Advice on where to start

[bucko81]

I have had this car since 2005, I am getting ready to start work on it but wanted to share some pictures of it and get some advice.  I have been collecting parts over the years.  Everything from the top of the rear window glass back needs to be gutted. (quarters, deck filler panel, trunk, tail panel, speaker tray, rear cross member, etc.)  Frame rails are in great shape.  Also front end needs some work too.  The floor pans look like the might be salvageable.  I don't want to go the dipping route, I would rather disassemble it, and have it media blasted.  Questions are, after it is disassembled and media blasted, what do I coat the inner structure with?  Do I need to brace it?  If so where and when?  I plan on tackling this my self, I have never done body work, but I have a great mechanical back ground.  The front windshield area has some damage also.  Another question, this is a 383 car, when I acquired it, it did not come with a tranny nor a motor nor did it come with a dash.  No dash, no VIN plate.  I have the title, fender tag, and all the numbers on the trunk lip and radiator core support match up.  Any suggestions??  I plan on staying with PPG paint products also.  I am not planning on restoring this to an all original, especially since I don't have the original motor and tranny.  What I plan on doing is making this the car that I want.  I want to do everything properly and right the first time no short cuts.  I plan making this a street car but with a very hot motor in it, and with a custom interior.  I want this car to handle like a car in today's technology.  So, I will be spending a good amount of dough on the suspension.  I appreciate all the help and advice

[AKcharger]

Hi Buck

ah...WOW, you have a lot ahead of you. If I may be candid, I'd suggest buying a complete car and using the best from both cars as opposed to trying to piece yours together. I say this based on two complete rebuilds of my 70 and 72. Put simply, you will absolutely bankrupt yourself in terms of both time and money on small bits, hardware and general items that are missing. That's to say nothing of the massive frustration of trying to figure out WHAT parts are missing and how their supposed to go together.

With the economy in the crapper there are some excellent deals to be had with just a little looking. I don't mean to rain on your parade but trust me it's hard enough and expensive enough to restore a complete car but to start with an incomplete shell...I'd say it's impossible for the average person.

Now with that said, if you do press with your project you'll find this web site and the members invaluable and ready to help...good luck 

AK

[bucko81]

I have the majority of the stuff to complete the car (fenders, hood, all the trim & glass, tail lights etc.). Main stuff that I don't have is tranny, engine, and wiring.   Over the past few years I have acquired a lot of parts here and there.  I have picked up some 70 model seats, a dash, and an a/c along with the duct work.  I don't plan on having this car done over night, I have plenty of time on my hands.  It's a father - daughter project (I'll say 10yrs.).  I do agree though with finding another car and combing the two, could come in handy. 

[Patronus]

http://www.reillymotorsports.com/

[Cooter]

Welcome to my world....This is usually how I find all my project cars, as I simply cannot afford the "complete/rust free/scuff and shoot it" cars....

I say go for it...You can do this..Don't listen to the neighbors when they tell you you are a glutten for punishment...They WILL be jealous one fine day.....Funny how the ones that seem to have no hope for the car are Quick to want a ride when it's done............

[bucko81]

Yeah, I essentially got the car for free.  But dang it's gonna be a lot of work.

[Nacho-RT74]

I would start on the bank account increase

I say go for it...You can do this..Don't listen to the neighbors when they tell you you are a glutten for punishment...They WILL be jealous one fine day.....Funny how the ones that seem to have no hope for the car are Quick to want a ride when it's done............

yeah! true what he said little grashopper!!!

[Brock Samson]

 yeah i got allot of folks relatives and even friends shaking their head when i brought mine home...
few remember now since it's been 25 years how they doubted me... and my choice in Cars...

[bucko81]

I have no problem tackling the job, I have plenty of time.  Not too worried about the money aspect of it.  Majority of cars you find now days need most of what I need done to them also.  Unless you find a totally clean car in which your gonna pay big bucks for.  Either way it all works out the same in the end.  Your gonna spend bucks either way.  So, any advice on what I should coat the inner shell with after I have it stripped of all bad metal and media blasted??  Whats a good around HVLP gun to get??

