SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Stevearino]

neat, i've always wanted to see how those hatches got installed 

This is not how most guys install them.  Usually the lower part of the plug is left on and relief cuts are made on either side of the plug below the window and the steel is worked down until it fits. As Daytona guy mentioned on another thread if you go that way you need to leave the glass in  until  the metal is worked down or the bottom of the window track will rotate and no longer fit the glass.

[Stevearino]

Before installing the window bed I removed the drip rail in order to get between the two layers to clean and treat the metal and then I fabricated a new rail .
After the final fit I tacked the window bed into place between the sail panels.
Next I shaped a transition piece  to go from the window bed to the roof. I ran this piece up the roof until it made a smooth transition as the side to side arc of the Vega plug does not exactly match the Charger roof. It is higher in the center of the plug. The window bed is positioned approximately 12" up from the center of the front of the deck lid.
After tracing the outline of my transition piece on the the roof I cut the rear roof support out and then the rear roof section so that it would be a flush fit. I temporarily tacked the old rear roof to the under side of the roof to maintain the arc since the rear roof support was now gone.

[Stevearino]

I cut a piece of 1/8th inch aluminum to fit up under the roof to temporarily act as a support for the roof mend piece. It will act as a heat sink for flush welding it in to place.
The second picture is of the temporary aluminum bed clecoed into place and finally the patch welded in.

[Budnicks]

Nice sheet-metal work...

[hotrod98]

I use an English wheel to relax the lower portion of the vega plug. Works great. Falls right into place. I still have to make a couple of small cuts near the corners to make everything look right. I overlap the vega plug and the dutchman panel several inches to add strength. I make a long cut along the edge of the sail panels so that the plug fits into place. I slide the plug up until the transition looks correct. That leaves a two inch gap at the top. I make a ledge for the package tray to sit on that also fills in the gap under the plug. I no longer use the headliner toothed pieces since my trim guy says that he can glue the headliner in which looks cleaner anyway. My trim shop makes the package tray from scratch since the Daytona repro definitely doesn't work when using the vega plug conversion.
I have two more conversions to do this year. Gets a little easier each time.

[Stevearino]

I use an English wheel to relax the lower portion of the vega plug. Works great. Falls right into place. I still have to make a couple of small cuts near the corners to make everything look right. I overlap the vega plug and the dutchman panel several inches to add strength. I make a long cut along the edge of the sail panels so that the plug fits into place. I slide the plug up until the transition looks correct. That leaves a two inch gap at the top. I make a ledge for the package tray to sit on that also fills in the gap under the plug. I no longer use the headliner toothed pieces since my trim guy says that he can glue the headliner in which looks cleaner anyway. My trim shop makes the package tray from scratch since the Daytona repro definitely doesn't work when using the vega plug conversion.
I have two more conversions to do this year. Gets a little easier each time.

I'll have to try that method if I ever do another one of these. Looking forward to some nice pics of your new project Larry.

Steve

[Stevearino]

After mending in the roof I moved on to replacing the panel beneath the window. I laid out and fitted a piece of .035. I had thought looking at pictures that it needed some compound shape for strength. After English wheeling it and laying it back in place I decided it needed to be flat and tossed out the first piece. Satisfied with the second piece I welded it up.
I wanted to make sure I had all the fabrication done to the deck lid before I re skinned it so I decided to see if there was a way to use the lock mechanism from the SRT.
With a couple of swipes of a rat tail file I was able to clearance the old hole for the new barrel.  I had to invert the lock mechanism  as the lock is in the lid of the SRT and the latch on the car. I was able to invert it by replacing a rubber pull  mech with a steel push rod to actuate the lock.

[mauve66]

where you from again??  i need to figure out shipping to your house

[Indygenerallee]

Steve ought to open a shop instead of working on racecars!! 

[Stevearino]

where you from again??  i need to figure out shipping to your house

Concord North Carolina. Come on by.

Steve ought to open a shop instead of working on racecars!! 

Then this would be work and it would ruin the fun. You know what it's like workin on other peoples stuff. Usually you think your doin great and they end up nit picin you. 
Workin on race cars used to be fun and now it's a doughnut factory.

[Indygenerallee]

Steve, Haters gonna hate!! 

[Baldwinvette77]

wow i like what you did with the lock, i might try and do the same  , i just adapted '76 corvette door locks to my mismatched 69/68 doors, perhaps i can scavenge a trunk lock off a late model too 

and i know what you mean between work and fun, working at an auto garage is total S*!t compared to working at my own pace at home 

[moparstuart]

steve-o the 1970's called and they want there red oxide primer back        love ya buddy

[Stevearino]

steve-o the 1970's called and they want there red oxide primer back        love ya buddy

I was wondering who was going to be the first to mention that. That's my " Comes in a can,needs no mixing, hold of the flash rust till I get to the bondo work" primer.  I figure if it was good enough to hold off the rust on this piece for 40 years under the Georgia pines it will out live me. Oh and it's cheap.  I have to save my pennies for that $300.00 dollar a gallon paint they sell today. One of the clear coats is up to almost $700.00 per gallon.

