the beginning fo the end for Mary

[mauve66]

someday  i will be able to get the rear quarter windows out of my 66 and then move on to bigger things..........
in the mean time..................
what should the gap be on....
1. door to fender space, top and bottom?
2. cowl to hood space?
3. fender to cowl space?
4. fender to hood space?
5. do i need to take the whole front grill out BEFORE trying to adjust gaps at back of fender??
6. rear of door to rear quarter space?
7. if i set door up without anything in it (i think i should so when it gets painted i'm not moving anybolts around) i read somewhere that it should be a little higher than level due to weight of window/hardware, how much higher??  i rebuilt the door hinge pins 12 yrs ago and they have stayed closed 99% of that time obviously just sitting in the garage

thanks

[tan top]

door to quarter  gaps then top of door front to cowl !
put hood on  gauge the gap to cowl & make it the sameish as the top of the door to cowl corner !, put fenders on   with the top rear of the fenders the same height as the  cowl door , & same gap!! try to make the gap the same for top of door back edge of hood & top rear fender to cowl ! its trial & error the best compromise , also becarefull making the cap too tight as you wont be able to shut the door with out problems with the door quarter glass frame being to tight ! , once the gaps are sorted there , then the do the front  of the fender to hood gap & then  back of fender to door & rocker !! , sometimes it helps to elongate the bottom two holes on the fender under the rocker & the three down the inner fender a little, by the core support !
once all these are done , fit the rest of the bolts , but leave loose for final tweaking ! untill your happy !

[mauve66]

krikey, wish tolerences were closer back then, 1 hole, 1 bolt and there ya go............... so i will definetely have to take the grill/headlight motors completely out

ok, since the door is first to rear quarter, what about height, with or without everything in it??

thanks

[mauve66]

oh yeah, i took all the lock hardware out  (except for the catch on the rear quarter) and one door goes in ALOT farther than the other door
besides the height of the door with or without everything in it, what about the lock/latch hardware?? should it be on or off for the initial panel lineup??

[mauve66]

dont worry about the bondo on the top of the door, all that will be sanded down so i get metal to metal lined up

what i dont get is why the doors are so far off from each other with everything removed, shouldn't they go in the same amount being as nothing is in the way??

[tan top]

hmmmmm any door  bumpers or latch still left on the door !  

also with  lingning up with empty bare doors V weight , i thought about that  , adjusted then & then put the roughly the same weight in the doors using  dumbel  weight discs  , to check  , but was ok ,

[mauve66]

all weatherstripping, bumpers and door side of latch/lock are removed, only thing left is the rear quarter panel catch, but nothing touches it
i guess in the end it won't make a big difference by the time i redo all the panels for gaps
the doors sealed against water and they were within 1/16 with everything attached
speaking of gaps, if i'm starting with the rear of the door what should i start with?? 1/16, 1/8, 1/4??

[tan top]

 what ever is more pleasing to the eye  ,   my gaps were really really tight almost touching  at some points & my car was all original & had never been in a wreck !
also good idea when rubbing bondo on a door to quarter , is to put the latch in so you can close the door as it should be while rubbing

[mauve66]

today i started  sanding the current paint to fix many little issues
after going at it for a while by hand i thought, damn this is going to take a LONG time.......
then i realized i had grabbed the 320 grit paper............ so i grabbed the next package of paper......
after going at it for awhile i thought, dman this isn't getting any better.......
then i realized i had grabbed the 120 grit paper........ seriously...... it was a bad morning.....
this time i grabbed some paper and triple checked that it was the 60 grit
after awhile i still seem to not be getting very far by hand and all of the compound curves on the sides of the body complicate the "sand in a smooth straight line to remove any dips" idea
anyway, i started on the roof and after just a little while i realized that all those years of sitting stuff on the roof had put so many little dents in the paint (not the metal) even though i thought i had protected it with towels and it seemed flat to the naked eye
anyway, back to the next question, is 60 grit enough to get through the clearcoat (3-4 coats if i remember right, it was 12 years ago) or should i be looking for something stronger?
next question, with all the compound curves of the body should i be doing this by hand or just go rent an orbital sander and get the large areas done quickly??
next question, how deep into the clear coat or into the base coat do i go with the heavy stuff before i can start coming back out with the new primer??

