What to do First?

[bordin34]

Anybody have opinions on what should be done first on my 74 Charger SE. It needs the tranny rebuilt, passenger side floor pans, and a new roof. The engine a 318 that is getting very tired, 82,000 original miles. I am on a limited budget, only 14 years old. It doesn't matter when it gets roadworthy as long as it is within 2 years from now. The body is great except for occasional 1mm rust circles that go threw the paint, and the lower quarters that have some minor pin-head sized rust spots that show threw the paint.
Thanks

[deputycrawford]

Thats a super hard question. There is no first thing to do on a car like that. If it was me at your age? I would put another top on it, then mildly rebuild the 318 and drive the car. put brakes and suspension parts on it also. You take it apart now and you will never drive it. It will snow ball until you get rid of it in pieces. You can give it a proper restoration when you are older. Just don't get rid of it. Especially if its paid for.

[Bandit72]

Thats a super hard question. There is no first thing to do on a car like that. If it was me at your age? I would put another top on it, then mildly rebuild the 318 and drive the car. put brakes and suspension parts on it also. You take it apart now and you will never drive it. It will snow ball until you get rid of it in pieces. You can give it a proper restoration when you are older. Just don't get rid of it. Especially if its paid for.

[dodgecharger-fan]

I agree..

Get the mechanicals up to snuff. Make it safe to drive.
Then worry about making it pretty. Start with the top. Get that all done to keep any more weather out of the rest of the car.
Then do the floor pans. You'll likely need those all sealed up before it will pass inspection.

After that, tackle the little rust spots.

If do a good job as you go along and take good care of things, one day you might find that a well done scuff and spray will bring it up to a nice looking ride.

How's the interior? If you get it to driver stage and it still needs attention, a plain old seat cover will clean things up until you save up the money and get the time to re-skin everything.

Once you have a plan in mind. Don't sweat how long it takes. Stick to the plan. Maintain what's good on the car obsessively. Keep it safe and keep rust under control.

Don't sweat that it's not all done right now. A Charger with some primer spots on it is still a Charger.

If it helps you, carry a picture of what you want the car to look like along with a note of what your next step in the plan is and how you're working towards checking it off the list. Having several smaller goals to achieve keeps the feeling of being overwhelmed out of your mind. Even if you can't figure out all of the steps right now, list what you can and put "learning about the stuff you don't yet know" down as one of your steps. That will change as you figure out what specific things you need to figure out, but that's okay. Just keep breaking it down to smaller steps and keep checking things off the list.

You might make mistakes here and there - do things out of order or just plain mess up. That's okay. You'll learn from that. Accept it as a lesson rather than a setback. That'll keep you positive. Some steps will take longer to achieve. That's fine as long as you stick to the plan or adjust accordingly. Adjustments should always be made in terms of progress and not in terms of settling for less than what you want. At the same time, be sensible about what you want.

Always focus on the end goal and the next step towards getting there. If something comes up, adjust your plan, but stay on track.

Most importantly, keep the car and have fun working on it, and driving it, and just plain having it.

Good luck.

[Nacho-RT74]

IMHO all depends if you want the best resto as posible, rositerie job, or just repair it.

If you don't care to have it parked it on these next two years, I would start on body, since drivetrain  job is just 2 weeks-one month job. A good body job takes lot of time more, specially a good job beside try to look the best parts posible.

I would start to part it out and get a good storage place of interior parts, wiring etc, everything clasified.

For your description, I think with tight budget, but getting small steps every month you can get your car in a year or so.

With drivetrain out you can get a better paint job, detailing even the engine bay with a fresh paint end everything. Is great get the drivetrain in and car ready to go without need anything more, For a while with engine in and car still parked waiting for rest of job is some depressing.

[ChargerSG]

Fix the engine first, then the top and depending how fast it get done work your way down. But to the first thing first and drive it some Great age to get started in, wish i had a Charger when i was 14

Best of luck

[41husk]

were are you located Bordin?

[bordin34]

Mahwah, NJ its in bergen county. Thanks im probably going to get the transmission rebuilt first.  I have already driven it some, but my mother yells at me when I go WOT and it goes from 15-20 mph in a long time. it slips bad in first and hooks up in second. The choke doesnt work so its a pain in the but to get warmed up in this 40 degree weather.

[red72chrgr]

I agree..

Get the mechanicals up to snuff. Make it safe to drive.
Then worry about making it pretty. Start with the top. Get that all done to keep any more weather out of the rest of the car.
Then do the floor pans. You'll likely need those all sealed up before it will pass inspection.

After that, tackle the little rust spots.

If do a good job as you go along and take good care of things, one day you might find that a well done scuff and spray will bring it up to a nice looking ride.

How's the interior? If you get it to driver stage and it still needs attention, a plain old seat cover will clean things up until you save up the money and get the time to re-skin everything.

Once you have a plan in mind. Don't sweat how long it takes. Stick to the plan. Maintain what's good on the car obsessively. Keep it safe and keep rust under control.

Don't sweat that it's not all done right now. A Charger with some primer spots on it is still a Charger.

If it helps you, carry a picture of what you want the car to look like along with a note of what your next step in the plan is and how you're working towards checking it off the list. Having several smaller goals to achieve keeps the feeling of being overwhelmed out of your mind. Even if you can't figure out all of the steps right now, list what you can and put "learning about the stuff you don't yet know" down as one of your steps. That will change as you figure out what specific things you need to figure out, but that's okay. Just keep breaking it down to smaller steps and keep checking things off the list.

You might make mistakes here and there - do things out of order or just plain mess up. That's okay. You'll learn from that. Accept it as a lesson rather than a setback. That'll keep you positive. Some steps will take longer to achieve. That's fine as long as you stick to the plan or adjust accordingly. Adjustments should always be made in terms of progress and not in terms of settling for less than what you want. At the same time, be sensible about what you want.

Always focus on the end goal and the next step towards getting there. If something comes up, adjust your plan, but stay on track.

Most importantly, keep the car and have fun working on it, and driving it, and just plain having it.

Good luck.

VERY good advice, I agree with dodgechargerfan

[andy74]

i agree with the majority here, keep it driveable,and enjoy the hell out of it first and foremost-and spen your time not working on it here-lot of knowledge to pick up if you are willing to learn from others mistakes

[41husk]

well if you were closer to St louis I would go ahead and give you the roof off my parts car.  I figure I could get $100-$200 if I cut it off and hang on to it for Monster Mopar, but if you can get someone to come down her cut it off (I have a sawzall) you can have it for free, just to help out a young gun, but I won't ship it to you, just not worth the trouble and being a high school wrestling coach this is about the worst time of the year.