SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Castle02]

I joined this forum just to say, what an amazing project you've done! I also saw the article in Hot Rod magazine. I just spent the last few hours reading though all 51 pages.

Rich

[Stevearino]

Awesome article on your awesome Daytona! congratulations!
Pat

Thanks keepat. It was very flattering to say the least.

Well deserved press.      I think you and Keepat may both end up at SEMA.  Amazing rides that you guys are building.      

Maybe keepat but SEMA is for professionals. You have to be in a related business just to get in to walk around. Thanks for the thumbs up.

Hey Steve, found the Hot Rod article about this car and I just wanted to give my praise and compliments to you for creating an awesome car. Hope to build one of my own some day.

Thank you ChallengerD and start looking around.People are crashing SRT's all the time.

Enjoy it  now finish it  LOL life will never really be the same...

I'm finishin'. I'm finishin'!!!

I joined this forum just to say, what an amazing project you've done! I also saw the article in Hot Rod magazine. I just spent the last few hours reading though all 51 pages.

Rich

Welcome to DodgeCharger.com and thank you for slogging through what must have seemed endless. You are a patient man.

[Cha11engerD]

Hey Steve, found the Hot Rod article about this car and I just wanted to give my praise and compliments to you for creating an awesome car. Hope to build one of my own some day.

Thank you ChallengerD and start looking around.People are crashing SRT's all the time.

Trick is finding a 2-gen body. Had one nearby, but it finally sold after two months before I could save up enough for it. So the search starts anew.

[Stevearino]

Hey Steve, found the Hot Rod article about this car and I just wanted to give my praise and compliments to you for creating an awesome car. Hope to build one of my own some day.

Thank you ChallengerD and start looking around.People are crashing SRT's all the time.

Trick is finding a 2-gen body. Had one nearby, but it finally sold after two months before I could save up enough for it. So the search starts anew.

You know what? If I had to do it again I would start with the SRT Donor and get all new AMD sheet metal and hang it on the SRT and not even bother with an old shell. It was a lot of effort fixing the old metal and they want too much money for what are rust buckets today. I was fortunate to get my shell for just $1,500.00 but there wasn't a lot left of it by the time I was done. I ended up getting new door skins and it really could have used new quarter panels. That left the roof skin ( which needed a ton of work). The inner roof support ( which unfortunately is not reproduced.) The door sills,jambs, and rockers. The inner door and rear side window structure. I had to scrounge a trunk lid that had to be reworked,a 70 hood and fenders. ect . So by the time I was done?? You get the picture.

[Cha11engerD]

I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. I would like to build something like what you're doing, but I was talking about rebuilding a 2-gen Charger and getting one running. I've never rebuilt a car before, and the car I was looking at was only missing an engine. The other thing that's preventing me from starting such a project is a place to work on it. I'm staying with family in the city, so there's no place for me to get started yet.

[Stevearino]

Oh...Sorry for rambling on. Well good luck with the search.

[68pplcharger]

Just saw the article on your car congrats Steve

[Mike DC]

You know what? If I had to do it again I would start with the SRT Donor and get all new AMD sheet metal and hang it on the SRT and not even bother with an old shell. It was a lot of effort fixing the old metal and they want too much money for what are rust buckets today. I was fortunate to get my shell for just $1,500.00 but there wasn't a lot left of it by the time I was done. I ended up getting new door skins and it really could have used new quarter panels. That left the roof skin ( which needed a ton of work). The inner roof support ( which unfortunately is not reproduced.) The door sills,jambs, and rockers. The inner door and rear side window structure. I had to scrounge a trunk lid that had to be reworked,a 70 hood and fenders. ect . So by the time I was done?? You get the picture.

I always like hearing a builder's feedback about all the abandoned ideas & regrets in hindsight. 

When you speak of the 68-70 shell not being worth it, are you suggesting using the repro skin panels and fabricating all the necessary under-structure for it? 



The Mopar hobby in particular has really taken a savage beating with the lack of decent sheetmetal/bodies. 

Of course rust hurts the entire old-car scene.  But I don't know if there is another situation with any brand where so many people are paying so much for such rotten crap.  It seems like every other brand is either a smaller hobby, more aftermarket support, or better surviving supply.   

[mike69440]

Wonderful thread and article posted by Automobile magazine.
This thread was responsible to motivate me to track down the car I sold 14 years ago.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,121983.0.html

A reskined Hellcat would be something!

[Stevearino]

Just saw the article on your car congrats Steve

Thanks 68pplcharger. It was an ego booster for sure. Unbelievable response. As of yesterday they had over 1.6 million page views.

You know what? If I had to do it again I would start with the SRT Donor and get all new AMD sheet metal and hang it on the SRT and not even bother with an old shell. It was a lot of effort fixing the old metal and they want too much money for what are rust buckets today. I was fortunate to get my shell for just $1,500.00 but there wasn't a lot left of it by the time I was done. I ended up getting new door skins and it really could have used new quarter panels. That left the roof skin ( which needed a ton of work). The inner roof support ( which unfortunately is not reproduced.) The door sills,jambs, and rockers. The inner door and rear side window structure. I had to scrounge a trunk lid that had to be reworked,a 70 hood and fenders. ect . So by the time I was done?? You get the picture.

I always like hearing a builder's feedback about all the abandoned ideas & regrets in hindsight. 

When you speak of the 68-70 shell not being worth it, are you suggesting using the repro skin panels and fabricating all the necessary under-structure for it? 



The Mopar hobby in particular has really taken a savage beating with the lack of decent sheetmetal/bodies. 

