Hemi Charger Restoration thread (Updated 5/28/10 - Nearly complete!!!)

[PocketThunder]

Any updates this week?   

Not any that people around here want to hear about... (chop/chop - metal work beginning - deciding what stays/what goes)... disassembly done... I hope to make a trip up there in the next 2-3 weeks and probably won't have a big update (with pictures) until then...

BZ

Times up pal we need some updated pics...!      

[The70RT]

I guess the work is a big secret. Maybe he got tired some of those that were wondering how much of the 383 car is being used....why else not post again? He sure posted everyday before he got the car and when the drama was going on about the lawyers,the fender tag, the initial body work till the 383 car came into play. This is - " Hemi Charger Restoration thread"  No pun intended 

[Back N Black]

I don't think there is going to be much of the Hemi can left at the end of the day. If the role was reversed and lets say you decided to take the good parts of the Hemi car and put it on the 383 car, what actually would you put on there with guards to body parts?

Just my 

[F6Bee]

But remember that my car doesn't have a fender tag (remember the asshole guy that stored it removed it and will not give it up - still says he "can't find it"  ), so Galen is reproducing one and that's part of where the visual inspection comes in since the broadcast sheet was missing some info... and for what he's doing everything for, it is honestly not that bad of a deal - and in the grand scheme of things, it's a small price to pay for piece of mind since I already have a small fortune tied up in this thing...


Was the broadcast sheet pretty intact, or much of it missing?  I caught your ealier post about Galen needs to inspect it to help with missing parts of the sheet and was curious to how this works for a reproduced fender tag.

[ChargerSG]

How is it going with the resto? 

[69_500]

No news since january, what gives? You should know by now we on the board are nosey people and like updates. 

[bzabodyn]

SORRY!!!

Between work, helping raise a one-year old, and trying to help my wife's business make it through end of the year/tax-time, I just haven't had time to drive 2 hours to check out the car... But I have been in constant contact with the guys at American Classic Cars with how everything is progressing... According to them:

The engine was disassembled and a couple of pieces at a time were sent off to the machine shop and more pieces weren't sent off until those were returned... that process has taken a while, of course, but all the individual items have been returned and the engine is ready to be reassembled... the transmission has already been rebuilt, so after the engine is reassembled, both will be painted/detailed... the 383 and A833 out of the donor car are waiting on me to pick them up from the shop - so when I have a chance to get up there (we're planning on the last weekend in April), I'm going to bring it home and hopefully I'll find something to stick them in!

The bodywork is also coming along (but slowly, of course) and the majority of the body panels have been worked over and are in the process of test fitting all the panels (kinda hard to really know where things are at by talking to the resto guy when it comes to the body work though)... they are estimating that in 3-4 weeks, all the body work should be completed and will be ready for finish work... really excited about that....

I've ordered some spare wheels to bring up to them when we go up there and believe it or not, the guy who had the car in storage called me about 2 weeks ago and said he was still looking for the fender tag (still hasn't "found" it) but he did find the original spare out of the trunk... I'm going to meet him this week sometime and pick it up... so, that some good news!

On the trip up there in a couple of weeks, we're going to sit down and do a final parts list of everything we're missing and what we're reusing, etc... after paint, we'll move to the rest of the mechanicals, and then to the interior, and then trim/finish work... timeline still looks ok for completion by the end of the year, but any more snags or slow downs and we won't make it...

Look for tons of pics in the next couple weeks or so!
BZ

[Fitz73Chrgr]

Well there are almost always snags and slowdowns, so hopefully everything will go smoothly! 

[1969chargerrtse]

Cool, thanks for the update.

[tan top]

thanks for the update ....looking forward to the pictures .....................................

[ChargerSG]

Thanks 4 the update, curious to see the pictures

[69_500]

 

Curious people we are aren't we? Just like to know whats going on. One of these days I'll actually break down and do my car, but until then I just like to follow all of the progress of everyone else.

[bzabodyn]

I lied - I never had the chance to go up to Conroe to check the car out - we had a family emergency pop up and it prevented us from making the trip... we're looking at maybe two weeks from now, so hopefully THEN I can get you guys some updated pics - the only ones I have that I haven't posted are from a couple months back after disassembly but before the body work was started... I'll see if I can post those up even though the car looks nothing like that anymore!

BZ

[moparstuart]

 

[bzabodyn]

Tried to reply and post pics but for some reason it won't let me?!?!?!

Someone that would like to help - send me an email (bzabodyn AT hotmail DOT com) or post yours...

BZ

[C_stripes]

Here you go.






If you need me to.  I can post more.

Jeremy

[69bronzeT5]

Wow, its gone a long way! It looks good. Cant wait to see it done...it'll be killer

[PocketThunder]

Holy Rust holes Batman!!  Keep on it!   

[ChargerSG]

Sure it have some rust but nothing that cant be fixed. Keep up the good work, and keep us posted

[Charger_Fan]

That thing's well ventilated for sure, can't wait to see the final outcome!

[1969chargerrtse]

Thanks for the pics.  I've seen cars in worst rust shape than that restored( superbird barn find book ).  Great Job!

[bzabodyn]

Thanks guys!  It was reassuring to get the car disassembled and see that some parts of the car (frame/front end/inside floors) were in much better shape than imagined... the quality of the donor car is going to make replacing the roof/quarters/rear panels nice and easy - hopefully in the next month or two I'm going to have some decent sheetmetal for sale for someone else's project...

Minus the interior, it was amazing to see how untouched and complete everything was... between the HEMI car and the donor car, there are very few major parts that will need to be purchased to complete the car (just refinished/restored)... in the end, hopefully we'll have a beautifully restored car using mainly all true-to-1969 parts...

Thanks again and hopefully I can start updating the thread a little more regularly!

BZ

[tan top]

good pictures ... love looking at stuff like that        intresting    keep the pictures coming 

[bzabodyn]

Not sure if I mentioned it once before on the thread or not, but the guy that owned the barn where the car was rotting away called me again today saying that he had a spare wheel/tire that he thought came off the car... he was cleaning out the barn and wanted me to come pick it up, so I ran down there to meet him...

...cool thing is, I think it's the original wheel that's missing and the black wheel that was on the car was the original spare wheel, so now I have all the original wheels to the car!  He said he's still looking for the fender tag, so we'll see if that gets us anywhere... he has definitely turned a new leaf and is interested in the restoration process now and has become quite friendly... my how things can change!

Also at his place, he had a few of his Mopars out and about, including a Chrysler 300 Hurst edition, Plymouth Fury III, '71 Charger Superbee 440/6pk (that he says is his next project), and a Coronet convertible... He also has quite a few interesting classic mopar trucks and at his home place, he also has a '69 GTX 440, and a '70 runner convertible as well as a few other classics that I can't recall... guy is one of those who was "Mopar before Mopar was cool" and really knows his stuff (now that I've had a chance to sit down and talk with him...

Take care all!
BZ

(First two pics are when I first picked the wheel up/last two pics are of it cleaned up and with a redline dog dish hubcap I bought off of Ebay recently mocked up half-ass)

[justin1987]

Congrats on getting the wheel. Hopefully he'll find the fender tag soon.