Mopar Muscle Association UK

Adding these pics...

Nice work

Next up was a big one.... and one I underestimated.

Rockers/sills! I figured, got to be straight forward. Quarters panels are removed at this point so access is straight forward. Drill out some spot welds, replace with new part. As long as I have pre measured it will be a doddle. Right? Wrong....

Iv got a bit of an issue, and whilst sometimes it serves me right, sometimes it becomes a pointless excercise. I must put this car together as closely as I possibly can to how the factory intended these cars to be constructed, otherwise I feel like Iv cheated. The problem with this mentality is two fold (in my opinion):

1. A restored car will always be a restored car. We can do a good, great, fantastic job but truth be told it will NEVER be like the day it left the factory. I am replicating spot welds with a mig welder, the parts I’m using are pattern parts made in Taiwan, I am not working off a jig, I do not have the tooling that Chrysler have... the list goes on and on.

2. In this attempt, I create more work for myself in many circumstances to really achieve the same result.

Anyhow, it’s almost an ocd so it will just be this way.

From factory, the rocker panel lip sit UNDER the window regulator sheet metal bracket. When I see people replace rockers, it seems most people sit the rocker OVER the window regulator bracket. I felt this was not right. I am not starting a debate, I understand why people do it because having just done it the other way, it was a pig of a job.

You have to get under the spot welds of the rocker, to access the spot welds of the 1mm sheet metal to gently, without distorting any of the metal to get to the inner rocker to weld to... This is tricky to explain! Iv included a sample pic of the rocker OVER the window sheet metal (not mine, found on web, Hope it’s okay to post) Throw in the anxiety of “I hope I didn’t cock up the measuring” and I hope the door lines up right... it was a pretty nerve racking experience. I’m happy it’s done with!

Also there was a small patch I needed to weld in on the front inner rocker. That’s all that was rotted o the inner rocker, so I did not feel the need to swap the whole part, it was a relatively small patch and I felt changing the part out just for that was excessive.

Also the lower part of the driver side door hinge section was a little rotten so as pictured, some repair work was carried out.

I prepped the inside of the rockers with POR15 and weld primed all the necessary areas. Hopefully they will last the test of time!

This was all carried out over a month ago now and I’m posting the best pics I have. My pics will get better as the posts continue as I now have the thread in mind...

If I'm honest I found the rockers harder than the frame rails. But I got it done in the end and I’m happy with the result. Before and after pics added.

Thanks for reading! More tomorrow if you guys haven’t had enough of me already.

I’m not sure why my pics are coming up rotated. Any tips to avoid this happening are welcome!

Ooops! Picture number 6 is not my work, that was added by accident. But I did have to do the exact same thing. But am not attempting to take credit for that picture!

RobTwin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 21 1:18 pm

Chargingatchya wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 21 9:21 pm
Around 10k to AMD for sheet metal. To be fair I kind of expected that. And always anticipated spending that on a project. And I wanted good quality panels as I will try real hard to do this car justice.

I was watching a Harrys Garage video yesterday of his XJC resto and that didn't look too bad when he started but they've already spent 350 hours on the metalwork and only just started spraying the primer... so at a conservative £50/hr that's already £17,500
So if you can do all the repairs and fit the new panels you'll be quids in

Yes indeed. To be honest when I saw how bad it was I was tempted to sib out a lot of the work. But having spoke to a few guys, there’s no way I’d afford the kind of figures that were mentioned. It’s more fun this way, too! And I’m learning so much…

Great work, and a great read.

Great stuff Keep the pics coming

Missed a couple of days...

Hats off, thats quite an undertaking. I knew of the car for a while and there were a lot of whispers when somone finally managed to buy it, thrilled to get to see it getting done. Please keep up the updates and pics - you can ask these chaps anything. I've tested their patience beyond any reasonable measure and I am still allowed in...

The frame line-up plumb lines are cool - not surprised cars are all different. Surprised its only an inch !

