Bull's 68 Charger restoration thread

[bull]

A little more progress to report. Been working on a do-hickey designed to lower the car back down over the drive train once I roll it into place. I settled on some 3/4" bolts and homemade brackets off the top of the shock towers since I didn't see a whole lot of detail from those who have done their install from below.

Here's some pics of the dry run/test and fit process from earlier tonight. I first jacked the rear end up and placed ramps under the rear tires, then I jacked the front end up as high as I could get it and set it on jack stands before removing the front end dolly. Turns out that put the bottom of the frame rails at around 32" off the floor which left me a good 2-3 inches of clearance to slide the engine/trans underneath. I'm not quite ready to install the drive train yet but I wanted to make sure everything would work as planned. It looks good for the most part but it looks like the cherry picker's legs will hit the sway bar so I'll probably have to take it off the k-frame before I do this.

[bull]

 

[69 OUR/TEA]

Looking real  good bull !!!!!   

[six-tee-nine]

That really is a great idea.....
I'm also convinced that that is the easiest way to put in an engine....

[G-man]

ANOTHER black charger. How borring.

Can I take it off your hands to save you the hastle? 

[1970Moparmann]

Good job!

Where are the rags for the jack stands?  Your putting to much work into your project to have scraps on the bottom.

[bull]

Yea, I forgot about that until I had already sat it down. Oh well, too late now. They're sitting against undercoating if that makes it any better.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Looking awesome!!! Great work BULL

[SkiJogg]

Your doing a great job hurry I might need help. Looks great and your putting the engine in the right way just like factory.

[Patronus]

Damn Bull, looks real nice. 

[lexxman]

That looks great. kepp the pictures coming.

[440]

I wish my wife would sit there and hang out in the garage rather then nag that I don't spend enough time with her  

Car looks like it's coming along nicely.

[tan top]

  nice work going on there Bull  looking real good   

[bull]

I wish my wife would sit there and hang out in the garage rather then nag that I don't spend enough time with her  

Well, that doesn't happen very often, maybe 5-6 times a year (more in the summer). It's hard for her to sit still too and she feels guilty when she relaxes. If I had her level of motivation I'd be done with this car already.

[SkiJogg]

Looking real nice. Had yo put the engine and K frame on the legs of the engine hoist and rolled it under you could have save a little fight. The only way to put a MOPAR engine in from the bottom. Great job 

[bakerhillpins]

 

Looking very nice! Are you going to lower the front end or raise the engine? I would think raise the engine as lowering the front end would end up with a weird angle on the car.

[bull]

Looking very nice! Are you going to lower the front end or raise the engine? I would think raise the engine as lowering the front end would end up with a weird angle on the car.

I plan on doing both. First I'm going to slide the assembly under car, then lower the car down over it (front and back), then raise the engine with the cherry picker and install the front two k-frame bolts hand tight, then leave the cherry picker attached there while I raise the rear with a floor jack, then jockey everything into place and install the rear k-frame bolts and snug it all down. When I do it I will take photos of every step and post them here.

[472 R/T SE]

I'd offer a hand or at least another set of eyes but there ain't no way this gimp could get around that garage.   

[bull]

I'd offer a hand or at least another set of eyes but there ain't no way this gimp could get around that garage.   

I've got a creeper you can lay on.

[PPRCuda]

Wow! This is serious restoration. I like when every detail is nice and clean!

Rgds Pepe / Finland

[HeavyFuel]

Wow! This is serious restoration. I like when every detail is nice and clean!

Rgds Pepe / Finland

Welcome to the site, and yeah, some serious resto work is displayed here......get used to it.

That's why I love it.

[bull]

Before and after of a couple of nickle and dime items (or should I say zinc and dollar items) after a trip to the plater. Actually, neither of the "after" items are the same as the before, although the ones I restored were in really bad shape too. My original horn relay will be finished later today and someday I'll probably redo that black ballast resistor like the nice one you see. Some jackwagon really spray bombed my engine compartment years ago. Everything that was bolted to the engine comp sheet metal was covered in black overspray.

[mikesbbody]

Wow! what a difference! 

[bull]

Thanks. I agree they look so much better when they look new.

So tonight I decided to get the engine put in. There's a million things you can do prior to installing the engine but I'm so far out on a lot of this stuff I just didn't feel like waiting any longer. Besides, I need the floor space. I'll do a blow-by-blow with the pics I took.

First I removed the sway bar so the legs of the cherry picker would fit under the LCAs, then rolled the cherry picker into place and hooked up the chain that was bolted bewteen the shock towers. Then I raised the front end of the car up and dropped the jack stands.

Once ths stands were out of the way I slowly lowered the car down over the engine...

[bull]

Once the car was about as low as I could go (the lowest adjustment on a pair of small jack stands) I set the car down on the stands and moved the chain to the engine. Then I started raising the engine, k-frame and all, into place and got the front k-frame mounting bolts started hand tight.