HEMI68CHARGER Press Release #614 426 HEMI Charger 500 Restoration

[aerolith]

Fast work there Troy!
Glad to hear the main-man is on the case too (Julius) lol.

Wonky grilles are the way forward...

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang.. Accomplished another milestone this weekend; the blasting and delivering of the car to the body shop.. My last project Superbird took freaking 6 months or so.. This time, a weekend..
The car is pretty much what I expected.. Really solid in places and not so much in others.  But, it can all be fixed. 

[hemi68charger]

Some more stripped and delivered..

[mopar346]

Very nice, dustless blasting?

[hemi68charger]

Very nice, dustless blasting?

High pressure water with crushed glass, the only process I have been exposed to that actually cuts through the thick sound-deadening undercoating.

[hemi-hampton]

Is warping a risk with this method? LEON.

[C500]

I stripped as much sound deadening off as I could by hand and got it blasted on rotisserie using garnet. Blasting does a super nice job  Nice work, love seeing your updates 

[Mytur Binsdirti]

How long did the entire blasting take?

[mopar346]

Is warping a risk with this method? LEON.

No, I have one and the metal is literally cold immediately after blasting. It is an awesome process that is very effective and cleans a much wider section than a typical blaster, they main challenge I have found is the clean up afterwards but I use regular blast sand. Think about when you sand blast you can blow loose sand out of nooks and crannies, with the water blasting it's literally mud, terrible to get out of things like rockers. I have relegated mine to panel blasting and the exterior of the car and stay out of the inside and seal areas up that concern me. It is incredible the way it works and much cleaner not to mention it uses much less sand/media. They only other thing that concerns me is the whole thought of spraying water on bare metal, just a metal thing I guess. We have blasted using the "hold tight" chemical and left panels outside for 2 weeks with little ill effects.

Troy, how was the glass on clean up, that might be the ticket, looking at your blast pictures I did not see nearly the mess I'm left with.

[hemi68charger]

..
Troy, how was the glass on clean up, that might be the ticket, looking at your blast pictures I did not see nearly the mess I'm left with.

It is my understanding and how it was explained to me is there will always be some residual media in the nooks and crannies of a car. Sand will usually attract moisture and clump easier whereas the crushed glass doesn't.

[70 sublime]

How much fun is it going to be to weld a new trunk floor in way up inside the car ?
Do you know any midgets ??

[mopar346]

It is my understanding and how it was explained to me is there will always be some residual media in the nooks and crannies of a car. Sand will usually attract moisture and clump easier whereas the crushed glass doesn't.

Thank you, great info and the explanation makes sense.

[bad88t-top]

Looks great Troy.   Me of all people appreciate a high quality restoration.  I can't wait to see this one progress.

[odcics2]

It is my understanding and how it was explained to me is there will always be some residual media in the nooks and crannies of a car. Sand will usually attract moisture and clump easier whereas the crushed glass doesn't.

Thank you, great info and the explanation makes sense.

Although both silicon based, sand is porous, whereas when heated and turned to glass, the water holding pores go away!   

[Mopar John]

Troy,
It looks like they did a great job in a short amount of time!
But with those big compressors in the pictures I also have to ask if you had any warpage?
MJ

[odcics2]

Troy -
Since your car originally had a 727, but has a 4 speed hump in it, maybe it was converted by Chrysler, Day 1, to replace the hemi 4 speed 500 press car that was stolen/recovered in Watts, all stripped out ?   

[Moparpoolman]

Troy, where did you get those door jam supports?  The look like they would be very helpful for a convertible?  Are they needed with a hardtop car or are you just using because you have them? Thanks

[hemi68charger]

How long did the entire blasting take?

We dropped it off on Saturday morning, he didn't really get going I believe until about 11am.. He finished Sunday afternoon... He brought in reinforcements..

Troy -
Since your car originally had a 727, but has a 4 speed hump in it, maybe it was converted by Chrysler, Day 1, to replace the hemi 4 speed 500 press car that was stolen/recovered in Watts, all stripped out ?  

The car was being converted at the salvage yard the car was found in back in the Carolinas..

Troy, where did you get those door jam supports?  The look like they would be very helpful for a convertible?  Are they needed with a hardtop car or are you just using because you have them? Thanks

The supports were part of my friend's rotisserie system.... I believe it helped in rigidity. Not sure how it would have been without them...

[hemi-hampton]

I think the door jamb supports are a good idea on any car, convertible or not. These cars flex to much if stock from the factory. just my    LEON.

[Ghoste]

Troy -
Since your car originally had a 727, but has a 4 speed hump in it, maybe it was converted by Chrysler, Day 1, to replace the hemi 4 speed 500 press car that was stolen/recovered in Watts, all stripped out ?   

Interesting thought.

[odcics2]

Troy -
Since your car originally had a 727, but has a 4 speed hump in it, maybe it was converted by Chrysler, Day 1, to replace the hemi 4 speed 500 press car that was stolen/recovered in Watts, all stripped out ?   

Interesting thought.

Why would a salvage yard do a conversion?   Usually, they are trying to make money, not spend it...   

[Ghoste]

Agreed.  And if anyone associated with it did it with an eye to keeping the car for themselves, they would have done that.

[hemi68charger]

Troy -
Since your car originally had a 727, but has a 4 speed hump in it, maybe it was converted by Chrysler, Day 1, to replace the hemi 4 speed 500 press car that was stolen/recovered in Watts, all stripped out ?   

Interesting thought.

Why would a salvage yard do a conversion?   Usually, they are trying to make money, not spend it...   

I don't know why, that was about 1982..I'm sure they had parts laying around and to convert it to a manual tranny would have been more attractive to buyers. Not all cars that end up at a salvage yard are destined to be scraped... All I know is that is where it was, some used car joint/salvage yard.. They were in the process of converting it to a 4speed and a General Lee (hence why is was painted orange). No one at the time, there, even knew what the heck it was... It was just a '69 Charger to them..

[hemi68charger]

So it begins..  The cutting out of bad sections... The shop worked on removing the trunk floor this week and waiting on the sheetmetal I ordered...

[70 sublime]

Interesting to see the lower edge of the window plug and how un straight it was hacked off to mate up to drain gutter around trunk opening