Re: Restoration of my B5 Blue 4Spd Charger 500... Blue Thunder debuts...Finally!

[C500]

Another step closer Allen. I will need to do the inside of my fenders soon too. How were yours cleaned up?

Duncan

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Another step closer Allen. I will need to do the inside of my fenders soon too. How were yours cleaned up?

Duncan

Yes... it is getting there, and the C500 has come a long way...

The initial stripping of the dismounted fenders were done when the uni-body and all loose sheetmetal components were plastic media blasted.  The soft plastic media does a fine job on paint removal, but does not cut though surface rust well, so spot clean-up by lightly sandblasting on the inside surfaces of the fenders was required.  One of the attached pictures below shows small surface rust patches remaining on the underside of the uni-body after plastic media blasting as an example.  Final clean-up and prep was done by hand prior to priming, but I am not sure what exactly Greg did during that final prep...  I hope that answers your question Duncan...

The final new C500 picture is below after the stripping pics.  I will post more when I get them... soon I hope! 

Allen

[WINGR]

Hey Allen, she's sure looking good. Love that smooth prep work and paint on the inner panels. You know I just noticed how close our vins are, I've got 238077 and another friend of mine has 080. All three of our cars are 440/4-speeds too. Actually I think Rick's T5 440/4speed car is also pretty close to ours as well? Must have built the 4-speed cars in a batch. My scheduled build day was Nov 20 but Galen had said that the actual date was probably closer to the first week of December.

Great Job, looking forward to cruising with you next year at one of the shows.

WINGR/Steve

[moparstuart]

Hey Allen, she's sure looking good. Love that smooth prep work and paint on the inner panels. You know I just noticed how close our vins are, I've got 238077 and another friend of mine has 080. All three of our cars are 440/4-speeds too. Actually I think Rick's T5 440/4speed car is also pretty close to ours as well? Must have built the 4-speed cars in a batch. My scheduled build day was Nov 20 but Galen had said that the actual date was probably closer to the first week of December.

Great Job, looking forward to cruising with you next year at one of the shows.

WINGR/Steve

my car is    217188 and danny told me mine should be schedule date of B20 ?? nov 20 

[C500]

I hope that answers your question Duncan...

Allen

It does thanks. I have been contemplating how to do mine. I was going to get them sandblasted, but not confident they will come out straight. Last things I took in to get blasted they made a meal of, so was thinking bead blasting or soda blasting. Might be too much surface rust for soda. I have already removed most of it with a plastic paint strip disc. I think a light sandblast might be the ticket, so will try a different sandblaster.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Hey Allen, she's sure looking good. Love that smooth prep work and paint on the inner panels. You know I just noticed how close our vins are, I've got 238077 and another friend of mine has 080. All three of our cars are 440/4-speeds too. Actually I think Rick's T5 440/4speed car is also pretty close to ours as well? Must have built the 4-speed cars in a batch. My scheduled build day was Nov 20 but Galen had said that the actual date was probably closer to the first week of December.

Great Job, looking forward to cruising with you next year in a few years at one of the shows.

WINGR/Steve

Thanks Steve, yes we are close on the VIN numbers with mine being 238071.  Rick's T5 is 238099... that number being seared in my brain after all the drama...  Chrysler seemed to run a lot of models through in batches, like my Hemi `Cuda and one belonging to a friend... both 4 Speeds, VIN numbers only 10 apart.  His brother's A12 Super Bee is only one off from another A12 Super Bee in the area, both Automatics.

Oh, and I fixed the typo in your last sentence...    After only getting to this point after almost 3 years, you surely don't expect me to commit to having it cruising at Monster Mopar next year... but maybe the stars will line up...  Oh, wait, that happens in December of 2012    

BTW, I might be getting close to having the uni-body frame repair work started on the Daytona...  The guy that I always wanted to do the repair is now interested in the project, and we are going to discuss the trade of my 1969 440 Charger R/T project car in trade for his talented repair of the Daytona...  

Allen

[xs29j8Bullitt]

I hope that answers your question Duncan...

Allen

It does thanks. I have been contemplating how to do mine. I was going to get them sandblasted, but not confident they will come out straight. Last things I took in to get blasted they made a meal of, so was thinking bead blasting or soda blasting. Might be too much surface rust for soda. I have already removed most of it with a plastic paint strip disc. I think a light sandblast might be the ticket, so will try a different sandblaster.

