That rear suspension was standard on the fastest car ever sold by any car maker, the 1968 Hemi Dart. Those cars ran 10 second quarter miles in the late 60's.

DoubleChevron wrote:I'm amazed by the rear suspension under that car... It looks like the suspension under my box trailer. Does putting the power of a V8 through it cause the springs to curl up and huge axle tramp ?

It must be a hell of a lot of fun (handful ?) to drive

The bodywork must be time consuming. Look how many body lines/curves there are on those doors to get perfect

seeya,
Shane L.

Other than the front guards and grille, this car is exactly the same as what you and I (and the rest of Australia) would call a VF/VG Valiant Hardtop.
The sides are dead flat and I agree they would take some skill to make them look perfect.

I didn't realise that ... I've seen chargers and other Valients, but never really noticed any hardtops ... The Hemi 6's were faster than the local V8's I thouhgt too

No wonder the big american v8's were even faster !

seeya,
Shane L.

Here is the Australian VG (70-71) version:



The earlier VF model had round headlamps.

Hey 6t8dart, I've been looking at the picture of your door.

It's quite a myriad of paint, primer, bondo, and bare metal there.
That brings a question to my mind.
As you block sand that panel, how do you know when to stop sanding it flat?
It may sound like a basic question, and you and other people with a lot of experience may know instinctively when to stop, but for most noobs, knowing when to stop sanding can make or break the whole paint job.
If you sand too much, the areas with the filler will be below the level of the areas of the metal. You know the routine, that means to add more filler and sand some more, but unless you know when to stop, it could happen again.
Thanks.

I sand the panel in an x pattern with a 17" flat board sander, the colors you see are original primer (gray on top or red), green original paint, the pink is filler that was done around 20 years ago, then the brown is a high build primer that was done about 15 years ago, all of it was in good shape and well adhered to the panel. There was no rust and I added only a minimal amount of filler to some areas. The picture you see is after I sanded off the clearcaot and paint that was on it. I helped that uder that paint was a very thick layer of high build primer all over the car, that meant I did not have to add hardly and filler at all, lust a lot of sanding. Once I got to that point, I sprayed the panel with a gray high build primer then shot a giude coat on it, I then sanded it again to see any low spots, I then spayed it with the red high build primer and did a final block sanding with 600 wet. But I'm not sure how to answer your question, how do you know when to stop? Practice I suppose.

If you use a guide coat ... It's easy to know when to stop ... You stop when the guide coat is fully sanded away

I'd be tempted to take those panels back to bare metal to remove all the paint buildup... Having said that after all the work you have put into them now, there's no way I'd start from scratch

I've never like the look of those wheels, but gee's they look fantastic on that car. It must be the modern cars they look average on ... They just don't suite them

seeya,
Shane L.

If you use a guide coat ... It's easy to know when to stop ... You stop when the guide coat is fully sanded away

Thanks. I know about using the guide coat when blocking the primer surfacer, but how about before that, when sanding the paint, and filler down?
With all of the bare metal and filler showing, if it's sanded too much, too much of the filler will be sanded away, leaving a low spot.

The only way I can tell is by touch... If it feels up 'n' down (no matter how slightly) when you run your hand over it needs further repair. I have a permanent texta handy usually and circle any low bits I find, and mark any high bits with crosses (otherwise you may miss them, if you do they'll stand out like dogs balls when the shiny paint goes on) ... IMO it's impossible to tell if it's right by looking at it If your wearing gloves you'll need to take them off ! You MUST get it right now, if you think the high build primer or paint will fix any issues in the prep ... It won't (gee's don't I know it I'd tell you how many attempts it takes to get stuff right, but I'd embarass myself amongst all the pro's on this board ).

bang any high bits down level and apply more bondo over the low areas and file again with a long board. I found if you just put bondo on the low bit it won't file back flat, you need to re-bondo the whole area being worked covering the 'low' bit as well. I'm assuming you have no idea how to use hammers and dollies like me(this is all I ever did, you can get a perfect finish this way).

seeya,
Shane L.

Thanks for the replies.
I guess it will come with experience. The first round of guide coating/sanding will show where more filler is needed.