James' 68 Charger Restoration

[richard pettys 73]

LOOKING GREAT!!!!   DID YOU BUILD THAT ROTISSERY YOURSELF??? HOW MUCH DOES ONE COST???   

[mopar_nut_440_6]

LOOKING GREAT!!!!   DID YOU BUILD THAT ROTISSERY YOURSELF??? HOW MUCH DOES ONE COST???   

Yes I did. I got a good deal on the steel and added a gear reduction unit to the rear of it. I can turn the car with one hand and never have to lock it in place. It cost me about 600 dollars but worth every penny!

[skip68]

Man, You got skills James.    Looking very nice.

[69*F5*SE]

Yeah, things are looking very nice.   

[six-tee-nine]

Great job, and keep the pictures coming, don't hold them for yourself.

I'm in the situation you were a few years ago, not having a garage and have to rebuilt my house and so.... But seeing pictures from other members here going along nice that keeps me encouraged to hang in there.

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Great job, and keep the pictures coming, don't hold them for yourself.

I'm in the situation you were a few years ago, not having a garage and have to rebuilt my house and so.... But seeing pictures from other members here going along nice that keeps me encouraged to hang in there.

It all comes together when it is time!

[tan top]

  nice job    .................

[roger440]

Looking good. Some nice work going on there!

[Spike]

Keep up the good work!! 

[1969chargerrtse]

Fantastic thread, I'm glad your buddies pushed you to start one.  The closer you get that car completed and original, the more you're gonna want that engine.  That 69  is awesome.  You're lucky he is a friend, I'm sure in the long run he'll give in and put the heart back in your car.

[Reidar]

Great work!

I wish I had half your talent..

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Well I got up early today and started to take care of loose ends on the bottom of the car. Managed to get the seat belt brackets, emergency brake cable bracket and speedo cable bracket welded in.

I then decided to put holes in the sub frame connector for the emergency brake cable. I decided to run a tube through the sub frame connector rather than just drill holes. I thought it would be better to do it this way because it would eliminate any sharp edges for the cable to rub on, add some strength and most important to me, look good. It would have been fine with just holes but I am a bit fussy.

I cut a piece of 3/4 tubing I had laying around after measuring my angles. I then traced the cut end out on the back of a piece of sandpaper scrap and attached it to connector using some stick on putty we use in the kids room for their posters rather than putting holes in the wall! I then sprayed it with some paint I had and then removed the pattern. I then used my grinder and roughed out the hole followed by my die grinder to get it to the required shape. I sure wish I had a plasma cutter! It took about an hour of trial and error by the time I got the tube ready to weld in. Once it was welded in I used a variety of grinders to finish the tube. It took about 4 hours to do this but I am very happy with the way it turned out.

I also seam sealed the floor pan and inside the rear wheel wells in preparation for primer.

Slowly but surely, one step at a time!

[Charger-Bodie]

Shes gonna be really nice James!! 

[Green71R/T]

The difference between craftsmanship and just functional is time and attention to detail.Keep up the good work.I hope you get the engine back when you are ready.Looks great!

[Long Island RT]

Very nice work. It's great to see someone with the patients needed to do the job right.

Awesome 

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Thanks for all the kind words. I am a rookie at this but trying to do the best I can. The way I see it is once I get the paint on I am done and do not want to have to revisit any areas because I am unhappy with them. Ultimately there are always little things that pop up but if I can minimize these then I will be happy. There is always some a$$hole in the crowd who will have a comment and that pisses me off so the better job I do the less I will need to listen to others. I will already have to listen to people give me a hard time about the sub frame connectors and torque boxes plus those who assume the underneath should be painted but I can deal with that. As long as the taillights look good!! 

Cheers,

James

[lexxman]

I know what your talking about when it comes to the comments.I've bearly started with my 69 and some of my buddies are ,do this ,do that,why are you doing that.And they wondering why I don't call them over.

[mopar73]

great skills, keep up the great work

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Just when I think I am almost ready to spray the bottom of the car I change direction and create more work!

I had seam sealed early this morning and was hoping to get some primer on this afternoon but kept looking at the frame connectors, torque boxes and the lack of reinforcement at the rear spring mounts. I know many others have reinforced this area and hemi cars were done in this manner so I decided to make some plates and reinforce the rear.

I made some templates first and trial fit these then transferred them to 1/8 plate steel and cut them out. Test fit, grind, test fit and weld. Voila done!

I also searched this site and found measurements for the jack mounts in the trunk and installed these.

I may make up some lower control arm stiffening plates tonight and install these. I know they only cost 20 bucks US but due to my location the shipping, duty and exchange would likely almost triple that cost and they should be a quick build and install.

By tomorrow my sealer should be dry and with any luck I will get some epoxy primer on the bottom of the car. Can you see how I am avoiding the last of the bodywork. A bit pathetic as I think I only have about two hours worth on the shell and have been finding other projects to amuse me for the last two weeks. No worries, the bottom needs to be primed so I can get the shell off of the rotisserie!

Does anybody know if the PPG DP50 gray primer is close to the color the factory used? If not could I add a bit of black to darken it up? Does anybody have a link to a picture, or can one be posted so I can see what color I am looking for? Also, once the bottom is in epoxy can I call it good and leave it as the final finish or do I need to seal it? When it comes time to paint the body I want to have the over spray cover as they did at the factory. Should part of the bottom be sanded or will the paint be alright over the epoxy? If so won't the sand marks show where there is no over spray?

I know a million questions but I know you guys will have all of the answers for me! 

Cheers,

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Managed to get my lower control arm reinforcement plates made but will wait until tomorrow to weld them in place. A little more grinding and fitting will be required but they are pretty close.

If you ever take your front suspension apart I would recommend removing the torsion bar adjusting bolts first as I had some difficulty getting the adjusters out of the loose arms. I ended up glass beading the adjusters to remove the rust and paint off of the bolts. I then placed a screwdriver and a punch under the adjuster bracket which fits into the control arm to push it up and lock it into place. I then rested the screwdriver and punch on the top of my vise to put the weight of the arm onto them to lock the adjuster and tightened my vise. Then a pile of WD40 and with some effort was able to remove the bolts. It appears that they likely had never been adjusted in decades!

[mopar_nut_440_6]

Finished welding up the LCA's this evening. Ready to strip! Does anybody know of an easier way to strip this zinc chromate primer off. My cabinet sanblaster is taking forever! I may have to dig out my 10 gallon pressurized blaster.

[MoparManJim]

Ever try aircraft striper? that shit works real well at remove paint. 

[Rolling_Thunder]

angle grinder and those scotch brite pads     

[mopar_nut_440_6]

More progress pics. Hit a major milestone tonight.

I had finished drilling all of my holes in the trunk this weekend and the rest of the sanding on the bottom of car and engine compartment inside and out. I then finished my sealing and undercoated inside all of the frame rails and the sub frame connectors.

I blew out the shop and car good last night and let it sit until today. I then blew off the car again and wash n wiped it then tacked and finally got the bottom, engine compartment and  firewall into epoxy primer. Now I will be working on getting the car off the rotisserie and onto the dollies I made over the weekend.

I have ordered a new set of front fenders and trunk lid from AMD and they will be here in 2-3 weeks. By then the doors, valence and hopefully hood will be ready to go. My goal was to be ready for paint by the end of May so I am well on track with the majority of the work already complete.

[mopar_nut_440_6]

More pics.