whats the biggest mistake made while restoring your charger

[riggs626]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

[Bob]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

Cheap shortcuts. Trust me, I know.
Bob

[69*F5*SE]

Not reseaching every aspect of restoring one before you start.

[451-74Charger]

Thinking this would only take 3 years to complete !!

[69 OUR/TEA]

Painting it another color besides black.Just kidding,as others said,cheap shortcuts,and not investigating before you do something.

[PocketThunder]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

Thinking that a restoration was a better idea than spending $15,000~20,000 more the first time and getting a car already done.   

[Khyron]

blowing up my first 440 :-(

Do it right the first time.

[challenger70]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

Thinking that a restoration was a better idea than spending $15,000~20,000 more the first time and getting a car already done.   

[tan top]

not doing it now   
with the repop trunk gutters     took me a week of evenings to  fabricate & fit  

[mopar0166]

rushing some parts to get it on the road.  

[dodgecharger-fan]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

Thinking that a restoration was a better idea than spending $15,000~20,000 more the first time and getting a car already done.   

Add me to the list. Maybe twice, since I'm having the bodywork done twice... 

[Magnumcharger]

Replacing all of the rusty panels with Goodmark taiwanese parts...which were the only ones avaliable at the time.
And they're way too thin.

Now I'm in a moral dilemma....to do the car justice, I'm forced to cut off all of this inferior sheetmetal and replace it with AMD panels.

[1969chargerrtse]

Getting expensive junk repo parts and not having the guts to take a stand and return them.

[moparstuart]

blowing up my first 440 :-(

Do it right the first time.

been there done that , twice  LOL

[68X426]

Wiring

[terrible one]

Underestimating the work involved.

[gasoline_24]

Hiring someone to do the body work and paint thinking it would cost $25,000 and paying $55,000.

[PocketThunder]

Hiring someone to do the body work and paint thinking it would cost $25,000 and paying $55,000.

Holy Crap dude!!!!!       See my comment above..   

[Back N Black]

No mistakes really, just cost alot more than expected. I had fun doing it.

[694spdRT]

All in all it was a good experience.....to now have behind me.

There are things that I would have done differently now that it is done. I would have spent more time making sure I had ALL the parts I needed when I needed them so that some little $5 part doesn't keep you from working on the car for a month until you find it.

On to the next Mopar project, just not as intense.  

[68charger383]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

Thinking that a restoration was a better idea than spending $15,000~20,000 more the first time and getting a car already done.   

[Johnnys70SRT]

 Not stopping my friends from taking MY car apart !!!! Car was from California and the only problems it had were paint fading on the body lines and lots of small road dings. They took it apart only to desert me. Missed out on 20+ years of cruising because of it.
Now many bodyshops later and thousands of dollars lost, I am hoping to get it back by August 31st,2009. Yes, it will be better than new once I complete it, but 20 years lost on enjoying it can not be replaced.
Look for future updates as my car progresses.

[69*F5*SE]

So you see. All of the above and everything after.

[Brock Samson]

 i would have to say, not keeping a tight leash on the shops that did work on my car,.. some of it was communication Bad communication,.. and I have to take half the responsibility for not breathing down the managers' necks while the work was going on,.. Things were done incorrectly and some damage actually occurred while the car was in their possession,.. some examples:
Lug nuts only finger tight led to Pass front wheel coming off car while coming down a steep hill and making a turn..  seems some one went to lunch prior to tightening them...
Improperly tuned engine (vacuum line issues) led to a backfire blowing brand new mufflers right off car. This "Inspection/Tuning" was done at a California State Smog Certification station, (They were not liable and I had to eat the cost of another new set of mufflers and the tow home which also damaged my Charger... 
Rear seat side panels vandalised while in the shop getting new V.top. there the perfect Int. Vinyl panel was apparently slashed with carpet knives by young thuggish vindictive/jealous shop worker/s... I should have known something was up when they gave me the serious stink-eye when i came in the shop to pick up the car,.. I didn't notice the damage till much later and the shop owner claimed it came in the shop damaged. and refused to take any responsibility.
Not specifically specifying where S.E. Emblems and Gold Pass. side Pentastar were to be located, so the S.E.s were drilled into the very center of the roof panel  and the Pentastar was about 4 inches too high... 
I had to threaten legal action to get these problems resolved. Infact a friend who worked in a law firm actually impersonated a lawyer and visited the shop at which time everything got fixed pronto.
There was also the time my Charger was left outside in a sketchy area where "JOSE" was carved into the Pass side fender in one inch block letters.
sure there were other mistakes, but overall these cause me the most grief. Most of these damages would have been avoided if I had been much more adament and present visiting the shop to make sure the charger wasn't parked on the street and the items were to be installed properly in the correct location.
Not everything is avoidable however. if some young punk (shopworker) decides to screw your car up you can't defend against that.

