My '68 Charger resto/build!

[MxRacer855]

Just finished the tail lights after 4 weeks.  

Original: How I took them off of the car.

Obviously 46 years of being in the sun burned all of the satin black paint off the housing. There were spots where all of it was completely gone and only chrome was left.

The bezels were missing 90% of that satin black ring that goes around them. 

[MxRacer855]

Beginning the process! 

There was a lot of pitting in the chrome/ original finish that I needed to remove and sand smooth again.

It was a real pain. The original housing-to-tail panel gasket was a pain to get off as well. It was so dry rotted and kept breaking into a million pieces.
There was glue everywhere, but nothing a little lacquer thinner and hard work couldn't remove. 

[MxRacer855]

The first pic is the housing masked off so that I could paint the inside (trunk portion).
I chose to go with a chrome spray paint to slightly resemble the bright, stock finish.

Before I put the tape on around the outer chrome ring, I polished it for a few hours and got it as bright as I could.

Second pic is of the reverse side being masked off so I could spray the outer portion satin black.
What a pain that was to get around that chrome edging. When I removed the tape, I just went around the edges with a razor to make them smoother, sharper, and more defined. The black scraped off easily.

Last pic is of the chrome paint on the back. Overall it turned out great in my opinion. 

[MxRacer855]

Finished!

All new gaskets, YearOne hardware, and studs I had to cut and chamfer. Found the rods at Ace Hardware.

Can't wait to throw these babies on the car when she comes back from the body shop (one of these days....   ) !!!

[jaak]

Looks great, Jeff! To me, that is the best part of building an old car, is cleaning/prepping/restoring all the parts to make them look new again... I love detail work like that.

Keep it up,
Jason

[ECS]

Finished!

Those look great!  What a gorgeous transformation.  Excellent work! 

[MxRacer855]

Thanks guys!

I agree. I can't wait to get the car back from the shop soon and start bolting all of these goodies on when the time comes. 

Jeff

[tan top]

Finished!

All new gaskets, YearOne hardware, and studs I had to cut and chamfer. Found the rods at Ace Hardware.

Can't wait to throw these babies on the car when she comes back from the body shop (one of these days....   ) !!!

looks good !!  nice work 

[fy469rtse]

great job Jeff,
turned the clock back 46 years on these parts , new again 

[MxRacer855]

Thanks guys! 

I'll keep 'em coming!   

[MxRacer855]

Hey guys!

It's been a while. Progress has been a little slow. I'm in the process of having a house built and it's just pushing my project off. 
I thought it was going to be out of the body shop in November, and here we are still... 
At least the car is painted and stripes are on. 1 more week (a million times later...  ) and it should be done. Just a some wet sanding, buffing, and re-clearing and we're good! 

Cannot wait!

Anywhere, here's some pics of the car being wet sanded before paint!

[MxRacer855]

Diff. angle

[MxRacer855]

Here's the paint before wet sanding, buffing and clearing. 
Black with House of Kolors "Galaxy Grey" R/T stripes.

[MxRacer855]

Here's the new hood and deck lid hinges.
Fesler built. Billet aluminum on gas struts.  

The old ones were so sloppy and worn that I don't know how they even managed to function properly. These seem like great quality and look great.

[MxRacer855]

Deck lid setup will eliminate the torsion bars.

[JB400]

Looks good

[tan top]

Here's the paint before wet sanding, buffing and clearing. 
Black with House of Kolors "Galaxy Grey" R/T stripes.

 

[jaak]

Wow Jeff, that looks great. Love the gray stripe!!! 

Jason

[MxRacer855]

Thanks guys!

Sorry for the delay Jason, it's literally out of my hands.
My friends keep telling me I'll have the car back in a week... then a thousand insurance jobs later, it's another week. Months keep going by.
Almost done though.

Jeff

[keepat]

Black with the silver will look awesome! And the hinges are sexy!
Pat

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Paint looks awesome!!    Amazing work going into this build 


Just curious, how long was the wait on the Fesler hinges? I've had mine on order since November and they keep telling me a couple more weeks? 

[MxRacer855]

Paint looks awesome!!    Amazing work going into this build 


Just curious, how long was the wait on the Fesler hinges? I've had mine on order since November and they keep telling me a couple more weeks? 

Thanks Pat!

White and Red - They were maybe 3 weeks. That was back in September or October though...
I think they told me they had a few left at the time, so maybe they ran out and had to make a whole new batch? 
6 months sounds a little ridiculous though. 
Hope ya get them soon! 

Jeff

[fy469rtse]

Looks great Jeff , worth the effort and hard work,
What was the price on hinges, hood ones ? Been thinking of replacing those ,

[MxRacer855]

Thanks Geoff! I think they were just under $950.
A lot... I know. There's cheaper ones I've seen, but the quality on these things is just unbelievable.
There's different options you can choose that will affect the price (natural/polishes/anodized finish, inlays and other machining options, etc.).
I just went with polished pieces all around.

http://www.shopfesler.com/dodge-charger-1966-1970-billet-hood-hinges-pair/

Jeff

[1970Moparmann]

Great progress!