In honor of thanksgiving today I deceided to gut my bird, time to dig into this old dog and make it whole again. Some of you know the story on this car, some dont...but thats not important at this point. so I pulled the nose off, and dash somewat apart, to get to the meat and potatoes. I still need to pull the pedal assy, and e brake assy. They will prob go straight to scrap like alot of this car should.

heres what I know it needs so far, im not a stranger to rust and ive been over it pretty good so hopefully no major surprises:

needs a left front frame rail badly, cowl top and bottom, both rad support baffles and lower tie bar,floors all of them front to back...nothings saveable there, both quarters, both doors,trunk lid,dutchman panel,rear x member,tail light panel,left door post.

Iknow your thinking I must be crazy and im thinking that also...as I want to do this car in orig steel if I can. Its nothing special, except a 383 post 68 runner, ice blue with hood tratment, decor package, light group, ps, 3 spd wipers.

so here is the kicker, I was going to sell it or part it out, then I made a phone call to my friend Ron Rogers in mass...he parts some cars I Was looking for a frame rail, I ended up with the cleanest 68 coronet 4 door shell ive ever seen...and when I say clean its arizona clean, I can use all the floors, inner fenders,rails,etc anythings that the same as the 2 door car. ive spent the majority of my free time in the last 2 weeks drilling the shell apart, now I have a nice pile of steel ready to go to its new home on the angry bird...now for some pics.

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trunk floor, or lack there of

the donor

donor floor pan

more donated guts

last one for now it doubles as a work bench

Cool you are adding he 26" radiator just like he 3:55 gear hipo cooling package.

ive got two sets of big opening baffles...so why not...more cooling cant hurt

nice score on the donor glad to see you saving your road runner. wish we were closer, be glad to do some grunt work.

without that donor car, I doubt id have fixed it. The price tag for the metal alone was north of 5k. ive found a mint pair of 68 doors, a mint trunklid, complete dash assy from a different coronet, but it had the trim on it so I need to clean it up and fill some holes. my dash frame is unuseable from rust around the window and the very nice gauges drilled into it and a sweet tach screwed to it.

had to do some maintnance on the family truckster today so I didnt get to much done. I finished cutting up the shell from the 4 door, need to grab the under dutchman braces before the remnants to go the scrap yard in the am. tomorrow eve and sunday im changing out the front stub, or thats my plan, may get some sand and do some blasting also...its supposed to be cold so I can get all bundled up and not die doing it!

nice

dug into it some this weekend, finished gutting it...then I removed about 200 self tapping screws to remove the patches in the floor. galvanized roof flashing is a good substitute isnt it? cut out the front floor behind the t bar crossmember, then removed the front stub. oddly enough the t bar x member is really solid, to bad the frame rails arent. the pass is ok drivers is trashed...

cowl cap and lower is toast, but the firewall, front door posts, and cowl sides are remarkably solid!

no more front end...getting the new rails in will be a big step and I hope I wont feel this cars a giant turd anymore...still a turd just not a giant one...

new stub in the vicinity...still need to grind the surfaces, and remove the old floor along the pinch weld, it will be easier without the front of the car on...

i need to change out the lower tie bar, i have a good one from another donor, and use my orig upper tie bar so my so number matches the trunk lip, even tho that will have to be grafted into whatever i use in the back whether its or steel or amd. I have found out its alot harder to find the spot welds on rusty metal...the air chisel has come in handy too! all for now, maybe some more tomorrow evening.

started dissecting the orig front clip to keep whatevers saveable off of it, now I get a good view of how bad the rail really was

another

got the weld areas ground and primered with weld thru primer and the front section back together with the car

all my measurements are within 1/16 of an inch, factory alignment holes line up nice, all clamped up and strapped up ready to start welding...

more

inside the car

Holy Ding-Dang
You have a pretty big project going there and a big kudo for taking it on and that much tougher doing it in cramped 1/4s. Keep the pics coming, looking good so far.

actually got to the shop for an hour or two...no fun in the cold, but I couldnt let it warm up as I didnt know i was going to be able to get out there...but once the kids were asleep...I took the opportunity. I finished welding up the inner fenders and got it back on its wheels, then popped off the cowl...drilled the welds along the firewall and the air chisel took care of the rest...which wasnt much

rt side

the bottom of the orig cowl cap

the new cowl, havnt decided if im going to separate it yet or just drill thru where it attaches to the car and keep it sealed...

