"1968 Charger w/ 6.1L, 6 spd, RMS AlterKtion and 4 link"

[70B5Cuda]

Looks like fun! I know little to nothing about what parts swap in/out on these cars so I am happy to know about the A518 with the OD.

What happened to the other charger that was parked in front of it?

The guy I bought this Charger from still has the other Charger as well. He says he's going to build it for his wife someday.

[bakerhillpins]

Looks like fun! I know little to nothing about what parts swap in/out on these cars so I am happy to know about the A518 with the OD.

What happened to the other charger that was parked in front of it?

The guy I bought this Charger from still has the other Charger as well. He says he's going to build it for his wife someday.

Well, at least you got one of them out of there and on its way back. 

[70B5Cuda]

I wire wheeled the top surface on the cabin frame rail channels.



Then I tackled the trunk floor



It's kind of fun to see the progress...and the scrap metal pile.



Next up is to strip all the remaining undercoating....

[Lennard]

Dirty but rewarding job.

[TexasStroker]

Coming along nicely!

[70B5Cuda]

Next up was the nasty task of removing all the factory undercoating. Last time I used a propane torch and a 2.0" wide paint scraper but I figured that there had to be a better way.  I saw one guy online talking about using a needle scaler so I bought a cheap needle scaler off eBay to give it a shot. It worked like a champ. It took me about 5 hours to strip all the undercoating that was left. I didn't even have to drop burning hot rubber down my sleeve or get it on my face. You will still want to wear a respirator because the dirt and rubber really flies and hangs in the air. Here's the box mine came in:



Where the paint was thin, the needle scaler just took it off completely and left a pretty nice surface:

[70B5Cuda]

The needle scaler left very small pieces of rubber so I then used a braided wire cup wheel to clean up the surface of the frame rails and rear floor pan. First some "before" pics:




And after.....

[orange383]

That needle scaler did a good job. I may invest in one of those!

[alfaitalia]

I used to use one when (with flat ended pins) I was an MOT tester (annual safety check in the UK if you don't know).....nothing better for finding bondo filled and undersealed frame rails and rockers.....the filler just falls out in big lumps on the floor.....even more fun if the owner is watching you do the test.....just watch there faces fall as they realise they've been rumbled!!

[70B5Cuda]

I dropped the car off at a local blasting company to just have the frame rails and inside rockers blasted. Then I can epoxy the inside of the rails and have the floor pans installed.



Aluminum oxide was the media I selected

[70B5Cuda]

The Charger went on the frame table this week. The lower quarters were cut off in front of the rear wheel openings to see what condition the rockers were in. The passenger side rocker was completely packed with mice nesting but somehow it is solid and won't require any repair!

Setting up for 2"x3" subframe connectors.......

[Lennard]

Progress

[70B5Cuda]

The driver's side was bad but I didn't think it was as bad as it was. When I first brought it home It had a hole in the rocker about the size of a half dollar. When I cleaned the car off with the power washer, it knocked a hole in the driver's rocker that was bigger then a baseball. I was planning on replacing the outer rocker, but once opened up, it needed to all come out...I just made a call to AMD to get the inner rocker coming my way.

[70B5Cuda]

Rear quarters have been cut off...



New rear crossmember is in place

[70B5Cuda]

The stock wheel tub shape/profile drives me crazy so these are getting modified heavily.
This is the passenger side tub. A widening strip was welded in place.


The slope of the outside tub leaves a lot of tire space on the table. On a stock Charger, the tires look silly because they are set back so far away from the wheel lip. Everything inside the green tape line will be cut out. And when you look from the front/back you will see a yellow card that is displaying the new profile/slope of the outer tub.

[70B5Cuda]

With the new outer tub.....which started out as a single piece of steel...

[70B5Cuda]

Side by side comparison:

[Kern Dog]

Thanks for the pictures...They are pretty big !
I can personally appreciate the efforts to the wheel tubs. WTF was Chrysler thinking with that bullshit outer tub design My 70 Charger rear tires make contact there and it sucks ass. It is also a pisser to think that the quarters have to be off to do this sort of work.

[70B5Cuda]

Thanks for the pictures...They are pretty big !
I can personally appreciate the efforts to the wheel tubs. WTF was Chrysler thinking with that bullshit outer tub design My 70 Charger rear tires make contact there and it sucks ass. It is also a pisser to think that the quarters have to be off to do this sort of work.

They actually don't have to be off. On my 1968 roadrunner, my buddy cut a plug out from the wheel well side and made a new plug that slipped up from the wheel well side and was welded in. Obviously, taking the quarter off is the best way to do it but it can be done without the quarter off.

[orange383]

Awesome job on the wheel tubs.

[nchrome]

l really like how ya did the wheel well tubs.  Wish l would of seen this be for l put new wheel well tubs in mine (stock ones)   What you did is way easier and better than what a few people done with theres. And l don't mean any disrespect just you guys came up with a better mouse trap.  Your lucky l had to replace both rear frame rails and the brace for the tank and the rear cross member.

[Kern Dog]

Your lucky l had to replace both rear frame rails and the brace for the tank and the rear cross member.

Why is the OP lucky that YOU had to do work to your own car ?? 

[70B5Cuda]

I haven't done much since getting the car accident, finding bone cancer, and having surgery to remove the cancerous portion of my right humerus. But fortunately, my buddy has been getting some work done on it. I wandered over to Matt's shop to take some pics of the car. In the last two months, the AMD quarter panels arrived and are just hanging on the car in these pics. Matt also removed the original K member/front suspension and installed the Reilly Alterktion front suspension. Also, my 70 Barracuda photobombed this picture (it's in the background). I've owned it for 11 years and I've never driven it. another project that has suffered major scope creep. LOL




I parted out a wrecked resto-modded 1970 Challenger last year that was equipped with this aftermarket 9" rearend with Baer disc brakes and a 4.10 limited slip diff. Since I have it already, I'm going to use it on this Charger. I ordered a Reilly Motorsports 4 link rear suspension setup which arrived last week-you can see the bar on the trunk floor. All the existing brackets will be removed from the rear housing and the Reilly brackets will take their place.

[orange383]

Great thread 

[Paul G]

Great build. When installing the trans there is something to keep in mind. The tail section of the A518 or a 46RH is much bigger than the tail of a 727. It can be a problem getting the trans high enough in the tunnel to get the pinion and driveshaft angles right. Especially if the car is being lowered. I was able to beat the tunnel out enough, and beat the floor support/trans crossmember mount  enough to get the angles right and get the speedo cable screwed on the the trans, but just barely. That was on a 72.