[AKcharger]

OK, the "voice of doom" returns What Brock and the guys are saying is correct there is an immense feeling of pride and accomplishment when your done and there is NOTHING like turning heads everywhere you go when your driving the car...and that has a value too. Everyday that car sits as an  unfinished project is one less day you and your daughter can enjoy the REAL reward of taking it to shows, cruising and just admiring it. Kids grow up and move-on. I'd target a 1-2 year project so you and your daughter could work AND drive it as opposed to a 10 year project that's done after she's moved out and married.


OK, "voice of doom" off. Now some advice on work and let ya' know the kind of stuff you'll be dealing with:
Here's my '70 as I found it in 2002...Not a bad start huh? When looking it over I thought "Well I can get aftermarket sheet metal, should be an easy repair"


Hmm, need new floor pans well I'll just order 'em up!


OH, the rust area is Bigger than the replacement panel


OK well we'll make some patches and it works great...that surely will not happen anywhere else

[AKcharger]

And the trunk, same thing had to fabricate patches:





And when the 1/4 panel came off noticed holes in the frame on each side (wheel housings trashed too)





I could go on but the bottom line is it's MUCH worse than you see. I did this all myself and with the help of skilled friends. The good news is after 18 stright months and $16K (in 2004 dollars) is was 95% done...it's never finshised)

[AKcharger]

OK last thing then I'll go...I just feel very passionate about this. Bucko I've done 2 cars, my '70 (Very hard resto) and my '72 (little rust, pretty easy) and I can tell you two things:
1) Driving/showing them is 100% more fun then restoring them
2) I could have bought an original or completed car for what I spent on the resto...and remember I did all the labour myself!

The question you really need to think about is do you what to spend 10 years and at least 20K piecing together the car you have or spend $20K (or less) now on a very nice completed car and spend the next 10 years driving it with your family? Oh and don't worry, even a "completed car" will give you PLENTY of oppurtunity to tinker with it  

Just trying to give you a perspective of someone whose been there...twice

[Brock Samson]

 Excellent points! 
some guys are literally in the biz of restoring cars or are well connected to folks who can "help",..
Others are not and should concider a different approach then a total rebuild of a basket case rust bucket.
Unless of course, writting checks is something you excel in... 

[Cooter]

There's just no pride in coming to a car show/meet and exclaiming to the first person that ask's you "What did you do to it?" "Well, Let's see...First, I had all that time serching on Evil-Bay, then it was a real PITA to drive down to the bank and withdraw the cash..Then, It REALLY got to be a PITA to only have to Armor All the tires and Fill it up with gas"....I usually reply then something like.."Nice car, can I speak to the guy thta actually did the work then?" If your daughter is interested in the car, she WILL see it through no matter how long it takes..

[TylerCharger69]

Ya know....looking at the car from the pics....A lot of the work has already been done, meaning the disassembly process.  So, therefore...you have a good look at what needs freshening, speaking of what is exposed anyway.  Go for it!!! 

[Patronus]

I like it when you go to a show and they all stop to look...
"nice motor", "nice paint", "nice brakes"... hmmm "coil overs?"
"oooo, front AND back?", "did you make this?", "who did this??"
and you say, "We did" 

[Nacho-RT74]

Not too worried about the money aspect of it.  Majority of cars you find now days need most of what I need done to them also.  Unless you find a totally clean car in which your gonna pay big bucks for.

are we still talking about a Mopar ?

if we are talking about a Mustang for example where a lower valance price is on $80 rate, but a Charger gets on $200 rate we can set DIFFERENCES on the bank account needs LOL

[HeavyFuel]

OK last thing then I'll go...I just feel very passionate about this. Bucko I've done 2 cars, my '70 (Very hard resto) and my '72 (little rust, pretty easy) and I can tell you two things:
1) Driving/showing them is 100% more fun then restoring them
2) I could have bought an original or completed car for what I spent on the resto...and remember I did all the labour myself!

