six-tee-nine's restoration--update 05/19/2015--first fresh paint

[six-tee-nine]

Well I always thought I did not have enough to share about my ongoing restoration but maybe a little progress is still better than no progress at all so why not go ahead and share with a load of pictures, heck we all like pictures, and I get alot of motivation out of other members posts and pics so I'm more than happy to contribute...

I'm starting at the very beginning, I bought the car in 2006, but at the time I just moved to my new home and the new shop was'nt biult yet so I kept the car a my father in law where I started the dismantling process slowly.
I mostly restored small stuff and bought alot of parts to get going faster after the body work would be completed.

How I got it in '06




I started with some smaller stuff that I could handle back then in my tiny workspace like the grill for instance, this is what I started with :


This is the original I trim piece from the grill the car came with, quite a difference if you look at the first picture...


Wiper motor all done


Hand brake assy of wich I had to grind all the rivets since it was totally seized, then I drilled alle the remains of the rivets and tapped new threads in them so I could put bolts in the rivet body's, then some blast and paint...



Now fast forward to 2011, finally the shop was finished and I got the car onto the rotisserie and got started on the body work and really see this project moving along a bit.
I bought this car as a rolling shell and got a complete interior with the car wich I guess was from another car. Originally the car was white with a red interior but someone repainted it green over the years and put a 68 R/T stripe on the car. Since the original 440 / 727 was long gone I'm building this car a bit different then it should be on the fender tag but thats my personal taste thats involved there.
I will put the car back to its factory color setting (white and red interior) but no more vinyl top. I also will be converting the car to a 4-speed.
I also changed out the AC firewall to a non AC firewall, this for multiple reasons : Too much AC parts were missing when I got the car and who knows some day I might want to put a HEMI between the fenders and I still want to keep a bit of a factory possible combo look.
This summer I removed all of the factory undercoating and started the sheet metal work wich involves the most common things like trunk floor and lower quarters




Officially a 4 speed now....


...Fabbed my own lower rad brace wich is hidden behind the original piece...
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I removed the cowl panel very gently because I wanted to get rid of the rodent nest and crap thas was stuffed in there. I went real easy on it since I want to reuse the OEM part. You can call me anal if you want but I also removed the cowl panel because I want to nicely paint the panel under the vents to get rid of the green overspray.
So I'll be painting the lower cowl, then put the top back on and paint the rest of the car...



And thats kinda where I am at the moment.
shortly I'm media blasting the body and epoxy prime will follow immediatly after it. Then I'm putting the rear valence and the new trunk floor in because I want to blast and prime the inside of the trunk and the lowed plenium of the deck filler panel properly.
I'm also adding torque boxes and subframe connectors after that.

The plans for 2014 are mostly to get all of the metal work done fill the quarter seams with lead again, block sanding and several coats of filler and final paint.
I'm going very slow since I'll be building a paint booth in my shop around the car for the job.

certainly to be continued

[70 sublime]

Are you sure the car was white with red interior ??

Do not see any other colour than the green in all the hard to paint when changing colour type spots

Under the package tray in back window

[six-tee-nine]

yeah it seems so but lots of white in other hidden places....
the repaint was pretty well done at one point.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

yeah it seems so but lots of white in other hidden places....
the repaint was pretty well done at one point.

Not trying to start an arguement, but based on these three pictures, my expert opinion says that the car was green always green.








Of course the fender tag and broadcast sheet would say for sure, but are you sure that you are not confusing the gray primer with white? I can't imagine that a green car would have a red interior.

[Ghoste]

Yes, if it was repainted at some point they did an excellent job.

[70 sublime]

That was my thinking also

Any time before now (doing restorations vs just a colour change) why would anybody take the trouble to paint all these extra areas green that long ago ??

[fy469rtse]

Post a photo of your fender tag, you need to de code it again , this was always a factory green car, if it did indeed have a red interior , ? What an unusual interior colour combination ,
I agree with the others , paint in areas done by factory only, only the fanatics for rare cars go to these lengths to replicate overspray,

[Ghoste]

And no matter what, it is a great car!

