CDN72SE's Restoration Thread

[CDN72SE]

Hi All, I figured I would record my restoration (it will move slowly) here as I spend a lot of time on the site reading and following others restorations. I am also on the 71-74 site. This is my Y8 1972 Dodge Charger SE Brougham (production date 7-71) that I purchased from Nigel at National Moparts it was a rust-free North Carolina car that was parked due to a bad transmission and brought to Canada. To keep it running and because it was also a 318 car I swapped in my old 318 & TorqueFlite 727 from my first SE and drove it for about 5 years. It was last registered and on the road in 1992. It's traveled with me from place to place waiting for a restoration. I guess it's time to track what I will be doing, I am not a mechanic (or a body guy) but I have enjoyed working on my cars since I was young. I learned a lot early on from not having a lot of money to pay someone else to do the work for me. Funny enough now in my 40s I still don't have the money.

This is basically how I bought it in August of 1992, I put on my Western Turbine rims that I had on my previous SE. It did come with 14" Rallye's which I sold to a guy with a Challenger. Then I bought a set of 15x7 Rallyes from Motor City Originals. Shortly after getting it home I added the Year One front spoiler, I also added the dual cut-out exhaust rear valence from a '74, it was pretty rusted, I cleaned it up and painted it, thought it looked cool even though my exhaust was nowhere near the openings. I never would have thought that 17 years later there would be new ones being produced, thanks AMD.

I'm not sure on the colour, I could go original but I probably won't. I'm just adding the parts to it that I like such as the Ramcharger hood, front & rear spoilers, buckets, console with shifter, R/T taillights, hood pins and a tachometer to replace the clock. As far as the engine I will probably go with a 360.

I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions guys/gals.



Those are P275/60R15's on the rear and up front P255/60R15's.


Rattle-can WAL-Mart black primer:




Yes it has the rear spoiler decklid cut-outs and yes it is the original '72 decklid.  


Here she sits, March 2007 just after me moved to the new house, double-car garage... finally, now I'll have some room to work on it.

Don't really have a budget, I'll probably fund some of it by selling some of my extra "back-up" pieces (yes still have a few).

This will be a slow restoration that's for sure, I'll be doing as much as I can.


Removed the hood, decklid, fenders, doors, etc.


Not too bad behind the fenders:


Quite a bit of undercoating.


Some rear shots:


The car is pretty much fully covered with factory undercoating:


Couple of my 318 from my previous 72 that I installed in this car:


Rented an engine hoist from my local Stephenson's Rental, took me about two hours by myself (I did take my time) to get it out, as you can see I left the tranny attached and pulled it out as a unit.

I had to let the air out of the two front tires to give me enough clearance over the radiator frame.

Maybe I could have gone higher with the jack but was a bit fearful that my anchoring bolts on the engine may give way.


Transmission separated:


After 18 years the 318 is out again.


Rolled it outside, you definitely don't see anything like this in my neighbourhood.


Removed the torsion bars, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, really had to whack them though.




Then I removed the 4 bolts for the K-Frame and dropped the whole assembly on to some blocks temporarily.


Here's the front suspension:

[chargd72]

Looks awesome man!   

Keep the pics coming of any progress.

Also, if you're going with Rallye tail lights, let me know if you want to get rid of those SE lenses.

[CDN72SE]

Looks awesome man!   

Keep the pics coming of any progress.

Also, if you're going with Rallye tail lights, let me know if you want to get rid of those SE lenses.

Thanks chargd72, I'd been following your work and you're doing a really nice job. The SE taillight assembly is long gone and an NOS set I had as well, used the cash to buy the Rallye taillights.

[Big Sugar]

Hey CDN where are you in Ontario ?


Ron

[tan top]

good lot of pictures !!  keep the pictures coming 

[CDN72SE]

Hey CDN where are you in Ontario ?


Ron

Hi Ron, I'm in Milton. How about yourself? - Alan.

[CDN72SE]

good lot of pictures !!  keep the pictures coming 

Thanks, will do.

[mikesbbody]

Love the Ramcharger hood, spoilers, and dual cut out rear valance 

[CDN72SE]

Love the Ramcharger hood, spoilers, and dual cut out rear valance 

Thanks Mike.

[Wicked72]

CAnt wait to see some more pics!

[CDN72SE]

Interior
I had removed the interior years ago, originally gold with a benchseat.

I replaced the bench with one green and one white bucket seat that I had purchased and some panels from my previous SE that had the blue interior.

