Family Tradition

[detmatt1]

Don't ANY of you guys have jobs???

 

[moparstuart]

not me , this is my job:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

 

[69 Runner]

If you prefer a rub (careful) rather than your BBQ slathered in sauce like meatloaf (which I always thought was an effort to conceal what you were about to eat) then I highly recommend Gordon's Grub Rub. http://www.grubrub.com/index.htm

Good stuff. It isn't sold in N.C., but I've started a devoted following for it there.

 

[Propwash]

Thanks for the tip on the rub Runner...Gonna try it out. Geez, all these sauces and rubs! Instead of getting work done on the RR, i'll be sitting back getting fat and sassy grilling meat all day.:hungry:

 

[roadrunnerman]

Thanks for the tip on the rub Runner...Gonna try it out. Geez, all these sauces and rubs! Instead of getting work done on the RR, i'll be sitting back getting fat and sassy grilling meat all day.:hungry:

is that what happened to me?:rolling::rolling:

 

[69 Runner]

Works for ME:grin:

 

[Propwash]

Some more progress this weekend:

The after market rear frame rail sections did not come with the tabs/ears that extend out to attach to the top of the shock crossmember, so i just cut out some 14 ga. tabs to cover the issue.

No more peanut butter factory welds Matt!!

Welded in:

The trunk floor brace was a pretty easy addition, just drilled some 5/16" holes for the plug welds, roughed up, primed, and welded in place

Time to rip out the old rear fill panel. Not too bad to take out, just a few hick-ups with some pretty interesting factory spot weld locations on the lower trunk gutter lips.

Was able to salvage the old trunk latch/loop support after drilling out 11 spot welds. Cleaned up pretty nice with my blast booth

Couldn't resist jigging up the new panels to give me a looksy of what's to come. After a little metal work to the factory lower trunk gutter lips, i'll weld in the new rear fill panel, then move on to the tail light bucket replacements.
After that, the trunk floor then weld on the rear crossmember

 

[detmatt1]

Nice work, as usual!. It is really coming together nicely. Do you plan on having the whole car media blasted at any point?. (Donny, behave and let Will answer on his own!)
Thanks again for that thread on the brightwork, it is a keeper.
I didn't get much done on the "DOG" yesterday, back acted up and I spent most of the day on my arss.

 

[Propwash]

Thanks Matt,
Sorry to hear about the back. A stumped back can really change a guys whole quality of life. No problem on the brightwork thread. I know of at least 2 guys over there that have used Mike's formula with great results.

I do plan on getting the car media blasted once I get this major rebuild in the rear completed and a rear end back in the car. Obviously I have a ways to go yet on the sheetmetal and my 8 3/4 rear end for the car is still at the speed shop getting a Detroit Locker Diff., Green seals and bearings, 33 spline axles, and 3:91 gears put in op eyed tongue:

 

[moparstuart]

looking great

 

[Propwash]

Thanks Buddy!

 

[Bens69PlymouthSatellite]

Hey Will who makes that lower bumper panel u have clamped on?? How did it fit I need one, along with the filler panel.

 

[Propwash]

Ben,
The lower bumper panel (rear crossmember) I bought from Jeff from 521 Restorations. He has a thread here on FBBO. Great guy and great prices. It's made by AMD. I also bought new bumper mount reinforcements that mount to the rear outer surface of the crossmember, and also the the rear crossmember extentions. As far as fit, the reinforcements fit and welded on real nice. Just line up the holes in the reinforcement with the crossmember and weld on. The extentions need to be welded on beforehand and I did have a few issues with those. The bottom of the crossmember where it curves up at the end and the extention where it curves up as well do not correlate well. I did have to put a pie cut in the the extentions to make the curves line up by bending/forming. It's actually a bunch easier to do than try to explain..

As far as fitting the whole assembly, I guess it depends on how much else you are replacing around it. In my case, changing out the rear frame rails to aftermarket, and the shackle mounts (AMD), required me to do a bit of "tweeking" of the end of the shackle mounts and rear frame rail ears that bend out and then are welded to the rear crossmember. If you plan on using your original rails/mounts, i think the biggest pain in the rear would be cutting out the welds that attach them to the crossmember. Fit up would be pretty easy that route.

The rear crossmember (lower bumper panel) top lip is spot welded to the trunk pan and like I said earlier, welded to the end of the frame rails and shackle mounts. Also, there is tabs that extend out from the top of the frame rails and shackle mounts that tac onto the top lip of the rear crossmember. There is bent in lips on the edge of the rear crossmember extentions that spot weld to the the trunk pan extentions as well. To top it off the is a threaded stud at the bottom end of each frame rail and slide through a hole in the bottom lip of the rear crossmember.

