Rocketman's '73 Road Runner Restoration

From Beater to Badass in Two Months Flat?

On September 17, 2004 I started a pretty major restoration of my '73 Road Runner. I took it to Randy Russell of R. Creations, Inc., Howell, MI for bodywork and paint. I spent 2 - 4 nights per week there helping with grunt work, chasing parts, sanding, cleaning, and anything else he felt I was capable of doing. I also did the restoration of everything except the bodywork and paint, as well as reassembling the car after he was done. This all was especially interesting because I had very little experience working on cars and the most involved automotive thing I ever did before this was installing a replacement door on my 88 Toyota pickup.

The bodywork and paint took five weeks. Randy did a superb job! All the rusted sheet metal was replaced and the car was painted in Chrysler Inferno Red. The body work and paint was literally flawless. It took another three weeks after that for me to finish all the interior work and put it all back together. My goal was a pretty much complete restoration in two months! I basically made it. I took the day off work on November 17 and completed the last major thing which was putting the graphics on. Of course, your car is never REALLY done now is it?

The first set of pictures below is of the car before any restoration so you can get an idea of the magnitude of this project. The second set begins on the day I took it over to Randy's shop. The third set is putting it all back together after the bodywork and paint was completed and I got the car back home. I added pictures to the second and third sets every few days so you could see how the project went. It was a lot of work but it all turned out pretty good and I am very pleased with the result.

Before Restoration - A True Beater Car!

• I bought this car on April Fools Day and picked it up April 9, 2004. At first glance it looks pretty decent but upon closer inspection the magnitude of the problems becomes clearer.
• Open the hood and there is a real mess. Virtually everything is rusted, corroded, juryrigged, and generally screwed up.
• An example of the condition of some of the parts under the hood. There is a power brake booster under all that rust. Honest.
• And another example of the parts under the hood, the wiper motor really sucked.
• Note the spark plug wires repaired with masking tape and the handy water valve in the heater hose to turn off flow to the heater core in case your feet are getting too cooked by the headers!
• The stripes were all cracked and nasty looking.
• Grill broken and parts missing.
• Headlight bezels were beat up beyond repair.
• The package tray was missing and replaced with black carpeting, so deteriorated it had turned white. All the interior trim was in similar sorry shape.
• The rallye dash was cut for an aftermarket radio which is gone now. The aftermarket gages didn't work and someone bolted a tach through the top of the console.
• Apparently the tach used to be mounted through the dash. It looks like glue was used first, and then when that ripped off someone drilled holes through the dash.
• Both quarter panels were a mess. Pieces of aluminum glued in place, fiberglass, bondo, and much was covered by a half-inch of what appeared to be roofing tar.
• The plastic interior door panels, side panels, kick panels, and seat backs are all severely deteriorated. The surface is like chalk and it's so soft it can be scrathed off with your fingernail, and they are all gouged all over. Also, they have been painted flat white and do not match the upholstery color.
• An example of the condition of the taillights. That pile of dirt came out of it!
• The trunk weatherstrip was completely wasted, the lip was gone, and water could also come in the wheel wells. The trunk floor looked terrible but strangely enough was mostly still solid.
• The emblems were missing from the trunk lid and you can see that every part in this area is rusted.
• The trunk lid looked nearly as bad as the trunk floor.
• Even the fendertag looked lousy. But at least it's a real genuine Road Runner!

Finally in the shop - The clock is ticking now!

