Disassembly of "MILKSHKE" finally begins

[RoscoePColtrain]

Before the lower rear panel can be removed, a weird retaining plate had to come out (after the door sills, rear arm pad and window crank).

Then used a putty knife to remove the rear door panel, starting near the door jamb (where the 3 clips are).  Had to be careful when prying since its cardboard and is also wedged under the stainless trim.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Metal backing plate comes out (drivers side).
Weird "WTF" plate comes out (drivers).
Plastic vapor barrier is all that is left (passenger).

[RoscoePColtrain]

On a roll, but my first born decided to come 3 weeks early.  Please welcome Mason.
Now, if you had asked me to give up my 68 prior to his arrival, well, them there's fightin words.
With his arrival, I don't care... weird huh?.  Wife says to keep plugging away at the car(within reason), coz your hobby is still your hobby even though you are a dad now.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Out of curiousity. Does this Charger bring all the boys to the yard?

Negative.  Although was hoping for a "I now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry" scene... then reality sank in... ain't gonna happen...

[RoscoePColtrain]

yes, good job so far,
good starting point , car looks in great shape

She's in fairly good shape and is complete.  Previous owner moved the battery in the back, literally hammered out his own alternator bracket (with a GM alternator), put fiberglass fenders on, typical rust on the rear quarters and around the rear window and the torsion bar cross member should be replaced.  Not too bad.

Took the car out to clean up the garage for the teardown, parked it back in and... boom, alternator bracket broke in half after turning the car off.  Good thing its all coming apart.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Workspace was getting cramped, so had to move a bunch of stuff into the basement.
Went to Princess Auto (Canadian version of Harbor Freight) and picked up 4 wheel dollies($30 a pair, rated at 2500lbs a pair).
Put the car on dollies to be able to get to the passenger side.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Vapor barrier came out, brittle in some areas.
Rubber piece at the top corner came out.

The two arrows denote where the bolts that hold the rear triangle window are located (after rolling down the window about half way until you see it).

[RoscoePColtrain]

WD40'ed the rear window bolts(drivers) up and came out no problemo.

Then it happened... tried the passenger side and didn't wait for the WD40 to penetrate and snapped one of the lil' bastard window bolts(not shown).  The other came out no problem.  Will have to remove it later.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Rear fuzzies and stainless with the little rivit removal...
After the window was removed, removed the fuzzy with a small pry bar (the screwdriver sized one) and it popped out.
Next, the stainless.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Took out the 4 screws (3 in my case, the other was missing on both sides) that held the stainless in place and also removed the retaining brackets.
Wiggled it to remove it, but no go.  The ridge on the drip rail is smaller under the stainless(thicker everywhere else along the drip rail), so she ain't sliding out (and in the 2nd pic, "1" is deeper than "2").  Wrestled with it for a bit and finally came out.  Passenger side cameout in 2 minutes.

[Shakey]

On a roll, but my first born decided to come 3 weeks early.  Please welcome Mason.
Now, if you had asked me to give up my 68 prior to his arrival, well, them there's fightin words.
With his arrival, I don't care... weird huh?.  Wife says to keep plugging away at the car(within reason), coz your hobby is still your hobby even though you are a dad now.

Congratulations Roscoe!   

Make hay while the sun shines!   

By that I mean, if you're Wife is giving you the go-ahead - go full steam a head!  Was the same with me, then I stalled a bit, the girls started growing and asking for more time with me (which of course I loved) and then it was "please take me to figure skating, soccer etc., etc., etc.!

And that's when my project got put on hold.  Don't regret a moment of it - just sharing my experience.

All the best and enjoy all that you have!   

[fy469rtse]

fantastic , great documenting of the disassembly process,
this will help you enormously when your putting it back together,  also helps with a car that looks in great shape to start with

[VegasCharger]

I would have recommended this to remove drip rail trim, as I just removed mine last week using one.  Came off super easy with this and I just put some masking tape on it to prevent scratches.  My window trim tool sucked for taking that stuff off, causing some minor damage.



Anyway, best of luck with the tear down and future rebuild!

Which side do you use when using a bottle opener 

[RoscoePColtrain]

Great job on that trim. You have any pics of the tool being used? Thanks for your time in posting your progress!!