The question you really need to think about is do you what to spend 10 years and at least 20K piecing together the car you have or spend $20K (or less) now on a very nice completed car and spend the next 10 years driving it with your family? Oh and don't worry, even a "completed car" will give you PLENTY of oppurtunity to tinker with it  

Just trying to give you a perspective of someone whose been there...twice

totally 

[HeavyFuel]

There's just no pride in coming to a car show/meet and exclaiming to the first person that ask's you "What did you do to it?" "Well, Let's see...First, I had all that time serching on Evil-Bay, then it was a real PITA to drive down to the bank and withdraw the cash..Then, It REALLY got to be a PITA to only have to Armor All the tires and Fill it up with gas"....I usually reply then something like.."Nice car, can I speak to the guy thta actually did the work then?" If your daughter is interested in the car, she WILL see it through no matter how long it takes..

There are lots of ways to look at this.  Don't get mad, this is just counterpoint.

Those lucky souls back in '66-'74 walked in and bought their cars right off the lot, or the classifieds.  Did they love their cars any less because they didn't restore them?  No.  They were lucky as hell that they didn't have to do that.  Who wouldn't love to go into a dealership right now and spec out a brand new '68 Charger, with whatever we want on it, and not have to work our butts off to get it, just lay out the bread.  Many Mopar lovers are griping about not being able to do just that, because the new Charger is not that great.  But if they were great, many of us would be saving our pennies for a new one, not waiting until they got old and beat to crap so that we could have the 'satisifaction' of restoring it.  No great sin in buying done car.

Hey, some folks love restoration work, and that's just fine.  But not everyone can or should try to build their own cars.  Does that make them undeserving to own a nice car?  You say you wouldn't even talk to a guy at a car show if he didn't do the work on the car himself?  

(Flashback to a dealership in 1969....Cooter walks up to a salesman on the lot, and starts asking about the beautiful black Hemi Charger, and says, "Tell me about this car, was it hard to get the car tuned up just right? Being a Hemi and all, I heard that they are kinda finicky to get running just right."  The salesman stares blankly back at Cooter and blurts out, "I don't know, I didn't build this car."  And Cooter yells back, "Get Hamtramck on the horn, I want to talk to whoever made this thing!")    

I try to surround myself with well made beautiful things, hopefully things that also reflect who I am and what is important to me.  I but I don't feel the need to make all the stuff myself.

[bucko81]

I understand what your saying, but if I went by that moto I would just go out and drop 40 grand on a fully restored 69 charger.  And then still spend more cash on things that I would like to personalize the car with.  Not matter how I look at it, (buying a restored one, or starting off with a project from hell) I am still going to drop a ton of cash into it.  At least this way, I am starting off with a car that  was basically acquired for free, and I am building it the way I want. And on top of that, I will know it is done right the first time and the way I want it.  Having said that, there is a 69 right now on ebay in dallas that will easily hit 5 grand in 5 days, and will still require a ton of work.  Either way, one is going to have to spend the money.

[69DodgeCharger]

I've seen a lot worse projects being sold these days. I guess you have to ask yourself what your time frame and expected results are going to be. Are you going to spend 10 years nit picking and perfecting every last detail? Or are you going to make it pretty damn close in a year or three (most people never even notice the flaws anyways) and be the guy that you actually see driving the car around. I know which way I decided to go.

[NGC414]

Looks like a fun project. I would get the car blasted and then spend a day getting a game plan together on what panels you will be replacing. Once you get all the new metal welded and dolly work done, I would get the car coated with a good epoxy primer then a 2 k primer and start blocking and filling as needed.

[chargergirl]

Sounds like you've done a lot of part stocking. It's the body work that gets pricey so an extra car would be good...parts cars give their life so another can live on. We had a Roadrunner that we were picking up parts for. The body was good but it needed a lot of work with everything else. Over the course of two years we had almost 2 sets of parts that we could use...including the chrome pieces. Well there were deals made and now I have a 66 Charger and it's getting done except the paint...will have to save for that. Teaching the girl to do her own work will keep her way cool for a very long time. Start by detailing and inventory of parts...then continue to hit EVERY swap meet you see. We will be at the Battleship on April 24th and will be showing the car that Mark has taken 15 years, 7 girlfriends, and 2 marriages to build. I am the second marriage and when we met his friends called the garage..."The Museum". Well the museum piece is stunning and will racing at Holt soon...keep the dream but get the more solid car if you can...the deals ARE there.

