Road Runner Nest

Got my 71 Dart tagged and "road legal" a couple of weeks ago so today I decided to dive in on my green 71 SSP. I still have no idea where this project is headed but I knew it needed a lot of cleaning.

One is a before and the other is after a few hours. I only got 1/3 the trunk floor done. I could have done the entire trunk floor but my back was ready to throw in the towel for the day.

Nice and solid! Worth the elbow grease. Wish mine was that good.

CtownRunner wrote:Nice and solid! Worth the elbow grease. Wish mine was that good.

I hope to finish the trunk floor tomorrow and then start on the interior floor pans. I am planning on doing a color change to Curious Yellow or Plum Crazy with black interior. But even with the faded green color the new Weld Prostars made it look a little better!! Maybe in the next week or so I will have the outside cleaned up and a full side shot of the car with the Prostars on it!

Spent a few more hours on the trunk floor today. I was pretty happy that I did not find any major rust that would need to be cut out!!! Now I just need to work on the wheel housings and the area below the package tray.

wow...that's one clean trunk floor!

Eric wrote:wow...that's one clean trunk floor!

I was VERY happy when I started cleaning it up!! The dark areas in the seams still could use some cleaning. But I noticed that some of the paint was getting loose in those seams and I did not want to take a chance on getting down to bare metal. The dark areas on the flat surface of the trunk floor (almost the left/center of the pic) are VERY light surface rust where the mat stuck and peeled the paint up. But I didn't see anything even remotely close enough to need a patch panel. Hopefully this weekend I can get the interior cleaned up a little and bolt in the seats! Then I plan to wash it and clean it up a little on the outside so I can make a list of stuff I need for the car. Mainly it will be repop parts like marker lights, exhaust tips, seat covers, carpet, and things like that. Then I need to search for bumpers (front is twisted) and a motor! Still trying to decide on using a 360 (bare block and J heads) that I bought for my Duster, or trying to locate a 383/400/440??? The list never ends.......

You will not regret a Big Block in a B body. I vote 383/400/440.

I had a 71 RR in high school (1990-91) and LOVED it!! But the machine shop that is going to be building the motor keeps reminding me that "500 ft lbs of torque is 500 ft lbs of torque". I have read about people "loving" their small block B bodies because of weight saving, handles better and the extra room inside the engine compartment. Right now it is more about getting the car cleaned, making a list of parts needed/wanted After that I will decide on a color and THEN send a motor of some sort to the machine shop.......which will likely be summer time...

IF you need/want a small block, what about the 360 crates?