HEMI68CHARGER Press Release #614 426 HEMI Charger 500 Restoration

[aerolith]

Well said Poolman and others who know this RESTO is 'UP THERE WITH THE BEST'!

250K is a BIG number for paups like me and many others, but ''IF YOU WANT THE BEST'' you gotta pay!!!

Loving the detailing and YES it is important to do all the stuff 'folks don't see'.

I remember my Mopar-mate spending countless hours doing a resto on his 69-500 aircon-box...
I said ''why are you doing that level of rest to an unseen part''?
He replied ''you spend hours polishing '50 year old' connecting rods and crankshafts''...

Oh yeah that's right I do, but that's for a different reason...(don't wanna buy a Chinese copy-part)...




Cos Cosmoline is a Coolio Colour (Color) sort of bronzey goldishness...

Nice work indeed, on the front suspenders Troy!!!

[hemi68charger]

Operation power windows: 69 Charger 500

Well, probably after nearly 40 years, these doors hold a power window assembly that actually works.. Wooohooo..
My bud Julius came over today to pick up his windshield for his 68 Charger R/T and while here, helped with the installation of the passenger door glass. Then, I got the rear support guide installed along with the window support for the regulator arm. I was able to save the original front guide felt.. Thanks for Dave Points for polishing the quarter glass seal trim, looks amazing. Now time to clean and button up all the door handle mechanisms for..
The glass is brand new from ECS with the exact Chrysler/PPG logo and date code as the original.

Video of operation;

https://youtu.be/5ZjfsHT0PTE

[hemi68charger]

Operation Mopar Collectors Guide- cool;
Nice surprise when I got my latest issue of Mopar Collectors Guide. Wasn't expecting this at this time but I am sure Richard, owner of the 610 car here, is surprised as well. Looked and low and behold that is my Fender tag for 614. Then I turned the pages and saw mine when I just dragged it home.. Unfortunately, didn't live up to the hype of the car getting done by the time the article came out.. Fell sort of that.. 😁

Here they chat about Richard's awesome 500, the twin to mine, but not an identical since his is a 4-gear and mine is an auto. The article goes on to explain how I was able to get Richard's 610 500's broadcast sheet to him and he told me Galen had mine. After 50+ years of being separated at Creative Industries in the notorious back seat misplacement, the broadcast sheets are back together with their car. I will never forget the day I called him out of the blue, him not knowing who I was and leaving him a message on his voicemail, "Hello, my name is Troy. I believe I have the original broadcast sheet to your 500. Call me back if you get this".. 5 minutes later, I get a call. 😁

[hemi-hampton]

Nice Story, I'm sure your Car will be in the Magazine soon LEON.

[hemi68charger]

Nice Story, I'm sure your Car will be in the Magazine soon LEON.

It was.. The garage pictures were in the magazine in this issue (if that's what you're referring to).. I "think" the 500 itself is supposed to be in the "under construction" section soon... I think... It's hard to tell sometimes with magazines...

[hemi-hampton]

Nice Story, I'm sure your Car will be in the Magazine Fully Restored soon LEON.

Here, I fixed it. LEON.

[tan top]

 great stuff 

[hemi68charger]

Nice Story, I'm sure your Car will be in the Magazine Fully Restored soon LEON.

Here, I fixed it. LEON.

Ahhh. Yeah.. Apparently they are going to do a final feature once done.

[hemi68charger]

 Back after a little hiatus with the car at the body shop.. Had to repair a bunch of modifications to the passenger side exhaust manifold prior to installation and engine detailing/paint.

Both heat tubes for the choke and air cleaner were welded up with plugs, so, those had to be drilled out and tapped.

[hemi68charger]

Working on the cluster as well this week.
Saved, reused and restored as many components as possible. The one thing I didn't like I will need to address is the instrument cluster bezel where PG Classics has the hole borders not paint, let chrome. They should be black. May price what GCAR will cost and sells these.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

[hemi-hampton]

NICE

[cdr]

lookin great Troy

[Dragon Slayer]

Troy what size are those heat tube stud you had to put in and are they course course or course fine?  Also on the choke heat tube does that press in a certain distance in an internal boss where the threaded fitting is, or does it press into the brass fitting.  Wondering how the exhaust seal is on the fitting side.

[hemi68charger]

Troy what size are those heat tube stud you had to put in and are they course course or course fine?  Also on the choke heat tube does that press in a certain distance in an internal boss where the threaded fitting is, or does it press into the brass fitting.  Wondering how the exhaust seal is on the fitting side.

