1968 Plymouth GTX

[MikeK]

Lucky for Us They are. That was a Lot back then. Remember as teenagers and a Jaguar was 10k thinking that was like 100k to us. Lol..
Miracle ANY are left from the gasoline crisis of the 70's but hot rods will survive one way or another.
Wasn't just a Mopar 'thing. Everything had the same issues there. As you said, Never was meant to last longer than 10 much less 50 and AMD saving what were left from being scavenged.

You have much trouble with your metal and Shipping 'malfunctions? Something like that pan would arrive at my place looking more like a 45 record I left on the rear package tray once.

The drain idea has been around forever and it like any drainage passage/opening will stop up and always be forgotten about. Best remedy is a Garage.lol...

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

My metal all arrived in great shape. One small dent in the trunk floor pan but it was hardly noticeable.
Since I ordered the roof skin, drip rails, floor pan, rear deck filler panel and truck floor pan all at the same time, it came loaded on a pallet.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Drilling out spot welds on the floor pan now. Almost done with the passenger's side.
Tedious work to say the least.

 

[MikeK]

The bright side is,

You Have spot welds.........
That Red jug RM43 by chance? Looks familiar. Great stuff.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Been using RM43 for years now. Great vegetation killer and preventative.

The spot welds on the passenger side were nearly impossible to find due to the rust. Probably had a heater box leak as it is the worst area of the entire floor pan.

I used the air chisel to rip some slots in the rust areas so I could work along the floor support rails, removing spot welds as I came to them.

Got the passenger side all loose, tomorrow I will move to the driver's side.

 

[MikeK]

What spot cutter are you using?
I have a Blair set which has held up well but looking at the single bit type and opinion of if you have.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

What spot cutter are you using?
I have a Blair set which has held up well but looking at the single bit type and opinion of if you have.

I have gone through $60 worth of Blair bits on this car already. There were hundreds of spot welds just on the roof skin and drip rails.
A guy that does a lot of custom work recommended I try the Hougen cutter bits, so I just purchased a set yesterday on Amazon.

 

[Leonard1]

I didn't think you could get Hougen bit for a drill chuck, only for the Hougen magnetic drill?

 

[MikeK]

Interesting. I was looking at the Blair 11308 solid bit on Amazon but it's like 58 bucks but if it lasts,what's that worth. Which has just a single 'flat on the shank.
The other thing is a bit of lubricant added which could be a mess if not used sparingly but way longer life.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Hougen 11075 kit comes with the shank for your drill.
They also sell a lubricant stick, so I got one of them too.

 

[OJ86]

Great build! as far as spot weld drilling, anymore I will just use my mini belt sander and they are wiped out in seconds. drilling spotwelds sucks!!!!

The only time I will drill them now is if I have to save the part and reinstall it.

 

[crashtech]

Yeah we use the belt sander too, it wipes out the top panel in seconds, besides that with very little downward pressure unlike a drill/cutter.

 

[dhutton01]

Another vote for the belt sander. Easy to get places where the drill can’t easily reach.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

I have one of these with a package of 60 grit belts:

I haven't used it much at all.
My thinking has been that when replacing pans on a restoration, I drill out the spot welds so I can use the old pans and transfer the hole locations to the new pans.

 

[Dean Jenkins]

I have one of these with a package of 60 grit belts:
View attachment 22142

I haven't used it much at all.
My thinking has been that when replacing pans on a restoration, I drill out the spot welds so I can use the old pans and transfer the hole locations to the new pans.

Used to drill spot welds, now I grind. Can still use the ground out holes as template.
From what I've seen, the spot weld placement is ~1/2" tolerance, not 1/16".

 

[OJ86]

I have one of these with a package of 60 grit belts:
View attachment 22142

I haven't used it much at all.
My thinking has been that when replacing pans on a restoration, I drill out the spot welds so I can use the old pans and transfer the hole locations to the new pans.

The 3m purple belts are the best ones. I haven't found anything close to them that last.

 

[dhutton01]

The 3m purple belts are the best ones. I haven't found anything close to them that last.

The orange Norton ones are pretty good and the price isn’t too painful.

 

[OJ86]

The orange Norton ones are pretty good and the price isn’t too painful.

I recently acquired some orange norton 3" grinding discs and they were really nice. I was kinda suprised.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Thanks. I will be ordering some today. The ones I have don't last very long at all.

 

[OJ86]

I remember when i bought my sander from eastwood I bought some of the belts from them. When it arrived I was excited to use it and the belts wore out almost instantly and all I thought was the tool was total shit.. my buddy told me about the purple 3M belts and ill be honest I'd be surprised if you went through more than two on that entire floor. Almost thinking one would make it.