Road Runner Nest

The more I look at it rr6pak the more I think it's been relocated. Here's a really good pic of a nice K-member.See the drivers side mount - the location looks different than mine. But until I get some real world measurements, I won't know for sure. But I have a buddy who has a 1971 Cuda. I will be looking at that K-member and taking some measurements from it. Until then, I'll keep working on other stuff, namely getting the drivers side firewall done. So here's what I have so far.Yours truly measuring up for a patch. And here's the patch (with a magnet to hold it) Onto prepping the frame rail and shock tower and getting it ready for some zero-rust paint.

So this weekend was able to get some Zero rust paint on the frame rail.And was also able to finish the firewall on the drivers side.So now I can go back and concentrate on the engine mount. I was able to see the K-member in a 1969 Charger and took some measurements. So looking at mine here.The mount is too far to the left by 1.5" - that's compared to the Charger mount. I will go and have a look at an E-Body K-member to confirm that measurement, so I won't do any cutting or removing till I have seen the E-body one.

O.K. after taking little break (like going for 2 weeks to my home country of Croatia) I'm back working on the car.
After some more investigation and getting another k-member to use as reference, it turns out that both engine mount perches have been moved. So therefore I will be getting another k-member.
The good thing about getting another k-member is that I will be able to put the engine and front suspension parts on it, then drop the car over it when the time comes - just like Bruce did with his white one.
So in the meantime I'll keep working on the front of the car.
Today I prepped the bracket for the 4 speed z-bar. The raised area at the top goes into the slotted hole in the frame. Then grind the area clean & fit-check then weld her on and finish with a coat of primer. After that I started prepping the outer surface of the drivers side inner fender to get it ready for some rust bullet paint.

So continuing on, I had a small spot on the rad support to put some metal prep on and finish it up.Then I primered the drivers side rad support. Next is to fit-check the inner fender and plug weld it in.

Awesome work! Brings back memories of doing my engine bay area - I had to battle the rust in a lot of the same areas.

Thanks Scott! - I know mine will not be to the quality yours is in but I'm giving it my best shot!

Ok so this weekend is the weekend I end up with a head cold - crap.
But I still got a chance to weld up the drivers side inner fender. Next step is to clean up the welds and put on a little putty.

Nice work!

Thanks nakita7,
So to update from my last post, I ground down the spot-welds and applied some all-metal putty. Then get the all-metal sanded down and prep for primer. and shoot some primer. Next it's on to doing a fit-check on the US car tool inner fender braces. They don't make them for 1971 B-bodies so I ordered the ones for an E-body. I assumed the fender braces would be close as the inner fenders for a B & E body are the same.......WRONG! Here's some pics.so I'll be doing a little nip and tuck here and there. Hopefully I won't get too much grief.

Nice Mod! Those will strengthen the front end nicely! Scott.

They should Scott - the things are made from 1/8" steel! they've got some meat on em.
As I stated in my last post, I had a little fitment issue while doing the fit-check. With a little sister sledge hammer work it went from this....to this........But another issue has came up - it seems I cannot put the J nuts onto the inner fenders after tack welding the brace on... it looks like the reliefs that US car tool put into the braces are kinda small. So I need to order the proper J nuts. Anyone know where I can get them?

71Beeper wrote:Thanks Scott! - I know mine will not be to the quality yours is in but I'm giving it my best shot!

Oh I don't know about that - you are doing a pretty good job. This IS my first rodeo - so I am learning a lot as I go. Hopefully my skills will be adequate when I get done with my fun car - and I can do a decent job on the sunroof car project.

You and I are in the same boat Scott - this is my first resto too.
I have worked on many other Mopars in the past (not mine) but my buddy's cars.
Mostly R&R engines and drive trains. I along with my buddies did a Wilwood 4 wheel disc brake conversion on a 1971 Duster, that was a fun project.

So over the Christmas holidays, I was able to finish installation of the fender braces, both sides. Here's the passenger side and here's the drivers side. They sure are strong braces.....strong enough to hold me! Next I moved onto doing a fit-check on the rad support brace...

So,continuing on - the rad support brace is now welded in, so I had to back-step a bit. Seems that when welding the gussets in for the inner fender braces I wrecked some of the putty that was on the inner fenders, so I had to take it all out and re-putty. and now the final primer coat which should finish up the engine compartment for now!!! Yay!! Moving on to the inside of the firewall, but before that i thought I should clean up the car and the area around it. Man I couldn't believe the amount of dust and crap on the car.Even on the trunk where I had one of the new rear quarters sitting on it, I moved the quarter off the car and this was underneath it.