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

[Mass_Mopar]

Wow, looks like things are going great relatively speaking   When I first read that your car was hit my heart sank, your 68 has always been one of my favorite chargers.  From your initial posts when it was hit it sounded like it was totaled    I'm glad you're rebuilding it!!  Good luck with the rest of the build, looks like you got a body shop that actually works in a timely fashion     Lets see some pics of those boyds when they come in!!! 

[dkn1997]

Wow, looks like things are going great relatively speaking   When I first read that your car was hit my heart sank, your 68 has always been one of my favorite chargers.  From your initial posts when it was hit it sounded like it was totaled    I'm glad you're rebuilding it!!  Good luck with the rest of the build, looks like you got a body shop that actually works in a timely fashion     Lets see some pics of those boyds when they come in!!! 

Here are the boyds on the car..sort of..

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,54252.0.html

your car is one of the reasons I got big wheels. 

[plum500]

Cool to see all that progress and recovery. I *really* like the look of those wheels. Fill the wheel well, still got some sidewall, 5 spoke and shiny. Looks awesome! 

[375instroke]

What can you tell me about the insurance?  Was it some kind of stated value classic car insurance where the car must be garaged and can't be driven to work or the grocery store, or something more conventional.  All the insurance companies I've dealt with for basic liability insurance say they won't touch a car like what I drive when it comes to comprehensive coverage.

[dkn1997]

it's a whole story with the insurance. suffices to say that it's an agreed value policy and you are only supposed to drive to shows, parades, club events.  I heard that haggerty lets you drive a certian amount of miles a year no matter what.

[The70RT]

it's a whole story with the insurance. suffices to say that it's an agreed value policy and you are only supposed to drive to shows, parades, club events.  I heard that haggerty lets you drive a certian amount of miles a year no matter what.

Yep UNLIMITED with Hagarty.

[dkn1997]

Moving right along....My new Classic Body Design door skin arrived today.  I haven't seen it, but my body man says it's nice.  It arrived in bare metal and he's priming it tomorrow.   FYI, I want to thank Ron from CBD. He was very nice to deal with and shipped out the part promptly.  Here is the best part; 350 including shipping.  I'm very happy with the AMD hood/fender/valence I purchased, but I almost fell off my chair when I saw their door skin cost almost as much their hood! 

Should be either in paint, or ready for paint by the weekend...getting closer.  I got a jumpstart this weekend when out walking with my daughter, I spy a neighborhood acquaintance washing his truck.  I know he's a pontiac guy with a super clean 66 389 tripower, 4speed gto and a 72 400/auto gto.  Over the winter he took the 72 off the frame (already had super straight body/restored interior) and blasted the frame and redetailed the entire undercarriage, suspension, and engine.  Of course he has a lift in the garage and I spent an hour drooling over it with him.  I happen to love that year gto.  I have to say that the full frame car guys have it made.  think how easy it would be to redo the entire suspension with no body on the car? anyway..I am so fired up now.

[The70RT]

Cool. Looks like you will be ready for spring cruises. Yeah makes you wonder why the hood is the same price as a door skin, must be a tooling thing? The ONLY bad thing about doing a frame off is you gotta have more space. I gotta 68 Cutlass vert to do after the Charger.

[dkn1997]

Cool. Looks like you will be ready for spring cruises. Yeah makes you wonder why the hood is the same price as a door skin, must be a tooling thing? The ONLY bad thing about doing a frame off is you gotta have more space. I gotta 68 Cutlass vert to do after the Charger.

nahhhh, you can just lean 'er up 'gainst that there wall, no?

[firefighter3931]

Nice progress Kevin....looking forward to the paint pics ! 



Ron

[dkn1997]

It's Christmas in March today!  my buddy calls me @7 tonight and tells me that my radiator is at his house.  A cooworker of his used to work for Evans and they measured the car for me, spec'd out the whole deal and ordered it for me.  I went and got it and it's a thing of beauty. it's at least 30% thicker than the becool rad that was in the car.  It's an aluminum,  3 rows of 1" tubes.  24" wide core.  total width of rad is a bit more than 27"  Dual spal 1390 cfm fans and a very nice bracket to hold them.  no more zip ties for me.  2 flat plates welded to the sides that just have to be drilled out wherever I want.  Note how they sit high on the rad, this thing is thick and the fans are thick and they were put there to clear the power steering pulley. 