• 9/17 - The Road Runner in the shop for bodywork and paint. I stripped a lot of parts off first, leaving the minimum required for semi-legal driving.
• 9/23 - The front bumper and all lights are removed, along with some of the interior parts. The first part to get repaired was the trim that goes in front of the hood.
• 9/23 - The second part to get repaired was the hood. The inside was blasted and sanded to remove rust, body fill applied to a few small dents, sanded smooth and primed with urethane.
• 9/23 - The result of 31 years of Michigan winters and previous owners' neglect.
• 9/23 - Rest of interior stripped out revealing some replacement floor pans, not even painted and held in place by gravity and silicon seal.
• 9/23 - The new stripe kit from Phoenix Graphics came complete with the bird decals. I already bought a new one for the trunk lid so instead I put it to good use on my Jeep Cherokee. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but then again that was after a few brewskis.
• 9/28 - Door skin fabricated, installed with lips folded over, and welded in place. Welds ground smooth and body filler applied.
• 9/28 - Detail of patch panel welded in place behind front wheel well.
• 9/30 - Inside view of replaced lower door skin.
• 9/30 - Front bucket seats before recovering. The previous owner modifications included some Frankenstein stitches, duct tape, and an extra piece of foam crammed in through a rip.
• 10/01 - Legendary Interiors seat covers installed and foam built up slightly by Preferred Auto Glass & Trim, Ypsilanti, Mi. Both did a great job.
• 10/01 - Sanded rust from electronic ignition box, primed with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator and painted with black acrylic enamel, 00 steel wooled (very carefully) oxidation from blue anodized heat sink, topcoated all over with clear urethane DAU75 .
• 10/02 - Both doors, fender, roof, rear valence, and rear deck have been repaired and filled. Randy primes each area with metal etching primer first then after finishing any filler he finish primes with urethane.
• 10/02 - Quarter panel wood dies are made from templates made by tracing and measuring car.
• 10/02 - Randy forming wheel well lip including bevel on a wood die he made.
• 10/02 - Quarter panel patches being fitted to match original bodylines.
• 10/02 - Drivers side wheel well back. Pretty bad. Rusted through to trunk.
• 10/02 - Driver side rear wheel well front. Very bad. Seatbelt mount pulled right out!
• 10/02 - Inside view of driver side rear wheel well. The seatbelt mount ripped out when trying to unbolt it. I didn't even bother trying to unbolt the other side; just ripped it right out too!
• 10/02 - Randy sandblasting front inside of engine compartment.
• 10/02 - After sandblasting. The blasting took about 15 minutes. He used 80lbs of silica sand to do both forward insides and the front. Cleaning up the sand took over an hour. Then the whole engine compartment was hand sanded with 320 grit. Note the fill on the side of the radiator. The sides had been cut to accomadate the bigger radiator and one side was cut too far leaving a gap. Randy welded in a new piece and even filled and sanded it so it looked factory.
• 10/03 - Front end masked and primed with metal etching zinc rich primer then urethane primer.
• 10/03 - Priming all done. I didn't have any lint free coveralls and didn't want to be in the way so I don't get to see the color until next time.
• 10/05 - Front end inner parts painted.
• 10/05 - Most components removed from engine compartment and everything left was masked. Engine compartment painted, including clearcoat.
• 10/05 - Even the inside of the cowl duct was sanded, cleaned, primed, and painted.
• 10/05 - I reinstalled most of the engine compartment parts and the wire harness and we mounted the hood.
• 10/05 - Wheel well lips were fabricated with edge bevel roughed in.
• 10/06 - Detail of back of fabricated quarter panel patch.
• 10/06 - This door hinge was worn so bad you could lift the door nearly an inch!
• 10/07 - Inside corner of wheel well rebuilt with new rear seat belt mount fabricated.
• 10/07 - Back of rear wheel well rebuilt inside.
• 10/07 - Detail of passenger side fabricated quarter panel patch.
• 10/07 - I had a new ledge and lip fabricated from 14 gauge steel at a local shop and then Randy cut out the old metal and welded in the new parts, reusing the original latch bracket.
• 10/07 - Degreased, wire brushed, and sanded bumper supports, then primed with rust encapsulator and painted with black epoxy. This was a nasty job and it took all day. It would have been way better to have these sandblasted then powder coated but my budget is blown away bad enough already!
