My Thanksgiving - Progress on a Car! (Lots of pics!!!)

[Troy]

It's been a long time since I posted about progress on a Charger...

Quick background: I have several cars, mostly projects. My biggest hurdle/excuse is lack of welding and body work skills and not being able to find a reputable shop locally (or one that doesn't have a long line of cars in front of me). I'm willing to help and learn as long as I have a knowledgeable person around to help when I get in a bind.

A few weeks ago I was talking with Brian (1HotDaytona) and, on a whim, asked if he had any plans for Thanksgiving. When asked why I (jokingly) said I should drag a car up there (Iowa) and we could do all the metal work while the shop was closed. Surprisingly, I heard back from him a day later and he said he'd cleared it with his wife and we could do it. I had to scramble to order some parts, prep the car (clearing undercoating), and schedule my last vacation day for the following Monday (coincidentally the same day one of our software installations went live so that was a fun conversation with the boss). I left (almost) immediately after Thanksgiving dinner at mom's house. I had a few issues with trailer tires. Trust me, you never want to be looking for tires on Thanksgiving day! A little over 9 hours later I arrived in Waukon (about 12:30 AM in 20 degree weather) and we unloaded the car in the shop and Brian got his first look at it.

The subject was my MM1 Bronze 68 Charger. Originally a 318 with a column shift and reasonably solid (and almost completely dent free). A few years ago another shop had repaired some small holes in the trunk lip and on the passenger sail panel where pine needles had sat in the gaps. The same shop also partially welded in a trunk pan. I had stripped and epoxy primed the roof and passenger quarter. During Brian's initial inspection he found some small holes in each door that I wasn't aware of so our "To Do" list looked like this:
Patch rear window channel (bottom corners, part of the sail panel, and top corners)
Patch/replace both lower quarters
Patch passenger side valance corner
Replace rear valance (dented but right on the main character line and repaired poorly)
Patch both doors
Patch small rust holes and extra trim clip holes in windshield channel
Install 4-speed hump
Install Z-bar bracket
Install subframe connectors
Install torque boxes
Install lower control arm stiffening plates
Patch cowl vent "stacks"
Finish trunk pan
Modify an automatic cross member for a 4-speed

Troy

[Troy]

Day 1 Friday
At approximately 8:30 AM (Brian let me "sleep in") we were back at the shop with tools in hand. We removed the trunk lid and Brian sent me to unpack parts and strip primer from the new AMD pieces. The rest is a series of progress pics. For whatever reason we had people stopping in all day long so keep that in mind.

9:11 AM Brian started cutting away the first piece of bad sheet metal.


9:25 Big hole


10:37 Sail panel repaired (but notice small hole in top channel)


10:56 Look at how clean I got those edges!


11:21 No more hole at the top


12:23 Started the other sail panel before I got a picture


12:40 Driver's side sail complete


2:52 Lower channel pinholes filled and driver side dutchman panel repaired



3:52 Upper channel pinholes filled and passenger side dutchman panel repaired



4:57 Covered all the welds with temporary primer for the trip home



Left for The Monster's pizza party.

Troy

[myk]

Oh man that's awesome.  I'm next!!!!

[Troy]

Day 2 - Saturday

So, no sleeping in today - Brian wants to be sandblasting when the sun comes up.

7:28 The rear valance is cut off and Brian notices some weird stuff like a clip that doesn't belong on a Charger and lead on the valance corner seam




Also check these out! Appears to be for a trailer hitch? Brain says the FSM shows how to build one but I forgot to check.



7:53 I'm finished cutting spot welds on the passenger quarter



Brian already had the valance corner cut and driver's side off



As well as one in front of the driver's wheel well and both doors...




Cutting out the rust...



Junk from the quarters - you can see what the inside looked like compared to the small holes on the outside



Inside of valance


Somewhere in there Brian fixed a dent


10:16 All blasted



















11:30 All covered with chassis saver (skipping the pics of everything)


We also dropped the trailer off at the tire store to replace a couple more tires. We did remember to go to lunch this day so we picked the trailer up then.

