I need advice on perfecting the body lines on my 69 RT...

[DPL]

Hey everyone,

I am restoring a 69 Charger RT and the body had a fair number of bumps and bruisers along the side body lines.

I want to get these lines perfect but need some advice.

My first attempt involved taping the line and skimming on one side, board sanding that down so there was a fine ridge and then masking the opposite side and doing the same. 

This didn't give me the results I was hoping for.

Anyone else out there rebuild the side body lines on their car?  I am also curious how sharp these lines should be if anyone has any input.

As always, your help is appreciated!

[68hardchargerrt]

You are on the right track to a perfect body line on your charger.  You are doing the proper procedure, but you need reassuring and more patience.  What happens is that if the body is wavy , it takes more than one attempt.  The more times you alternately tape and sand, the straighter the body line will come out.  it is not going to be possible to tape a perfectly straight  line in both planes (looking from the side of the car, and looking down at the side from the top).  Therefore, you will never be able to sand to a perfect line the first attempt.  The more times that you do this process , the closer and closer the panels will come to being straight with a straight body line, making the next taping and sanding closer to perfect.  You have to remember to build up the low spots near the body line to achevie this.  use a guide coat on each attempt, and keep alternating the taping and sanding:  upper part, then lower part.  fill in low spots, then again, tape upper and sand lower, remove tape, tape lower, sand upper, etc.

Good luck and hope this helps you.

I use this process, and the 71 cuda I just finished had a horrible wavy body.  It came out PERFECT with a pin straight body line.

Greg.

[DPL]

Hey Greg,

Thanks for the vote of confidence.  I'll be back at it this weekend.  I'm guessing it can take as many as 3 or 4 tries to get it down perfect.  I'll report back with my results.

Appreciate the help.

DPL

[68hardchargerrt]

You're very welcome.  Best of luck and let us know how it is coming out.

Greg.

Hey Greg,

Thanks for the vote of confidence.  I'll be back at it this weekend.  I'm guessing it can take as many as 3 or 4 tries to get it down perfect.  I'll report back with my results.

Appreciate the help.

DPL

[68hardchargerrt]

How's it going with the body?  Any luck getting the lines right?  Let us know and if possible, post some pics, it's always better to see what you are doing so we can pint you in the right direction.

Good luck
Greg

[hemi-hampton]

I use the Tape line method but may take more then once to get it right. LEON.

[moparchris]

I also feel that you are using the correct method.  Tape the line, just make sure your tape is correct!!  And long board the panels.  I used a long pice of fairly pliable wood, maybe 18-22" long that was wide enough to use the rolls of sandpaper, 100 grit, 220, 320, 400 etc...  When you are sanding the top half of your quarter panels use what I call "the confederate flag method", that is sand down at and angle in one direction for the entire length of the quarter and then sand down at the opposite angle for the length of the quarter.  This works much better than sanding what I would call straight lines, it's much better at eliminating the highs and lows.  Repeat this proceedure on the lower parts of the panels. This takes alot of time and patience.  Just keep doing it and don't cry over how much material ends up on the floor.  You're still saving alot of money by doing it yourself.

[StockMan]

I just finished restoring my 68'charger and needed to work the body lines as well.  Where I could, I knocked out body line dents caused by 'Other' doors opening against the car.  I'm not a bodyman but did get exceptionally straight body lines using this technique.  I used a light and directed it up from the bottom to sand the top side and from the top to sand the bottom side.  I toggled back and fourth assessing the straightness of the body lines as I moved along.  The thing with this, as well as with the tape method, you need to make sure you don't just keep sanding next to the line or you will remove to much material and get a noticeable 'valley' next to the line.  You work the lines until they are straight and fairly sharp then you go back and 'Dull' them as required.  The other thing is you need to be able to work in darkness to get the best light effect.  I found this approach to work very well, but again, I'm not a bodyman.

[DPL]

Hey,

After maybe 5 reps on the upper and lower parts of the lines, I now have an awesome straight and sharp line.

Maybe too sharp!  I'd like to know your thoughts - its tough to comment on a picture but I have another charger and the lines are much softer than what I now have.

I suppose my question is "what do I do now?"

I love the sharp lines but this might be too much...

[Charger-Bodie]

the fender line shouldnt come that far forward

the 1/4 panel line is TOO straight , it should have an arch from front to rear.

And yes they are too sharp. you need to roll the block over the line to round it slightly.

[hemi-hampton]

I like to keep them sharp throught out the entire process usaully. THEN, Just before I'm ready to paint or seal I like to round them off some or soften them up to desired roundness. Just my LEON.