[JasonD]

I know a few of you are familiar with the 1970 Judge I found in the barn near my shop. It's an Oshawa-built Ram Air III/4 speed car that is documented with the WT7 "black wing" option. If not, that whole story can be found here:
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...&highlight=WT7

The car is being restored from the ground up on nights and weekends by my father and I and I'd like to show some of the progress to maybe help some others see how we do things.

Here is the car as purchased:


Off the frame:


Some pictures of the restored rear brake drum assemblies. You can see the original brake shoe assemblies with the way the factory color-coded the springs.....which we carefully reproduced on the restored assemblies. This car had only 50K easy miles on it when it was parked so it still wears all it's original brakes, rotors, and drums.






Pics of the rear frame and axle assembly under construction, with factory paint inspection daubs which were found during cleaning and disassembly:

PS......and YES, those are the original factory date coded "Delco Canada" spiral shocks!

[71 lemans sport 455]

looks great. Im at the same point with my frame.Good luck

[getmygoat]

As Paris would say "That's Hot!"

Sorry, couldn't resist... looks great!

[OVERULD]

Looks great Jason! Keep these updates comming.

BJ

[brianberes]

Thanks for the great detailed pics and explanations on your restoration steps. I am restoring a 70 GTO at a much slower......pace, so your pics & input on how you restore you Judge will help me with my mine. Keep up the great work.

[mmarx]

Jason, I noticed that you painted the welds for the control arm brackets and the plates at the ends of the axle tubes, is this how the diff. was originally?

BTW, great job

Mike

[JasonD]

Originally Posted by mmarx

Jason, I noticed that you painted the welds for the control arm brackets and the plates at the ends of the axle tubes, is this how the diff. was originally?

BTW, great job

Mike

Thanks Mike......and everybody else.

Whenever you MIG weld two pieces of metal together you get a black haze around the area from the extreme heat generated. I add that little detail on my rear axles to try to make them look as realistic as I can. They were bare metal when installed.

I also paint the center section a little darker gray than the tubes and the cover since that area is cast iron.

[MorphWS6]

Hey Jason! I've missed a lot since I've been away from TAC. I know this car will look fantastic when you're done and I look forward to seeing the progress. Congrats on such an awesome find.

[bajajudge]

love that opening shot of the judge against the hills/snow, not used to seeing that here in az, nice detail on your build, any more pics.

[JasonD]

Here are a few pictures of some more undercarriage details.

Fully restored and detailed driveshaft assembly:


Rear end is finished with perfect replication of factory markings and brake hardware. We even reused the original date coded brake drums:





During disassembly we noted different colors that were present on each of the body mount bushings (pink, blue, and purple).....apparantly to help factory workers place them in the proper places......so we replicated the colors and sprayed them on the corresponding body mounts.

[Larry P]

Thats awsome Jason, I have a 70 WT1 car and you photos and work are a perfect restoration example for my car.

[OVERULD]

Amazing!! Can't wait to see it all come together. Very nice work and detailing.

BJ

[68addict]

Jason, did you sandblast the driveshaft? Just wondering the technique as I am an amatuer. LOOKING GOOD!!!!

[judgera4]

Looks Great!

[JasonD]

Thanks, guys.

Yes "68addict" we remove the old U-joints, sandblast and prime the driveshaft, and then install the new U-joints.....and then paint the whole assembly to protect it from rusting but still have it look like bare metal.

[getmygoat]

I'm hoping it will be for sale when you are done?

[68addict]

Originally Posted by JasonD

Thanks, guys.

Yes "68addict" we remove the old U-joints, sandblast and prime the driveshaft, and then install the new U-joints.....and then paint the whole assembly to protect it from rusting but still have it look like bare metal.

Thank You Jason, the car is coming out great. Did you use something like eastwood's spray gray? I like that look instead of black.... Mine is going to be a driver, but I would like to maintain some level of correctness.

[JasonD]

We employ a complete DuPont paint mixing system, so I custom mix all my own paint to match the different colors I need to match.

Yes "getmygoat" this car will be for sale when it's finished. The way my business is right now I just don't have the time to take this car all over the country to show it. This car deserves to see some national shows.

Just wait until you guys see the inside of the engine. It's like it was put in there yesterday. It's the cleanest engine I have ever seen in my life......and it's never seen the light of day since 1970. The factory paint inspection daubs are still on the rods, mains, crank, and end caps. It's just unbelievable.

[Thunderkiss65]

Nice work. But why didnt you repair the severe pitting in the frame before you painted it.

[JasonD]

Originally Posted by Thunderkiss65

Nice work. But why didnt you repair the severe pitting in the frame before you painted it.

After we sandblasted the frame we did go over the bottom and sides of the frame with a skim coat of filler to eliminate the pitting. We left the top of the frame alone since that is impossible to see with the body on the frame.

We also did a skim coat on the control arms. Those sure aren't very fun to get smooth.

Here is a pic of the frame just before I painted it. You can see the skim coat of filler down the sides and the bottom where we filled in some of the rust pitting: