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Project Phoenix: Custom '61 Dodge Dart resurrection: The Wall, March 29


Ace-Garageguy

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Nascar rear end assy. Reinforced Ford 9", but it just won't work as is.

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Modded crossmember, shortened arms, tunnel and floor being clearanced for driveshaft and pumpkin. All this is necessary to lower the car to where I want it, and still have pretend functionality. Have to make coil-spring pockets and shock mounts.

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New front lower control arms tacked in place. Crossmember will have to be modified too.

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Corresponding new upper control arms tacked, engine fitted to check for clearances. This will put the centers of the stub-axles where they need to be to get the stance of the mockup. Firewall is getting bumped back too, to let me move the engine back a little more. Patch in firewall is where HVAC unit used to live.

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If I angle the headers in towards the block just a little more, they will just clear the torsion bars when installed. Steering cross-linkage will most likely be replaced by rack and pinion.

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Excellent work so far...you have shamed me into retiring the dirty pinecone I used to use for painting bodies and have forced me to look for one that might be a little cleaner--or perhaps even something different; like a hardly-used meat tenderizing hammer! Hilarious!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks to everyone for the comments. Glad you're enjoying it.

After the repairs were done on both sides, I added a 1/8 inch layer of cotton flock / epoxy mix to the insides of the quarters. Enough structural strength in the fibers to allow me to reshape the lower rear of the panels without worrying about going through the repair. The original car had some protruding molded things to fair in the bumper, and I decided they had to go.

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Also made a splash mold of the Saleen Mustang hard tonneau, and made a duplicate, shown on right. Not perfect, but all I was after is the shape of the head-fairings anyway.

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Starting to work in a narrowed Pontiac-ish rear panel........

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...and with the hard tonneau, trying to bring out a little of the Jetsons feel without going over the top.......

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Thanks guys. Right now I'm looking at windshield options, modern or more wrap-around, and a starting point for a front lower pan. Once I get those nailed down she should start moving pretty quickly. I've got some vintage Revell parts-pack rocketship taillights that may work too.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wanted to open the deck before I got into the restyle of the tail too far. This old body is as thick as resin, and extremely brittle. I thinned the deck cut-lines on the inside with a dremel to ease the process. The tube between the rockers is a temporary reinforcement to keep the body from cracking again through the front and rear cowl sections.

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The decklid sides were straight cuts with the razor saw, and the front cut-line only required scribing repeatedly to deepen it to almost the depth I'd thinned it to inside. Then it snapped out, fairly cleanly.

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Open hood and deck, body still intact thanks to the tubular reinforcement. Starting to repair the sinks in the panels, to get them in primer and see how well they fit back in the openings.

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Fiddling with the nose and tail. Thinking of doing a floating surround for the grille. The rear panel I'd started to use has moved to the front, and a similar panel, again sort of Pontiac looking, has grown on the rear so both ends will have some design unity. Also moving the windshield back a few scale inches. Mostly dechromed at this point, too.

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Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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