Thursday, August 28, 2014

1971 Plymouth Barracuda










We start with a nice solid mostly original 89,000 mile car.  


Trunk, engine bay, floors, so solid for an E-body!






















Continue stripping until all discrepancies are dealt with, pull metal out, cut rust out, form new pieces, fit and weld.



 



Fit the panels until they are all lined up with even gap all the way down.


Any welded areas are checked with a light from behind to check for pinholes (which equal bubbles down the road). Pre-wash all work with degreaser/cleaner (PPG DX330).


Then a little body work, pre-wash again.

Okay, now its time to splash two wet coats of DP40 epoxy primer seam seal under lips and on back side of new panel work with premium rubber based seam sealer which is applied over the DP40.




The body gets 5 coats of sandable primer, some color on the floors, trunk, engine bay, door jams.



Off to get some nice 2-1/4 dual exhaust flo pros and resonators at Mode's! Turf the little 318 exhaust manifolds, install the 360 ones, now it can breathe!

Painting process begins, car is masked then a guide coat applied to enable low spots and imperfections to be detected more easily.  Primer added as required being careful not to sand through the corrosion resistant DP40 epoxy primer.



On goes the PPG Concept paint, 3 heavy coats, 2 weeks to dry then wet sand and buff. 

Paint tail panel and voila! We have a very durable paint job that will outlast any clear coat job by a long shot!

Original engine disassembled as far as long block, all looks well, heads have a valve job, even the guides are within service limits!  Install new camshaft lifters, true roller chain and a set of Fel-Pro gaskets, 4 bbl manifold with Thermoquad carb and big exhaust, a Trans-go shift kit and Wow! A peppy little 318 that's happy @ 65-70 mph. Reliability and economy rules the roost!

1 comment:

  1. A multiple show winner! Thanks Joe! Your work ranks with the best.

    ReplyDelete