SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Stevearino]

I was going to mount the third tail light on the package tray but it didn't look right and was too prominent. I opted instead to mount it to the back ceiling in it's own little pod close to the top of the rear window bed. It is hard to see in these pictures but it looks okay in that spot.

[Indygenerallee]

Looking great Steve!! 

[Baldwinvette77]

Man, this is neat 

[jaak]

I've said this earlier, and I will say it again.... this is the best build/thread ever on this site. Period.
Great work!
Jason

[Stevearino]

I've said this earlier, and I will say it again.... this is the best build/thread ever on this site. Period.
Great work!
Jason

That's a lot to live up to Jason. I have gone through quite a few threads and there is a ton of amazing builds recorded here but thank you for your kind words just the same.

[tsmithae]

That third brake light is a great idea and will hopefully help stop some idiot from rear-ending you... 

[Stevearino]

That third brake light is a great idea and will hopefully help stop some idiot from rear-ending you... 

I thought about just leaving it out but with everyone talking and texting on their cell phones I figure I will need some help keeping them off my ass.

[Stevearino]

By the way Jason, this is what I would call a first class build.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lihH5fqxTkw

[Charger-Bodie]

I'd skip the third brake light and just install led tail lights. Or integrate one into the wing0

[ACUDANUT]

That third brake light is a great idea and will hopefully help stop some idiot from rear-ending you... 

It's got to be done and legal first.  

[tan top]

clever stuff !!  

[cudaken]

 That one looks like the one I worked on.

http://s83.photobucket.com/user/cudaken/media/Real%20Cars/Bills.jpg.html]

My old shop.

Cuda Ken

[Stevearino]

That one looks like the one I worked on

Cuda Ken

Man Ken, That's top shelf work man. Why are you selling mattresses now? Super waste of talent.

[Stevearino]

Well more noodling that felt like nothing got done.  I got the other rear window regulator refurbished and then installed so both rear regulators are operational. Found out that the window motors only work when hooked to the car and through the harness with the front window switch installed so simple bench testing is out. I guess it has something to do with some of the safety features of the motors and their sensitivity to loads like a child's head or something. I de skinned my doors so that I can get the shells media blasted. I started cleaning the underside of the hood skin. I rebuilt the door hinges.
I removed most of the gunk paint an rust by hand with a stripper wheel and will bead blast them later. One hinge had the pin ripped away so I had to weld it up and re drill it. Replaced the brass and the pins.

[Stevearino]

I welded some nuts into the door jamb where the hinges usually bolt in from the inside of the jamb. The SRT dash is in the way of me bolting it up that way so now all the bolts for the hinges go in from the outside.  I drilled out the corresponding threaded area of the hinges to allow for adjustment slop. The lower hinge usually doesn't have brass bushings but since I had them apart I thought I would clearance for them. I like the idea of the bushings rather than the steel on steel.

[Baldwinvette77]

Thats cool, When will doors be hung? 

[Stevearino]

Thats cool, When will doors be hung? 

That depends on when I get them back from the bead blaster. Also there is a lot of custom work going to happen to the shells before they can be skinned(SRT latches ect.)

[Baldwinvette77]

Oooo Neat, are they essentially gonna be th srt8 doors with vintage skins? or oldschool doors with srt parts jammed in them? 

[Stevearino]

Oooo Neat, are they essentially gonna be th srt8 doors with vintage skins? or oldschool doors with srt parts jammed in them? 

As of now that is the plan.

[Stevearino]

After cleaning some of the rust off of the door shell I mounted it to the car on and put some temporary cross bracing to mimic the skin so I could work on the interior modifications.
I cut out the end section where the old door latch was mounted and  fabricated a new piece out of .060 steel  to work with the 06 latch. The only thing I wasn't to happy about is there will be a small break in the door seal rubber because of the way this one engages.

[Stevearino]

After the door side was taken care of I mounted the latch so that I could do an alignment with the door jamb.
I cut out the old jamb as the latch area was too deep to work with the new catch.
I made a filler plate out of .060 steel and modified the floating backer plate that was in the 68 door jamb so as to have a way to adjust the door catch.
I then mounted the catch and adjusted it so that it would line up in and out as well as up and down.

[Stevearino]

After the catch mechanism was operating correctly I  cut out the section of the inner door panel from the 06 to help locate the inner door handle.
I welded a piece of 1/8" x 2" steel strap on the back side , drilled and tapped it to secure the handle.
I took the 06 actuator rods for both the lock button and the inner door handle and modified (mostly straightened) them to work in the 68 door.
The thing is I committed to the location of the latch before I checked the rear glass track and it just missed by a whisker. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than smart.

[Baldwinvette77]

This is cool 

[Stevearino]

Well I am a little disappointed. When I was in the planning stages of this project I consulted with a guy who does hot rods for a living and he gave me the name of an outfit that when the time came could provide me with tempered curved side glass to my patterns. Well because of new government testing requirements they are no longer able to provide this service for small customers. Seems that if  you now make any glass it must be DOT approved with a shatter test and the glass must break into specific size pieces. Needless to say it is now cost prohibitive to deal with small custom orders. He gave me the name of an outfit in Michigan that still does this but 2 pieces of side glass were going to cost upwards of $5,000.00. Maybe if this was an open checkbook deal I would bite the bullet and go for it but since I am on a budget that is out. The other option was the guys that did the "Fast and Furious" cars and the "Drive Angry" cars. They quoted me $1,300.00 for two pieces of laminated safety glass. The more I thought about it the more that had disaster written all over it. The window is long and there are considerable torquing and laminated glass is more than fine if it is immobilized but this glass is operable. So that leaves me with one option and that will have to be molded polycarbonate. While it is susceptible to scratching it can be easily trimmed and finished should it be made wrong and can more easily be replaced.


Anyway the first thing I needed to do was to make a accurate pattern of the glass with the arc in the panel. This is mainly because I needed to checkout how the arc would engage the "A" post area. The Lexan mock up window is flat stock so the arc disappears soon after the Lexan leaves the "B" post molding. What I did was to roll two pieces of .021 steel to the arc of rear window trim. I then I sandwiched 1/4" x 2" plywood strips between the two panels with contact cement.
Since Lexan is pretty flexible  I made a .060 steel channel to drop the glass into that will engage the carriers on the window regulator. The channel will keep the bottom of the glass straight.
The next step was to cut a piece of Lexan and  refine the shape a little.x3/4
The window regulator out of the 06 is two independent tracks with cross over cables to connect them. I bent some .035 steel 3/4"X 3/4" to connect these together as one unit. The stays were temporary. Once tied together I was able to align the tracks parallel with the stock rear window guide. I used a piece of square sheet metal to space them out. At the same time I centered the grab clamps with bottom of my widow channel and welded two 3/16ths steel tabs for them to grab on to. I temperarorly tacked whole mess to the inner door shell.
I then hooked up to a battery and tested the regulator and made a bunch of adjustments.

[Stevearino]

Once I was somewhat satisfied I was in the ball park I made some permanent mounting points out of 1/8" steel strap. I made them in two pieces so that I could slide them in and out if I needed to make further adjustments.
Once all the permanent pieces were made I removed the 3/4 x 3/4 temporary braces. I still have a ways to go with this there is all kinds of stuff here to consider.

Here is a little video of it in operation.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=796411597038408&set=vb.100000087251193&type=2&theater