[fy469rtse]

Yes like ghoste said , sorry great car, and from the look of your work, more than capable owner, so a great car to start with and it's in good hands,
I've done like you, turned mine into an a/c car, since everything was missing , and hated being behind the wheel in my 68 when it got too hot

[Baldwinvette77]

my car was originally green on green, but someone put alot of effort into painting it red on black, they dyed the interior, and painted all the jambs, the only spot of green on my car is under the dash aera, everything else was red even under the window trim, for some reason the engine bay was painted black 

[1974dodgecharger]

going to be manual?

[six-tee-nine]

Gee, any FBI guys over here?
Sorry Dont know the cars history since I bought it trough a third person.
Fender tag says W1 R6 and C6R colorwise.
Only thing that was Still in place interior wise was the dash. The car came with tan seats stuffed in the car everything else was gone.
Front fenders were banged up and repared once, no sequence # in the rad support. Digits in the trunklip are there.

Title was clear so never really thought any more of it. I'm not looking back too much at this, i'm trying to look forward and make it the Way I like it. I always had the feeling that this car was put together again to sell as a project. It even came with 4 different wheels...
All I know I have some work to do.

[six-tee-nine]

going to be manual?

Yes it Will be manual with a Dana rear end.

[fy469rtse]

Baldwinvette, I hate to be the one to tell you , but that black engine bay is proof a Ferd guy once owned your car and is probably responsible for the total lack of care with your car or what remained of it ,  what have you been up to with yours lately ?

[Baldwinvette77]

Baldwinvette, I hate to be the one to tell you , but that black engine bay is proof a Ferd guy once owned your car and is probably responsible for the total lack of care with your car or what remained of it ,  what have you been up to with yours lately ?

meh, not alot, too cold to work in the garage, i've been cutting sheet metal parts for the interior, and working on other small detals that i can do indoors,

And yeah whoever owned my car in the past sure did love bondo, fiberglass and streetsigns, they even mounted the battery in the trunk and ran the power cable through the floor without a gromet, it was almost down to copper, its a miracle it didnt burn to the ground..... or did it 

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Progress is looking good    

[fy469rtse]

As long as it doesn't do it again heh , I found a coke can once used to hold filler in sill , rear quarter had that missing stop sign from some ones street to lower rear quarter, all were screwed in , too cheap for rivets heh my first car was the worst , rust belt car

[Ghoste]

Street signs and cans, what is about them that make bondo artists so quick to use those particular things?  That and window screens.

[fy469rtse]

Just up the street for free, once they get thirsty from all that hard work stealing the street sign go in to the cnr store and buy a coke, heh
At least that explains the patches in one of my cars

[Ghoste]

Sad but true. 
Worst I saw was a buddy in high school did a trunk "repair" in a Comet by laying in a sheet of cardboard and covering it with tar.

[70 sublime]

Once I had a Charger that I was working on and someone had used an old shirt stuffed up in the corner of the rear valance and then packed the bondo on to make it round

[fy469rtse]

70 sublime, what's the latest with yours , any progress

[70 sublime]

I think we have messed up this thread enough I will send a pm

[six-tee-nine]

Finally I start to think work is paying of a bit......

Got the new rear Valance and end caps in place. I had to deal with the problems everyone had about the amd quarters. The patches I used were the same I had to mess with the seam to get them right but It worked out quite well.
Further on doing some sandblasting and finally some epoxy primer.
Next on the list is the inside of the trunk. First blast it then epoxy. But I'm going to wait to put the trunk floor in place so I have easy acces to all of the trunk areas for blasting and priming.

The c pillar seam was a bit of a jerk. I never used lead before and its faaaaar from perfect but I'm confident that the layer of body filler needed to straighten it all wont be to thick. And I just used lead again on another part and it already went 150% better. So by the time I'm doing the other side I'll get the hang of it I hope.