[moparstuart]

steve-o the 1970's called and they want there red oxide primer back      love ya buddy

I was wondering who was going to be the first to mention that. That's my " Comes in a can,needs no mixing, hold of the flash rust till I get to the bondo work" primer.  I figure if it was good enough to hold off the rust on this piece for 40 years under the Georgia pines it will out live me. Oh and it's cheap.  I have to save my pennies for that $300.00 dollar a gallon paint they sell today. One of the clear coats is up to almost $700.00 per gallon.
 just giving you crap  

[Stevearino]

Well , I don't know why but my laptop with all my photos refused to find this site anymore. I have a few more photos on this computer but no software to downsize them. Very odd problem. My laptop goes to any and all websites but not this one. It tells me it can't find the server and yet here I am on another computer. Tried reinstalling the browser. Clearing the history, cookies and cashe. Checked for security blocs on the anti virus. Searched the browser trouble shooting site. Nothin.

[Stevearino]

Well I managed to e-mail myself the photos I downsized from my laptop to this computer. Let's see how this post goes.
With the lock mech in place it was time to re skin the deck lid and set it in place. I used this SEM product to go between the skin and the inner liner. It said there was a 2 minute working time but it was more like 10 seconds because when I was done with the application I had to pull off the mixer nozzle before the material expanded back into the tube.

[DC_1]

Well , I don't know why but my laptop with all my photos refused to find this site anymore. I have a few more photos on this computer but no software to downsize them. Very odd problem. My laptop goes to any and all websites but not this one. It tells me it can't find the server and yet here I am on another computer. Tried reinstalling the browser. Clearing the history, cookies and cashe. Checked for security blocs on the anti virus. Searched the browser trouble shooting site. Nothin.

Try loading a different browser....google chrome or Firefox maybe

[Stevearino]

Well , I don't know why but my laptop with all my photos refused to find this site anymore. I have a few more photos on this computer but no software to downsize them. Very odd problem. My laptop goes to any and all websites but not this one. It tells me it can't find the server and yet here I am on another computer. Tried reinstalling the browser. Clearing the history, cookies and cashe. Checked for security blocs on the anti virus. Searched the browser trouble shooting site. Nothin.

Try loading a different browser....google chrome or Firefox maybe

I have Firefox on both my computers. The laptop has internet explorer too and that won't bring it up either. I loaded Google Chrome and it can't hook me up either. I ran full virus and malware scans.  Probably a goofy glitch in my laptop.

I don't know what it was but my laptop cured itself over night.

[Stevearino]

Since I moved my hinge points forward to use the stock deck hinges I wasn't able to use the torsion rods to hold the deck lid open. The gas pistons off of the SRT worked as a good substitute.

[wingcarenvy]

I have to say that this is an awesome build!!

[70Sbird]

I have to say that this is an awesome build!!

X2!!
Great solution to the trunk spring issue, the original Charger hinges look much better than the oversized, "adapted looking" hinges on a daytona. Also you cleaned up the inside of the truck a bit at the same time.
Amazing work!

[hotrod98]

Looks like high quality work to me.
I'm not sure why you altered the roof the way that you did. I've never done it that way. The plug sets in nicely with about a two inch gap at the top. I just fill in the gap and smooth it out.
Here's a couple of pics of the RTSE that I converted a few years ago. On this one I filled in the two inch gap at the top, relaxed the lower area of the vega plug with an English wheel, overlapped that onto a 3rd gen Dutchman and altered the deck lid so that there was a nice area for the weatherstrip to seal up properly against the drip channel.
Oh, and I made a lip at the rear edge of the vega plug to fold over into the Dutchman channel. Because of the way that I assemble the car, I have to make the conversion to the deck lid after everything else is in place.
The downside of using the 3rd gen Dutchman is the fact that the closeout panel on the underside of the deck lid will hit the channel because of the width of the channel. I take this into consideration and place the Dutchman slightly further forward and make the deck lid slightly longer.  You can tell in the pics that it really doesn't look too bad since there's not that much difference.

[hotrod98]

Another pic showing the conversion.

[Stevearino]

Looks like high quality work to me.
I'm not sure why you altered the roof the way that you did. I've never done it that way. The plug sets in nicely with about a two inch gap at the top. I just fill in the gap and smooth it out.
Here's a couple of pics of the RTSE that I converted a few years ago. On this one I filled in the two inch gap at the top, relaxed the lower area of the vega plug with an English wheel, overlapped that onto a 3rd gen Dutchman and altered the deck lid so that there was a nice area for the weatherstrip to seal up properly against the drip channel.
Oh, and I made a lip at the rear edge of the vega plug to fold over into the Dutchman channel. Because of the way that I assemble the car, I have to make the conversion to the deck lid after everything else is in place.
The downside of using the 3rd gen Dutchman is the fact that the closeout panel on the underside of the deck lid will hit the channel because of the width of the channel. I take this into consideration and place the Dutchman slightly further forward and make the deck lid slightly longer.  You can tell in the pics that it really doesn't look too bad since there's not that much difference.

Your conversion looks top shelf Larry. You can tell your a pro. There are a couple of reasons that I did the roof the way I did. The first is that the arc of the plug side to side seemed a little high as it related to the roof in the center and I wanted to run the metal up further until it blended better. Just personal preference. Also since I was removing the dutchman panel and the inner window track I decided to remove the sub roof support and remake every thing as if it were intended to be a true fast back not just a plug. Since I am not using the uni body sub structure no sense in carrying all that extra metal. Just a hang over from my job where they bust chops about any extra metal on a car.