Decided to work on the underside of the car.

I should have media blasted it but thought I would tackle it with stripping discs instead. A very nasty, dirty job that took a lot longer to get done.

Two coats of black epoxy primer:





Still considering installing some frame stiffeners.

I will install the doors and front fenders to check gaps and fit before going any further with the block sanding.

Looks great!

Thanks.
I dug the front fenders out of the shed and installed them today. Next I will get the doors put in so I have a better idea of the work left to be done before I can start painting.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Still considering installing some frame stiffeners.

I bought the US Car Tool sub frame connectors because they have that factory appearance to them the way they blend in with the factory frame rails. Their torque boxes help a lot too.

http://store.uscartool.com/Level-1-Chas ... p_125.html

Got the doors mounted today, so I could check the fit.





The driver's door lower rear corner area is going to need some work. It appears to be the body metal rather than the door but I will need to do some serious evaluation before making any decisions.



Here's the passenger side for comparison:

69cuda340s wrote:

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Still considering installing some frame stiffeners.

I bought the US Car Tool sub frame connectors because they have that factory appearance to them the way they blend in with the factory frame rails. Their torque boxes help a lot too.

http://store.uscartool.com/Level-1-Chas ... p_125.html

Yes, that is the one I am looking at. It was recommended on the For B-bodies website as well.

I agree, it's the door jamb that seems off. It'll take a bit of work to correct but well worth it I think.

Took the car off the rotisserie and put it on jack stands. I didn't see any major changes in the door and panel gaps. Happy with that.

The car had front end damage when I got it:


Notice how the lower panel is pushed up into the grill area. It took quite a bit of hammer and dolly work, twisting and bending to finally get it to fit somewhat decent:


Still lots of work to be done on the grill, surround and lower panel. I ordered a hardware kit from AMD because so many of the clip nuts and screws were missing.

Played around with the door hinges until I got the gaps pretty even and the body lines in position.

Passenger door front gap:


Passenger rear gap:


The hidden bold on the driver's fender is going to need a shim to raise it up level with the cowl panel.

Driver door front gap:


I was able to move the bottom hinge forward enough to get the top body lines at the rear of the door to match up. Gap is still a bit larger at the top:


Planning to install the hood as well to test the fit.

Everything seems to fit quite well:





Now to get it all ready for paint.

Body looks great! Closing in on that ready to paint!