SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[lukedukem]

Not sure if you mentioned this, but what's the door and hood hanging on your wall for? Tribute to what it once was?

Luke

[winghawg]

Ive followed your build since the start,All i can say is WOW what a very awesome car.a  different approach to a customcar. I LIKE IT.

[Stevearino]

Hey Steve, I just dont have words , well one word,,,,    AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

Thanks as always CDR. You are one of my biggest cheer leaders and I appreciate it.

Steve,

That last pic of your car sitting in the garage, WOW!  Now that is a Bitchin Ride quoting someone famous in the car world!

Tons of time and sweat in a build like this

I can't help but get a little excited but I have to stay focused and finish.

Best Daytona Ever Built! 

DonC1 as always that is a big compliment coming from you knowing what you are capable of.

Not sure if you mentioned this, but what's the door and hood hanging on your wall for? Tribute to what it once was?

Luke

The door skins are off the original door shells which I did use. At one point I was considering fixing them but they were too far gone. I had put them up there out of the way and just never took them back down.  The hood is a much more bizarre story that I can't do justice to right now. I will probably tell it when this build thread is done with some pictures. Some here know the story as I had posted it on Facebook about 5 years ago. Definitely weird.

Ive followed your build since the start,All i can say is WOW what a very awesome car.a  different approach to a customcar. I LIKE IT.

Well I certainly appreciate you hanging in there for the last 3 1/2 years.

[tsmithae]

She's looking phenomenal!

[djcarguy]

 

[Charger_Fan]

Just popping in to catch up on your build...it's looking freaking AWESOME!!

[Stevearino]

She's looking phenomenal!

Thanks tsmithas. How is the 70 build coming?

Thanks djcarguy. We ever gonna see some pics of the Dartona?

Just popping in to catch up on your build...it's looking freaking AWESOME!!

Thanks Charger_Fan. I hope to be done somewhere along here some day.

Disastrous is too mild a word for the last couple of weeks. I feel like I have been slipping backwards through a series of brainless moves on my part. The first thing that set me spiraling down was I set the rear glass in the bed. and even though I thought I had made all precautions not to mess with the contours of the Vega window bed the glass only set down on 3 of four edges. The bottom edge was about 1/4" too flat. Well I was beside myself that I had not caught that earlier. Fortunately since I had no Dutchman panel I had built what looks like a bridge truss under the base of the back window to tie everything in and make it rigid. After covering the entire trunk with a welding blanket because I had put all of the liners back in I proceeded to cut all of the diagonal braces out leaving only the uprights. (Sorry no pictures but I was in no mood for it) I put a bottle jack under the center of the bridge and slowly jacked 1/4" of crown into it. I then welded the diagonals back and luckily it all stayed put an did not cause the panel to buckle.

Dumb move number 2. I spent the better part of the 80's installing glass solariums so I am pretty familiar with glass (cutting, bedding ect.) I built the windshield bed with the original windshield but have known for some time that my replacement glass was about 1/4" wider than the original. It is not that it would not fit into the hole. It was that there was no room left for the trim clips. Also it did not want to lay down on the driver's side and had to be shifted towards the passenger side which made matters worse. I decided when the time came I would trim 1/4" off of the right side edge. Can be done. It is just tricky with laminated glass since it is two layers with a rubberized layer between. Well the picture shows I was not successful and got a run in one layer. The rest of the damage is from my foot. I ordered a replacement and came home early to meet the delivery truck. I was late and the driver had laid the box standing on it's side.I like to have a heart attack when I saw the box. Can you guess what was hanging out the break in the box a mere 1/4" from the pavement. Luckily the glass was not damaged and even luckier it was the right size for the hole.

I was wanting to get the rear glass and the side glazing tinted before I re installed it but as luck would have it a combination of bad window film and inexperience had me packing up all the glass and carrying it to a window tinter who was willing to do it out of the car. The first couple of guys said they wouldn't touch it unless it was in the car. Go figure. That is where it all is right now which is preventing me from finishing out the interior.

The last massive bone head move came just yesterday when I was trying to install my cowl cover. I had never installed it with the hood in place and it wasn't going in on the driver side. So without thinking I loosend the hood hinge and before I realized it I had gone to far. It came undone and the hood came crashing down on top of the right front fender doing most damage on the top of the fender near the still bolted right side hinge point. After several screaming laps around the shop. I straightened it out but I have some body repair.

[Stevearino]

Now for some of the stuff I got done despite my stupidity.
I laid the rear glass in the bed and centered it up with rubber blocks that will stay in the bed until I set it permanently . I taped out the area that will cover the window bed and the pattern I needed for the center tail light.

[Stevearino]

Once back on the work bench I taped off the under side to back paint a black border on the glass. Since the paint is not part of the glass as it would be if it was baked in at the factory I left a 1/4" border unpainted for the urethane to stick to the glass directly. I did the same treatment on the windshield.

[Stevearino]

I sprayed the glass with this adhesion promoter before I gave it 3 coats of black Imron. I will post pictures of the result when I get my back glass back from the tinters.

You can see from the next two pictures that with the rear seat back installed there is not much room to spare to the back glass or the head liner for that matter as these seats fold forward to access the trunk. Having the Daytona glass is a real plus here as I would have had to cut these seats down in a stock Charger.

Also got my windshield washer nozzles installed on the hood and the lines run to them.

[Stevearino]

Here is my method for getting a pattern off of the bottom of the side view mirror so that I could cut a gasket out of some 1/16th EDPM to cushion it against the door top.
Finally here is also the right side mirror installed on the car. I was also able to re install the right side window regulator and motor in addition to the right door speaker.

[Stevearino]

The last task of the day before I quit early today was to bed the windshield. Also in the picture is the trouble making cowl cover that conceals the wiper motor.

[Dino]

Beautiful work as always.

I'm very sorry about your misfortune but I have no doubt that the damage will be gone before long and you'll be right on track again.   

[Stevearino]

Beautiful work as always.

I'm very sorry about your misfortune but I have no doubt that the damage will be gone before long and you'll be right on track again.   

I appreciate the sentiment but I will be feeling like a dumb ass until it is fixed. Which will be a while.

[Mike DC]

  
This thread is about 60+ pages of almost entirely smart-ass moments on your part.  

A few dumb-ass moments along the way will not come anywhere near shifting that balance.  

[ACUDANUT]

 
This thread is about 60+ pages of almost entirely smart-ass moments on your part.  

A few dumb-ass moments along the way will not come anywhere near shifting that balance.  

from whom ?

[tsmithae]

Thanks tsmithas. How is the 70 build coming?

It is coming slowly. I just updated my thread with some shots of the epoxy primer on the bottom and some of the other panels. It finally felt like forward movement instead of backwards for once.

[Charger_Fan]

You can see from the next two pictures that with the rear seat back installed there is not much room to spare to the back glass or the head liner for that matter as these seats fold forward to access the trunk. Having the Daytona glass is a real plus here as I would have had to cut these seats down in a stock Charger.

That's a good thing, or you may have never been able to vacuum the package tray either.

Great update pics as usual! Bummer about the chipped paint, I'm glad it wasn't worse.

[Stevearino]

You can see from the next two pictures that with the rear seat back installed there is not much room to spare to the back glass or the head liner for that matter as these seats fold forward to access the trunk. Having the Daytona glass is a real plus here as I would have had to cut these seats down in a stock Charger.

That's a good thing, or you may have never been able to vacuum the package tray either.

Great update pics as usual! Bummer about the chipped paint, I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Oh. It got worse today. I was fitting the last piece of glass. The drivers door and I damaged it. It is a custom piece and I hope I can get one to replace it or I will have to live with an upside down smiley face crack right about where you look at the side view mirror.  Oh well. Here is a little walk around video I did today. I have a short family trip so I will be taking a much needed break from this for the next couple of weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73ueqRrXkac

[ACUDANUT]

That was awesome.  It would be nice to place a face with that build !!

[garner7555]

Nice video!!   

[Charger-Bodie]

A well deserved break. You will feel much better when you start back in after.

[ws23rt]

 

[Arigmaster]

The last task of the day before I quit early today was to bed the windshield. Also in the picture is the trouble making cowl cover that conceals the wiper motor.

Not sure if it would look right because of the hood lines but... A raised cowl induction (even if not very tall would allow you to extend the hood in the back and conseal the motor. You could alo conceal the washer sprayers under it. Granted it's not OEM but if it's done right you could also include an air grabber in it too. Just not sure how to make the hood scallops follow in.

[XS29L9B2]

nice video