Don's 69 Charger Rust Belt restoration

[XS29L9B2]

whooo great job she is very rusty 

[mopar4don]

Time to update, Here I got the drivers side drip rail removed!

[mopar4don]

I'll have to do some more patching!

[mopar4don]

Then I drilled out the spot welds along the front windshield channel and rear glass channel. (sorry I didn't get any pics)
Here are some pics showing the roof skin removed

[XS29L9B2]

very nice work 

[RIDELIKEHELL]

BTW more great Work Don!

[mopar4don]

Thanks guys...... I'm pluggin away

[gers1968rt]

You are an inspiration to all of us.

[mopar4don]

After I removed the roof I found something interesting.
I actually noticed it while taking this picture!

Do you see it?
It's laying in the upper rear roof bow.
Go ahead look again!

[mopar4don]

Ok here are some better pictures

[mopar4don]

Apparently someone was fixing the car and had a little trouble.....
and decided to leave some tools of the trade.

[mopar4don]

Here is the replacement roof and a-pillars I picked up last summer.
Not sure yet if I am going to de-skin it or try to morph it in.
Right now I am leaning on de-skining it.
Any thoughts?

[fy469rtse]

Was thinking , morph it , but the there would be all those areas that are corroded or rusty , exactly like the tops of your roof bows, skin it , just a few patches to your existing frame , great work , glad you posted, was wondering if you were still at it 

[Stevearino]

Don, I know there is already a thread with  the name " Scratch Build Charger" but that seems to be what this has turned into.
I'll bet that grinding disk is oem. When I was in construction and we would open a wall on a renovation we would call stuff like that a job find. Weirdest one I ever found was a whole Sunday newspaper and when I got to the wedding announcements there was a picture of my aunt from 1958.

I would agree with fy469rtse. Chances are the top of the roof substructure is in pretty much the same condition as the one you have. Since you would want to clean that area up anyway,  judging from the extensive work you have already done, why not leave the existing roof sub structure together and clean it up on the car. What I am getting at is you will want to inspect the sub structure on the donor roof so you will probably peel that assembly apart anyway. Also at that point you can compare if there are any individual parts that are better than any on the car (like the C post sub structure) and just remove and replace those.

[hemi-hampton]

Steve, Did you ever find any old beer cans on these contruction jobs wall finds? Curious? LEON.

[Stevearino]

Steve, Did you ever find any old beer cans on these contruction jobs wall finds? Curious? LEON.

Beer cans, Beer bottles, Secret messages to whoever opened the wall. Lots of curiousities but nothing of great value. My partner planted a few bottles on a couple of jobs.

[Ryan]

Here is the replacement roof and a-pillars I picked up last summer.
Not sure yet if I am going to de-skin it or try to morph it in.
Right now I am leaning on de-skining it.
Any thoughts?

I would without question de-skin that replacement roof.  Do not cut up your a pillars and c pillars.  Great work by the way!

[Pat1973charger]

wow! impressive work your doing there! I am in the process of restoring my 73 charger but having a hard time getting body panels  . keep up the great work, glad to see someone bringing a car back that most would have scrapped!

[hemi-hampton]

Steve, Did you ever find any old beer cans on these contruction jobs wall finds? Curious? LEON.

Beer cans, Beer bottles, Secret messages to whoever opened the wall. Lots of curiousities but nothing of great value. My partner planted a few bottles on a couple of jobs.

Sorry to hijack, I pay $1,000.00+ for certain rare beer cans, you may of thrown some away? LEON.

[six-tee-nine]

Every time I open this thread I'm amaze over and over again.
Great skills
Tremendous amount of patience
Huge pair of balls

All i can say is great job and stay motivated (wich can be hard some days), you will get there one day and you know its done the way it should....

[Homerr]

Ok Don, just admit it:  you always wanted to take a Charger entirely apart!

[mopar4don]

Patching the Roof Support on the passenger side

I took some reference pictures of the rust damage on the passenger side roof support.
This would be in the back sde rear window corner.

Roof 2 quarter panel bracket
The quarter panel gets welded to this.

[mopar4don]

I had to remove it to fix the nasty metal under it!

[mopar4don]

Then I used tape to lay out where I wanted to remove the heavily pitted and rotten metal. And cut out my 1st patch for this area.

[mopar4don]

Then I flattened out the patch and transfered it to some new metal.
I went back and forth cutting and fitting the patch to the opening I had cut out.

All of the metal for the patches came from the roof I cut off. It is the same thickness.