[Cooter]

There's just no pride in coming to a car show/meet and exclaiming to the first person that ask's you "What did you do to it?" "Well, Let's see...First, I had all that time serching on Evil-Bay, then it was a real PITA to drive down to the bank and withdraw the cash..Then, It REALLY got to be a PITA to only have to Armor All the tires and Fill it up with gas"....I usually reply then something like.."Nice car, can I speak to the guy thta actually did the work then?" If your daughter is interested in the car, she WILL see it through no matter how long it takes..

There are lots of ways to look at this.  Don't get mad, this is just counterpoint.
Hey, some folks love restoration work, and that's just fine.  But not everyone can or should try to build their own cars.  Does that make them undeserving to own a nice car?  You say you wouldn't even talk to a guy at a car show if he didn't do the work on the car himself?  

(Flashback to a dealership in 1969....Cooter walks up to a salesman on the lot, and starts asking about the beautiful black Hemi Charger, and says, "Tell me about this car, was it hard to get the car tuned up just right? Being a Hemi and all, I heard that they are kinda finicky to get running just right."  The salesman stares blankly back at Cooter and blurts out, "I don't know, I didn't build this car."  And Cooter yells back, "Get Hamtramck on the horn, I want to talk to whoever made this thing!")    

I understand what you are saying, but your talking apples to oranges here....Nobody will ever have a snowballs chance in hell of buying a brand new '68 Charger, cause they refuse to buy them now and they are out there BRAND NEW from AMD...You just have to get to WORK on it and put it together yourself, and spend HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY..Herein comes MY point...Nobody wants to go through the hell of doing all that work..It would seem everybody wants that instant satisfaction. IMO, Not too many people Just love to have rust in their eyes for 5 years rebuilding a wreck, (Me included) but some have to..And those that are "Lucky enough" not to Have to will never be the same as the ones that had to "Pay their dues" IMO....Rich folk and poor folk will never be "Buddies" or see "Eye to eye" IMO....(Just ask the Corvette guys)...

I like to play in what some have referred to here lately as a "Rich man's game" when dealing with musclecars...I like the cars for the cars..
Unfortunatley, I and many others that just refuse to say it here, simply will never look at a "Buy it now" guy/gal the same as we do the poor guy over on the corner of the car lot at cruise night that has the "So-So" paint job and the "lowly" 440, instead of the 426 Hemi '68 Charger that has been bought off Evil-Bay for $80K....This may just be me here, but I would MUCH rather look at a restored by the owner, '68 Charger with a 318 than a "But it now" '68 Hemi Charger....I don't go up to anybody that has a ready done car and try to tell them anything..It's not my place to do so in public, but if they try and look down on my car for this or that, then I'm comin' at 'em with both barrels...

[bucko81]

I understand what everyone is saying, but that is why it is called a project.  It's like this, I built a shed in my backyard from scratch.  I could have gone out and paid someone to do it.  Is it going to be the same quality that I would like??   No..  Hence I now have a very nice shed in the backyard that I built.  (It survived hurricane IKE, with no damage)  Bottom line is, it's all in what you want to do and your goals.  Goal here is to have a nice, custom car that I know what it is made of, and how it was made.  And that it was done right.  I do appreciate all of ya'lls input and advice, I have gotten a wealth of knowledge off of this site.

[Darkman]

All I can say is that most of us Mopar freaks "Down Under" have 2 choices:

1: Buy a completed car from the US (average price $30K US), import it, and then work on it as necessary. This will end up costing a fortune

2: Buy a project car for next to nothing, rebuild it and put in personalised touches to make it your own and then make all the other Mopar guys that drive Aussie built Chryslers cry like little school girls because they spent $45K on a 318 valiant charger that looks nowhere near as good as the Dodge!

