Timmycharger's 68 Resto

[timmycharger]

Thanks guys, much appreciated, this is the fun part of the build for sure.

Slowly chipping away at it, yesterday I was able to install the side marker lights, only the rear ones are hooked up for now, they were the $150 repros and gave me trouble as expected, but eventually, I got them to go on correctly.  I installed the Charger emblem in the back, sorted out the lower trim fasteners as well.

I installed the front wheel lip trim, ended up using my original drivers side one as it fit so much better than the Year One piece. I couldn't use my original passenger side one since it has a good size ding in it.

I will be working on the vent window assemblies soon, collecting parts still and I will be getting the grille sorted out, Its on my bench ready for Inspection and from first glance, it looks ok. Some cracks in the inner parts of the outer shells, the fastener areas are pretty beat up, will be doing lots of plastic repair there, but the overall shape of it is correct, not squashed and the trim is nice, I have another few pieces of trim I can use as well.

This grille is from my friend's 68 Charger that he had in high school that I bought from him and sold years ago, my original grille went on that car when I sold it, it was caved in towards the middle.

[qwick68]

That's a dam nice grill!

[timmycharger]

Yea its not too bad, I have lots of work ahead of me on it to get it right.

Today I mounted the grille frame and restored the front wiring harness. Still figuring out how it lays in there and how the vacuum lines all hook up but the headlights and markers work. I put my old sealed beams back in for now, I wanted to test the relay/fuse upgrade on the wiring which seems ok. I may upgrade them later but these cleaned up pretty well. I polished the trim rings too. I have to restore the buckets still and may use Evaporust like the bolts/etc. This stuff works pretty well.

[Dino]

If it can be of any help...

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,121524.0/all.html

[timmycharger]

Great info! thanks Dino, it definitely will help!

few more from yesterday.

[Charger-Bodie]

Looks nice. That grille is a nice starting point. Do you plan to paint it like original?

[timmycharger]

Looks nice. That grille is a nice starting point. Do you plan to paint it like original?

Yes, that is the plan, there is lots of great information on this site that I can use 

[Charger-Bodie]

Looks nice. That grille is a nice starting point. Do you plan to paint it like original?

Yes, that is the plan, there is lots of great information on this site that I can use 

Sweet. alot of people take the easy way out and paint it all black.

[Dino]

I soooo want to stick my grille in my car, but I shouldn't because it's easier working on the car with all that extra space up front.

Can't wait to see yours finished.   

[timmycharger]

I would too after seeing that finished product!

Great job on your grille Dino, I am going to use yours as my reference. I am going to start gathering jars and plastic pieces for the ABS slurry I think I read somewhere that lego pieces will work, with 3 kids Ive got millions of them!  I have the Acetone already.

With the trim, is that aluminum not stainless? I would have just gone to town on the buffing wheel but looks like I need to get them cleaned up first.

[Dino]

Yeah Lego works fine. I don't have any kids so I had to get my ABS at the local hardware store.   

The trim is aluminum. In order to buff it you have to take off the anodized layer, hence the need for lye. In all honestly, it's a lot of work and I just did mine because I enjoy the work. If I had the funds to buy a new set I would've done so, but the old set did turn out real nice!

One thing I did not mention in my grille thread is that you should wear a respirator or at least sand the trim in a well ventilated area. You do NOT want to inhale this stuff.

[timmycharger]

I took the grille apart, carefully removed the hardware for the trim as they are expensive to replace. I will soak them in evaporust along with anything else metal in the grill, like the rivets and bracing.  After cleaning all the plastic, I will work on the plastic repairs.

Put in the headlights with the buckets, they need to be adjusted still. I installed the mirrors, using the reinforcement plates from Mega Parts, no issues there.

[Dino]

Excellent! Almost there!   

[timmycharger]

[Dino]

Looking good!

Is that grille done yet?   

What do you have left to do on the big blue beast?

