My first Charger project ***Video***

[Hemidog]

Looking AND sounding good now PER! 

I think Ron/firefighter has the same valve covers...

[68r/t]

Sounds good, any chance of making a video of it  at idle?

[Belgium R/T -68]

Thanks all for the nice comments

The valvecovers are from 440source but I regret I didn't powdercoat them clear before assembly because they are very sensitive for
scratches like they say in their ad.
I do plan on shooting a video next time I start it with some idling and some reving up.

Again thanks to Ron for answering all my stupid questions and guiding me thru the build.

Per

[six-tee-nine]

Per, that beast sounds great......

Too Bad I could'nt be there too but i'm grounded by my wife till the inside of our house is repainted

I hope to visit you aigain during the holidays at the end of the year....

[PocketThunder]

Nice job Per!      

[Al]

Great job Per, it's really stimulating to read your thread. The quality of your work is astounding. 

Al

[Belgium R/T -68]

No resting here This weekend the fenders has to be mounted and hopefully one of the seats.

Per

[moparsons]

Absolutelty awsome car!!!! 

[six-tee-nine]

Fenders and one seat huh

I think you are getting prepared for some serious 

[Belgium R/T -68]

Well, well, well.... When I do the challenger I sure will paint it with all the bodypanels already mounted. The fenders just don't want to
hang where I want them Where should I start? It seems like if I tighten in one place I can't moove the fender anymoore in any
direction. Secondly, there is a hidden stud located in the rear of the fender that I only can reach when the door is open, is that
correct? When is it time to mount the bolt at the wheelopening? It sure as h**l demands pushing the fender very hard inwards to get that bolt
in place Added some pics so please if you have a good sequence of mounting the fender, I'm all ears.

Per

[Troy]

Yes, there is a bolt that can only be reached through the open door. Other than that, I don't have any tips for aligning things.

Troy

[Belgium R/T -68]

Yes, there is a bolt that can only be reached through the open door. Other than that, I don't have any tips for aligning things.

Troy

Thanks anyway Troy I will try with fixing the cowl-fender area first before I tighten bolts somewhere else. My problem is just
that I can't open the door to reach that hidden stud.

Per

[no40jm]

I would first install all the bolts and nuts loosely. Then Line up the body lines by adding or removing shims on the hidden stud (this moves the fender up and down). I also put tape on the body lines to see them better when alining. After the body lines are alined, use a paint stick to set the fender/door gap by putting the stick in the gap and moving the fender closer or further away from the door. After you have set the fender/door gap and alined the body lines, I would level the door to the fender. You can move the top in and out by hand and shim the two studs on the lower part of the fender. Use a paint stick to check if there level. After all this is done, Recheck everything one more time. Remove the splash shield to access the hidden stud.

[Belgium R/T -68]

I would first install all the bolts and nuts loosely. Then Line up the body lines by adding or removing shims on the hidden stud (this moves the fender up and down). I also put tape on the body lines to see them better when alining. After the body lines are alined, use a paint stick to set the fender/door gap by putting the stick in the gap and moving the fender closer or further away from the door. After you have set the fender/door gap and alined the body lines, I would level the door to the fender. You can move the top in and out by hand and shim the two studs on the lower part of the fender. Use a paint stick to check if there level. After all this is done, Recheck everything one more time. Remove the splash shield to access the hidden stud.

Certainly will try it your way

Thanks

Per

[Belgium R/T -68]

Tried the passengerside with removing the splashshield and it was much easier Could put the shims in place and also fix the gaps
without bigger problems although alone is a little bit tricky. I aim for a 1/4" gap between the doors and fender and the cowl-fendergap will
propably be somewhat bigger but I guess I will be the only one noticing that. Also by removing the splashshield I removed the pressure the newly installed rubbersealing between the shield and fender created, the shield beeing adjustable in it's position will fix that problem once it goes back on.

Per

[six-tee-nine]

Per,

First start to fill the cowl side with shims so you get the height adjustment correct. Then put the nuts on all the studs and tighten them just enough so you can still "push-move" it but it stayes in place when dont push or pull it......

