68 Hemi Charger FINAL update: 06/05/2009 - Gone

[hemi68charger]

No better place to leave something than where it belongs.. I put the power brake booster on. I'll permanently hang it later, but for now, no more shelf space........

[WINGR]

Great Job Troy, way to go.   

It looks sweet in there, where it belongs.

WINGR/Steve

[Bob]

I don't normally comment on restorations but DANG, that looks good.

[BigBlockSam]

 

[hemi68charger]

Thanks again..
I'm trying the best I can.. Doesn't hurt to have a nice tandem 4-car garage. 

Would love to get to the point once this one's done to maybe take on projects and use my skills to make a little money to help with the other cars I have....

Troy

[dpm68]

Looks like a winner to me, but hey, in one of the pics on the first page looks like someone lost their hand between the jack stand and the body - dang that musta hurt!

[hemi68charger]

Looks like a winner to me, but hey, in one of the pics on the first page looks like someone lost their hand between the jack stand and the body - dang that musta hurt!

It does, doesn't it.... I had nothing readily available to put between the jack-stand and frame........ Soooo, I grabbed what was good enough.....

Troy

[hemi68charger]

Well, got my ball joints yesterday, so I started the front suspension today.... Most things are loosely fit for now.. I'll finalize most of it once I get the backing plates ready for permanent installation. Yes, I will be putting the proper zerts on.. 

Troy

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang...
I keep pressing on.. I installed the new wheel cylinders all the way around, cleaned up the backing plates and painted them. I'm thinking the fronts need to be plated zinc phosphate or something like that.. We'll see... I couldn't find the foam gasket between the steering knuckle and the backing plate, so I made them with the help from cats over on moparts..

Troy

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang...
Went and started some detail work on the front suspension components. It's not 100%, but you get the jist.. I read in a great article in MuscleCar Enthusiast on Mopar ft. suspension. The car used was a '68 GTX survivor owned by Frank B. over at Roger Gibson Auto Restoration. With that, it was fitting for my '68 Charger R/T. I went to the local Hobby Lobby, bought some generic colors and brushes of various widths and had at it. Here's some of what I did today... Yes, the tranny's not done and yukky... 

Also, as Dave as eluded to in his "..Next Level" thread over on moparts.com, a lot of the zerts on the front suspension components had their fitting heads knocked off. The front tierods on my '68 are original and follow suite on this observation.

You'll see that the torsion bar adjustment levers on the lower control arm were colored coded. The driver's side had a blue paint daub and the passenger side had an orange.. The orange doesn't show all that well, my cosmoline on the lower control arms are rather dark in application. I'm thinking of making the blue and orange applications a little more sloppy.. Looks too "restored"......

I will be replacing the zerts on the ball joints to the non-angled versions which I believe are correct. Also, some of the components are loosely fitted right now for future work...

[hemi68charger]

torsion bars... Passenger side, one brown daub and the driver's side, two....

[tan top]

     ........ looking real good under there Troy ! nice work 

[69*F5*SE]

Coming along nicely    Ted

[aone415]

I'm gonna speak my mind Troy, no matter what you are anyone else thinks.... I HATE YOU!!!! DAMMIT!!!! J/K  Man that Hemi is beautiful!  Great work with the install of the Hemi... How long did it take to install it underneath like thatt?

[hemi68charger]

I'm gonna speak my mind Troy, no matter what you are anyone else thinks.... I HATE YOU!!!! DAMMIT!!!! J/K  Man that Hemi is beautiful!  Great work with the install of the Hemi... How long did it take to install it underneath like thatt?

Well, thanks... That's the best "I HATE YOU !!!" I've ever received.. 

Seriously, from the time I took the motor off the engine stand, mated it to the tranny, plopped it on the dolley to slliding it under the car,,,,,,,,,,,, it took me,,,, oh, about two hours,,,,,,,,,, if that... AND, it was my very first effort like this.....  I'll never do it differently now. It's too my advantage that I enjoying tearing into front ends, so that's no problem with...

It was a great time with friends and mopars......

[hemi68charger]

Here's what I did today. Cleaned up the third member, installled it and took some pictures of inspection (orange paint at bottom of housing) and letter markings (A and some numbers) on it. I also installed the rear axles with the new-style "green" bearings. I figured I'd throw on the rear wheels and tires from Dana to see what she would look like.. I thought she looked pretty good. The pictures really didn't come out great because of lighting.......  left the third member natural since that's the way they are installed.... Still have detail things to do like get new carrier retaining nuts, paint the pininon snubber and hook up the brake lines...

[hemi68charger]

some more......

[WingCharger]

I thought the Green Bearings were for Drag Race cars only?

THAT CAR IS AWESOME!!

Get some 500's on her!

[Shakey]

Looks great Troy - well done!   

[jb666]

You are doing an amazing job!! 

[hemi68charger]

Getting the brakes in line now... I"m working on the rears with the help from Julie.. 

I'll do the fronts once I get the backing plates replated in the proper zinc phosphate... Yes, I'll clean up the face of the axle.. 

[69*F5*SE]

Now that's an adorable little helper.   

[hemi68charger]

In conjunction with my rear brakes, I'm detailing my front drums. Against my regular practice, I detailed the drums with a high temperature cast detail paint and then reapplied the paint codes/inspection markings I found on the hubs. In my case, the color was green. After cleaning the drums, I discovered the green, took pictures and duplicated the original look as close as possible. The inside hub area has the same green markings, but I decided to leave those alone since one side was pretty clear and visible. I'll get new anti-vibration springs for the front drums.. I also inserted the new races for the new bearings... Man, by the time I'm done with this car, it's going to be new...............

1. the original green markings...
2. the detailed "resto".

[hemi68charger]

Did some rear differential detailing....... Believe the "X" with a circle around it is the inspection mark for the rear differential gear was filled with lube and the yellow "D" is for the '68 model year.

Before and after

Troy

[resq302]

Troy,

Looking great.  I just did the same thing with our 70 chally convert rear end.  For some reason, the backing plates on our chally were natural metal color and not painted the same black as the housing.  All I have left to do now is to replicate the inspection markings and stampings.