Troy

[Troy]

2:44 Passenger quarter patched (check out the spot welds)





3:19 I trimmed the valance to fit


4:40 Driver's side quarter is patched





4:58 I cut a hole in my pretty floor


But the "hump" fits nice


5:20 Passenger door patched and 4-speed hump welded in





7:54 z-bar bracket welded, valance attached, windshield channel patched, some extra holes in the engine bay filled, "stacks" repaired, a bent piece of rocker put back in place, and the driver's door repaired (whew!)











8:30 Valance finished and some holes filled in the tail panel





Home!

Troy

[Troy]

Day 3 Sunday

Early again...

6:56 Car is on jack stands since we'll be under it


7:40 Jack attachments finished



8:17 Parking brake cable tunnel installed in subframe connector



9:53 LCA stiffening plates installed



10:04 I knocked off some of the black paint on the pinch weld. Original paint underneath!


2:30 Subfame connectors and one torque box finished






3:36 All torque boxes finished




Brian had to take a short break so his son could visit Santa for the first time. I was grinding welds in the trunk...

5:08 Trunk rewelded in all the spots the previous shop didn't quite get, extra holes in engine compartment filled, extra exhaust hangar hole in floor filled, and trailer loaded!





Off to dinner.

Troy

[Troy]

Day 4 Monday

Leaving Iowa...




Troy

[69bronzeT5]

Very cool Troy! Brian sure does some great work. I really wish he was closer to me so we could do my Charger...it isn't as simple as yours though

[Charger440RDN]

Wow!! All of that in just a few days?  Nice metal work 

[SG1022]

Nice buck 

[8WHEELER]

Way to go Troy, I am very jellos. Those lower trunk extentions, were not in as bad of shape
as I was thinking they were going to be, after seeing the quarter panels. Nothing feels better
than getting a crap load of work done on your car, especially that fast. You got to love
looking at new sheet metal, makes you feel good inside......... keep us updated..........

Say hi to the boss for us  

Dan

[G-man]

glad to hear something happening

Brian, nice work!

Now I know how much work to expect to get done in 1 day rather than accept the crap shops tell you how it will take 3 weeks and cost $$$$ for something I myself dont see more than 3-5 days work in.

[tan top]

     wow Brian  you was flying  good stuff   good lot of pictures Troy

[Hemidog]

So Brian did all that while working on his Daytona clone?   


I gotta get out to the garage!

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Brian, you definitely have some serious talent & passion right there bud. 

Now Troy it WILL be painted in 2010 correct?   don't let all that work go to waste!!


PS---oh yeah Troy, you take good pics

[Charger-Bodie]

Brian, you definitely have some serious talent & passion right there bud. 

Now Troy it WILL be painted in 2010 correct?   don't let all that work go to waste!!


PS---oh yeah Troy, you take good pics

Thanks for the compliment Chris. 

Just so everyone knows Troy DIDNT just take pics. He was right in there working the entire time. Getting dirty.Except Friday,Most of that day He mostly ran interference so I could work instaed of talking to the (seems like)dozens of people that stoped.

....And yes those are some great pics.

[1969chargerrtse]

That is amazing !  You have a good friend there.  Not to many people follow through with helping others to that extent.  Brian helped me with hours of advise on the phone as I put mine together.  Great job Boys.

[BrianShaughnessy]

  That's a whole lot better than going to black friday sales!   

     Congrats and good luck with the rest of the project.   Brian did you a solid. 

[Arthu®]

Great job on the Charger and that's really nice of you to help out like that Brian

So when is it going to be finished Troy? 

Arthur

[NHCharger]

Now I know how much work to expect to get done in 1 day rather than accept the crap shops tell you how it will take 3 weeks and cost $$$$ for something I myself dont see more than 3-5 days work in.

Ain't that the truth.
That's an impressive 3 days of work.

[rav440]

nice work  TROY / BRIAN how bad were the AIR DUCT COWL STACKS ? what did you do to repair them ? mine are toast on the runner im looking for donar staks but had to find so ill most likely just make pieces from sheet metal .

here is a pic of one of my stacks .



thanks RANDY 

[moparstuart]

very nice work guys , so when does the hemi go in it  ?  What are all the other plans for the car ? saying the same color  ?
 

[hotrod98]

Looks great guys. Will we be seeing the car at St. Louis in 2010? Inquiring minds want to know.

[nh_mopar_fan]

You gotta love that kind of progress that quickly. wow. Nice work.

[dkn1997]

Troy, is this the car you got from Long Island?