really slow resto on the 73 roadrunner / GTX : update 2-17-2012

[rav440]

so i finnally started to work on the road runner again after about 2 years of doing nothing to it . turns out its not as rust free as i thought . friggn palm trees played hell with the cowl . i have no clue how im going to get in there to fix it .

the last 2 years have been more or less buying parts for the 440 still not even close to getting that done money is a big factor as we all know . but ill get done what i get done in the time being .

i got the radiator repaired , that was a $400.00 hit alone i learned do not pick up parts you got repiained in a hurry from the shop  i didnt check the rad as close as i should have .

anyway i put the 440 uild on the back burner for the time being and stareted stripping the firewall and inner fenders plus removed & dissassembled the K frame . all i have to say is i friggn HATE underecoating



here are the pics of the slow going progerss so far



motor compartment before











progress ?











finnally got down to bare metal







and now for the coconuts , this is what i have to deal with







the cowl is in bad shape and i have no clue how im going to repair the air duct HORNS / INTAKE or what ever they are called



here are pics of inside the cowl IT AINT PRETTY











here is the wrought i found on the cowl in the inner fenders althought none of it is structural it still needs to be adressed and repaired luckily all the damage is at the top and not down at the frame



















nasty undercoating i think they tried to armor plate the car with this stuff i swear some places were over a 1/4" thick but it did keep rust away for the most part so ill give it credit for that















inner fenders are down to bare metal and just some more prep and it DTM and paint







i got some donar parts for the firewall repair cut and ready to weld but yesterday my buddys mig crapped the bed so now welding is on hold .



here are some pics of the K frame & parts before and after but not reassembled im waint on $ for the suspenion parts











K frame after about 6 hours of scraping and scrubbing with kerosene















make shift sand blasting cabinet for the K frame







K frame and parts blasted and ready for paint







K frame painted in black satin it looks glossy but it toned down real nice













parts hanging and drying











lower control arms







and the road runner as it sitts now

[billssuperbird]

 

[Silver R/T]

nice to see some progress on that R/R It's gonna look great

[rav440]

got a little more work done on saturday we started fitting and welding in the firewall parts that generaljmwlee was kind enough to go out of his way and cut from a donar car for me . theres alot more welding and grinding and filling that needs done befoe paint but i think it looks %100 better than it did already .

my neighbor JAMES is helping out my friend JOHN with his 68 GTO resto and me with the runner  for his class project in high school



firewall

my weld job its been well over 20+ years since ive welded :sad:



JOHN and JAMES welding the piece below the wiper motor





more to come

[ralley72]

Its nice to have a little extra help now and then. Keep the pictures coming,because I'll need them when I finally get started on my 73.


Mike

[Hemidog]

Nice work! What did you paint your lower control arms with?

[PocketThunder]

Keep up the good work even if it takes forever.  I'm happy you are saving another 73 Road Runner.      My Dad has one also. 

[rav440]

Nice work! What did you paint your lower control arms with?

i used seymors castblast cast iron & gold paint then cleared them  with 3m clear satin

[rav440]

wow its been awhile since i posted on the slow progress of the rr . here are some pics . we onlly got to work on it a few weekends over the winter and the last 2 saturdays in march , well it looks like we didnt get much done but it sure feels like it the past 2 saturdays were spent welding and patching the cowl corners and smothing the welds im sure a pro could have had this done in an hour were as it took us 19 hours of course we stoped for a beer here and there but we are at the point where the fire wall is almost completely pacthed in and ready for ALL METAL filler the soon hopefully primer and blue paint

the firewall is pactched in and 90% ready for filler







interior gutted thank god the floors look perfect



after rooting around inside the cowl i discovered this isnt a factory part " the black spry foam "


so i dug that out and found that the corners of the cowl were toast , off came the frontend and doors to do a little bit more investigation i wasnt happy with what i found .











so it was cut form patch weld grind for a long time as i said we are not pros but im happy with the result

[billssuperbird]

 

[RD]

lots of RR's being done!!! woot woot!!! looking great man.. I have always loved your RR, it was yours that gave me the inspiration to get mine done.

keep up the great work.

Jamey

[rav440]

i havent touched the rr in over a year but i tired of seeing it just sit there in the garage i hope to have it in paint by the end of summer . here is some of the work we did in the past two days . i never really knew how much work and time was involved in body work & prep for paint / primer .

[TK73]

Ton of work there...

Just got fenders off mine yesterday, got LUCKY with no rust in the cowl.

Fenders were trashed though, rusted through on the bottom.

Quick rough up and some spray paint, new fenders back on by the end of the day.

[rav440]

got back to work on the rr jan 2012 till now cut out bad metal weld in good metal on the pass side 1/4 and door and taking the rest of the runner down to bare metal still finding rust not a bunch but there are some hole here and there .the back glass was fun ! they sealed the whole thing with urethane then set the trim in the urethane i spent hours cleanig that mess up .














nasty mess

[PocketThunder]

 

[billssuperbird]