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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379534
09/30/17 09:35 PM
09/30/17 09:35 PM
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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.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379536
09/30/17 09:40 PM
09/30/17 09:40 PM
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October 2015

The new metal has arrived. Time to get to work!
Removing the rear window revealed some additional rust at the top and sides of the window opening. Luckily it was repairable.

The car in the background is a 71 440-6 Tor-Red Road Runner.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379539
09/30/17 09:44 PM
09/30/17 09:44 PM
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The car in the background is a 70 440-6 black on black Road Runner.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379541
09/30/17 09:47 PM
09/30/17 09:47 PM
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Here you can see how the rocker panel is bent from the crossmember forward. It did bend the crossmember a little also.

It was really handy having another 70 Road Runner in the room to double check measurements, along with the Factory Service Manual info. We used an original straight K frame to help position the new frame rail in the correct spot. All the other black metal seen here is new from AMD.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379542
09/30/17 09:49 PM
09/30/17 09:49 PM
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Red 1970 Challenger T/A in the background.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379543
09/30/17 09:50 PM
09/30/17 09:50 PM
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October 2015 Again

With the new metal in place, you can see how much the firewall was pushed in.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379592
09/30/17 11:27 PM
09/30/17 11:27 PM
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I found a good K frame and a passenger door at the Don Garlits show swap meet. I still needed to find a driver's door.

With the new rocker panel, crossmember, kick panel, and front frame rail installed, we removed the rest of the metal that needed to be replaced.
I also got my first test drive, Flintstones style.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379593
09/30/17 11:29 PM
09/30/17 11:29 PM
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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379595
09/30/17 11:32 PM
09/30/17 11:32 PM
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With the old metal out of the way, the new pieces were fit onto the car.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379597
09/30/17 11:34 PM
09/30/17 11:34 PM
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Fitting a quarter panel.

The cars in the background are the same 70 440-6 black on black Road Runner and a 71 440-6 Tor-Red Road Runner as previously pictured.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379599
09/30/17 11:38 PM
09/30/17 11:38 PM
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The first picture here is the pile of bad metal that was removed from the car.

The lower cowl (rain pan) was blasted, primed, and painted body color to protect it from future corrosion and also so that you'd see body color if you ever looked down through the cowl vents.

Proceeding with fitting new metal.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379602
09/30/17 11:42 PM
09/30/17 11:42 PM
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Proceeding with fitting new metal.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379607
09/30/17 11:44 PM
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Proceeding with fitting more of the exterior sheet metal.
It's starting to look like a car again.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379612
09/30/17 11:46 PM
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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379616
09/30/17 11:48 PM
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A trip to visit family for the holidays results in a drivers door.
This drivers door is from a 1969 Road Runner, but it does have the arrow stamping in the door jamb that tells the assembly line workers were to install the new for 1970 door VIN sticker. It must have been a very late built 1969 car to have a 1970 door.
(1968 doors have the inside lock button located in a different position.)
4 door car doors are not interchangeable with 2 door car doors.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379626
09/30/17 11:51 PM
09/30/17 11:51 PM
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January 2016

Working on getting consistent panel gaps.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379631
09/30/17 11:54 PM
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The filler panel had a small issue on the driver's side. It was sticking up into the rear window opening just a little at the corner. A small cut, tap it into place, and weld it up fixed it.

(This was mentioned earlier in this thread, and is one of the pictures that Photobucket deleted.)

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379638
09/30/17 11:58 PM
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More work on the panel gaps.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379642
10/01/17 12:01 AM
10/01/17 12:01 AM
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February 2016

Turning the car over to work on the bottom, installing the 4 speed manual trans floor hump, and installing the torque boxes.

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Re: 1970 Roadrunner Project [Re: cataclysm80] #2379643
10/01/17 12:03 AM
10/01/17 12:03 AM
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February 2016

Installing leaf spring reinforcements, & pinion snubber reinforcement.

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