Bull's 68 Charger restoration thread

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Nice progress man!  Keep it up!

[squeakfinder]

      Thank's for sharing!   

[bull]

March was spent continuing to get the interior ready for the Smith Bros. role, which is to install the windshield, headliner, rear window and dash wiring. I rebuilt the wiper linkage and installed it, had the front and side interior trim powder coated (looks great), had the seats restored, finished up the steering column and wheel, cleaned up the windshield and rear glass, resealed all the seams, insulated the roof and did a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now.

They had some trouble with the lower windshield trim clips as well as with the upper window seal trim which was installed by the body shop with some serious amounts of urathane sealant. They almost ruined the trim trying to remove something that should only have had screws holding it in place.

[bill440rt]

Lookin' great!!! 

[bull]

Been working on it at a steady pace (some might say slow) for the past couple of weeks, but at least I'm working. Got 2/3 of the wiring installed along with the alternator, orange box and bracket, voltage regulator and bracket, ballast resistor and bracket. Also bought and installed a new speedo cable from a local business. http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,91687.0.html Figured out my map light harness quandary (which also found its way into that thread) and got a new time delay relay from Carquest. Started cleaning up the ignition switch courtesy light and found that the wire had been pulled out of it so that looks like it's going to be the beginning of yet another challenge. Not sure if those little light socket contact buds are available without the pigtail but that's what I need. Unless I can find a pigtail with a yellow wire. I took the map light harness to a guy to see about having a new one made and he said there's nothing wrong with the old one so I cleaned it up and installed it last night.

Ran most of the rest of the brake lines to the master cylinder before I got stuck finding studs for it. Lucked out with that though because just when I needed them a guy listed an original set on Ebay so I snatched them up.

Found some adhesive stuck to the dash pad and Dutchman panel from the front and rear window installations but used some 3M General Adhesive Remover on it and got it off without hurtng the paint. Well, the dash pad didn't like that stuff so much (painted with SEM Color Coat for vinyl) so I had to touch up one spot.

Two other issues were resolved with the front seats too. I was missing one pivot bolt (inside nut broke off and they had used a regular bolt) and one of the seat back latch springs was broken in half. Both of those had to be fabricated because they're N/A. Nobody makes 7/16-14 shoulder bolts anymore and the springs are NOS only. I found one for the wrong side and that's the only one in the nation as far as I know. The spring I made by hand with an old torsions spring. I actually had enough material to make two sets so that's what I did. http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,90583.0.html http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,90943.0.html

And yesterday at 3 pm I ordered a full exhaust system from Accurate and it arrived on my door step this morning at 9 am. I wasn't expecting to see that until Tuesday. I got the full set for a 440 with Hemi mufflers and stainless tips. I'm hoping that will be the last big-ticket item I have to buy, excluding the console trim plates and tail light assemblies (assuming I buy the entire set).

What's bothering me about this part of the project is that I'm getting scatter brained. I'm having a hard time focusing on one thing ata time, but in a sense you almost have to do that because things need to go in seqence. You can't just do the wiring because other interior componants are involved. The engine bay, for example, includes electrical, brakes, exhaust, heating and cooling, etc. It really messes with the categorizing in my head.

Seat Latch Man is shocked at my slow pace.

[bull]

A few more...

[Troy]

Progress is progress!

I wish I was moving along that quickly.

Troy

[bull]

Well, just got an email from Accurate. I assumed 383 and 440 were the same since I told them in my emails that I had a 383 and they ordered and sent me a 440 set.   Looks like it's hassle time.

EDIT-Called Tom and I guess it's not that big of a deal. All I have to do is close the H-pipe gap by 1" to get it to fit.

[Dans 68]

Progress intelligently planned.    Looks really good, Curtis.

Dan

[472 R/T SE]

disc brakes?

[bull]

disc brakes?

Original drums are in the attic.

Got the exhaust "roughed in" today. Looks like it will work.

[472 R/T SE]

Since everything's new, what brake fluid do you plan on using?

[XS29L9B2]

very nice work

[bull]

Since everything's new, what brake fluid do you plan on using?

DOT 5.

[68blue]

Work looks great! The headliner and glass guys were the same outfit?

[Charger-Bodie]

You are getting very close Curtis. Its looking awesome.

[440]

I'm not terribly fussed with the bends on those pipes, quite restrictive.

Any progress is good progress.

[bull]

Work looks great! The headliner and glass guys were the same outfit?

Yes. These guys build General Lee clones so they've got a pretty broad talent base. http://www.smithbrosrestorations.com/

I'm not terribly fussed with the bends on those pipes, quite restrictive.

Can't say I'm too fussed about those bends either (if that means excited) but it's a far cry better than the single exhaust it started life with. There are outfits that do mandrel bends but these guys are more focused on originality and proper fit. http://www.accurateltd.com/

[RIDELIKEHELL]

March was spent continuing to get the interior ready for the Smith Bros. role, which is to install the windshield, headliner, rear window and dash wiring. I rebuilt the wiper linkage and installed it, had the front and side interior trim powder coated (looks great), had the seats restored, finished up the steering column and wheel, cleaned up the windshield and rear glass, resealed all the seams, insulated the roof and did a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now.

They had some trouble with the lower windshield trim clips as well as with the upper window seal trim which was installed by the body shop with some serious amounts of urathane sealant. They almost ruined the trim trying to remove something that should only have had screws holding it in place.

My windshield has to come back out as my car requires the 67 clips as its an early build date so the clips don't work.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

BTW great work

[bull]

My windshield has to come back out as my car requires the 67 clips as its an early build date so the clips don't work.

That sucks. Every time you pull that thing off you run the risk of breaking it. I was fortunate to be able to reuse this one, though it's not original. It's in good shape.

[SkiJogg]

go man go

[bull]

Running into more trouble with my Accurate exhaust system. Sounds like aftermarket motor mounts might be to blame for throwing the angle off at the back where the hangers go. Arrgh!

[resq302]

Have you tightened up all the connections or installed the system loose till it was all installed and then went back and snugged it up from the front back?

[bull]

Have you tightened up all the connections or installed the system loose till it was all installed and then went back and snugged it up from the front back?

Well, yes and no. Their instructions say to put it all in place loose and then tighten everything from back to front. However, when I did that I had to shove the mufflers quite far onto the H-pipe to get it all to fit lengthwise. I called Tom and he said you're supposed to trim off the muffler flanges to fit. That was the first I'd heard of that. Tom also said in a later email "the muffler connection to the h-pipe needs to remain loose when installing the exhaust system as the instructions explain" and since I didn't trim the muffler flanges it was pretty tight. I don't see this giving me an extra two inches or so but I'll try it tomorrow.

Anyway, before that I was wanting to get some test fitting done so I went ahead and tightened the flanges at the manifolds, and then went back to the mufflers to see where the hangers were. That's when I found that the passenger's side was about 2.5" too low. There's no driver's side hanger so who knows on that one, except to say the pipe on the driver's side is about 1/2" higher than the passenger's side pipe with the exhaust flanges tight. Anyway, I had to push the muffler up with a floor jack to get the hanger over the pipe and then the rubber was all stretched and tight. Tom said you don't want to run them all stressed like that or you'll break a manifold or hanger.

To fix it I can't really bend the pipe at the 90 by the manifold because it's already within about 1/2" of hitting the bellhousing. The best place to bend it seems to be at the turn below the transmission mount. But that could translate to quite a lot at the back of the car. What's odd about all this is that from the mufflers back everything seems to fit fine. I don't know what to do. From what I've heard, returning it to Accurate really isn't an option.