• 10/08 - I rebuilt the door hinge by blasting it clean, grinding off hinge pin rivet head then removing it, line boring bracket and hinge holes to .4375 dia and making a new pin out hardened steel (Rc 28)with only .001 clearance, coated pin shaft with moly disulfide, welding and regrinding worn area on spring, and assembling by peening over the new pin.
• 10/08 - Rear floor pan as it appeared before any work. What a nasty mess!
• 10/09 - It is difficult to see but the bottom of the pillar support was rusted. Repaired by cutting out bad metal and welding a plate in place. Then all lower seams in passenger compartment and trunk caulked with 3M No. 8505 Seam Sealer.
• 10/09 - Floor pans were primed with metal etching primer over bare metal, Rust Encapsulator over areas that had surface rust, then painted all over with genuine FE5 Rallye Red color (almost) Rustoleum.
• 10/09 - Trunk floor sanded to remove rust then primed with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator.
• 10/12 - Taillights restored. Sanded and repainted inside silver, removed all broken and rusted screws, replaced with stainless, replaced both sockets and rebuilt wire harness, superglued broken lenses, cut off unused center mounting tab so they can be removed without pulling the bumper.
• 10/12 - Starter relay restored. Cleaned, sanded, repainted similar to original ni-cad finish.
• 10/12 - Mirror restored. Sanded rust off post and base, repainted with zinc chromate then DAR sparkle silver. Cleaned plastic housing then treated with Black Magic.
• 10/17 - Quarter panels finished with a uniform bevel at the wheel well lips matching the size of the original bevels on the front fenders.
• 10/17 - Detail of folded over lip of replaced lower doorskin. This is an example of quality workmanship. Randy tries to maintain an original factory appearance as much as possible.
• 10/17 - In this view of the finished door, note the uniformity of the gap. Another example of quality workmanship.
• 10/17 - I got the job of sealing all edges of replaced sheet metal, as well as all unsealed other edges and corners throughout the vehicle. This is done to help prevent rust in the future. The procedure was always the same. Clean off any rust or dirt or undercoating. Wipe clean with lacquer thinner. Spray on SEM Self Etching Primer, doing your best to get under the seam too. Caulk with 3M No. 8505 Seam Sealer, again trying to get it under the seam. This picture shows the inside of a forward quarter panel patch after sealing.
• 10/17 - I have been busy at home refurbishing parts. Here is one of the seat rails after replacing a broken stud, sanding, priming with Eastwoods and painting with gloss black Epoxy. I know it technically should be satin black but so what - after a couple of those Guinesses, the gloss black looks damn good.
• 10/17 - Here is a very helpful addition to the hook I use to hang things for painting. It is a fishing swivel. You can spin the part and paint all sides easily and without risk of screwing it up from taking it down and rehanging it the other way. It works great!
• 10/21 - All final primer coats applied, masked off and ready to paint door jams, inner surfaces of doors and trunk lid, and inside of trunk.
• 10/21 - Randy even caulked the seams at the edges of the rear valence supports. The guy is a perfectionist. Damn!!!
• 10/21 - The color goes on. The paint is Delthane Ultra 2000, color is Inferno Red. It looked somewhat dark viewing through the window of the spray booth.
• 10/21 - The flash really brings out the color. Here is the paint prior to clearcoat.
• 10/23 - The clearcoat greatly increases the gloss and depth of the paint.
• 10/23 - This area was completely rusted through before. Now it's solid and Randy got the fit perfect.
• 10/23 - I was going to replace the jacking instructions sticker. Now I am having second thoughts about that idea.
• 10/24 - After sanding the car all day yesterday at the shop I came home and sanded one of the grills I repaired. Then I painted it with Rustoleum Plastic Primer followed by two coats of DAR Sparkle Silver. The other grill will be painted the standard satin black. I'll figure out which one looks best after I try them on the car.
• 10/24 - This is it boys and girls. The bodywork is done. The primer has been sanded to perfection. All that's left now is the masking, painting, and rubbing out. The next time I see the car it's going to be Inferno Red.
• 10/28 - Here is what you get for 173 hours of a professional bodyman's work, 65 hours of my own work, and $2300 worth of materials. All I can say is this picture does not remotely come close to doing Randy's workmanship justice. It's literally a mirror finish all over. I am freaked out about working on it for fear of screwing it up.