1. Heat tube studs: Manifold is course, the nut is fine
2. The choke heat tube just presses into the cast iron of the manifold. Of course I had to drill out the plug that was put in it and no way going to get the exact diameter of the original hole. So, I used the new tube as a benchmark and drilled.. I researched online and via FSM illustrations to get a good length the tube stuck out of the manifold. The fit was pretty good but used hi-temp JB Weld to secure it in place.
3. The brass fitting, well I again drilled out the original hole getting as close as I could to the original diameter and retapped the hole with a pipe thread tap

[hemi68charger]

Operation Hemi mock-up.....
69 Hemi Charger 500
Getting ready to paint the 426 so I can mate it to the 727.. I will removing the items that don't get painted but wanted to adjust and tweak the tubes prior to paint.. Everything fit pretty good actually.. Need to get the negative battery cable on of course before paint.

Edit: leave it to my bud J,,,  I have forgotten the ground strap to the firewall.. 😁

Thrilled with myself how the passenger exhaust manifold came out after fixing the fittings, tubes and thermostat.

Yes.. I will be trimming the exhaust manifold gasket...

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Nice. 

What's with the plum 1970 Charger?

[hemi68charger]

Nice. 

What's with the plum 1970 Charger?

It is a friend's 70 Charger R/T; v-code 440 six pack console pistol-grip 4speed car... She's owned it since about '74... I'm doing a lot of OEM-correction work on it; dash resto, console resto, door windows, complete Accurate exhaust w/installing the original exhaust manifolds, installing the original radiator back in it, manual-2-power steering swap << that's the one that will make the car more pleasant for her... She's in her 70's now and the manual steering is getting tough on her.. Luckily, I get 1st crack at the car when the time comes to sell... It has a lot of the "checked boxes" for sure..

[Mytur Binsdirti]

 

[Dragon Slayer]

With the attention to detail you are going after you may want to purchase or rebuild an orig water pump with new bearing and mechanical seal.  I have done a few.  Late model look is much different.

[hemi68charger]

With the attention to detail you are going after you may want to purchase or rebuild an orig water pump with new bearing and mechanical seal.  I have done a few.  Late model look is much different.

Hey Dragon..
I forgot I had this NOS pump.. Will use this.. Maybe.... It is 50 years old.. Seems to be fine.. Rotates smoothly..

[hemi68charger]

Messing with the engine this weekend. Buddy Dave came over and we shot the motor with the proper Hemi Orange enamel from Frank B. at Roger Gibson Restoration. Then got to emptying boxes and putting parts on. Motor is coming together..

[hemi68charger]

Operation driver's side door/quarter glass: 69 Hemi Charger 500

Last night and today been working on the driver's side glass.. The door was easy-peasy, the quarter not so. Could NOT get the rear quarter glass aligned.. The top of the front was going too far inboard, no matter what I did. My friend Julius came over this morning to tweak things.. Sometimes it is best to get a different set of eyes.. Plus, J has restored a view Mopars in his day.. 😁

After doing this and doing that we both came to the conclusion that the new date-coded glass from my vendor had too much curvature at the top compared to the original. We placed the original in and after readjusting all we did to compensate for the bad glass it went up fine.. The glass... So I will contact ECS aboit this.. But did clean up the original glass and it was actually probably the best original. All the other glass is ECS. The passenger side is fine.

I left the vintage CAL CUSTOM decal that a previous owner installed during the early part of the car's life. Think it looks cool. I will leave it for now as long as that window stays in.

[timmycharger]

Working on the cluster as well this week.
Saved, reused and restored as many components as possible. The one thing I didn't like I will need to address is the instrument cluster bezel where PG Classics has the hole borders not paint, let chrome. They should be black. May price what GCAR will cost and sells these.

Curious on this, did you use a decal kit for the instruments? The font on the speedometer seems a bit different from the original?

[hemi68charger]

Working on the cluster as well this week.
Saved, reused and restored as many components as possible. The one thing I didn't like I will need to address is the instrument cluster bezel where PG Classics has the hole borders not paint, let chrome. They should be black. May price what GCAR will cost and sells these.

Curious on this, did you use a decal kit for the instruments? The font on the speedometer seems a bit different from the original?

I choose to try the OER products... I used them on the 70 Charger R/T I'm working on and the price to get my originals redone (gauges, speedometer, clock, tach was going to be EXPENSIVE !!!)  << this relates to the balancing act of the financial part of this resto.. But, have the original gauges...