To be continued...

[hemi68charger]

movin' along..... 

[mopar4don]

I'm taking notes..... good job

[JB400]

 

[six-tee-nine]

Update...
Jeezes, I'm more in the shop than behind my computer these days. Only way to ever get her done I guess.

Anyway, finally got the whole shell blasted in my home made blasting cabinet wich was no more than a tent wrapped in plastic foil. Rented a blaster and a diesel powered compressor an went ahaead.
All went well and we are in full epoxy primer as of this week.
The UPS dude dropped of my torque boxes and the subframe connectors today. These will go in in the next upcoming weeks.
I also sprayed the first body color onto the cowl area so I can relocate the upper cowl panel next week.
All work at therear of the car is done, trunk floor and extensions are in (seems I only have a picture of the trunk floor from underneath...)

The sad news is that the roof did'nt make it. It was already severely pitted from the vinyl top. So to get it clean I had to put some force on it to get it clean wich warped it and it also hat too many pinholes. I will put a new roofskin on the car probably after the paint and underbody coating on the underside is done. Then I'm taking the car of the rotisserie and have better acces to the roof panel.


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[kokxville]

Nice progress Koen 

[six-tee-nine]

Not all that much done lately to show alot of pictures. got the subframe connectors and the torque boxes in. Smoothed out the engine bay and trunk floor so they are almost ready for final blocking and paint.
Took the roofskin of this week....
I ordered a new one and some piece of floorpan wich I found too bad to keep and patch up afterall. Roof is sea freight so wont arrive till mid february....
gonna start cleaning up the fenders and doors, rebuilding the door hinges and stuff in the meantime, so by springtime next year I hope to paint the underside and the inside so I can put the body plugs in place and shoot the undercoating on.

[fy469rtse]

Good work ,  lots of progress ,
See I said it early that this one was in good hands

[six-tee-nine]

While waiting for the sea freight to arrive I started messing around with other stuff.
I have rebuild the door hinges, used the pin kit with new springs from Jamie at Mega Parts who is a super nice guy to deal with and really went the extra mile to help me out shrinking the package to keep the shipping costs to a reasonable level.
Then went ahead with the fenders and doors. I have 2 nice fenders with no rust, however, the front end of both of them have a huge dent wich was bondoed up. To get rid of that dent I needed to tear the inner structure out wich gave me acces the the outer panel. I needed to hammer out the dents, weld up some cracks afterwards and ended up smoothing the area out with lead.
In the end I did'nt seem to have taken pictures of the process, but I guess thats what happens sometimes when your going full steam ahead.
Then I gave both the fender and the inner panel a coat of epoxy primer before piecing the parts back together.








The left door I started with is a spare door wich I got with the car since the original door was bashed up and would need to be replaced. This is a mint condition door, at least that was what I tought till I started stripping the paint. Well, since I start to get the hang on metal repairs lately I went ahead and fixed it.
All in all a nice door...








Soooo finally got a mail last week that my roof shell arrived, so a 3 hour road trip it was..... jumped in the van and drove into the Netherlands and hauled the box home. I saw a nice 69 Charger when I arrived but did'nt got the chance to pull py Phone for a picture, sorry guys.



So we're moving along again now.... and I hope I can get some extra time in the shop because I had a bad winter. I have never been down by illness ever that much as this winter. And after a daytime job when not feeling well the couch wins over the cold shop. I'll take summer time over anything else please....

[Cncguy]

Nice work! It's so motivating seeing progress on other members cars.

[six-tee-nine]

Found some extra pictures on my Phone.
First is the painted understructure of the roof. scond is one from the paint on the underside and last is an older one outside the shop.

[fy469rtse]

thats looking really good  ,
great work , you must be proud of your work , better than new

[six-tee-nine]

Well I like to take pride in my work, maybe thats why its taking me so long. I could have left the underside alone but I want this to feel "right" in the end.