The Home Stretch - Reassembly

• 10/30 - My Road Runner is finally home and I am starting to put it back together. I took advantage of a moment of sun to take it oustide and take a picture that shows the mirror finish of the paint. So here is a picture of the mirror ha ha.
• 11/03 - The guest bedroom has come in handy as a nice storage area for interior parts while working on my car. There are more in the closet, under the bed, and even some in the dresser drawers. That brings up an interesting question. What you you rather have in your guestroom, guests (inlaws perhaps) or parts for your car?
• 11/03 - I wound up restoring every part up front. Headlight buckets were glass bead blasted and repainted, wire harness cleaned and rewrapped, grill repaired and repainted, aluminum trim straightened and polished, replaced bumper, painted bumper brackets. Even the original headlight adjusting screws were restored. I glass bead blasted the rust and old paint overspray off, ran a die over the threads, re-coined the phillips drives, then painted them with Molydag 254 dry film lube. Is that obsessive/compulsive behavior or what?!?!
• 11/08 - Inside view of the car before installing the interior. It was painted all over, all floor pan plugs replaced, and wiring cleaned and protected with convolute tubing. Where the original wiring clips were missing I used a dab of hot glue to hold the convolute tubing in place.
• 11/08 - I made a new package tray from fiberboard and upholstered it in naugahyde to match the seats. All window and roof trim, plastic interior panels, and the seat backs were also sanded to remove the deteiorated surface layer, primed and repainted in semigloss PPG DAR acrylic enamel mixed to match the color of the upholstery as closely as possible.
• 11/08 - Underneath the rear side interior panels originally was some plastic sheeting which was stuck on with tape and some black tar-like adhesive. The sheeting was replaced with 6 mil vinyl and held on by hot glue. The rear seat belts were cleaned and painted and are bolted to the new mounts. The back piece of carpeting is in now.
• 11/14 - Front view. After working all weekend I finally got my Road Runner running and on the road. Here is a series of pics before I finish it off and put the stripes on.
• 11/14 - Side view.
• 11/14 - Back view.
• 11/14 - Elevated view of hood.
• 11/14 - Along the side view. This car is all new lower sheet metal from the front wheel wells back. How's that for some nice bodywork?
• 11/14 - Dash view. This little emblem took forever to paint. Mee Meep.
• 11/14 - Upside down view. Just kidding.
• 11/17 - Factory white interior restored with new Legendary Interiors seat covers up front, all trim and plastic panels sanded and repainted, custom upholstered package tray, glovebox and ashtray repainted, all new stainless steel screws, and Road Runner floormats. There is still some minor work to do inside here but it's coming along pretty good so far.
• 11/17 - Another interior view.
• 11/17 - The trunk looks reasonably good with new sheet metal inside and sprayed over with textured beadliner material to match the original look. The reproduction trunk mat and replacement weatherstrip is from Year One. I have a genuine 73 Road Runner bumper jack that I still need to restore before mounting the spare.
• 11/17 - I was thinking about leaving the graphics off but now I am sure that it was the right decision to put them on. I got the kit from Phoenix Graphics and it contains 16 pieces total. It took about 6 hours to put everything on. I found it really helped to dampen the outer backing before squeegee-ing the bubbles out. That allowed the outer backing to comform to the curves of the bodyline without a tendancy to wrinkle like it did when only the inner surface was damp.
• 11/17 - Hood graphics. The weird thing about this picture is that the black 440 decal on the hood doesn't show. Even though it's black it's somehow reflective and turns white in the camera flash. How do they do that????
• 11/27 - The bumper trims after restoration. Broken studs drilled out, tapped, and replaced with new stainless ones. Cracked trim piece repaired with aluminum brace inside and all cracks and gouges fixed with JB Weld. Sanded smooth and painted with DAR2000 urethane sparkle silver. Center piece could not be saved. New piece fabricated from scratch.
• Instructions for new rear bumper center piece fabricated from scratch.
• 11/27 - I finally got a sunny day to take a picture. Here is my renewed 1973 Road Runner. It is much happier now.
• 12/04 - The Road Runner lurks gleaming in the cold blue light of it's winter home.