Duncan - I have seen entire car bodies stripped with a sand blaster with out any sheetmetal warpage, while other cars have been ruined by sandblasting...  Get a talented sand blaster, and pay him "by the hour"... I believe some of the problem is the blaster's rushing to get done with a job, and on to the next paying job.  For a small job like this you should probably ask to be on hand to watch/assist.

Below are some pics of the light sandblasting done on the uni-body and loose sheetmetal like the rear window plug shown.  Notice how far away he is holding the spray nozzle...

Good luck with your touch-up... should not be a problem.  For the very small localized areas that you are probably having done, maybe something like a cold pack applied to the backside would provide a little extra assurance...? 

Allen

[hemi68charger]

Looking good Allen..
Glad to see you're making continual progress on the C500..... Good luck with the next steps. I know you're chomping at the bits to get'er done........

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Looking good Allen..
Glad to see you're making continual progress on the C500..... Good luck with the next steps. I know you're chomping at the bits to get'er done........

Thanks Troy... Blue Thunder is starting on a roll... I hope!  Rolling Thunder... here we go with more progress pictures.

First pic shows the hood being dry blocked...

Second pic shows the wet sanding of the hood...

The current plan is to finish work on all loose sheetmetal parts (hood, doors, deck lid, etc) by Wednesday.  Then those parts will be taken over to Ken's place for final fitting and final installation.  After that... Exterior Paint!... Lots'a B5 Blue baby!!!   

[tan top]

looking good 

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Here a a few pics showing the installation of the bumper stop plates on the bottom side of the hood near the front...

These are the clip-on pieces found on 1969 Charger hoods, but not 1968 Charger hoods IIRC...

These were left on by the previous body shop because they "did not know the parts were removable"... at least that is what the body shop owner told me... 

First pic shows the mess left from the first body shop, when they finally removed them while trying to fix the other major disaster... the inexcusable application of Rust Bullet with a #$%@&! brush, with the resulting brush stokes extremely visible through the B5 paint when applied.  Sanding that rock hard cr@p off was very labor intensive, but it is finally gone!  Greg has applied the same Rust Bullet material with a spray gun to the Charger 500 in areas like the underside of the car and sub-frames with excellent results!  Great product so far... when properly applied!

The second pic show the painted bumper plate on the RH side prior to installation, and the third pic after installation.  The fourth pic show the left side plate installed.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

looking good 

Thanks Tan Top...  now for some "real purdy" pictures IMO... 

These last four pics show the painted "inside" portions of the deck lid and doors...

As Stu would say...                                                         

[UFO]

Nice.
Does your heart rate go way up when you open the email's from the shop?

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Nice.
Does your heart rate go way up when you open the email's from the shop?

Thanks, and yes it does... I may need to be sedated when the "All B5" pictures arrive!   

The last two years have been tough ones for me, and now would be a good time for some great news for a change...

[69bronzeT5]

 

[moparstuart]

looking good 

Thanks Tan Top...  now for some "real purdy" pictures IMO... 

These last four pics show the painted "inside" portions of the deck lid and doors...

As Stu would say...                                                         

  u took the drool right out of my mouth   

[richRTSE]

Wow, thats really looking good Allen!  Are you planning on staying with a black stripe and Magnums, or something different?

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Wow, thats really looking good Allen!  Are you planning on staying with a black stripe and Magnums, or something different?

Thanks!  Staying with the black C500 stripe, and using reproduction W23 Recall Wheels that I believe will look great on the car.  The "silver" look of the wheels should go well with all that B5!

Something like  this:

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Allen, haven't checked in in a while.....the progress is coming along great!  B5 is one of my favorite colors (next to Hemi Orange of course)!



Chris

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Allen, haven't checked in in a while.....the progress is coming along great!  B5 is one of my favorite colors (next to Hemi Orange of course)!



Chris

Thanks Chris!  Glad you stopped in for a look... sorry this has been dragging out so long.  Between the first body shop fiasco and other curves that life threw at me, its taken almost three years to get to this point.  But now I am expecting major progress soon, the application of exterior paint.

With the weather starting to cool off, I need to start gathering up the loose parts to send off for sub-assembly work and final installation.  Still a lot of loose  ends to work out...

Speaking of loose ends, do I owe you any 1969 Charger data for your registry?  Have I sent you fender tag & broadcast sheet info on my 1969s, i.e. Charger 500, Daytona, & Charger R/T... also a parts car Charger?  The C500 & Daytona bc sheets are not the correct ones, and I am not sure the parts car has a fender tag (no bc sheet).

