August 2015

Project Analysis. This car was rusty when I got it, and sitting around all those years didn't help it any.
It had the typical B body rust at the lower corners of the rear window, and that rusted out the trunk floor. Need new package tray, all the window corner pieces, lower rear window channel, filler panel, trunk floor, and rear crossmember.
The trunk lid itself was also pretty rusty at the rear lip. This is a one year only Plymouth B body trunk lid, and they're getting sort of hard to find. There was also a mid year change for the spoiler cut outs, so when you do find one, there's about a 40/60 chance it's the wrong one. Luckily, I knew where to find one, but it was 5 states away. I drove to get it. It was dented pretty good, but repairable, and it wasn't rusty at all. This is a part that they need to start making reproductions of.
It had the typical lower quarter panel rust. Need new quarter panels, outer wheel wells, and trunk extensions for both sides.
It had the floor rusted through from not having a window all those years. Need new full floor & driver's rear seat footwell.
The battery tray was rusted. Need one of those.
The bottom of the Air Grabber hood had also gotten pretty rusty, so I ordered a new one of those also. Even though the Air Grabber isn't original to the car, it's an option I want to keep.

There was also some metal that needed replaced due to a previous accident. The car had been hit behind the drivers wheel. (or maybe it slid sideways into a pole or something?) The damage had been "repaired" back in the day, but there was still some hidden damage that needed fixed. I knew the car had some damage in this area when I got it, but wasn't aware of how extensive the damage was until the car was disassembled. The drivers front frame rail was bent. The drivers rocker panel had been pushed in also, enough to slightly bend the torsion bar crossmember. The driver's kick panel sheet metal had been crunched in front of the door hinges, and that also crunched that end of the firewall. The upper cowl was also damaged. The driver's inner fender had some issues too.
I ordered all of that from AMD, and a passenger inner fender also.

The K frame was tweaked a bit when the frame rail was bent, so I was hunting for a K frame.
The doors had some repairable rust in the corners, but they also had large tears in the jamb around the latch mechanism. It could probably be fixed, but would be more cost effective to replace them, so I was looking for a good pair of doors.
The car fenders were ok. The driver's side just needed some minor work. (I'm sure it was replaced during the accident.)

The car did originally have a front sway bar, but it didn't have any torque boxes or factory frame stiffening.
The plan is to build a very nice car, but it won't be a trailer queen. This car will be driven on the street and enjoyed, so I wanted some suspension improvements.

I ordered the four factory style torque boxes, all the leaf spring mount reinforcements, and the pinion snubber reinforcement from Resto Rick and Harms Automotive. If you haven't heard of these individuals, you should look them up. I highly recommend both of them. These reinforcements were all part of the factory Extra Heavy Duty Suspension (Hemi Suspension) that was standard on Hemi & 440-6 cars.
I also ordered a lower radiator support reinforcement from XV engineering, to tie the front of the front frame rails together better. I've enjoyed every part that I've purchased from XV. For this car, I prefer the design of the XV piece over the US Car Tools part. The XV lower radiator support looks more like a factory frame rail, while the US Car Tools part is full of lightening holes and looks more like it belongs on a race car. I'm sure they both function fine, but I wanted a less radical more factory look. Something that people might not even notice.