[Neal_J]

Two interrelated things. 

One, underestimating the costs. 

Two, not understanding the poor quality of some repop parts.  While they may look great in the Year One catalog but don't fit, feel or last like the originals.  Consequently, I've bought many parts twice - the repop following eventually by an NOS or nice used original part.  Buying parts twice thus brings us back to the first thing I listed.

[Mike DC]

Aside from money, my biggest problem has always been not having enough shop and storage space.  It constantly leads to indirect expenditures that shouldn't have been there. 

 

[skip68]

Me doing some of the work myself.  That's been my problem.   

[moparstuart]

Me doing some of the work myself.  That's been my problem.   

yeah dont even let chuck look at your car , let alone touch it . 

[skip68]

    It's true.  I should not play with tools.   

[jb666]

I was just curious about what peoples biggest mistake made while restoring there charger themselves

Buying mine...

[aone415]

Hiring someone to do the body work and paint thinking it would cost $25,000 and paying $55,000.

Yup that and the rear valence fiasco... 

[BB1]

Trusting people to do the job right. Never again  

Do not pay up front 

Get the work in writing 

[resq302]

1- not robbing a bank to have enough money to do it all at once.
2- not having the know how to do it all myself. I am sure some of us have run into situations where we could have done it better than the "professional" who did the job for us and took our money!
3-not having a bigger garage to work in

[TylerCharger69]

Biggest mistake???...Well....listening to people who claim to be knowledgeable, only to find out they don't know only one tenth  of what they say they do...then realizing that their answer to everything is "Bondo".  What morons!!!  That was and IS a costly mistake.   I guess if ya want something done right, ya must do it yourself....Thankfully...I found this forum a few years back, and I can get questions answered!!!

[69bronzeT5]

I haven't really made any mistakes....yet

[Brock Samson]

 I have to agree with the not enough room problem, I didn't/dont even have any level ground within a city block, I simply didn't/don't have a choice (economicly) to rent a garage or any other such fix... on the good side it meant it had to be running car,.. a garage queen simply wasn't an option, I took it to a friends dads' work space (he's a trucker) and with their space, help, tools and cherry picker we broke the doner car down and installed a drivetrain in about three full days,.. I can see in retrospect where if i had had room to store and take stuff apart and jack it up and such, it would have become a looooooooong term project and such as I tore into stuff,.. I didn't realize that then though. The S.E. interior stuff I did in my own driveway and even that was pretty cramped.
So I guess in a very positive way, not having any space meant it had to be a running licenced driver.
  and yes detail all the work to be done in writing with a specified time frame and with a punch list and never pay up front, only as you go and check everything. plenty of folks have complained about expensive stuff incl. entire cars (and shops' owners and workers) dissappering.
  Often Shops with give you a unrealistic estimate for both when the job will start, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
Best to get all the correct pieces stockpiled and paid for before they go on the car...
so you don't have to wait, and even then stuff will have to be found, ordered and waited on...
my rule of thumb is three times longer and three times more expensive then whatever estimate anyone (including yourself) figgures... 
 

[greatwn73]

 The biggest mistake was selling the Charger to finance the new money pit occupying my garage. The Charger was driveable and reliable, a few things needed to be redone and fresh paint would have helped but could still be taken to cruises and shows.
I'm missing the whole year working on a shell that I only seem to get a piece a day installed.
  I guess today I'm pissed because I took off more parts than I put on. 

[1969chargerrtse]

   It's true.  I should not play with tools.   

That's to funny, honest but funny.

[jaak]

Starting the resto....I think Id rather be driving it looking like a POS than just having it sitting.

Jason

[SFRT]

accidentally stepping on one of my new hubcaps. i got it looking almost ok, but, its bugging me,getting a scrape on the freshly painted hood, putting disc brakes on the back I should have just done the fronts, it was such a pain in the ass.