[timmycharger]

Thanks Dino! I'm still in the cleaning stage of the grille, right now the edge pieces with the metal brackets have been soaking in evaporust, they are looking good, I will dive into the plastic repair next week hopefully. I still am messing with the brake pedal height which should be solved, after that, its the vent windows, side glass, door panels, few interior adjustments, and pieces of trim, then I want to change out my oil pan to something that doesn't hang down so low, after that's done, I will nut/bolt the bottom of the car, buy some wheels and tires, then bring it for an alignment and have the A/C charged. Although, as you know, something always unexpected will pop up I'm sure.  The hood will go back on after I have the body guy fix what I did to it. I did a movie "Tommy Boy" impersonation a few months ago and had it fly up on me on one of my around the block ventures. Minor damage but it will be sorted soon.


Below is a shot of the antenna, I got the 68 Charger replacement telescoping unit. Seems way longer than I think it should be? Not planning on leaving it like that of course.  The bumper from AMD went on easily, overall nice fitting piece, but the chrome in some spots was blemished, not enough to make me return it but it's there none the less.

Got to mount my vintage 68 Mass license plate, since the registry allowed it as an antique plate, I only need the one which is nice.

[68RT440]

Beautiful work! I love the rear end of a '68 when everything is fresh!

Question for you. The screws that hold the license plate light to the bumper on my car are the originals. My bumper has been poorly rechromed in the past, so its been messed with before. The screws for the light just barely cover the holes in the bumper and I'm not sure if they were drilled out and I should weld them up or if its original. Someone put huge washers on the screws in the past which I know that they didn't have, but this got me questioning the size of the holes in the bumper. Thanks!

[timmycharger]

Thank you! I couldn't agree more!

Here is a pic of my bumper, the only one I had that showed the holes, they were pretty big, the screws I had that were from my old bumper, barely covered it. No washer was used. I felt that the bigger holes helped me because it didn't sit quite flush behind there. Not sure if it was a casting flaw or what, but the larger holes allowed it to sit correctly.

[68RT440]

Awesome, thanks for the reply. Keep up the great work!

[timmycharger]

I lost my original hood latch some how but thanks to a member on this site, I am back in business. Shout out to BLK 68 R/T for helping me out. Below is the before pic, and after a night in evaporust and some time with a brush and WD40, came out very nice. Thanks again!

[charger chris]

Very nice work  . I only hope my car looks as good as your guys cars on here.

[timmycharger]

Thank you!

I also started working on the grille yesterday. Last week, I soaked the metal parts of the buckets in evaporust, then I washed the pieces of grille thoroughly with some simple green and water. As you can see, the grille was broken in several places.

[timmycharger]

I copied the technique Dino used on his grille and made an AbS slurry from pieces of plastic and acetone. I used several Lego bricks and experimented with how much to use until I had the consistency I wanted.

I then made dams out of paint sticks covered in tape and poured in the slurry. Once it was firm, I was able to flip the pieces around to get to the other broken parts. I let them sit overnight and this morning they were almost completely solid. I wont touch them again till next week so they will be plenty firm for me to start filing and sanding them into shape.

[timmycharger]

Here is how they looked this morning. Almost completely solid.  

[Dino]

Excellent work my friend! 

I wonder why the slurry takes longer to dry on yours than it did on mine. Either I used thinner layers or the ABS/acetone mix was different. Heck Ive heard it can be different with certain pieces of ABS and types of acetone! Good news is that as soon as it's solid it'll be one with the grille.   

Using a file to level out the "weld" is probably going to give you the best result in the shortest amount of time, where you can use one that is. The rounded parts like the lower corners you can just do by hand with coarse paper until you get the overall shape, then switch to finer paper.

When you are sanding and you see that there won't be enough material to smooth it out, stop and mix up a slightly thicker slurry. Brush some clear acetone into any pits to fill to make the material sticky, and follow it with a dab of slurry. It should dry pretty quickly and you can then finish sand it. Kinda like using body filler.