As a side note...... I'm not a guru when it comes to a Charger but I use my common car sense so when others think I'm wrong, correct me please.
Here I go :

I think You need to have your hood in place first so you can line the hood up correctly with the cowl (so the gap from left to right is the same get me?)
Second, I think you need to put the grill along with the frame in place to. Why? I thing there is'nt much to align there.

When hood and grill are positioned, you can start aligning the fenders correctly.
First the height at the cowl, then work your way down..... align the gap with the door and also at the same time try to keep the fender alongside the door (meaning they run nicely along each other when you look down from mirror to rocker)
When the door side is fixed, work your way to the nose of the car. Now you can make sure the gap between the hood and the fender is as wide in the front as it is in the back.....
When that is done, I think you need to put in the valence before you can tighten down the lower front side of the fender.

When doing this for the first time and dont want to crack the paint you need to take your time. It would'nt suprise me if it will take a whole day to do just that.
But hey you can have a 10;000 dollar paint job but if you have a crappy door/fender/hood alignment it still looks like shit in the end so it needs to be good.....

If you need a hand, then let me know and we'll work something out that I come over. Because an extra set of hands is really usefull when tackling a job like this and they're not exactly Honda civic fenders too.....

[tan top]

thought this might be use full

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,54078.0.html

[OneofNoneRT]

Per, I feel for you..I happened to decide to pre hang the doors/fender hood just to see fit/function and wow! Did I have more work to do, I really would have been shaken to do the things I needed to do to get these to align after the paint was on! I was using some donor and new pcs.. and some of the alignments were really bad off.. I mean metal work needed off. if it was in paint I would have cried! Remember these cars are not fit like todays there is much more tolerance acceptable, if you put the gaps in the least conspicuous place.. You may be the only one that notices it.. Good luck..

[Belgium R/T -68]

Thanks all of you for very useful inputs. I think after reading everything that I'm on a good track, just need the hood aswell.
For the gaps I believe in with what was written, the most important will be to have the same gap all over. The paintsticks are very useful for
that. But again, I will never again paint a car without having the bodyparts all assembled. Not only the risc of having to do rework and chipping
the paint but the bolts are now looking like crap although they are new but bodycolour would be much better. Maybe I can use leftover paint
to fix that?

Per

[Belgium R/T -68]

While waiting for the weekend to get some help getting the hood down from the storageplace I have above the house I'm doing the last
pieces of the interior, the seatbacks. I bought new boards and the vinyl was included with the seatcovers. From the factory the hardware
is fastened with staples but I used flatheaded screws that I grinded of at the back. After gluing one side at the time they are looking fine.

Per

[Belgium R/T -68]

Got some helping lifting up the hood but I see there is some major adjustments to be done. Question is, can I adjust the hinges
without removing the hood?

Per

[charger Downunder]

Yep but have someone on eather side to take the weight of the hood take you time and close the hood slowly.

[OneofNoneRT]

Per, Here is one for you.. I have a donor hood that is in better shape than the original, so, we put it on, well the passenger side is back about 1/2 inch to far. it doesnt align with the front fender. so we have adjusted forward all we can and still to short. so we  grind a little on the hinges but we see it is never gonna happen.. so I decide lets get the old hood and put it on and see what happens, well, when on it was 1/4 inch to far fwd! the bracket that the hinge bolts to on the donor hood was welded 1/2 inch or more to far forward!. I dont know how it was working on the parts car? Now I am waiting on the new hood.. By the way Everything your doing is looking good.. Slow and steady you will get there..

[Belgium R/T -68]

We ( CB and Koen ) started to align the hood and fenders but will continue now saturday since I finally got the door and trunk back from the painter.
The door had to be welded where the 2 extra mirrorholes were and then totally repainted.
I was lucky asking about the placement of the trunkweatherstrip, otherwise I would have put it where the water is suposed to poor back. Always
good to check and extra time if it's the first time.

Per

[Steve P.]

That is one sexy car....  I wish it were mine....