Install Vega rear window?

[AKcharger]

Go Crabtree!
 

[Crabtree charger]

Thanks for the positive replies. it is getting final welding as we speak. I'm going to have to deal with shrinkiing up some warpage.

[BigBlockSam]

over lap brother , over lap

[Highbanked Hauler]

over lap brother , over lap

      Its SSSSOOOO much easier.

[CornDogsCharger]

I'll have to freshen up on the Vega plug swap myself... I'll be doing it in the near future on my C500 clone project.  Great work guys!!

Justin
"CornDog"

[Daytona Guy]

Thanks for the positive replies. it is getting final welding as we speak. I'm going to have to deal with shrinkiing up some warpage.

You have to post some pics!!

Dane

[farm966]

Thanks for all of this information guys....I am tearing down my 70 charger now to make a "tona clone. I have the Vega hatch, but I have not tackled that part of the car yet. One big question, do I have to cut down any off of the top of the sail panels before placing the Vega hatch on the car? Thanks

David
Ocala, Fl

[Crabtree charger]

Thanks for all of this information guys....I am tearing down my 70 charger now to make a "tona clone. I have the Vega hatch, but I have not tackled that part of the car yet. One big question, do I have to cut down any off of the top of the sail panels before placing the Vega hatch on the car? Thanks

David
Ocala, Fl

I found that there are two schools on how to do this. One is to overlap the edge of the vega hatch over the sail panel. I have even heard of some people cutting into the sail panel. I found that when the sides of the hatch is trimmed upto the edge of window channel and placed between the sail panels that it fits like it was made for this application. Like a glove. I removed the entire under skin first but left the double layered window channel intact. I will try to upload some pictures this weekend to help you out. Oh, and you need a 71 through 74 b-body dutchman panel for for the trunk drip channel. this does n't just fall inplace until it is cut to length, notched to fit the existing channel and the channel itself must be cut off and reattached higher to meet the original channel. Wheeeeew! Because I had a good freind a welder helping me this proccess took one day to do including a spliced in filler piece between the top of the hatch and the original window opening. The next day took hours to weld it solid.
Darryl

[BigBlockSam]

I found that when the sides of the hatch is trimmed upto the edge of window channel and placed between the sail panels that it fits like it was made for this application.

it will lay flat if you do that. it's suppose to be curved . it will work but it won't look as good or correct as it could or be as strong as the overlap . the more metal you take off the plug the weaker it will be 

[xx29440charger]

any updates?

[XS29L9B2]

what is a vega cars?

[JPM]

what is a vega cars?

[XS29L9B2]

thank you jpm now i search it  in France lol

[JPM]

No easy to find here... Peshaps in Belgium or in Swiss.

What year/model is required ?

[JPM]

XS29L9B2, the solution is here !  

this is the best pic that shows the space above the plug i have . i didn't use measurements . i notched the sail panels then placed the plug in place and pulled it donwn and it kinda sat in place all by itself .
i also left as much of the structure on the back of the plug as i could  for strength.
definitely do the trunk lid first  .if thats correct everything else should fall in place  

[70daytonaclone]

Ahhh! the over lap technique what a brain storm. I have off and on intertained the building of a clone. I will have to find my plug and lay it up for a
fitment. Thanks to the telling of this part of the conversion my stalled project is headed back to the future. Thanks to Dane and BBS.

[BigBlockSam]

good luck bro!   

[hotrod98]

I'm repeating myself here but if you use the third gen Dutchman, be sure to allow extra material at the front of the deck lid. The steps in the 3rd gen Dutchman are wider than the original daytonas and if you make the front lip too narrow, you will have a deck lid that leaks like a sieve. The front lip has to clear the two bumps in the closeout panel for the gasket to have a place to fit properly. It's about a 3/8ths of an inch more but this measurement comes after the 3rd gen is in place.

I first discovered the similarity between the 3rd gen Dutchman and the Daytona deck lid closeout panel back in February of 2006 when I laid one of my closeout panels on my 74 Dodge Charger. Hard to believe that it's been eight years.

When I install the vega plugs, I leave the double wall around the glass opening for strength. I then slice the sail panels with a cutoff wheel to make the back window opening slightly larger and lay the plug in place with about an inch overlap. I tack weld the quarter sails back for strength. These cars flex so much that butt welding them may eventually fail.
The plug in the correct location leaves a two inch gap at the top. You should make a lip at the bottom of the vega plug that just fits over the front edge of the Dutchman. Hint...you can use the piece that you cut off of the bottom of the vega plug to make the filler for the top edge.
I use an English wheel to relax the bottom of the vega plug. Then the plug lays in like it was made for it. I used to make some cuts on the sides of the plug but it still required quite a bit of work to make it fit correctly. I no longer use that method.

I make a filler to close off the passenger compartment from the trunk. It also serves as a shelf for the back of the package tray trim panel to sit on. I used to make headliner retainers but my trim shop just glues the headliner into place. The "teeth" are not needed. Waste of time and energy.

Don't weld anything permanently into place until you've installed the vega plug, the dutchman and the shortened deck lid.

The single biggest mistake that I've seen is not final fitting the deck lid after the Dutchman is in place. If you do the deck lid first it will not fit the opening or the steps properly.  The radius of the third gen is not exactly the same as the closeout panel. You must compensate for this.

This is the pic that I took back in 2006. It was a "eureka" moment for me.  I was stressing over how to make the stepped filler.

[hotrod98]

This isn't a great pic but it shows how much deeper the 3rd gen step is than an original 69 Charger step.

[Daytona Guy]

[XS29L9B2]

nice work and thank your for your explication 

[BigBlockSam]

 

[XS29L9B2]

NOW i will find one rear hatchback window to vega 

[JPM]

NOW i will find one rear hatchback window to vega 

... and the guy who can do that ! 

[Charger-Bodie]

NOW i will find one rear hatchback window to vega 

I've got a really nice one, but it's probably way too much shipping.