[TylerCharger69]

60 grit seems a bit harsh if you just want to remove clearcoat....Its pretty coarse...usually used in shaping and 1st step body work process...putty work that is.   I'd slap some 120 on a d.a. sander and go after it  and have plenty of scratch filler primer on hand

[TylerCharger69]

60 grit is a bit harsh for simply removing clear coat.....Yes   id say get an orbital D.A. sander  with some 120 grit and that'll speed up the process....that 60 grit is going to cause unnecessary scratches that you will have to go back and fix later.  That's basically used for getting your putty work into the shape you want  to prepare for the fine tuning of the putty work

[Patronus]

Please do yourself a favor and buy some sanding blocks. I got 8-9 different ones in a kit for like $60.... Then I had to go back and do the whole car again because it came out so much straighter. You wont be disappointed...

[mauve66]

so to get a good base to prime again i only have to "rough up" the clear coat, not take it off down to the color??
as back ground, this car was taken down to metal about 12 years ago so this is the 1st "repaint" since then

i think i would be sanding forever with the 120 grit to get the roof leveled out....it seems to me that the roof dents are in the paint and not the metal but maybe i'm not looking at it staright??
.....i don't want to put any putty on i don't have to.............. i'll see if i can get some pics

i have 2 flat things, not really blocks (short and medium length) that you put the sand paper onto and some short spongey type blocks with the sandpaper already on them

[mauve66]

from another thread on talking about the toughness of clear coat i'm guessing thats what all these low spots are, depressions in the clear coat from years of setting stuff on top of the car?? this pic is taken after going over the whole roof with a short (4 inch) board and 60 grit paper

another shot showing some of the door dings, will the spray can "high build filler" primer fill these or do i need to put the dreaded bondo on everything??  the reason i started with the 60 grit was i thought i would have to sand everything down to level this out.

the side shots showing the door thats not touched compared to the rear quarter that i went over with 60 grit, the quarter doesn't seem dull enough to be putting primer back on it yet, even feels fairly smooth to the touch, not like paint or glass but not like tree bark either...............
so i should spray on the primer and go over everything with the 300+ paper??

ps.  i haven't had the money to go gt the DA sander yet

[mauve66]

here is another shot showing how much the clear was "dented" by putting the script on, had to build the car in 1-2 weeks after it was painted-probably didn't help it, it wasn't baked or anything
this is after multiple passes with the 60 grit and short board

[mauve66]

been here for a while and thought how great those scratch to magnificent threads were but never thought to start one as mine is "in the middle of the basket case situation"

ok, after hijacking someone elses thread i thought i should keep all my stuff together even though its not a well documented , all new sheet metal weld in project liek some of you have had to do.

here is some discussion from another thread and then i'll move on to the current issue at hand, thanks for you patience

[mauve66]

well copying the info from the hijacked thread is a no go so here is the link for some more back ground on my lack of knowledge

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,70527.0.html

now the current issue is..............

ok, after playing with the tona wing more and seeing what the "friend of a friend welder/bodyguy" did..............

whats the easiest way to take out all the bondo he put on straight panels??

he was tyring to change the body lines which is what i wanted to do but didn't realize how much bondo he added over the welds and marglass, 1/4-3/8 inch is a minimum guess. i have started sanding it to get back to metal cause i think it would be better to weld in some flat steel in the area instead of using all this bondo

will aircraft stripper take the bondo off quicker/cleaner or is plain old sanding back down to bare metal the way to go........or is there another alternative??