I found this in the heater duct when i pulled the dash...was kinda the high point of actually owning this car...

Nice work...

Really glad to see another one saved by someone who looks to be able to do it!
Here's a little motivation.

I'd really try to prep/paint under that cowl before buttoning it back up. That's one of those areas where it's tough to get a nice finish and keep the ugly at bay.

thats the twin to mine minus the post...I like the ice blue, thats kinda the reason I bought the car. Ill prob go get a pint of single stage for under the cowl, I plan to paint it up, im thinking ill use the cowl I already have drilled apart, just to save the hours of drilling...

fantastic job!

more progress today...cowl went bye bye

other side went too

I used the 4 door cowl as it was already separated, so I could paint inside it...figured it wouldn't hurt to lay some paint in there...I blasted the cap and the hats on the lower so no surface rust or scale

lower was rock solid no pinholes or anything

clamped up ready to weld

oops wrong pic...welded up and the welds all ground down, ready for some high zinc primer...according to the guy at napa said this is the best stuff for an area like this...primed

I used 3m weld thru 2 on the seams then taped them, shot the primer and then I got a rattle can of a color close to the orig UU1 they couldnt interchange my paint code at napa, and their tech line was closed today...so I found a chip that was pretty darn close...its under the cowl anyway

nice to see some new color on this thing...makes you feel like ya actually made some progress...painted the bottom of the cap also...

I did the top hats in rustoleum also just an added measure noone will ever see...got the cap on and clamped down

all welded up...need to dress the welds, but ive had enough for one day...there is alot of welds holding that thing on... up next is the floors...after i finish the welds in the engine comp and cowl...nice not to have that gaping hole anymore

onto the floors...the first chunk removed

the front pinchwelds drilled out

whats left of the rear foot wells removed...the floors were toasted

I was told it has solid floors... not so much...the carnage, oh the humanity

however christmas came late...after the floorpan time to spin this jewel around and start on the back end!

I wish AMD was around when I put my vert together...i scrounged the world for parts for that car...ended up drillin apart a real clean 4 door 68 satellite, that car gave alot to my vert, but stuff just wasnt around and if it was it was very expensive for junk. I saw a pair of 69 plym vert quarters that needed the bottom and he wanted 1250 for the pair then you had to skin them. I made due with what I had and the 4 door may have given up its trunk channels, and in front of the boot well may have come off a hardtop...did what I had to do yano?

now back to the regularly scheduled rot box...floor mounting area cleaned prepped, and I painted inside the t bar x member and frame rails...look like i missed a spot tho oh well, not like it will ever see rain snow or daily use ever again

the donor floor panel ready to rock

it was a tight fit going in, a second person would have been super helpful...

in the hole...getting it into position was kind of a challenge, the rear transition panel to the trunk was in the way...it needs to be cut out anyway, but I didnt want to start cutting before welding in the floor...but we made do

all snug as a bug...

got the left side all welded in,that was all my knees, back and attitude could take for one day...

pass side is next...I cant wait...

Man, you don't waste any time do you.

hope no one ever mess with you...that car is gonna be like Christine with you

Back at it today ripping out what's left of the trunk floor

guess we need some inner wheelhouse also as it dissolved...

at least the rails are solid

however once I started cleaning up the trunk floor I found some pinholes, so I Might as well replace it with new, and then might as well do the x member new and assoc parts...or maybe throw in the towel, and find a better car

I had thought the same thing with my project at the beginning so I changed direction of the build. I truly feel for ya.

just gets frustrating when its a total pile...was supposed to have a sure grip too...it doesnt, good thing I have the correct 742 case grip in stock. but on the other hand I could put the 8 3/4 under my convertible and drop the dana in the runner...hmmm then a 4 speed...maybe I should just get it solid first

is the rest of the x member solid? as in, could you get by with a small patch? seems like your almost over the hill on welding?

yeah it has one small hole next to the reinforcement, ill see what I have when I get it off, im going to drill off the trunk floor and see how bad it is, if its a couple small fixes I guess I Can live with it

Man dont back down now!Your almost done with the metal.Looks great.

cleaned up the trunk floor I had, just to see how bad it was and if I should drop 4 bills on getting an amd floor, oddly enough the 2 holes that opened up when i first started to clean it up are the worst of it, another small hole opened so I guess I can deal with 3 tiny patches

the holes shouldnt be to hard ro fix...there is some pitting but once its sealed and painted and a trunk mat it will be all good.

