1963 Dodge Dart for the Wife....

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Aligned the panels with the trusty Model Railroad steel ruler then tacked it right behind and walked down the panel.... It came out almost perfectly aligned.

Perfect!

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The other side needed this alignment but I just did a bit of dolly and hammer work to make it better.

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Getting the hang of the hammer and dolly, this panel is MUCH better....

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Nice work Jim! Doors look like they line up good.

LF fender is another story.. I can't figure out what is out of wack. If I get a good gap from fender to door there it twists the crap out of the fender and I had to elongate a hole to even to that. You can see it twisting out behind the front wheel opening.
 
Subscribing..........

Love the play by play story line. You're mastering a craft thru hands on experience, well done.

Thanks for sharing it's very inspiring, and thanks for saving another Mopar.
 
Subscribing..........

Love the play by play story line. You're mastering a craft thru hands on experience, well done.

Thanks for sharing it's very inspiring, and thanks for saving another Mopar.

Hi MJM,

Thanks. If you want the commentary to go with the photos follow it on forabodiesonly.com

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/1963-dodge-dart-270-convertible-for-the-wife.440988/

as for saving Mopars here is the one we saved for my daughter....

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/1972-duster-build-with-my-daughter.407989/

and here is mine for some late night reading and chuckling....

https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/1968-coronet-500-project.114333/
 
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Well I finally found out why the LH front fender won't line up.... First hint

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Second hint....

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Third hint and your out.... it is the wrong damn radiator support! It was cut to fit and has the wrong angle where the fender attaches..

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So then I started looking closer..... Both shock upper supports had been either cut or cracked and welded too....

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See how if I align the fender with the frame edge, like it should be then the fender will line up everywhere.... I searched and search but can't see evidence anything else but the radiator support was replace....

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Mystery solved but solution is still rattling around in my head. Got my new 710 spray bottle per the advice here.

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See why I was out of gas, hose had a split.... 2 hour round trip to get another was not going to happen so red-neck ingenuity...

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Rerolled the trunk lip with a hammer and dolly and it is ready to go, not more rust and encapsulated in epoxy.

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When dry fitting the front end parts I found that the RH axel had spun a bearing sometime in the past. My new early A Body buddy in Southern Az sent me a new one.

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Need to DA these tomorrow and shoot them with epoxy.

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It's amazing how straight the body looks even without filler, when the body lines are correct.

Great job.
 
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