Of course rust hurts the entire old-car scene.  But I don't know if there is another situation with any brand where so many people are paying so much for such rotten crap.  It seems like every other brand is either a smaller hobby, more aftermarket support, or better surviving supply.   

You know Mike the second gen Dodge Charger is in a unique position in that other than the roof substructure you can get pretty much everything you need to build a car from scratch. The stupid prices I have seen for what amounts to a vin number by the time you replace all of the rusty stuff would keep me from doing this again starting with an old car shell. If you wanted a 68 or 69 Charger and you were going to start with a base model any way why not build one from scratch. You are going to have to spend the money on the sheet metal anyway. I know there is the problem of jigging it up but it is not impossible to do.

Wonderful thread and article posted by Automobile magazine.
This thread was responsible to motivate me to track down the car I sold 14 years ago.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,121983.0.html

A reskined Hellcat would be something!

Yes. If I had the money and one came available that would be a crazy car. Neither are likely though for me.

[Stevearino]

Okay. So I finally got some color going on. It is just on the trunk rim, the inside of the gas hole and the door jambs and sill but it is color non the less.
The first picture is of the previously mentioned areas sprayed with Evercoat Slick Sand K-2 primer, After sanding that out (which took forever and killed my fingers) down to 400 I sprayed some activated sealer.

[Stevearino]

I followed up with 2 base coats and 3 clear coats of the two colors. Yeah I know it looks like black but in the daylight the color of the door jamb area looks dark silver and the trunk is a dark metallic grey. The final picture is a little trick I used to keep the paint out of the threads to the door hinge bolts. I cut the head off the same size bolt and cut a slot in it so that I could screw it in with a screw driver.

[garner7555]

Awesome!  Can't wait to see this one finished!   

[keepat]

That has to feel great getting some color on your Daytona! looks awesome!!
Pat

[Bobs69]

Where did all this skill come from?  Is Lee Iacocca coming to you in your dreams giving you your instructions or what?  "You will build a hybrid Charger it will measure X by Y it will .....................

Are you a body man by trade?  Being pushed by pure passion?

[djcarguy]

  went back thru pages 1-15 .  You've come alone way it is looking great to me.Still available to do some test drives for you,HA HA..    looking forward ,will bee a great Daytona year,I think...   Dj  the next one will go together faster,HA HA   

[Stevearino]

Awesome!  Can't wait to see this one finished!   

Yeah. I am about ready to be done with this but I will be quite lost when it is done having spent pretty much every weekend for the last 3 years on it. It will be odd.

Where did all this skill come from?  Is Lee Iacocca coming to you in your dreams giving you your instructions or what?  "You will build a hybrid Charger it will measure X by Y it will .....................

Are you a body man by trade?  Being pushed by pure passion?

What I do for a living sounds like it would give me the skills to do this but there is very little resemblance in putting stock car bodies on  and what went on here. A stock car body is just sheet metal skins hung on small tubing stand offs from a roll cage. The skins are tack welded every 2" or so and there are no operable doors or interior parts to build. Mostly I am just winging it here. I just like to figure things out and yes I would say I am a bit obsessed with this car.

  went back thru pages 1-15 .  You've come alone way it is looking great to me.Still available to do some test drives for you,HA HA..    looking forward ,will bee a great Daytona year,I think...   Dj  the next one will go together faster,HA HA   

  went back thru pages 1-15 .  You've come alone way it is looking great to me.Still available to do some test drives for you,HA HA..    looking forward ,will bee a great Daytona year,I think...   Dj  the next one will go together faster,HA HA   

When I get done I probably will be too old to drive DJ so I will probably need somebody to run it through it's paces by then.


Well in case anyone was wondering how I move this 2 ton beast around by myself here are some pictures of how I get it around. First off the little wheels on the tire dollys are terrible with this much weight so just pushing it around is not possible. First I attach a 2"x 4" bar behind the wheel dollys either front or back depending on the direction I want to drag it. I attach a chain to the center of that and it is attached to a 2000 pound 12 volt winch. There are a couple of locations on the floor in the paint room and out in the shop where I can attach the winch to drag the car forward or back.

[Stevearino]

Here you can see my caveman method in action. I stripped the car of all the masking tape and paper because a lot of it had been on there since August and I was afraid it might not come off if left on much longer. I  gave the car a decent clean out and got it out of the way so I could bring the body parts into the paint room to work on them over the next few weeks.

[Baldwinvette77]

Man, those inner fenders don't look as weird on a 68 charger as they did in the beggining 

[Stevearino]

Man, those inner fenders don't look as weird on a 68 charger as they did in the beggining 
[/quote
Paint can be magical.

[cdr]

as always, excellent work !!!     

[XS29L9B2]

you are the best 

[ACUDANUT]

When I get done I probably will be too old to drive DJ so I will probably need somebody to run it through it's paces by then.


Well in case anyone was wondering how I move this 2 ton beast around by myself here are some pictures of how I get it around. First off the little wheels on the tire dollys are terrible with this much weight so just pushing it around is not possible. First I attach a 2"x 4" bar behind the wheel dollys either front or back depending on the direction I want to drag it. I attach a chain to the center of that and it is attached to a 2000 pound 12 volt winch. There are a couple of locations on the floor in the paint room and out in the shop where I can attach the winch to drag the car forward or back.


I'll probably be dead. lol

[Stevearino]

you are the best 

Love havin' you in my corner Charlie.

I'll probably be dead. lol

Geez . I hope not. Hang in there ACUDANUT.

[ACUDANUT]

Get her done.  I want to see it on the road.