AAR resto

[don selleck]

Here we go, got this FC7 white interior auto car, august of 23, had the previous owners son finish assembling the non-original era correct engine, wasn't exspecting a whole lot with a near stock cam was a good driver for about 1200 miles till the oil pump bolts vibrated out. O well gave me a chance to drive the car and isolate its problems. what I thought, pretty much everything, car was band aided together for many years. So rebuilding everything underneath, going to replace the trunk pan with a one piece, without removing the rear quarters or tail panel. at least not all of it, partial drivers floor pan area, and a few small spot on innner fenderwalls near the outer front area. Well at least what I've found so far. The outside is in very nice shape has a few dings and several blemishes, perfect for what i plan on doing with it, DRIVE IT. Not going for originality, going for dependability while keeping the original loo

k and trademarks of the car. Block is at machine shop now, started disassembly tag and bag and clean clean clean. scraping undercoat off with a heat gun and putty knife, then blast the underneath after taping as many holes shut as possible to slow down the crap from getting into the interior which it will but o well will redo that in a few years with outside of body. changing it back to the white fender tag coded interior

 

[don selleck]

well about 9 hrs into undercoating removal its pretty much limited to inner fender walls and wheel housing. one more to more and a few touch ups and will be ready for sand blasting. scraped some of the original purple paint off and seems to be red primer underneath it all. can't wait to get the trunk pan removed, the worst part of the metal replacement. going to try a one piece insertion without fully removing the tail panel.

 

[don selleck]

sent the brake booster off to Harmon brake in Georgia, still haven't figured out why someone would dump motor oil into the vaccumn area drained out about a pint

 

[don selleck]

well so much for saving the tail panel pretty much toast along entire bottom which i was going to cut out to slide the floor pan in. I figured with out of the way will save my back from reaching over for hours on end removing rear spot welds. now I'm into repainting just the rear

panel face and blend to quarters

 

[Xcudame]

Nice project! Engine definitely needed rebuilding. Bore the cylinders the smallest size possible to clean everything up. A lot of times .020" over will do it, but most people got to .030". Also ask for the crankshaft to be "indexed ground" if it needs more than polishing. I suspect something could have been wrong with the PCV valve/system allowing the vacuum diaphragm of the brake booster to suck in oil. You'll use new parts, so the problem well most likely go away.

 

[don selleck]

thanks, yes engine is 20 over right now and at the machine shop waiting for the news haven't heard anything for a week so assuming magnaflux went well and finishing the rest. or hasn't got to it yet probably the later, but no hurry. the oil in the booster was fresh, no combustion contaminants. so who knows the booster would chirp like a bird when depressed. vacumn booster was connected to intake manifold by itself. put about 4 more hours into it got almost half of the spot welds drilled. Thinking tomorrow should be completely removed

 

[don selleck]

going to duct tape the

body plug hole etc. from the inside, and its ready for blasting

 

[Xcudame]

Looking good! Sand or soda blasting? Fine sand in the case for the frame might be best.

 

[don selleck]

Looking good! Sand or soda blasting? Fine sand in the case for the frame might be best.

ya that was the question for me too the frame has surface rust and some light pitting, I wanna get up into the tight areas as best as possible. The floor pans are in good shape with little to no paint left, was soaked in tranny fluid for years. was planning on doing a good cleaning with some thinner and wax and grease remover first and a light find sand held at a further distance so not to warp anything. I have a pot blaster and a hood with a fresh air input. might try some soda and see how it works first, then blow off as much as possible with air hose and leaf blower, then apply some afterblast to rinse off residual and coat with the nickel phosphate, to stop rust from forming. i will have a few small patches in a few areas to do and the drivers floor pan need to be addressed, i figure I would get that after blasting to help keep most of the mess out of the car.

 

[Cuda Hunter]

Great car to get back on the road! I'll follow along.

