The Willomet Charger

[1970RT]

Also fun to find the various date stamps. Inner fenders were pressed 3 months apart.

David

 

[Homstead]

Some good work going on here! Keep it up!

 

[1970RT]

Thanks! I'm enjoying the process.

David

 

[daytona kid]

Yep, you are doing the fun stuff now. It's such a good feeling of accomplishment, isn't it.. Great looking patches. Some of the new parts I put on had no numbers but the old parts had them, so I added them myself. Call me goofy, that was a little extreme but it just would have bugged me. Really enjoying watching you work, reminds me of the fun I had doing similar work on mine. But you went a lot deeper than me. BRAVO!!

 

[morrow_jacob]

Nice work! Looking good!

 

[1970RT]

Look those front rails over really good, mine had a crack that you could not really see, seriously.. If not found it could have really messed things up for me in the future.

Sure glad you mentioned this. Finishing up one of the patches on the outer, and there is was. A crack! All repaired now.

Also, I didn't like the factory booger welds around the shock tower, so I cut them out and rewelded.

Putting the bump stops back on, then the front driver rail should be done.

David

 

[1970RT]

Bump brackets back on, and I added a couple of welds to the top of each. Parting shot:

Wrapping up some repairs on the inner part of the rail - pitting, spot welds, and a patch - and I noticed some porosity on these factory welds. Add it to the list, I'm going to cut out each of these shock tower beads and reburn.

If this one frame rail is any indication, I'm going to spend a good bit of time doing metal work, which I love.

David

 

[daytona kid]

Glad I could help in some small way.lol. I think that on a lot of our higher mileage B bod cars the front rails a very subject to crackage in some (could be) critical spots. Funny, I really enjoy/ed the metal work myself, and went over or rewelded a lot of the same factory crap welds,. "It's deja vu all over again!" Great looking work! Above and beyond average restoration quality! And well worth the extra effort.

 

[1970RT]

Wrapped up the inner part of the rail. Reburned the shock tower welds; 2 of 3 original ones had porosity.

Taking a closer look at the UCA brackets, it looks like there are some cracks in those welds.

Decided for a change of pace, and started on my battery tray repair/modification. Since the battery will sit in the passenger rear of the trunk, I'm reclaiming these few cubic inches for the engine bay:

That's it for tonight.

David

 

[1970RT]

Glad I could help in some small way...

A big way. I've referenced your thread more than a few times.

David

 

[1970RT]

Fit, bump, trim. Repeat. Slow and steady.

David

 

[1970RT]

Slight detour. The truck has decided it's a good time to act out. It's pissing diesel from the advance piston on the injection pump. I think it's jealous of the Dodge.

Pulling the pump tonight.

David

 

[1970RT]

Got the injector pump to the diesel shop this morning for rebuild, so while I wait, back to the battery tray delete:

Fit up tonight, burn in tomorrow.

David

 

[Homstead]

Hey its looking good!

 

[1970RT]

Hey its looking good!

Thank you! Glad I picked up a blank sheet of AMD 18ga for these miscellaneous patches. My Amazon restocking order for roloc discs and shop supplies should get here today, so I'm hoping for a solid weekend of progress.

Lots of great threads to reference here on this board; learning a lot as I go.

David

 

[daytona kid]

.

 

[1970RT]

It was a productive weekend.

The battery tray is burned in, and mostly smoothed. After this photo, there was a good bit of hammer and dolley to align the curves and creases and smooth the welds. There's more metal bumping to go before it's ready for a skim coat of filler, and there's a small can of Evercoat Rage lightweight on the way.

Another patch on the front rail:

Finally, I returned to the UCA inner welds, and did a bit of investigation as to how far the cracking goes. Answer: all the way through. 3 of the 4 welds had porosity, and 2 of those had developed a crack. I'll cut them out and reweld.

Preparing to install the lower front crossmember (which I've held off on because it's absence gives easy access to the inner front rails), I looked up radiator dimensions on NAPA and built a plywood mockup for reference - 26 x 23.5. I like the XV lower brace because it fits into a larger plan for a front suspension shear plate, but it doesn't tie to the core support, so I'll make or adapt something to accommodate.

Should have a few hours in the shop tonight.

David

 

[1970RT]

Spent a few nights focusing on the upper control arm mounts. Either they needed attention and strengthening, or I can't leave well enough alone. Both are fine with me, and probably true.

Removed:

Additional welds:

Make the stamped shape just a bit more resistant to twist and deflection:

The family descends starting tomorrow, so she's put away for a week. My brain will keep working on ideas in the meantime.

David

 

[daytona kid]

Very cool, never seen those.. Did you make those plates with the dimples?

 

[1970RT]

Very cool, never seen those.. Did you make those plates with the dimples?

Thank you. Yes, the plates are 14ga with 1-1/4" dimples. I made a pattern, and trimmed down from there. I think it's 1-7/8" x 6-1/4" overall before I bent the edges down. The other braces are 1/2" 12ga flat stock.

I have a bit more bracing to add between the shock tower and UCA bracket, but ran out of time before the family arrived for Thanksgiving week.

David