It was a long five days, and all I can say is that I'm glad we survived the ordeal. Everyone knows restoring a car usually takes months, if not years, to actually complete just the metal work. With that in mind, we had what we thought at first to be a hair brained idea, but after some not-so-careful thought, our idea quickly turned into a plan. It was a plan that was developed at the spur of the moment, and up until we actually carried out said plan, it would cause me sleepless nights, hoping we could accomplish it. But here it is. After five days of cutting metal, sandblasting rust, and installing a couple hundred spot-welds, we finally had a rebuilt Dart. But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.
The original plan/idea was that we would work with the guys at the AMD Installation Center, to completely rebuild the body of a rusty '69 Dart GT in five days. You heard that correctly. Now, there wouldn't be a crew of 20 people working around the clock to build a completed car. Actually there would be two (maybe three on occasion) people working on the car at any given time, and our given time would be between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Since that was the case, said plan was to simply get all of the required metal replaced on the body, so the car could be painted at a later date. Even though the installation center consists of two guys, we were being somewhat realistic, and felt that we could actually do just the metal work in this short period of time. So, the plan was hatched, and it was time to start cuttin' and weldin', and cuttin' and weldin', and...
Day One and a NonProductive Day Two
It was around 10:00 Monday morning when work began at the AMD Installation Center run by Craig Hopkins. The plan was that he and his shop manager, Chris Dyer, would completely rebuild the rusted '69 Dart by replacing as much metal with new AMD stuff as required. When we actually got started, what was required to be replaced was the entire floor from the firewall to the rear seat location, the trunk floor, outer wheel houses, the Dutchman panel, the hood and trunk lid, the driver-side door jamb, front fenders, and the quarter-panels. It seemed like a daunting task, and we weren't even sure we would complete it, but we were hell-bent on trying. Day one had us disassembling and cutting all of the rusted metal off of the car. When we were finished hacking, some of us were questioning our sanity, as all we had left was a skeleton of a car. Some of our metal was bolt on, and the removal of those items was straight forward. As for the rest of the metal, with the help of an air chisel, die grinder, and anything else that would cut, we were able to dissect the car on day one.
What I forgot about when planning this little endeavor, was that even though I say we planned to do this transformation in five days, I forgot to figure into this time frame the fact that the mediablasting guys would have the car for a day as well. That meant we actually only had four days to rebuild the Dart. We weren't worried--at first. On day two, since we had no car to work on, we decided that a trip to Auto Metal Direct's facility was in order. After all, where else could we get all of the metal we would need. We spent most of the day at AMD taking a tour, and getting things around for the car, and late in the afternoon we made the trip to Black Mountain Sandblasting to pick up what was left of our Dart.
1 Like many projects, the...
1 Like many projects, the first appearance usually doesn't give the full picture of how much rust a car really has. At the beginning of day one, we thought the week would be easy. Although it doesn't look too bad now, when we were done cutting the pieces out that needed to be replaced, there wasn't much left.
2 All you need to remove...
2 All you need to remove a little metal is a cut off wheel and a plasma cutter. If you're going to be removing a bunch of it, a body table like the one that Craig made is a must to keep the body from completely and literally falling to pieces. The table locates certain points of the body that will ensure it doesn't distort or flex out of shape when the metal is removed.
3 By 4:00 on day one, the...
3 By 4:00 on day one, the remains of the Dart were ready to head for mediablasting. If you're planning to mediablast the body of a project car, by removing the panels that will be replaced before blasting, the body can be thoroughly stripped of all rust before the reassembly begins.
4 Craig made this high-tech...
4 Craig made this high-tech trailer to support the body in all of the right locations to move it to the mediablast shop. What was left of the car would be subject to an abrasive shower and epoxy primer. Again, if the body is properly supported, no damage will occur.
5 John, Timothy, and Mitchell...
5 John, Timothy, and Mitchell worked late into the night on day one and into day two in order to get the remains of our car blasted and primed. We were able to take it back to the shop by 3:00 on day two. Once the old paint is removed, the body will flash rust in a short amount of time. The best way to protect the car is to apply an epoxy primer over the bare metal. Epoxy Primer is a two-part primer consisting of the primer itself, and an activator. It can be used as a direct-to-metal primer (DTM) because it has excellent corrosion resistant properties. Depending on the brand you use, it can also be reduced and used as a paint sealer. However, it is not meant to be sprayed over rust. It is not a neutralizer; the metal must be clean. Epoxy primer will adhere to all properly prepared metals, and can be used underneath body filler.
6 With the car back from...
6 With the car back from mediablasting, the guys at the AMD Installation Center got to work putting the puzzle back together by starting with the trunk floor. Our AMD floors came as complete sections, meaning the trunk floor is one piece, and the cabin floor is the same way.