picking up a soda blaster from Eastwood? Good idea?

Any input? ......BTW Thanks for serving! Happy Veterens Day tomorrow!

Spent 8 years in the USAF myself

 

[Donny]

I guess the Soda does well in removing paint, but anything more like crud, rust etc it has trouble, but, this is just from observations based on watching it being done and seeing the end result; a product handed off as 'done' -- when I see lots more to clean off. Good luck, oh yeah a 80 gal compressor is ok, 2 stage 80 gallon is better. One way to look at it is are you going to use this blaster more than once? And, if more than once, will they be your projects, and, do you have the time to do this? I ran down that road many times, and decided to opt into the big boy media blaster that will blast a whole side of a car in like 5 minutes (check out my videos on youtube; mr954 is me). However, one thing that can't be effectively calculated is the enjoyment you get from doing it yourself! Again, Good luck!

 

[69 Runner]

I have heard that soda blasting leave a residue that will keep the car from rusting while it's nekid. But I've also heard that all that needs to be washed of really well before painting. Otherwise the paint won't stick

 

[Propwash]

Thanks for the tips guys. I appreciate it. 69 Runner I also heard the same about soda.
I guess the things that really hamper a larger scale operation is funds and space. Just married and bought a new house 5 months ago so things are a bit tight. I do have a 3 car stall garage with the end stall having a temporary studded seperation wall to keep all the dust out of the rest of the garage. With our 6 months of winter up here I'm kind of limited to a 8' x 8' pop up tent for a blasting area in the cold months. I guess the big question is what is the cost difference to upgrade up to media and is cleanup/space requirments the same? ...Thanks Again

 

[Donny]

or, you could pay someone to do it all, professionally done and all! This way you save your garage and the dust etc. So far, over 13 months since I did the Media Blast for Youtube; mainly to see how long bare metal remains bare and no rust flashing etc. Go to Youtube and search: "Plastic Media Blasting in action", so far no flash rust, and it's ready to paint if I wanted to. But, I have to finish the rest of that car first!

 

[Donny]

Ok, after doing some Satellite work today, I dug out the 300, emptied it out, threw out lots of stuff that was in there for 'storage'; i.e. JUNK! And, found the little rodents nest where he's been living! I set some glue traps a few months ago, got two of 'em, have not seen any more mice, so, I think I got 'em! Well, I pulled out the rear seat, and found two broadcast sheets, one on the lower cushion, the other on the upper cushion.

My question is, the upper cushion broadcast sheet is complete, the lower was chewed up by Mighty Mouse. So, how do I get the complete sheet out/off? It's very fragile as it's 40 yrs old, and has the metal clips embossed into the sheet from the factory. Any ideas how to get it out without destroying it, and damaging the seat in any way?

Oh yeah, and, as a result of my former hair-brained ideas, there was about one inch of sand under the rear seat from when I hired a sand blaster to clean out the trunk, he went ahead and blasted away, cleaned off the rust, but, didn't even think to advise me of where the sand would go, or, that he would offer to clean it up as part of the job? Another lesson learned, there's many I've learned over the years folks!

I'm thinking about doing some wild stuff on this C body! I think some 335/50/20s would fit nice out back, and a slightly smaller width up front, slam it down about one inch, nice killer paint and interior, with a good sound system; yeah, that would be the ride! a 4 dr hardtop with no B Pillar and nice wheels would look nice; at least this is what I see in my minds eye.

If you go to paintshop101.com and see the 68 Charger that has big wheels, I'm going to try to mock those wheels up on the 300 to see how it looks in the next couple of weeks. I'll post pics when I can.

 

[Donny]

Here's the Bubba I hired years ago to do this 'sandblasting' on my 300, never again, never! Lesson learned; Go Pro folks, hire someone who gives receipts, has a paper trail, has a website, is up front and honest about pricing. Don't go this route; if you see this; run, notice, it looks like a Junkyard here, I didn't know any better!

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[2001_lightning]

damn man! with 3 projects and the blasting business when the hell do you sleep? can wait to see it finished. good luck with it donny, looks to be in alot better condition than the other 2.

 

[Donny]

Dude, I didn't even say that I'm going to college full time too! Well, near full-time, at least the VA considers it full time. Yeah, looking at it all, I think I must be crazy. One thing that I absolutely have no more time for is motorcycling except riding to my shop and riding to school. No 'fun ride' time any more; not even dirt biking. My dirt bike riding fun is hopping on my WR450, and tear up the back yard for 15 minutes as a 'break'. It's amazing what balance this brings to a full plate when you just rip, and wheelie, and accelerate super fast, make lots of noise, and do it all over again for about 15 minutes; then back to the grind. However, I don't work on my own stuff when I have a blasting job(s), I have currently fenders, hood, doors and deck lid for a 70 Barracuda to blast on Wed, deliver on Friday and pick up the car they belong to same day. It's all time management, plus when you're on the odd side with your spouse you can eliminate free time doing things she likes to do; which I hate; shopping! LOL

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

We won't discuss the steady progression of grey hair that goes with the restoration in the pics...

:rolling: