Building a 70 Charger from scratch Build Thread

[Stevearino]

 If you mount asphalt late model bodies than you already have a really good start on knowing what needs to be done.

[tnthull]

I've helped mount them and watched alot but never soley just me, so I probably know just enough to get myself in trouble haha

[tnthull]

I got the trailing arm mounts measured out and tacked on the chassis tonight, had a few clearance issues I had to iron out to make these work and still some bracing questions to answer but it's finally got the trailing arms bolted in and hooked to the rear end housing for the first time. Pictures to come tomorrow night hopefully with some more progress

[tnthull]

Pictures of progress. Ive got my 3rd link rod ordered so after that comes in ill be connecting that. next is mounting the upper shock brackets so it can be supported and have wheels on it.

[tnthull]

chassis trailing arm bracket and rear end trailing arm bracket

[tnthull]

pictures of 3rd link bracket on the rear end and the rear end under the chassis

[tnthull]

bought some more tubing this past weekend, started on the fuel cell cage, the hard measuring is done and its located on the frame, this should be finished up by tomorrow night and ill also be ordering my rear lower valance ends then the rear body mounting begins...

[Baldwinvette77]

Mmmm looking forward to the body 

[tnthull]

^^me too!

[fy469rtse]

  me too

[tnthull]

got the cell cage mostly complete. brainstorming and drawing up ideas on how to connect the skins to the chassis the best way....I don't think I want to bolt them up anymore, at least not as a permanent solution. Anyone with any grand ideas please share

[tnthull]

fuel cell cage

[Stevearino]

What size are the frame rails on your chassis  3x4 or what? Also what is the width side to side of the frame rails outside to outside. If you haven't gotten started hanging the body I have some ideas  as to how you can get started.

[Budnicks]

tnthull it's looking good  , it'll be a roller soon

[tnthull]

What size are the frame rails on your chassis  3x4 or what? Also what is the width side to side of the frame rails outside to outside. If you haven't gotten started hanging the body I have some ideas  as to how you can get started.

I am running 3x4 yes and overall width of the chassis is 61". I haven't made anything permenant by any means, just a lot of mocking up and marking, what are your ideas??

[tnthull]

I had to take a short break, Life got in the way, but back at it today I got my rear down bars put in and some tires to be able to roll it on the trailer to take it to the shop to put it on a surface plate and do the front clip..that should happen 1st of april. until then, hopefully more body progress!

[tnthull]

another pic

[Baldwinvette77]

AWESOME!!! 

[Stevearino]

Well this is the way I might proceed. You will probably have to adjust as you go. I would start this build from the rockers up. The stock rockers are spread 62" at the upper pinch weld. Your 3' x 4" frame rails being 61" out to out. The first picture I have posted is a quick drawing of a cross section of how you might attach them. I am assuming you are planning a 117" wheel base as this is stock for the 69 Charger. With that in mind the back of the rocker would be 18" from the center of the rear wheel hub going forward. Having your rockers in place I would set up your rear door jamb on the rockers. There is an indention in the rocker that will give you the location front to back.  The second picture is of the simple  temporary stob that adjusts you can make from  some 1/2" and 3/8" tube sleeved together with a 1/4 20 nut welded over a hole in the 1/2" tube to tighten the adjuster. Use one of the and tack it to the upright member of the rear hoop to the upper part of the door jamb so you can lean it in or out. The third and fourth pictures are of a simple body stand you can build that will help support pieces as you go. If you make up 2 to 4 of these they will really come in handy.  Once the jamb is in place use it to mock up the quarter panel. You can use a combination of the simple welded adjusters and body stands to stabilize the quarters. I would use the "Dutchman" panel first to establish the spread between the quarters.  Mocking up the front door jambs and "A" pillars would be next. With the door jambs in place I would mock up the door shells. This will show you how high or low you need to raise the quarter panels. Assuming the car frame has been leveled I would get the quarters to be the same level. Double check to see if the spacing around the doors is even. The trunk lid and the rear facia can be mocked in which will give you the final rotation  and spread of the quarters . Finally I would set the roof on. Working as you do in an shop that builds asphalt cars I would assume you are familiar with  "clecos". I would use these to hold your panels together until you are happy with placement.
To double check the centering of the body I would find the center of the chassis front and rear , plumb bob a mark on the floor and stretch and tape a string to the floor crossing both marks.  I would then find the center of the front and rear of the roof and cut a small notch there dropping a pumb bob down to the string on the floor. I would then use some temporary stobs to tack all four corners of the roof to the upper hoop of the cage. I would mock up the cowl piece which would complete the front window bed. If you have a windshield I would suggest you mock it into the hole and do the same with the rear glass to be sure these openings are square. Once you are satisfied with the location of everything I would use no less than 3/8" .049 DOM tube to permanently stob everything to the cage. As far as stob placement I would start with the rear door jamb as high up as possible to the vertical member of the rear hoop. Replace the four temporary stobs in the roof with permanent pieces. I would support the center of the front roof from the top of the hoop to just behind the windshield bed. I would support the center of the rear roof with diagonals off of the down bars to either the center or  spaced evenly  about 6" from center just in front of the window bed. I would come up off the down bars to the lower corners of the rear window bed or the front of the Dutchman panel. Then from the same location to the center of the front of the Dutchman panel. The deck lid hing points should also be supported and you need to support the rear of the quarters from the rear clip up to the farthest point back just under the trunk seal lip on either side. For bumper support you can use 1 1/2" .049 tubing from the rear clip up to two 1/8' plates corresponding to t bumper mount locations. You can bolt the bumper through the rear facia into this plate. This should get you started.  A problem you might encounter might be the way the cage fits the car relative to the roof height and the angle and distance from the "A" post. You might end up lowering or raising the upper hoop and adjusting the "A" post bars.  If you have any questions PM me and I will try to clarify.


I am sure this is all clear as mud.

[Stevearino]

Hopefully this is sized right.

[JB400]

Sounds like a good plan to me

[TexasGeneral]

 

[tnthull]

I think I get the just of everything you're saying. I may have to do it that way even though I was planning on doing it like a late model from the roof down. My only Dilemma ls that I wasn't going to use stock rockers, I was going to build some only because of the overall height of the car needing to be about 1.5" shorter than a oem charger. I was going to take that 1-1.5 inches out of the bottom and build custom rockers and shorten the bottoms of the front of the rear quarters. However now I may just build it like you said, get it all mocked up, then just simply drop it an inch down on the frame before I start putting the 3/8 or 1/2" support bars for the body on and then either remover or alter the original style rockers. I will most certainly build those support stands, I would already have been able to put those go use so that will happen ASAP. Thanks again for all your diagrams and suggestions, I plan to use most if not all of that! Just need to order some support tubing and I need more clecos!

[Stevearino]

It is easy enough to start with the stock rocker shifted down on the frame rail. The drawing below shows just one way. Instead of the 1" x 1" you could use 1" x  2" or if you want to drop it 1.5 just use some 1 1/2  x 2" on the bottom of the rail. The good thing about starting with the stock rocker is it will guide all of your other part placement. But you have to do whatever you think would work best for you.

[tnthull]

That seems simple enough. Ill Some quick measurements on where I have to get the roof to end up landing and that should work just fine and obviously just adjust the size of the square under the rail accordingly