[The70RT]

Having some bastards media blast my car (Surface Prep in Topeka, Kansas) They tried to charge me twice as much as they quoted then telling me they don't remember quoting me that price or me coming in prior to having the car dropped off. I ended up reworking the roof after these F-ing morons warped it. 

[G-man]

I get others to restore the vehicle as I dont know but...

I have a drivable car which I want restored - so I figure this is valid info

1) Taking the car off the road based on a companies promise to have all the parts I asked for in 4 weeks. Well Its been 6 months now and I just got the parts. Lesson: Dont take the car off the road UNTIL and I mean UNTIL you have every single part and every single nut and bolt ready to complete the vehicle. Even if you have 1 bolt missing do not start on the car, that bolt may take you 6 moths to get!

2) Paying the mechanic to DO the job, to only get told once you aquired the parts that he is doing someone elses vehicle or vehicles while having waited for your parts, has family issues and doesnt wanna know about your car for next 6 months.

Or 2nd experience in number 2, paying for a rear quarter to be fixed in August 2005, and now in 2009 it STILL isnt done.

PAY AFTER JOB IS DONE NOT BEFORE!

[ODZKing]

i would have to say, not keeping a tight leash on the shops that did work on my car,.. some of it was communication Bad communication,.. and I have to take half the responsibility for not breathing down the managers' necks while the work was going on,..

And not redoing the floorboards and bumpers while the car was in the shop.  They had to be done later ... should have done it at once instead of taking things apart twice. 

[Blown70]

WOW all of the above.  Always learn about what your going to have worked on, ask questions, and dont pay all up front even if they demand so....

I personally would suggest doing as MUCH as you can on your own, and hover over YOUR project like a hawk.  Ask others in your area for references so you know the work these people do..... and be CAUTIOUS....

Good luck

[oldrock]

this is my son and my first restoration and even though we spend alot more time than we should on some projects with the charger, we are both having alot of fun. Mistakes are sure to happen but as long as we are having fun and spending some good father son time on the restoration, it is all good 

[BROCK]

While I haven't actually started the resto - I did make a bad blunder.
I thought sanding the thin paint/rusted areas down to bare metal &
priming them was good.  Little did I know that primer actually absorbs
moisture

[G-man]

Maybe the biggest mistake is... Starting to restore 1.

[chargergirl]

this is my son and my first restoration and even though we spend alot more time than we should on some projects with the charger, we are both having alot of fun. Mistakes are sure to happen but as long as we are having fun and spending some good father son time on the restoration, it is all good 

Research parts and such that you are going to need and buy them when you see them at a bargain price. "We don't need that part yet", can be a very expensive statement. We just bought high end plug wires for my '66 and the engine isn't even near the car. Go to swap meets, having done your research and pick up stuff. Check these boards for parts. This is my first restoration however not Marks first. Don't do your own paint unless you REALLY know how to paint. He does a beautiful job on smaller parts, engine pieces etc. But that whole car painting is best left to pros. Go to the swap meets and car shows and discuss with the locals who they used, experience, etc. Great project together and these boards have a lot to offer. The four guys I know are very learned about Mopar...they still bounce stuff each other and ask questions about things they never dealt with before.

[riggs626]

I havent really messed up yet (just started the restoration myself) but am second guessing the new frame rails that I put on, But I too have never had any luck getting the  "professionals" to do there job correctly

[Bob]

   It's true.  I should not play with tools.   

Your work looks fine to me. 

[LeadfootBob]

1: Expecting to build a driveable car in two months from a rolling shell, whoo boy 
2: Buying a POS Chevy because I couldn't finance a Charger, then pouring enough dough for one into the drivetrain over the course of three years. Now I don't even want to drive the damn thing, there's a DODGE in my garage waiting to be rescued! 

(Oh, and do you guys think there's a market for a '74 Monte Carlo with 650hp of 454 around here? HA! HA! HA! I've had the damn thing out for sale WAY below market price, not a peep...)

[74Rallye]

Starting a restoration with the idea that I was going to put original Chrysler type AC in the car. I got to the point of only needing hoses and cutting the fire wall holes before changing my mind. Had to replace everything from the water pump housing forward, including the radiator. The ugly AC junk is on the shelf now. The car is a 1 of 218 74 Rallye 440 car. I just couldn't cut the firewall.