We don't have the luxury of just buying or rebuilding Dodge Chargers as you guys over there do so we take what we can get. IMO the Aussie Muscle car market is somewhat boring and is flooded with Mustangs (which are nice but too common). It is either Ford vs Holden (GM) here, and Chryslers get overlooked.

I am a very hands on person, who would be very dissapointed in buying a classic and not have anything to do on it. If I want a car to just buy and drive, I would buy a new car from the showroom and not a classic! How many "resto's" are out there that are bad and well disguised by a decent paint job? Unless it is a new car, or you have done it yourself, you can never be 100% certain of what you have.

Give it a go Bucko81! Good luck and keep posting up progress shots as we are all interested.

[SFRT]

when i bought my car it was basically a hole. everyone thought id lost my mind. the guys I share my shop building with where all 'you'll never get it done in your lifetime'. 1 year later I was burning rubber out front. I went the route of doing as much as I could myself, cause some of the prices i was qouted where insane. I learned to weld....etc. when i did farm out stuff i couldnt do I called in favors and got it done for very fair prices then triple checked it all again myself. I put in maybe 800-1000 hours myself in that year doing all the grunt work. end result, while not a concourse vehicle is a really good looking rock solid car that is pretty damn fast for a street car thats 40 years out of date.

I know every single fastener and inch on that damn car.

would i do it again?

in a heartbeat. that car is mine. truly mine, flaws and all.

so I say spend the money on the bestr parts you can and try to do as muchg as you can yourself. if you mess it up, do it over. theres nothing cant be fixed on one of these cars.

[Texaco]

^^^^^ What he said.

Think about it this way everyone learned at some point. You live once and die once. This site is obviously full or experience that is priceless and will help you along the way. Given I am new to this site but looking around its apparent there are very experienced guys and gals on here who can help with almost anything. I also agree this project isnt easy and watching alot of people realize what they have gotten into by buying something they didnt know what was involved. (Hoping to capitalize on one of those mistakes soon) I think most of the guys sees someone new and think omg if he only knew. The point im trying to make is dont be scared of what others tell you. Expect ups and downs but I promise you this will be the most rewarding thing for you and your daughter. I bet my ass she never sells the car as long as she is alive if it was both you and her who worked on it. That in itself is to me is worth every damn penny I will ever earn.

Its not just a car... Its what you get to experience with the car.

[SmashingPunkFan]

Im right there with buck, Its gonna be a challenge, but itll be worth every cent!

[68RRFlyer]

I rode down and checked out bucko81's Charger today.  He bought a few parts from me and yeah, it's a project.  But I drove a similar one into my garage that the wife, neighbors, passers by, and I even think the resident stray cat that wanders around here now and then,  looked at and laughed.  But I paid no mind and dove right in.  Rewarding?  Yes.  Time consuming?  No doubt.  Worst financial decision I ever did?  Tell me something I don't already know!  But when I finally laid down the last weld it was such a rewarding feeling to stand back and say, yup; I did that myself and stuff lined up!  This site and moparts was an invaluable source of info for me.  And when the 68 R/T I'm doing now gets done this summer, I think I'll be starting to lay some welds on bucko81's 69.     Should be a fun one and if I can help get another Charger on the road and shut up some laughing neighbors, then sign me up!!!!    See you soon 

Cheers   

[Patronus]

'I know every single fastener and inch on that damn car.'
amen brother

[ktneifert09]

I can see this either way.  I think what you have to do is decide what gives you the most personal satisfaction.  I get my thrills from all the new stuff I learn while I'm going through my car and it looks about the same as yours.  Last night when I was welding some extensions onto the inner wheelhousings that I made with my own two hands and the trunk floor fit right up to them, I couldn't beat that feeling for any amount of money.   I even made my WIFE check them out and you can imagine how thrilled she was...But that's just me.  So you decide what's YOU and then do THAT. 

[AKcharger]

My pal just sold a VERY nice '68 440 4 speed charger complete and done for $17K, you keep your eye open and there are deals, I promise

In any event keep us posted


In case your wondering he needed $$ to buy a hemi car