SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Stevearino]

I decided to give the old brain a rest and just do some grunt work so that I can feel like I am making some progress so I busted most of that old green paint off the car this weekend. Didn't get much of anything else done since the old spring chores were call me out doors. All winter I couldn't wait of the warm weather so that I could fling open the shop doors and get some fresh air in the place. I forgot that warm weather means everything starts to grow. 

[Stevearino]

I got in a discussion on another thread about the compatibility of the newer seats and I started to focus on a problem that I was kind of shutting out for now. Sure the SRT-8 seats are awesome in my opinion but............They are out of a 4 door car. Access to the back seat with the front seats as presently configured will be nearly impossible. I took a closer look at the seats and how they are assembled and there are two bolts on each side that hold the seat back to the base. Removing the lower rearward bolt allows the seat to pitch forward. I am not sure but if these frames are the same as the Challenger seat frames I might be able to get the latching system and work it in.

[Baldwinvette77]

I like the wheels, worth the depressed wallet 

[Stevearino]

I like the wheels, worth the depressed wallet 

Selection is limited because of the wide hub stance on this car but I think they will work.

[held1823]

if you later decide they don't suit your taste, you can always kick it old school, cragar style. this is larry b's photo of his daily driver...

[held1823]

arrrggg, duplicate post

[Stevearino]

if you later decide they don't suit your taste, you can always kick it old school, cragar style. this is larry b's photo of his daily driver...

That's the good thing about wheels. Other than the money it is an easy fix if it doesn't look right.

[Cooter]

Holy moly Steve. I just went through this thread. That's alotta work, but awesome craftsmanship.
Don't take it off too often, but my hats not only off, it's in my hand. Job well done sir.

I can only imagine how much time and patience it takes to do a car of this magnitude. I know it's repetitious,  but again, amazing transformation.

[Stevearino]

Thanks Cooter .  I hope I can see it through to the end. Money dictates that I handle as much of the work myself so it will be a bit of test for me. Lots left to do.

[Highbanked Hauler]

  I do think you are on the right track (pun) with the seat and the latch idea. Is the bolt on both sides or just one ?

[Stevearino]

  I do think you are on the right track (pun) with the seat and the latch idea. Is the bolt on both sides or just one ?

There is a bolt on both sides. I looked at my truck bench seat and it has a simple  spring loaded rod going from side to side with catch on either end that latches to a second rod that is a little lower. I will probably do something like that. It is pretty simple.

[DonC1]

As always - Awesome work!
if you were to attempt this conversion again would you approach it differently or ?
Nice shop btw - I see you have all the necessary tools. 

[Stevearino]

As always - Awesome work!
if you were to attempt this conversion again would you approach it differently or ?
Nice shop btw - I see you have all the necessary tools.  

Thanks Don,
Coming from you that means a lot.  Yes, I probably would dispense with trying to use an old body now that I am familiar with what the relationships of the various aspects of the car is relative to the LX platform. I would probably hang new sheet metal directly on to a scalped LX and use the title and vin from the new car. I might try to shorten the platform if I was building a Non winged Charger to get the wheel base right. Using a non SRT LX would also give you smaller wheel options as you would not have to have 20" rims to accommodate the Brembo calipers. I think you could get the exterior looking closer to old school. The one thing that would never look quite right on a stock non wing Charger would be the tread width of the front wheels. The old cars have the front wheels tucked in a bit and that looks great with stock fenders. Every one of these I have seen done with a stock charger body the front wheels and tires hug the fenders too closely. Just too wide of a stance in the front. I might also try to work out a way to use the Gen 2 cowl and wiper set up. Nice to dream. I got a lot of work left to do here first that's for sure.

[Stevearino]

So I decided in order to stay motivated I would get out of the back seat of the car for a bit and straighten my back for a minute. Since the dash top just needed to be covered with vinyl I went ahead and did that. After rough cutting a piece of vinyl I folded it over at a break point on the dash top and sprayed both surfaces with contact. After I stuck that side down I folded over the remaining vinyl and repeated the process. After the top was glued I turned it over and masked out the places I did not want to glue and then sprayed up the rest. I was careful not to get any glued around the front clips so they would still slide easily into place on the car. Also this made tucking the vinyl under the clips easier.

[Stevearino]

The last two pictures show the dash top in place. I was pretty happy with the way it came out. I was pretty worried it would not blend well with the factory dash but I think it's not bad.

[Stevearino]

Then it was time to get back to seat belt duty. The problem I have with working on cars is that there is 2 of everything. The first time you do it there is the challenge of figuring out how to do it. The second time it is just a job that needs to be done.
  I took a look at how the new Challenger front belts are mounted and decided instead of mounting the loop up on the side of the roof like I was going to that I would mount it down low like that car. I built and installed the rear belt pocket for the left side back seatbelt and re installed the quarter window panel mending it back to the wheel tub. The right side window regulator has been refurbished and re installed and I am half way through rehabbing the left mechanism.

[cdr]

dash looks good,,now it has a VIN #

[Baldwinvette77]

Dang   

[djcarguy]

     hay steve your srt-8  sure looks lots better in bare skin with the shades of green bustted off it.looking good i like how much original panels you have saved an used,,awesum..


   looks to be a comffy interior coming together..  all da best an following ya build.. DJ

[Stevearino]

More knick knack items taken care of. I cut two pockets in the inner side roof support to install the "OH S##T" handles in the back seat area. The over head courtesy lighting is in this assembly. I fabricated a backer plate out of .060 that would accept the plastic sub housing and then test fit the handles.

[Stevearino]

The rear view mirror from the 06 is pretty large so instead of attaching it to the windshield I decided to mount it to the back side of the upper windshield bed. Since the windshield is so much smaller on the 68 this gets it up as high as it can go.

I wanted to mount the over head map light module so I built an attachment bracket that spans from the front roof support to the first intermediate roof support. I attached the plastic sub mounting box to this and test fit the map light module. I will have to build an overhead console to blend this out to the head liner.

[Stevearino]

 I saved the mounting points for the sun visors from the roof structure of the 06 so that I might use them to locate the visors in the 68. I cut clearance holes in the upper corners of the windshield support and installed them along with the hooks that hold them to the ceiling.    Now I will be able to put makeup on while I drive.

[Indygenerallee]

Keep up the fight Steve!! 

[cudaken]

 

[Stevearino]

More noodling. It might not seem necessary right now but some of these little items I am working on all have to have some sort of welded tabs or other fabrication done that needs to be  figured out so that when I finally get to the body work I will not have to worry about scarring it up getting in and out of the car with tools.
I was going to custom fabricate the  inner "A" pillar covers out of metal and cover them with vinyl and I decided to first try to modify the SRT inners. If it didn't work out so what. If it did I would have much safer plastic covers that would match the interior.  Well after some carving like Gepeto did on Pinnochio  they actually worked out pretty good. Instead of trying to blind fasten them I just went for an old school look with a couple of stainless steel oval head 10-24 machine screws tapped into some plates welded into the "A" pillar back side. I mocked up a piece of the pinch weld molding that came off the SRT and it looks like I will be able to use that too.