Rebuild of my 68 after crash ************IT'S BACK HOME****PICS*************

[dkn1997]

Some of you probably followed the other thread where destiny, masquerading as a 79 year old man with questionable vision and driving skills, intervened in my life.  At this point, the dust has settled, I got a good settlement from my insurance company, and work has begun.  In a nutshell, the frame is being straightened, new hood, drivers fender, valence, and a bumper will be installed.  Also, the whole car is being repainted and a few other non accident issues with the body will be addressed.  I do have a cushion, so some upgrades will take place.  Currently, the frame is almost back in line, body work on the pas quarter has started, and the sheetmetal, less the valence, is at the shop.  I took plenty of pics. I took a bunch of the amd hood and fender because i know a lot of guys are planning on using these parts.  To me, the sheetmetal from AMD looks great, but I am no body man.  The bodyshop owner, however,agreed and said that "this stuff is really good" Special thanks to Jason at Gunslinger who I ordered the sheetmetal through.  He was great to deal with and the parts were at the body shop less than a week after i ordered them.  He is a stand up guy to deal with which in itself is enough. But to top it off, he has good prices too. 

I will keep this thread going as work progresses.  Here we go.  1st 2 are the carnage...last one is what it looked like less than 4 months before it got taco'd

[dkn1997]

At the body shop...the teardown

[dkn1997]

On the frame machine.  2nd pic you can see where the rail cracked.  They will straighten the frame, the cut out that section and buttress it.  that wasn't the only spot, he's got another closer to the firewall.  Lower control arm may have taken a hit. once he's got the frame where it needs to be, we will know for sure.  Frame guy said the it looks like the wheel/suspension/frame took most of the hit as far as the structure goes. 

[dkn1997]

pre accident rust on pass quarter. patch panels welded in, still needs grinding and filling.  one more spot on top of that quarter near trunk drip rail, and a small spot on dutchman panel by rear window corners.  all will be cut out and new metal welded in.

8 years ago, I had a shop weld in new patch panels in back of the wheels on both quarters.  got the panels from year one and they held up great.  the area in front of the wheel was rusted back then and the same shop fabbed their own panels...didn't do a good job because look at the patch that to be used now!

[dkn1997]

AMD sheetmetal

[dkn1997]

Fender.  Bring your kids to the body shop, the look on their faces will tell you how much they love it 

[dkn1997]

last one of the fender

[69bronzeT5]

Kevin, let us know how the hood and fender fits.

[Hemidog]

Good work! Looks like quality sheet metal! 

[bull]

AMD to the rescue, just in the nick of time. Lookin' good!


BTW, I assume you don't need that valance, right?

[tan top]

  .........

[69*F5*SE]

Everything seems to be moving right along. It's great to be able to have the body parts you need available now.

[PocketThunder]

Looks good!   

Will the dust wash off the vinly top just fine or should they cover it with plastic while doing body work?

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Looks good!  

Will the dust wash off the vinly top just fine or should they cover it with plastic while doing body work?

I was thinking the same thing.

Love to hear how the fenders turn out....my car could use some new ones

[Charger_Fan]

AMD to the rescue, just in the nick of time. Lookin' good!

Man, that's for sure. This accident had pretty good timing, from that aspect.

[Aero426]

If the front rail has been torn in a couple places, the proper procedure is that it should really be replaced.   It looks like he's heated and pulled and got it back to the right dimension.   It's not as critical on an older car as it does not have the high strength steels we have now, but you have to be careful with heat as you are altering the molecular structure of the metal.   Too much heat = bad.

Does this type of repair happen in the field?  Yes.   Does it return the car to your goal of pre-accident condition?  No.    Are you willing to accept that your cars value might be lowered by the way the repair is performed?  It is a major expense to change the rail, but if I were a future buyer of your car, and discovered the repair was done this way,  I would probably keep walking. 

[dkn1997]

Looks good!   

Will the dust wash off the vinly top just fine or should they cover it with plastic while doing body work?

It's dust. I am sure it will be fine. At this point, I am happy to have found a body shop that's not owned by vinny barbarino wearing a matching sweatsuit

[Charger-Bodie]

Just an FYI ...The rest of the car really should be stripped. 3 layers is too many.

[ChargerSG]

I know the feeling(my 69 SE went to destiny), i wish i could afford Amd fenders. Looking good, in the end its the perfect excuse to totally restore a Charger

[dkn1997]

most of car was stripped to bare metal when I had it painted @7-8 years ago.  I know how it looks, on the lower quarters, but  it's red paint, epoxy primer, then bare metal.  before it was stripped for paint back then, I had patch panels put in the lower quarters by a different shop, this was even further back, probably 10 years ago.  when those panels were welded in, i had that guy shoot a coat of any red he could find over the primer to make a little better looking and seal it up.  when the entire body was stripped for paint later, that guy obviously took a shortcut where he saw fresh bodywork. I took video back then and I saw that most of the car was stripped to bare metal, so i didn't just take his word for it.

The frame section in the pic is the only part where it actually cracked.  He did find one other spot further back that is a little bent, but not torn like this one.   As far as resale, if I was that concerned with that, I would never have allowed the car to be totaled in the first place.  It's just not a priority for me.  If I ever do sell the car, it will be with full disclosure of the accident with pictures of the damage and repairs.  I was never into this car to make money and the accident hasn't changed that.

[69bronzeT5]

Love to hear how the fenders turn out....my car could use some new ones

Your car needs new fenders? Pffft. My car needs new ones.

[dkn1997]

The frame work is done.  But now that it's straight, it's apparent that the lower control arm and balljoint are bent.  I would like to use only new parts where possible, but the only thing I found on lower control arms was an NOS one on ebay for 350 bucks!  I could swear someone was making them, but now I can't find it.  Even if I could, I seem to remember that price being way high too.  It would kill me to pay that kind of money for a single control arm, but buying used scares me because how do I really know it's not someone else's junk?  which all leads me to think that maybe a set of tubular lower control arms would be nice.  I'm not a fan of reinventing the wheel, but the price for a new set is right in line with a single stock one....I'm thinking why not. and while I'm at it, why not tubular uppers too?  I already have a firm feel box and the car is lowered....  I would never consider this upgrade (I dont' even know how much of an upgrade it actually is) unless I was forced to replace this damaged part. 

If I do this, I plan to use the CAP lowers and either the mancini or magnum force uppers, the ones that have the stock bushings and accept stock balljoints. This car will see all street miles and pretty much zero track hours. 

[Aero426]

So how did he finish off the repair on that left rail?    Post a pic if you can.

Have you posted a want ad or tried to find a stock control arm on Moparts?

[dkn1997]

I found a stock one at tony's parts in delaware.  I will call tomorrow.  I have not been to the shop since monday. I will get there by saturday hopefully.  I will post a pic of the repair. I put the crack pipe down and decided to find a stock arm.  I may go as far as getting the stiffening plates from mancini.  I think i'd do ok by taking the 400 i was going to drop on control arms and maybe get a better swaybar and shocks.  maybe a set of offset bushings for the uppers for more caster....

[Hemidog]

Firmfeel sells reinforced control arms. http://www.firmfeel.com/reinlca_b.htm
However, if they think your old control arms is too bent, it might be $200 extra..