anutter

the rear crossmember will need some patches but its basically flat steel and its well hidden where it needs a patch (behind the reinforcement bracket) so im confident I can patch this and noone will be the wiser. the goodmark panel is the wrong gauge and the holes are just holes not like the original, the amd panel is a 69 part with the oval gas tube hole so ill make mine work,

the other end

on the upside i need to knock the springs off the axle and ill have a large amount of space again...the rear rails which are cherry and the trunk floor ate up some real estate in the shop...thats tomorrows project...well see what gets done then

back at it today...got the rest of the parts car dissassembled and its parts harvested...I saved the complete rear end as im prob going to need it as the one under the car is junk im sure...was told it was a grip...its not big surprise! but it does have an adjustable snubber...oh its welded to the pumpkin

got the rear seat shelf all cut out and rustoleum in the rails...luckily the rear rails are solid, they were filled with mud built bees nests alot of that

got the fuel tank crossmember in the trunk

the rear seatshelf is in and has its two bolts holding it down, just needs to be welded but not feeling that today

still on the fence on what to do with the inner wheelhouses, i have some good used ones but seperating the inner and outer doesnt look like much fun...atch whats there which isnt much...and its punky behind the trunk hinge support...or get new amd!

Tomorrow hopefully ill feel like welding and get the shelf all i and button up the front floors, then cut out the tail light panel and rear x member, get the trunk floor at least in and then im takin a break from this thing for a while...days are getting longer and i need to turn my attention to something i can actually drive this spring

amazing job! yeah take a break so you can get some wheel time, and you don't wanna get burned out when you've gone this far.

I am quite impressed with your effort in saving that car. Wish you were closer by, I would have had a good side job for you.

got as much welding in the rear shelfdone as I could take today...its 2/3 done its not to comfortable in there welding...

then I Went to the rear tail light panel...something felt good about taking the sawzall to the back end...I wanted to cut the whole thing up but thought better of it! got the tail panel out and rear crossmember out...clamped the new one to keep the rails from moving around.

other end...it fits like its meant to be there...oh yeah its original steel it is meant to be there.

cleaned up the trunk floor and painted it with the weld thru coating...this is prob hands down the nicest orig trunkfloor ive ever seen...just some pitting and a couple (2) very small holes...

the trunk gutter tried to protest the sawzalling of the tail panel...but it quit holding on and dropped

I had to test fit the trunk floor before going inside for the night...its nice to see this thing with solid floors again...progress...

tomorrow if i feel like it after work...ill weld up the rear x member, trim the inner wheelhouses of whats left of the orig trunk floor and fit it and start welding...prob just get it in place and finish up inside of the car...

looks like fun
what are you about?
at least the inner rockers look to be in good shape

looks can be deceiving frank...those were useable...so were the front door posts roof structure and rear frame rails...outer rockers will need some attention....got to get my plan down for the rear...do I do the dutchman first and then the quarters oruse the orig dutchman and tack on the quarters then replace it? however it may fall off once the quarters come off...oh and the package tray is useable and its not even cut for giant speakers!

you have alot more to work with then we did..
too much irony in your last post!
i have to

first its ironic that
i'm patching up those same butched up speaker holes on the package tray right now that you mentioned...
we did the dutchman and both quarters all at once.
the worst fit was the quarter radius with outer wheelhouse
the lip was waay off.
had to add 3/4 of a inch of material all the way around
on the wheelhouse to make it right.

you have to make the amd fit
add some metal here,take off some there.

the even more ironic thing is the looks are decieving comment
i'm waiting for the weather to break to drill out the main floor on the blue 71..
it looked real solid until the blaster started turning it to swiss cheese.
i almost expect it anymore..

I just hung a left side AMD quarter on the Sport Satellite I'm working on and it was 1/8" too long. I thought it was my imagination but when I measured it up against a stock piece, sure enough, they were so thoughtful they gave me some extra metal.

I shouldn't complain though, the other side was 3/16" too long.

Frank you've seen this car in person so you know what a pos it is...I'm hoping the quarters aren't to far off, I'm thinking hang the Dutchman first btwn the oe quarters and then go for the quarters...but before I get there I need to get the wheel houses sorted out.