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The
Beginning - December 7-9, 2001
Finally having the time to pay some attention
to the Dodge, I removed the wheels, took them to the local tire
shop, had the old tires dismounted and dropped them off at the sandblaster.
I had also removed the front and rear bumpers and, coincidentally,
across the street from the sandblaster was a bumper and chrome shop.
How convenient. I asked the chrome guy to fill the two overrider
holes in the rear bumper, as I have no intention of putting them
back on. They should be done this week. We also discussed doing
the rest of my parts later. I picked up the wheels on Friday. I
had purchased some primer that was bad, which unfortunately, threw
my wheel painting schedule off until Monday when the paint shop
reopens.
With the wheels off, I pulled one front drum to
have a look. I found the linings in decent shape, but the wheel
cylinders look mildly nasty. I
The
Journey Begins
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may be able to rebuild them, but I'll need to remove them
one way or another. I couldn't get one of the rear drums
off. They are keyed and really stuck. I'm going to need
a heavier puller than the one I've currently got. Even
heat wouldn't help.
Since I felt a little stymied by the brake
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drums, I picked up my sanding block, and started going
at it with the 80 grit. I suppose I could have grabbed
a sander, but I liked going over the car by hand. I was
able to get a better sense of the body condition and feel
the lines of the car. There are quite a few parking lot
chips and dings. The front fenders had very little paint
left on them and quite a bit of surface rust. The left
rear was hit at one point and very poorly repaired. I'm
going to need to rework that corner of the car to make
it right. The hood wasn't bolted on and it appears to
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have
flown off the transporter early on, as there are quite
a few gouges on its surface. I wondered why there was
a tie-down around it when it was on the truck...
I've been digging removing things that
I don't have to worry about putting back on. Things like
door handles and locks, trunk handle and lock, and side
trim. I'm getting geared up for filling the trim holes
and shaving
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Interior Minus Seats
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the door handles and trunk handle. I'm also going to
move the filler neck into the trunk, as it doesn't live
behind a door and simply sticks out and looks like an
eyesore. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the
nose trim. There is a little forced "ram air"
scoop that feeds the carbs. I'd like to keep it, but
I want to lose the trim around it. I'm thinking that
I can french it by building a scoop that fits where
the trim does. I just don't know if that's what I want
to do yet.
The interior had no carpet/rubber
mat or anything on the floor. There is a minimum of
rust on the floor pan, which should be easy to fix. The
front seat wasn't bolted down and made removing it that
much easier. I pulled out the rear seat too, and vacuumed
the interior. There was plenty of petrified foam seat
cushion crumbles everywhere. Then I began removing all
the inner trim surrounding the windscreen and side windows
after which I removed the door panels.
There comes a point when your enthusiasm
must not get in the way of documenting how everything
was before you took it apart. Sure, I'm changing quite
a bit of the way this car appeared from the factory,
but nonetheless there is all the little stuff that will
have your head scratching months
from now when you're putting things back together.
The
Gargantua
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I also keep telling myself that this will not be
a frame off job. I want to pace myself on this thing
and keep it reasonable, plus I plan on driving it
all the time.
Since I was finally on the unwrapping
phase, I did just that to the engine. Wow, I cannot
believe how huge this engine is. It seems so much
bigger than my old Rocket 88's engine. I'm going
to set it aside for the time being and |
focus on body work and engine compartment prep. I just
don't want everything apart all at once. I need to keep
this project manageable, as I will need to focus on customer
cars most of the time.
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