Lookie what $5000 buys you....

[Kern Dog]

This car sat wrecked for over 24 years. This is the first time since then that a hood has been on it....NOW it has a front bumper and grille too!

I do need to recess the bumper back a little bit. The gap between the bumper and hood/fenders is wider than on the red XP car.

 

[Kern Dog]

 

[Kern Dog]

It is good to actually attach the parts to this car. Having parts scattered all over puts them at greater risk of damage.
The grille is probably the nicest part on this car.

It looks grungy but has no broken fins and is complete. Classic Industries advertised reproduction grilles priced at $2000 complete!
The valance is about what I expected: It fits but is far from perfect. I will likely keep it in place for awhile but if/when I actually take this car apart to paint it, I'll use a new AMD repop or a better used one.

 

[Kern Dog]

I got it up on the lift to weld the frame rails to the torsion bar crossmember.

Having trouble with getting a good, even weld. It would be fine then act up on me. There will be some grinding work to do after the fact.

The factory just spot welded the rails in place. I welded the edges.
Next up, frame connectors.

 

[Kern Dog]

I knew that there was some damage underneath but this surprised me:

The right spring mount was torn away from the frame rail and looked ugly.

I plan to add in my own hand formed torque boxes but I still needed to get the mount back to the correct location. I hammered the mount back forward, secured it with a self tapping screw then welded it back in place.

The left side was fine.

 

[Kern Dog]

I cut out what could not be straightened, then welded in a strip of .120 metal.

For the frame connectors, I decided to use 2x3 sections since I have enough here to do 5 more cars. These 2x3s allow the fuel and brake lines to stay in the stock locations and doesn't interfere with the parking brake cable. Some guys prefer the type that fit right against the floor but since this car is covered in thick undercoating, the thinner connectors made more sense to me.

They fit right up under the rear seat foot well. I had to push the right side up a bit to get the connector to sit in place.
I wonder if the damage to the spring mount somehow pulled the floor pan down a bit?
The red car of mine has 3x3 connectors that took more work to fit in place. I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell the difference between 2x3 and 3x3 in terms of chassis stiffness.

 

[chargervert]

The frame connectors look good KD.

 

[roadrunner69440]

Lookin good man!

 

[Kern Dog]

In keeping with the slightly smaller frame connectors, I went with thinner gauge metal for the rear torque boxes. The cars that I have seen with factory torque boxes seem to be either 16 or 18 gauge. I decided to use 18 gauge for mine.
First, I had to clean away the undercoating. It wasn't too hard, I just used a chisel and a hammer and it came off in chunks.

I took some cardboard and made a pattern, then made the panel.

The rectangular hole is to allow access to the leaf spring hanger.

 

[Wojo68]

Skills! Looking good

 

[Don selleck]

nice work, looks like it will be straightened out in no time. looks pretty solid despite the beatin that was inflicted on her.

 

[Kern Dog]

Trial fit. Seems pretty close, just a little bending here and there to make it work.

Time for the MIG. The guy at the welding supply place suggested raising the PSI of the gas from 15 to 20 to get cleaner welds.

They were a bit better but being overhead, I still didn't do as good as I wanted. I always have to grind down my welds.

These torque boxes are tucked up nice. From the side, they will barely be visible.

 

[Kern Dog]

Yeah, this car wasn't jumped but it surely wasn't babied either. The floor pan has some tears above the RH leaf spring hanger.

The bottom edge of the hanger was pushed down and back as if someone ran into or over an obstruction. It was enough to pull that brace away from the rail and the upper section away from the floor. The metal here is clean though so it was just a matter of cutting, bending and welding stuff back into place.
The car does have some rust though. The trunk floor needs to be replaced. Both lower quarters will need small patches. Nothing major.

 

[Don selleck]

looks like what we used to call a stump jumper, not that i did anything like that

 

[Kern Dog]

I'll bet my 67 Dart looks beat up from underneath!

Back on topic:

I started mocking up the front torque boxes. Like with the rear, I'm trying to tuck them up to be compact. It may be pointless though since the underbody is undercoated. If I spritzed the pancake batter undercoating on the new reinforcements, nobody would ever know that they are there.

With the red car, I only ran the torque boxes like I saw others being done, not full length to the torsion bar crossmember. This one will be different.

 

[Kern Dog]

Today I finished up the front torque boxes.

I am toying with the idea of scraping all the undercoating and painting the underside. I love the look of a painted floor!

 

[69 GTX]

Looking good!

 

[r4sedan]

Looks really Nice.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Making some serious progress.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

If you plan to drive it to Spring Fling you'd better find another gear....

But other than that it's looking good...