Top work on the Grille too if I may say so. They are tricky bits as the plastic was never designed to be 52 years old; they get brittle. I've got a couple of 'loose at one end' fins, but you have to look close. It used to be the one part you couldnt get but I am pretty sure I have seem repro now if it gets real bad.

Well done. Keep going.

Absolutely brilliant thread (and work!!). You are a brave fella and hats off to you for getting stuck in.

I know the feeling but not on this scale. I bought a 66 Fury a few years ago to learn how to weld. Ended up maki g all the trunk floor panels etc and was welding outside so could only work on totally still days.

Anyway, your car will be amazing when you've finished and you will have that feeling that most never get of having restored her yourself.

Keep it coming and thanks for sharing

Cheers Steve

There is much around this going on that I’m not putting in to the thread. For example, cleaning the metal and rust protection, little patches here and there, hammer and dolly work, level and measuring (hours and hours on this particular part) etc etc.

Till now, I have not needed to soda blast as every rusty part has been torn out and thrown away! There really wasn’t much to blast! After all the metal work is done before she goes for paint (I’m hoping early next year) I may get certain parts blasted if I’m concerned. I have however been getting smaller parts that I have re used blasted. I’m quite lucky here as I have a good friend who blasts them for me whenever I need parts done such as little parts that are scaling or surface rusting I can re use.

Next up.... trunk floor.

It’s seems the right thing to do as the frame rails are in, rockers are installed and the quarters are off so easy access all around.

A full trunk floor is the way to go as it will slide right in...

I’m sure the you guys don’t need to hear from a newbie how a trunk floor goes in, I’m a very small man amongst the geniuses and Mopar enthusiasts on this page so I really don’t want to come across like I have something to teach!

Any how, the typical procedure, prep frame rails for welding, drill holes for welding, align and make sure trunk pan fits and weld down! The part from AMD was honestly a perfect fit- which ultimately meant my frame rails were in the right place so that gave me faith in my work so far. I should say that there were a lot more spot welds in that pan than what’s in the pic, I hadn’t finished when I took that shot.

I have to be honest, as much as I’m enjoying this, I am nervous about every part I install. Is it meant to be like this?! I spend much of my spare time and watching videos. The junkerup channel on YouTube has been fantastic as has some of the local guys on this forum (John Castleman comes to mind) who I have seen clips and bits on YouTube really have unknowingly helped this build.

I get a huge kick out of seeing the underneath looking like new. I have posted some before and after pics so you can compare how she’s progressing and il post more everyday till you guys are sick of me and the thread is up to date with where I am now in real time!

Enjoy!

I think if you weren't worried about every panel you do, we would be worried for you! I dont think there is such a thing as measuring or mocking up too much. You are obviously getting it spot on and you will forget all the long hours well spent when it's all done. However, if you didnt prep enough or rushed it, you would see mistakes everytime you go out in her. OCD tendencies (the healthy end of the spectrum) are a great tool when restoring cars!

I bet all the picture frames in your house are bang on and your sock drawer, and cutlery drawer, and CD collection, and books, and........

Great build - keep it coming

Love the thread, Steve's right we all check and recheck before committing the welder. Keep it coming

That is stunning work on the boot area.
Just because you are new to this, doesn't mean you shouldn't share your experience.
The beauty of the forum is that it becomes a valuable reference and the images and commentary you have started here will be valuable to so many in the future.
I doubt there are many people on this forum who have tackled such a lot of extensive panel work as that. I certainly didn't on my car, as back then the boot floor came as two panels which went in through the boot aperture one at a time.
Also the cars weren't worth the amount of investment in time and panels that they are now.

Please keep the detail and photos coming, and don't be shy, you are doing a fabulous job and not many have done as much as this.

I found a little bit every day on a restoration keeps the momentum up, even if one day is just ordering parts ready for the next weekend off.