My GY8 '71 Road Runner

[chargervert]

No doubt, it sucks, it feels like there is no end and the hits just keep on coming!

 

[ct71rr]

Hi all, I’m hoping someone can help me with a few questions. Is this the way the front and rear torque boxes go?:

Front Driver’s side:

Rear Driver’s side:

And where do these go? They came with my floorboard from AMD. I’m assuming they’re reinforcements for the seat belts.

There’s a hole adjacent to the torsion bar crossmember:

And there’s another hole closer to the rear seat footwell:

I’m also assuming they go on the bottom of the floor pan and not the top (inside the car). Thank you in advance!

 

[T2R9]

Hi all, I’m hoping someone can help me with a few questions. Is this the way the front and rear torque boxes go?:

Front Driver’s side:



Rear Driver’s side:


I’m also assuming they go on the bottom of the floor pan and not the top (inside the car). Thank you in advance!

Your torque boxes are located correctly. Will take some hammering and trimming to get them to fit correctly. I used the same ones.

The plates look like E-body seat reinforcements that go on the floor. B-body are flat.

 

[Grabbergreendream]

I cant help with those torque boxes but I believe those floor parts are supposed to be added if the floor goes into an E body for the seats. The seatbelt mounts are in the rear 2 piece floorpan, like these(AMD).

 

[ct71rr]

Thank you both!!

 

[chargervert]

Some trunk lid pictures. It is good around the lock area inside and out, perhaps you can cut pieces out of it and fix your trunk lid.

 

[chargervert]

One more picture of the lock area.

 

[ct71rr]

Thank you for getting these for me, much appreciated!!! Looks like I might be able to use some if it. I will have to strip mine completely to survey the damage. There’s only one problem, I separated my shoulder last Sunday playing hockey. I have an appointment next week with a surgeon to see if i need surgery. I’ll be out of commission for at least 6 weeks, it will be 6 months if I need surgery. My clavicle is sticking out about an inch at the shoulder. At least it’s not my dominant arm. Super!

 

[chargervert]

That sucks about your shoulder! I hope you get it fixed back up soon! The trunklid is yours if you want it. It's not going anywhere, just let me know when want to pick it up. I just read that you are in Massachusetts. The trunklid is in Attleboro how far is that from you?

 

[ct71rr]

Hi, Sorry for the delayed response. I live about 20 minutes from Attleboro. I could pick it up next weekend if that works for you. How much do I owe you?

Thanks, Chad

 

[chargervert]

It's yours if you want it, no charge. I would rather see you use it than scrap it.

 

[ct71rr]

Hi all, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I haven’t done much after separating my shoulder. I met with a surgeon a few weeks ago and he stated that I should be good to go after 10-12 of physical therapy. My clavicle on the left side will always stick up a bit though. Only having the use of one arm, I decided to try chemical stripping my trunk lid. I knew there was a bit of bondo hidden under the paint but I was not prepared for what I found. My lid is pretty f’ed up. A lot of previous attempts at repairs and some pretty good oil-canning. The lip area on the underside, the area that mates up with the rear above lock, was filled with about 1/2” of bondo running from the driver’s side to passenger’s side. It looks like the lid took a pretty good hit on the driver’s side. I used Jasco Premium Paint & Epoxy Remover first. This worked very well on the primer (top of lid) and the orange paint (bottom of lid). It didn’t do much to the original blue paint that was under the orange paint. And it smells like rotting fish. I then tried Aircraft ULTRA Paint Remover. The last time I used this was in the early ‘90’s on my ‘73 Charger. It stripped the paint off completely, along with some of my skin. This new product smells the part but does not work as well as the original formula. It took about 90% of the blue paint off. I used my Contour SCT to remove the rest of the paint and bondo.

My X-ray - can you tell which side is a little off??

Stripper #1

Trunk lid:

After, bondo!!:


Back side:

Stripper #2:

Hackery:

More Hackery:

And more:

More:

 

[ct71rr]

I also did some sand blasting:

Before:

After:

This area of the trunk was packed with about 1/2 of bondo, and is dented in:

Nice patch:

This was bondoed over:

I think I’m in the market for a new trunk lid.

 

[Grabbergreendream]

That stinks!
Hope you are following Drs orders. Your future years will remind you if you dont let things get proper. Hope you get healed up!
Do your plans include a spoiler to the trunk? If so, make sure you get a 71 or early 72 lid if you replace it, as 71 was the only year with the under-structure formed to allow the proper attachment points.
If it was me, I'd take the time to cut out & weld in some metal. You have enough skill based on what I've seen to make it turn out great!
Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

[ct71rr]

That stinks!
Hope you are following Drs orders. Your future years will remind you if you dont let things get proper. Hope you get healed up!
Do your plans include a spoiler to the trunk? If so, make sure you get a 71 or early 72 lid if you replace it, as 71 was the only year with the under-structure formed to allow the proper attachment points.
If it was me, I'd take the time to cut out & weld in some metal. You have enough skill based on what I've seen to make it turn out great!
Good luck, whatever you decide.

Thanks John! Good point - I wasn’t even thinking about the spoiler - crap! I’m thinking this lid isn’t original to my car - it was blue under the orange. My car was originally metallic gold. It also originally came with a go wing. Now I’m wondering if this lid is even the correct one for a go wing - with the under structure. I have no idea what it’s supposed to look like. If someone could post a few pics on here that would be much appreciated!!!

 

[ct71rr]

I forgot to post pics of the bondoed areas. One nice thing about using the stripper, I could peel the bondo off in long ribbons with a razor blade scraper:

 

[Grabbergreendream]

Not mine, but here are the spoiler mount locations in the understructure. The bottom pic has the wrong spoiler mounted, I just wanted to show the factory holes.

 

[ct71rr]

Thanks again John! My lid appears correct. I missing those black brackets though.

 

[chargervert]

Thanks again John! My lid appears correct. I missing those black brackets though.

They sell the spoiler brackets reproduction.

 

[ct71rr]

I’m still plugging away on small projects so I can baby my shoulder. I did run a new 220 outlet (with the help of my wife) for a new welder I bought. It’s a PrimeWeld multiprocess unit. Now I’ll be able to mig/tig/stick. I also started cleaning up some of the suspension components. I tried sandblasting the LCA’s with aluminum oxide first. It was working ok but struggling a little because of the amount of grime and crap built up on them. I then soaked them in a container of Simple Green purple heavy duty cleaner for a few days. The crap brushed right off after this and then I blasted them. I have the UCA’s soaking now.

LCA’s before:

Soaking:

One cleaned and blasted:

Both done:

New toy and outlet:

UCA’s before:

Thanks for looking!