 

[don selleck]

yes thats what I thought Unfortunately the engine and trans are gone but I have an era correct block that was with it, sooo I'm gonna get the car running and sounding as good as it looks. With some modern electronic reliability. found some tips for it that are not restricted like the stock one's, i guess they must have done that to increase the response with all the back pressure, good for a 290hp engine planning on getting close to 500 with this by stroking it, I hope anyways so It will need more flow. Bummer they want of 400 for a set but looking at the stock set up, it would be pretty hard to cut out that restrictor. I guess I'll have an AAR exhaust for sale to maybe I can get close to even.

 

[MoparCarGuy]

How are you addressing the front of the rear wheeltubs for rot/rust?

 

[don selleck]

going to cut back the outer layer first, to good metal then address the underlying and go from there.

 

[don selleck]

first test fit for the trunk pan, looks like a nice fit, just snug in between the wheel housing, didn't completely push in but within a half inch, tail panel looks to be pretty good, needs some clean up around the rear quarter and some massaging, it should be pretty nice. built a lifting arm for my fork lift to access under the car easier by lifting one end at a time outside while sand blasting the rails and soda for the pans. Going to use some afterblast Phosporic acid and nickel

sulphate on all the metal applying with a spray bottle going to try to get into as many pinch welds as possible, hopefully to at least slow down the rust. Ordered some etching primer for first coat to help even further then 2k primer to sand on and do a few touch ups, then one more 2k, then purple base on underneath, adding clearcoat to engine and trunk compartment. I ended up clear coating under a charger and the areas surrounding the mufflers peeled from the heat. so a purple base should look good enough underneath

 

[Challenger RTA]

I don't care how much work you put into it. You Might! It just looks dam GOOD the way it is. Looking forward to see it when it's done or even before. Thanks for working on it! Someone else might have got it and it would sit in the garage collecting dusty wishes!

 

[Challenger RTA]

Did you ever figure out the oil in the brake booster? Thinking someone put it in there to keep the bottom to from rusting out. Or I wonder if it got pushed in from blow by. I wouldn't think. Stuck and add oil to free it up?

 

[don selleck]

I don't care how much work you put into it. You Might! It just looks dam GOOD the way it is. Looking forward to see it when it's done or even before. Thanks for working on it! Someone else might have got it and it would sit in the garage collecting dusty wishes!

Yep body is good has a few dings and blemeshes, the way I like it gonna put some serious miles on it next year. Just giving her some much needed love, car has been band aided for many years, time to clean it up underneath.

 

[don selleck]

Did you ever figure out the oil in the brake booster? Thinking someone put it in there to keep the bottom to from rusting out. Or I wonder if it got pushed in from blow by. I wouldn't think. Stuck and add oil to free it up?

Not really sure, oil was fresh no combustion contamiments in it. vaccumn was connected the manifold under carb. The brakes did chirp when they were applied, thinking maybe previous owner thought some oil might solve it? who knows. its in georgia at Harmon brakes for a rebuild and an oil change

 

[don selleck]

Did you ever figure out the oil in the brake booster? Thinking someone put it in there to keep the bottom to from rusting out. Or I wonder if it got pushed in from blow by. I wouldn't think. Stuck and add oil to free it up?

Not really sure, oil was fresh no combustion contamiments in it. vaccumn was connected the manifold under carb. The brakes did chirp when they were applied, thinking maybe previous owner thought some oil might solve it? who knows. its in georgia at Harmon brakes for a rebuild and an oil change

 

[don selleck]

well got my lifter rigged up welded some legs off an old cherry picker to some extensions for my fork lift, add some extra safety brackets incase welds break, doubtful they will but if it did, would be really bad. dont trust the chain or hydraulic

s on the fork lift to get under the car without some safety props to put under the car casters. should be able to sand and soda blast under the front to mid of car and will lift the back up for the remainder. will be pushing the car outside for this. going to be painting it on my lift that i will mask off with the rest of the car. This will be the scariest part of what i'll be doing. will get the top of the front fenders off the ground about 7 ft.