The underside is no top notch paint job, but its more than nice enough to spray undercoating on.

[six-tee-nine]

Small update.......


Just finished the installation of the new roof. I must say it was the most feared sheet metal surgerey but it went surprisingly well and was imo easier then other things I tackled so far. Going to put the lead in the A and C pillar seams in the upcoming days.



And maybe I did'nt do much work lately (winter blues ), I did find my needle in the haystack........date code correct for 68/69, trac-lock, new 3.55 ring/pinion with new bearings.
I even got a real nice set of 10" drums with new internals along with the deal. I was considering discs on all corners but these drums are so good I'd be crazy not to use them.

[keepat]

Nice job on the new roof! just receiving the skin without a shipping dent is a miracle!
Good luck with your build!
Pat   

[six-tee-nine]

I've spent like up to 12 hrs in the shop last week, wich is like 3 times my average (my wife said "hello stranger" yesterday evening )
Anyway, it paid of, The roof is in and the end result is satisfying. I'll probably never become a guru with the lead technique, but it went better than my last time. A light coat of filler will do the last bit.
The high build primer is still wet in the pictures.





Next week I'm moving to the last patch panel in the floor on the drivers side, then its time to paint the inside, undercariage and put the undercoating on.
Then finally after 4 years the body can come of the rotisserie for placing the fenders and test fitting the doors, hood and trunk lid.

[fy469rtse]

It's coming along nicely, brand new shell now,
Been thinking about the colour combination to this one,
I hope your re doing the green , and with red interior  what a nice combo,

[six-tee-nine]

It's coming along nicely, brand new shell now,
Been thinking about the colour combination to this one,
I hope your re doing the green , and with red interior  what a nice combo,

Trouble is I hate green.....

My first choice was black but everyone paints em black. Thought about silver also but I'm not going to spray a metallic color on my first paint job so I decided to go for white. I really like the white with red interior. And white is more forgiving when it comes to amateur body work skill level

[Lennard]

Soooo finally got a mail last week that my roof shell arrived, so a 3 hour road trip it was..... jumped in the van and drove into the Netherlands and hauled the box home. I saw a nice 69 Charger when I arrived but did'nt got the chance to pull py Phone for a picture, sorry guys.

Great job on your Charger!   Where did you pick up that new AMD roof?

[Baldwinvette77]

Nice 

[six-tee-nine]

@ Lennard

I ordered it trough Six-Pack in the Netherlands. They ship container loads several times a year. You can hardy buy cheaper as an individual when it comes to such large pieces. And I hate to say it but if the part arrives damaged its his reposability, not mine.

[Lennard]

Okay, thanks. And you're right about the responsibility issue.
Was that Charger you saw there the owners Orange '69 with the 426 Hemi?

[six-tee-nine]

It was yes.

[kokxville]

Great progress Koen 

Looks good

[Lennard]

It was yes.

That is a bad ass beauty indeed.

[six-tee-nine]

Update.....

I got the floor patched and finally the welding to the unibody itself is DONE! That leaves me just the hood and one fender and one door to clean and strip.

After more than 40 years of dirt and moist the floor could have looked better so I decided to skim it out and smooth it again. I know its under the carpet but for my peace of mind I did it afterall, just some extra elbow grease.
Then the inside got painted. I did the passenger compartment separate from the trunk. Cant ell you why exactly but I wanted the trunk floor to be extra nice so I did some extra priming and sanding there.
Underside received paint also.
I just finished shooting the undercoating on. Altough you cant see it in the pictures Its nice to have clean paint coming through the undercoating in the places where there are bolt provisions.

Took me a while to get here, but finally I'm starting to think I'm going to win the war one day, but I'm probably still ahead of several battles....

[six-tee-nine]

Just to be clear.... The light sucks for pictures in the shop. Makes the paint look waay yellowish. The picture of the underside is the best one of the lot to show the exact color....

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Progress is looking good!