Used 2, 3, 4, the wedges and the rectangular piece for the windshield and the rear window trim.  Used 3 to gently lift the trim (with rectangular block to protect the windshield) so I could slide 2 over to a clip, then used the wedge to prop it until I hit the next clip (being careful not to kink it).  My windshield had a lot of black caulking sealant stuff, hence the need for the pry.

Used 1 for the trim on the door, slipped it under carefully and gently lifted up about a 1/4 inch at a time so as to not bend or kink it as well.

Used 3, 4, and 5 for the drip rail with the rectangular block for leverage against the roof and rail.  Went really smooth until I hit the bend, then it got a little tough, but do-able.  

Trim on the rear quarter needed the window removed (2 bolts), fuzzy removed (8 clips) and its held in by 4 screws (with associated retaining clips).  

The buttress trim was held in by three nuts, accessed from the trunk, and used 1 to remove the C pillar trim, lifting a 1/4 inch at a time (slid into the buttress trim).

[SovereignZuul]

Which side do you use when using a bottle opener 

The round side, though really either side works.

I just looked it up and there are a bunch of people on YouTube who've done the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bYijoQUN_4

[RoscoePColtrain]

Ok, I found this part a little daunting becasue its so cramped.  Someone on this site said they took the whole window mechanism out as one piece; for the life of me, I could not.  She had to come out in pieces.

Red arrows are bump stops (1 bolt on left and 2 bolts on the right)
Blue arrows are sliding rails
Yellow arrows (7 bolts) hold the mechanism in place to the body (technically, so do the blue).  Two bolts (noted by the two yellow arrows at the very bottom) were slightly shorter than the other ones.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Bump stops: Check
Bottom plate: Check
Rear top slide: Check
Rear bottom slide: Check

[RoscoePColtrain]

Tried to remove it as one unit: FAIL
Came out as two pieces, 1 mechanism, 1 long slide with 2 roller units
Mess on the floor: Check
Rebuilt complete assembly using passenger side as a template: Check

[RoscoePColtrain]

The broken passenger side rear quarter bolt which I snapped in my exuberance. 
I felt it kinda twist, but thought, "C'mon baby, just a little"... tried, she said no... and snapped... 
Good thing is it's still sticking out about a 1/4 inch.

[SovereignZuul]

Great pics!  Don't worry about the odd broken bolt here or there.

I love lots of pics, very helpful for me as well, I'll be removing mine before Winter and it's a handy guide for newbies!

Keep up the good work and share that info!

[RoscoePColtrain]

Conundrum???
Passenger side has the armrest retainer clips recessed, drivers has it protruding, which is correct?
Its the same clip, and although oriented 180 degrees, the angle is the same, with the same bolt length... but what is the correct orientation?

[RoscoePColtrain]

The C pillar trim was held in place with 3 clips and 1 clip-bolt near the rear.  Removed the clip-bolt nut via the trunk and used a putty knife to lift the trim.
Removed the 3 nuts that hold the buttress trim in place (via the trunk) and used a putty knife to lift the trim.
Removed both trim pieces together and separated it when completely removed (the clip-bolt wouldn't allow me to take it out separately), no biggie.

Kinda odd combination for the C pillar trim:  From the quarter window: Clip, Screw, Clip, Screw, Screw, Clip, Clip-Bolt.  I guess it don't matter as I'm not replacing the vinyl top, not my bag baby.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Took off the rear window interior trim by removing the left and right corner pieces (2 screws each).  The upper left and right pieces came off no problem.
Couldn't take off the bottom piece, it is stuck to the flat metal piece.  Anyone???  Bueller?

I removed the screws from the flat metal piece the bottom trim piece was attached to, but its behind the left and right brackets which are part of the body (therefore can't be removed).  Take out the rear window first?  But wouldn't that damage the lower trim when removing the glass with a metal cable?

[VegasCharger]

Conundrum???
Passenger side has the armrest retainer clips recessed, drivers has it protruding, which is correct?
Its the same clip, and although oriented 180 degrees, the angle is the same, with the same bolt length... but what is the correct orientation?

Here some pics from my 68. It appears that both sides are flush.
Hope that helps 

[73rallye440magnum]

Sweet project! Looks like you have a '70 Plymouth driver to keep the fire burning?