Allen

[moparchris]

Allan,
Everything is looking great!!  I can't wait to see the body done and the assembly process begin.  I hope you keep getting good news.
Chris

p.s.  I found the negatives of my A4 69 Hemi 'Runner.  If you'd like I can get them developed and mail them to you.  PM me some time with your home address.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Allan,
Everything is looking great!!  I can't wait to see the body done and the assembly process begin.  I hope you keep getting good news.
Chris

p.s.  I found the negatives of my A4 69 Hemi 'Runner.  If you'd like I can get them developed and mail them to you.  PM me some time with your home address.

Thanks Chris!  I am sooo looking forward to the day it is at least back on the ground on all four wheels...

Hopefully it is now being fitted with the doors, fenders, hood, deck lid, etc in preparation for the application of a sea of B5 Blue!

If it is not too much trouble, I would like reprints of your A4 Hemi Road Runner... It is a small family of A4 Hemi cars, and I especially like the A4 '69 Runners!  I will gladly reimburse printing and mailing costs.

Here is my A4 Hemi RR as purchased from a junkyard, and after a cheap repaint in the early 1980s.

Thanks again Chris, I will PM my address to you...

Allen

[hemi68charger]

Hey Allen, that blue sure is looking good on those panels !!!!     You should have it ready for your next Cowtown Mopar show..

[Aero426]

Allen, it's looking good.

How much of the car would you say had to be redone after pulling it from the first shop? 

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Allen, it's looking good.

How much of the car would you say had to be redone after pulling it from the first shop?  

Thanks Doug!  Overall, I would say the vast majority was redone... it depends on the category of the work:

1)  Stripping / Cleaning - The Plastic Media blasting was done by an outside company (not related to the first body shop) and was very well done, and although pricey ($2000)... was money well spent.  The stripping & cleaning of some smaller parts like the hood hinges was done earlier by the first body shop, and although done well, could have been included in the parts sent to the media blaster.  The biggest negative in this area is the 8 months the C500 sat at the first body shop in bare metal collecting rusty hand & finger prints, and being in real danger of getting serious surface rust.  From the beginning I was assured the light sand blasting of surface rust spots and application of proper primers would be done "in a few days" or "next week", and after 5-6 months I rarely asked any more...

2) Weld repairs - The installation of the floorboard patches were done fairly well, as were most of the smaller weld repairs like the inner fender area where the battery tray bolts down to.  There were a few areas like the rear wheel housings were the weld repairs were not as good, but functional at least.

3) Installation of the repro CBD quarter panels and repro AMD sheetmetal (trunk floor, trunk floor extensions, rear valance, valance corners, etc).  Although never completed by the first body shop, there were already significant issues with the installation of the quarter panels and valance related parts.  As far as I know, the trunk floor location was OK, but both quarter panels were off.  One side was fairly close, the other had major location issues... both were adjusted.  In addition to the quarter panel that was badly mis-located, the other WTH problem was the use of a body shop hammer to bash in the corners at the top of the interface with the door on both sides.  The reason given was that the gap narrowed too much there, so he "fixed It".  Interestingly enough, no other user of the CBD quarter panels had a similar issue, and the gap when the car was picked up was way too wide there.  The new body shop had to work the corners back to their original "pre-hammer" condition.  The only possible explanation that I can think of is that a mis-located quarter panel created a gap issue that was "fixed" with a hammer.

4) Bodywork / Filler / Paint - Pretty much a complete loss... virtually everything was redone (in fact, I cannot think of anything that was not redone).  Still, it is possible that I am overlooking some small repair or paint like maybe hood hinges or deck lid spring, but I believe everything was redone.  A major problem was the body line on the passenger door which was moved with a thin coating of filler, making it impossible to properly fit the door.  At first I assumed the repro CBD was the problem, because I knew the door was original and clean with no collision damage.  I left it to Greg to find the problem and the solution.  He found the moved body line, and after removing the filler, the problem went away.  Some how, in painting two doors, inside quarter panels lightly, hood hinges, deck lid torsion springs, hood underside, and side panels next to the rear seat... nearly a gallon of incredibly expensive paint was "used".  I paid about $1400 for the two gallons IIRC, and only a gallon and a pint or so remained when I picked it up.  A quick call to the local paint supplier confirmed that the "walk in off the street" price was about half of what I was charged...

Well, it is getting late and I am tired of typing... so here are a few related pictures.  The last pic on my next post shows the "Rework" folder that I have started to document the issues with the first body shop...