Don's 69 Charger Rust Belt restoration

[Bronzedodge]

Awesome work!  You're at the point where I got discouraged with my other Mopar.  Starting to get back into it after reading every sheet metal magazine article for the past 8 years.   

[mopar4don]

Awesome work!  You're at the point where I got discouraged with my other Mopar.  Starting to get back into it after reading every sheet metal magazine article for the past 8 years.   

Thats just it Bronzedodge. You have to stay with it over the long haul. I may not work on mine every day, but lord willing, I will get it done.
There are lots of things more important than working on these old cars! (I have to remind myself of this from time to time)

[charger chris]

  nice

[mopar4don]

This update is long overdue....
Wow it has been a while (almost 3 months) A lot has happened, I will recap.
Just before Christmas I put a new (used) motor in my wifes 2005 Tahoe. Here are a few pics of the motor as I recieved it

[mopar4don]

This motor is used and has 75,000 on it. It comes with a 36,000 or 3 year warranty on it.
They go through the motor and test it. But I was quite impressed!
I pulled the valve covers for inspection and it was clean!

[mopar4don]

Out with the old...

[mopar4don]

Not a lot of room! I sure am glad I built my garage 28 feet deep.
Still not a lot of room! (never big enough)

[mopar4don]

I sure am glad I had a couple of helpers, (2 of my sons) They helped a lot! Love you guys!

[mopar4don]

here it is, a nice and snug.

[mopar4don]

I never did get a completed picture but you guys know what they look like.
The old motor made it to 199428, not bad considering it had (I believe) the infamous castech head crack problem. (the head develops a crack allowing coolant to get in the oil).
It never turned milky but would turn the oil into sludge. I was changing oil every 2000 miles. As long as I did that, the oil did not sludge. If I let it go to 3000 miles, SLUDGE! WEIRD!
I lived with it this way for about 4 years, until one warm autumn day we were one our way camping (towing a 28 footer) when I heard the engine beginning to knock. I check the oil pressure and it is below 20! NOT good. To make a long story short we get it home, I switched vehicles and we finished the weekend camping. I get back and look the truck over, and all is good, a bit low on the oil pressure but it ran fine! You would never know it had a problem. So now I don't trust it and I start looking for a motor .....

[Baldwinvette77]

Good job with the swap  so now you can get back to the charger right? 

[mopar4don]

My dremel died AGAIN!
I decided I was not buying another one so I picked up this gem!

[mopar4don]

It's a Dumore grinder, and this thing is BUILT to last!
Here you can see how much beefier it is than the dremel.

[mopar4don]

Here I am, puting it to use, grinding down those pesky hard to reach plug welds

[green69rt]

My dremel died AGAIN!

Mine died a couple of times, one time it was just the brushes, the other time it was the switch.  Have you tried fixing it?

[mopar4don]

I still have it, It was like 2 weeks old when it died, so it's probably the switch, The one before this got hot and seized up, so I just didnt want to put more money into it.

[alfaitalia]

Dremels are crap....OK for handy crafts and the like but just not man enough for real work like grinding. Mine are always burning out brushes or overheating!

[mopar4don]

They work great for most things, but if you are running them a lot, then they just don't cut it!
My advise, is to pick up a Dumore, a bit bulkier but WAY worth it. as soon as you turn it on, you can feel the power, (darn thing wants to jump out of your hand)

[mopar4don]

Update-
I want to get all the panels installed and gapped, then I will go back and start welding everything up. So I will start with the fenders.
I have 4 sets (I know, I know I am a hoarder)  actually I knew some of them were junk so that's why I have so many!
This is one that previously was blasted and primed. It is the best pass side that I have, BUT it needs work as shown with the tape marking those areas.

[mopar4don]

First here is the inside showing some rot on the inner door edge structure

[mopar4don]

I found a door support that we will use

[mopar4don]

Here you can see after I blasted the donor structure there was some damage. Easily fixed.

[mopar4don]

I originally planed on splicing the inner structure, but when I saw the heavy pitting that was behind it I changed my mind and decided to replace the entire structure. This allowed me to be sure the metal behind the structure was good, and that the entire structure that I was putting in was good front and back!

[Baldwinvette77]

 

[keepat]

That had to make you smile seeing the the right side of your Charger look like a Charger again! I hope to hang my fenders soon as well. It's been a few years for both of our cars ;-)
Thanks
Pat