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My current project 71 as rusty as they come

PinballWizard

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Not new to projects but this is my first mopar and lets say by the time I'm done with this one I'll have the confidence to take any project on.

I've had the car for a little over a year now but this is when I first brought it home.

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rbbruno3

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Welcome Aboard, yes you have your work cut out for you. Best of luck with the resto. Looks like you had to evict a tenant from the engine bay
 

aussiemark

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What do you mean it doesn’t look that bad, you can see all of them from the topside!:lol:
Matt you should have seen the one I did this one looks like a show car compared to it. As long as the frame rails are solid, the firewall looks ok from what I can see, floor pans are easy to do and rear quarters aren't too hard to do once they are done this thing will look a lot better.
 

jeff968

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As long as the frame rails are solid, the firewall looks ok from what I can see, floor pans are easy to do and rear quarters aren't too hard to do once they are done this thing will look a lot better.

Agreed, sheet metal is easy, especially now days with everything available, you don't even have to form the panels anymore. If the rear understructure is straight and in good shape you are way ahead.
 

Cuda Hunter

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I remember it being for sale. Kansas wasn't it. It changed hands once or twice as well.
Did the car have it's fender tag still? Have you looked for a build sheet yet?

Welcome to the site. Let's see some more pictures and hear about some plans. Glad to see this one got rescued and will get a deserved restoration.
 

PinballWizard

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I did find the build sheet under the rear seat. The mice found it too. Its still legible enough to make out the vin and options on the car and it all matches the fender tag. As far as the underside of the car hardy any of it was saveable. Frame rails, rockers, pans, and cross members where all easier to just replace than try to fix.

The car is B7 318 a/c but the 318 wasn't saveable either but a 440 was going in the car regardless. Id like to find a hemi but you know.. reasons haha
 

PinballWizard

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Here's the current state of the car way worse than anticipated, but starting to head in the right direction. The hardest part of the whole project is just trying to get the replacement parts here without looking like they where run over in transit.

So far I have new rockers, torsion cross member and rear rails in and still working the alignment of the panels. Some of AMD's parts leave a lot to be desired in terms of fitting.

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budascuda

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Looks like you know what you are doing.
Great project, good luck and welcome to the site.
If you don't mind, can you tell us a bit more about the amd panels, i need new fenders and I like to get prepared for disapointments, lol.
Thanks.
 

PinballWizard

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The fenders and quarter panels are beautiful. That is when FedEx doesn't smash them to bits. The issues are more evident on the rear wheel houses and the trunk pan extensions. All considered i've seen way worse when it comes to aftermarket panels. Where just lucky AMD does make decent products.
 

jeff968

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We're just lucky AMD does make decent products.

So true. For those of us who have been working on these cars for 40 years we can remember when the new stuff dried up at the dealer and we had to fabricate everything. Yes, the AMD stuff is pretty good.
 

Cuda Hunter

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That's what these forums are for. When I first came on to the forums it was my first Cuda. The forum knowledge is absolutely astounding. Any question you can think of has an answer. Maybe not immediately.
 

Ohiowoodchuck

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I was having this discussion yesterday with a co worker who had just done a couple of Barracudas. He said the first one he put a amd floor pan in and the fit was horrible. He said the car was never wrecked etc and all his factory measurements were correct both before and after the install. He said there was bolt holes that were 6 inches off. The next one he done, he went with Sherman and all the panels fit like factory and he was very impressed with them. I've heard a longer story on why all these panels dont fit right. Good luck with the build.
 

rklein71

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I was "lucky" as my 71 had excellent frame rails, torsion bar cross member and rockers. I used AMD for the quarters, one outer wheel house, deck filler panel, trunk, trunk extensions, and one rear floor pan. I was very impressed with all. I had to make small tweaks to the deck filler panel though.

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Adam

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The fenders and quarter panels are beautiful. That is when FedEx doesn't smash them to bits. The issues are more evident on the rear wheel houses and the trunk pan extensions. All considered i've seen way worse when it comes to aftermarket panels. Where just lucky AMD does make decent products.

We are lucky that these parts are available! For my project I used an AMD hood, roof, trunk lid, Dutchman panel, trunk floor, trunk extensions, driver’s side floor, firewall, wiper cowl, driver’s door skin, and driver’s fender. I tried to save some money and used Goodmark fenders but the driver’s side was unusable and replaced with an AMD unit (there went any savings) I also originally bought Sherman trunk extensions but they were just terrible and looked like they were hand formed. Almost every panel needed some massaging but I was especially impressed with the AMD roof, firewall, wiper cowl, floor pans, and fender. Here is a link to my photo album with too many pics:
Challenger
 

PinballWizard

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I'm largely self taught Kind of a learn as I go situation. I've done a little metal work on my chevelle but this is a whole new animal.
I'd rather block sand for days than try to fit these panels but it's all part of the experience right.
 
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