It's really not too hard of a job to do. When you start taking the old one off, you'll see all the areas of welds that i'm talking about and it will be pretty easy to see how it comes apart. Be sure to level your car before hand and take lots of pictures, drawings and initial measurements so you can end up with the new one in the same location.

I bought the filler panel from Jeff at 521 resorations as well. The filler panel is mounted in via spot welds to the rear lip of the trunk pan, bottom of the tail light buckets, lower trunk gutters and has lips that curve out at the ends that mount to the quarter panels. You will also have to cut the attachment weld at the bottom of the trunk latch/loop support along with drilling out a couple spot welds that attach it to the trunk pan. I think the biggest part of changing the filler panel out is once it is out, your quarters become really easy to move around and out of position, especially if your rear crossmember is already out. I would recommend jigging them in place in some sort of matter to reduce play. At the very least, use a plumb bob to mark position and distance before just taking it out

Hope this helps

 

[Clay Dots]

Wow great work! I lived through this with my car last year. Time and money! keep up the great job! best wishes! CD

 

[Bens69PlymouthSatellite]

Thanks for the awesome tips will,I will be checking back time and time again with you and Matt about these little issues that come up.my rear frame rails look fairly solid and what my body guy could see of them he said they dont look to be a problem area.my trunk floor is still connected it just is the strength of confetti,we got the car into the shop and already hit some snags,my drivers fender and door are pretty much all mud.So gonna need more metal for the satellite than I had hoped for,at least it will be new. I got my Metal from Jeff at 521 restorations as well,he is a real good guy and great prices to,I will go back and look to find those pieces for the rear panel.Thanks for all the help!!! And great job!!!

 

[Propwash]

No problem Ben. Anything else I can help out with, please don't hesitate to ask. Looking forward to watching your Satellite project unfold. I know you'll do a great job!

 

[Propwash]

Wow great work! I lived through this with my car last year. Time and money! keep up the great job! best wishes! CD

Thanks Clay! One piece at a time buddy..

 

[roadrunnerman]

hey prop,just got back to home and saw your progress pics. LOOKING GOOD!!! i'm going to try and look at my runner and see how it is.can't wait to see b4 and after pics when you get it done.

 

[Propwash]

Thanks roadrunner..Same here. Actually got to do a bit of work on skeletor over the past few days here and there. I coated the inside of the frame rails, shackle mounts, and trunk gutters with some "Rust Bullet." I've used this stuff in the past with excellent results..Pretty pricey ($45.00 per quart), but you get what you pay for. After painting this stuff on, I got a refresher on how tough this stuff is. Gojo, Paint thinner, Gasoline, starting fluid, bleach couldn't even begin to take this stuff off my skin. Ah well, couple weeks of looking like Robo Cop, no Bigee.

The inside of the rails and shackle mounts will be sprayed with 3M undercoating before the trunk pan goes in.

Took quite a few vise grips to position the filler panel in just right, but i was pretty satisfied in the end.

Welded in

Time to begin another lovely dueling round of drilling out spot welds. Tail light buckets are next to go...........

Sometimes a guy has to pick his battles. The old buckets were pretty bad on the outside and in.

Buckets out...For anyone that attempts to pull these buckets out on their own ride, a little tip. A small tab of the tail light bucket housing on the top is sandwiched between the quarter panel lip (on top side) and trunk gutter frame (bottom side), so you must drill out the spot weld from the top on the quarter and then a spot weld from the bottom on the trunk gutter for the bucket to come out. Other than that, they come out pretty easy.

Test fit the new buckets. Pretty impressed with the AMD fit on these. They will need a little trimming on the outside bottom outer corners to fit properly.

Back to pick your battles...The lower trunk gutter/frames were corroded up pretty good. I did take the time to patch in a bunch of weak areas and small holes, especially underneath the tail light buckets. Some areas, the metal was almost as thin as paper, requiring a backing strip, then overlay, on to very tediuos welding, then grinding, then touch up welding, then grinding, then sanding....Obviously very very time consuming. I still got most of the old metal still in there, but if I had to do it again, i would propably just replace them. I did coat the repair areas afterwards also with some more rust bullet.

Hopefully I get a bit of time soon to weld these buckets in, then on to the trunk pan and rear crossmember. Later fella's

 

[Propwash]

Here's a nice vid to get you guys pumped up for summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=playnmJB_TI