You really have to see this thing in person to appreciate it, but give these a shot:

[runningman]

Moving right along....My new Classic Body Design door skin arrived today.  I haven't seen it, but my body man says it's nice.  It arrived in bare metal and he's priming it tomorrow.   FYI, I want to thank Ron from CBD. He was very nice to deal with and shipped out the part promptly.  Here is the best part; 350 including shipping.  I'm very happy with the AMD hood/fender/valence I purchased, but I almost fell off my chair when I saw their door skin cost almost as much their hood! 

Should be either in paint, or ready for paint by the weekend...getting closer.  I got a jumpstart this weekend when out walking with my daughter, I spy a neighborhood acquaintance washing his truck.  I know he's a pontiac guy with a super clean 66 389 tripower, 4speed gto and a 72 400/auto gto.  Over the winter he took the 72 off the frame (already had super straight body/restored interior) and blasted the frame and redetailed the entire undercarriage, suspension, and engine.  Of course he has a lift in the garage and I spent an hour drooling over it with him.  I happen to love that year gto.  I have to say that the full frame car guys have it made.  think how easy it would be to redo the entire suspension with no body on the car? anyway..I am so fired up now.

I may end up getting one of these door skins as well.  I thought AMD only sold the entire door assembly??

[dkn1997]

Just the skin, the whole skin, and nothing but the skin

[defiance]

jeez that thing is THICK!  If you hadn't already measured it I'd say surely it wouldn't clear!

[dkn1997]

jeez that thing is THICK!  If you hadn't already measured it I'd say surely it wouldn't clear!

If I had a nickel for everytime I heard that......

You still talking about radiators?   

[dkn1997]

I also need an opinion i want to paint it black so it blends in with the rest of my engine compartment a bit more.

flame away 

[terrible one]

Seems just to be a preference thing to me. Personally, I like the look of the aluminum rad in the engine compartment, especially polished up a bit. Still, I'm going to paint the front center of mine black so that it won't show through the grill (pet peeve of mine, I like the blacked out, wide open '68 grill! so mean!)

[plum500]

Awesome.

Nothing like having all black behind that grill though. If it were me, I think I'd just black out the portion that would show through on the front -- leave the rest natural as is.

[defiance]

LOL - I'm just the opposite   I painted the housing of my alum radiator to blend in better, but left the center/fins/etc natural so they'd cool their best.  Then again, my rad is hidden behind a black a/c condensor, so visibility wasn't a concern...

[PocketThunder]

I also need an opinion i want to paint it black so it blends in with the rest of my engine compartment a bit more.

flame away 

I vote for do not paint it.

[tan top]

I also need an opinion i want to paint it black so it blends in with the rest of my engine compartment a bit more.

flame away 

    yeah i think you could be right .. so it blends in    maybe just leave the fins & tubes  rest black

[Big Sugar]

Can I ask what the The rad and fans cost you ?


Ron

[runningman]

Just the skin, the whole skin, and nothing but the skin

They list the door as a shell, I think it also includes the inner sheet metal stamping as well...at least that is how it looks in the diagram.  I think I saw some pics of the door and it was a complete shell instead of just an outer skin

[dkn1997]

Can I ask what the The rad and fans cost you ?


Ron

Honestly, it's embarrassing to admit what I paid...it's one of the few times I just said "do it" and sat back and let others take care of it...the rad was 800 and my buddy owed me a favor and bought me the fans....It is a top quality rad and I'm sure it will cool way more than I need.  I paid 550 for a be cool direct fit @6 years ago and it cooled like shit.  it's tiny compared to this one. Back when I bought that one, there werent as many aluminum options as there are now.  I just needed the piece of mind this time.  I don't want to be driving home from the body shop and have it puke all over the road.

As far as the door skin...It arrived after I went there last week so I haven't seen it yet. I will be there on saturday so I will know if it was just the skin or the shell.  for 350 I find it hard to believe i got the whole deal.

[dkn1997]

I also picked up my grill frame from the blaster today.  Now that is satisfying: the "pick up" from the blaster. 

check out the pics
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,51951.20.html