[mauve66]

some basic background

around 92-93 i had been looking for a RR for about 6 months, only had $3K to spend so of course everything i could afford wasn't even driveable

saw an ad for Mary in the Denver paper, automatic and mauve paint but what the heck, i'm gonna get black or purple anyway and you can put a 4spd in just by cutting a hole right? ............ and got the owner to drive down to Colorado springs to let me see it, finally got into town just as the sun was barely going down, paint faded so bad it looked silver but all the trim appeared to be there and damn there was alot of chrome inside that car, seemed pretty cool while we were driving around. then at a traffic light the owner said "you haven't even seen the best part yet" and told me to pull out the light switch, DAMN i was hooked for sure, those dash lights were just incredible, i had never seen anything like it before. she was mine the next weekend. on the way home from denver down into castle rock she did 120+mph and the wife was pissed when she finally caught up.

became my everyday car for about 4 months then the motor let go (something to do with the motor mount letting the drivers side of the block go way up in the air and come crashing down while power braking, or so they say ............
spent the next 6 months or so stripping the car and replacing the motor and carpet, trans shift kit in an army barracks parking lot, friends with the mp's so they didn't get it towed

moved to missouri,spent the next year as my everyday car until the starter went bad

sat for awhile and then i got a bug up my butt and stripped her to a shell in one night, about 10 hours or so. then she sat for 3 years

decided to move to nevada, had 2-3 wks to get her painted and completely put back together, got her about 95% back together

moved to nevada, spent the next year as my everyday car then the starter went out again

sat for next 11 years as i do little piddly stuff here and there hoping beyond hope that  i can eventually make her into my dream car

tired of waiting to do that , especially now with the economy in the toilet, so now i'm starting over and what every shape she is in come MATS 2011, thats the way she rolls down the street, paint, no paint, new engine/old engine, don't care, i just want to drive a V8 after all these years


i thought i should also link some of my other "projects" on Mary for the masses that will follow in the coming days, months, yeah ok - years

flip top cap on trunk of 1st gen
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,72252.msg810980.html#msg810980

looking for wing options
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,71882.msg808754.html#msg808754

Danes wing
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,71755.msg805663.html#msg805663


AM radio conversion w/ipod adapter
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,64048.0.html

car dolly quest to make things easier
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,5863.msg753616.html#msg753616

original owner history
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,56013.msg739908.html#msg739908

Hurst Lightning Rods
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,58972.0.html

[mauve66]

so back to the aircraft paint stripper question now that i've confused everyone.............

[mauve66]

well i've been grinding and sanding away, i never should of had a welder do the body work too............... is 1/2 inch bondo too much on a straight panel..................
anyway, i've made more progress this year than the last 6 combined............
glad i decide to take it all out and start from scratch
the pic of the side of the car was practically flat from the top of the quarter to the middle of it, this panel originally has 2 curves in it.................

[mauve66]

ok, finally got the pass side down to metal, luckily the drivers side is only the dished section on top of the quarter................

[mauve66]

still to go..........

[mauve66]

ok all the bondo i can get to is off now, whew!!!

Please do yourself a favor and buy some sanding blocks. I got 8-9 different ones in a kit for like $60.... Then I had to go back and do the whole car again because it came out so much straighter. You wont be disappointed...

wow what a difference, i got an 8 inch rounded one and a 16 inch flat one and one swipe across the surface did wonders for showing what the problems were, thanks for the tip

anybody know the measurements of the various R/T emblems?  trying to compare them size wise to the
    383
FOUR BARREL
emblem that comes on the first gen
the 70 emblem on the door scoop looks way to big for what i want but i thought the rest would be closer in size

[mauve66]

anyone familiar with fiberglass hoods??  i got this hood about 8-9 years ago and the gap never bothered me before but now that i 'm trying to do this right.......... is this normal or should i try another hood??  the gap seems pretty big to me especially from the back of the hood to the cowl vent area........

oh yeah, the front of the hood is all lined up with the fenders and the sides are pretty even also

[jaak]

anyone familiar with fiberglass hoods??  i got this hood about 8-9 years ago and the gap never bothered me before but now that i 'm trying to do this right.......... is this normal or should i try another hood??  the gap seems pretty big to me especially from the back of the hood to the cowl vent area........

oh yeah, the front of the hood is all lined up with the fenders and the sides are pretty even also

Are you referring to the gap between the hood and cowl? If so, that looks normal to me.....I know my 69 and several others I have looked at, had a large gap between the hood and cowl (larger than gap between hood/fenders).

Jason