Some of the panels I painted black (bad vinyl spray) and the back seat. I think I'm going to go with a white interior.

Still debating the exterior colour.



Some more, I still have one of the Chrysler issued trash bags that came with the car.

POR-15, peeled in a lot of places, yes I followed the directions, that was applied in 1992.


Back seat area:


Trunk:


More - really not bad, the trunk has some surface rust and all floorboards are pretty solid.

[CDN72SE]

Rallye Wheel Center Caps

Decided to do a little cleanup of some '71 Rallye Wheel centre caps (appliques) that I bought off eBay, I have seven in total some are the correct dark (charcoal) colour for '71 and some are the argent silver for 1970. I loosely followed an article that I have from a June 1991 Musclecar Review magazine. Materials I used include: Eastwood's Charcoal Rallye Wheel paint, 000-grade steel wool, chrome polish, 3M masking tape, and new rallye wheel center cap inserts. This is the procedure I followed:

1. Use a fine grade scuff pad like a 3M or Scotch to rough up the area which will allow the paint to adhere. Be sure to get into all the hard-to-reach areas, like lug nut holes.

2. Use the steel wool to to clean the unpainted chrome areas and use a polish to then polish those areas.

3. Mask off the clean chrome areas with 3M masking tape, leave some overhang and then trim off the pieces with a sharp knife or razor blade. Mask the back of the holes to prevent overspray.

4. Then paint the cap keeping the spray approx. 18-30 inches away, remember to turn the cap around a few times to get all the areas and 100% coverage.


Here is the finish product, with a fresh coat of paint and a new center cap insert which I purchased off eBay. I think they look good enough and I spent about 1.5hrs and less than $40. The taping and masking was the time consuming part.

[CDN72SE]

Leaf Springs
Turned my attention to the leaf springs, started to strip them down.

I ordered the Shackle Rebuild Kit from Bill Rolik.

Ordered a new pair of Leaf Spring Center Bolt's from Jim's Auto Parts, that's right Jim's.

Thought I would take a chance, ordered them on the 8th and they were in my hands on the 11th.

They were twice the price of Bill's but I wanted them ASAP. Got Bill's and used his.

Uncovered some numbers:


Separating the leaves, I have six aside.


Had to cut through the bolt and burn the rubber insert to get it out, what a pain. Bought new bolts from MegaParts.


Installed:

[CDN72SE]

Rear Brakes
Got out the wire brush and the rust encapsulator, these are 10" drums.


I had some red paint kicking around so used it on the drums as I'm using rallye's.


Think I had changed the rear shoes once since I've owned it, not sure if the hardware is original or not, I did order a kit.


Took care of the backing plates, one finished and one unfinished, I did the vinegar, lemon juice and salt method for removing rust on these. Did an excellent job.


I used some rust encapsulator, primer and then some of Eastwood's black steel rim paint that I have kicking around.


Got the wheel cylinder gaskets from DMT, the wheel cylinders from Canadian Tire and the riveted brake shoes from Napa.

[CDN72SE]

Headlight Buckets
Well I've got a few things on the go and trying not to get too far ahead of myself, been working on the rear leaf springs, rear brakes, heater box and headlight buckets. For now I'm concentrating on the headlight assembly and the heater box. So here are some pics of the start of my headlight and accessories re-fresh.

Drivers side fender with assembly attached:


Removed... not much to it, four bolts I'll bag those and clean them up later.


Took a bunch of shots of the position of everything for later:


Before cleaning, discovered the part numbers and paint marks, looks like we have red, orange and blue and I think black on the different cups, I have to record them:


Here's HI-LO-5-RT-.122 after a bath:


Here's one of the mounts after a little sanding and a few coats of Eastwood's Underhood Black Paint.


Next I'll finish cleaning the other parts, install the new headlight screws and hardware, reproduce the coloured stripes on the cups, polish the headlight rings and install the new sealed beams.

[CDN72SE]

Heater Box
Compared my original heater box to one I bought off eBay, hoping to make one out of the two, unfortunately the parts one got damaged during shipping. I should still be able to put the two together.

The part number on the unit is 3441978 with 85148 below it.

Original:


Donor:


What I'm working with:


Acouple more:


Last of the many pics I took:


Got the DMT kit that everyone is familiar with, very nice and good instructions.

I've also looked at many other Heater Box restorations on other threads to get some pointers and tips.



01 - U-Shaped charcoal foam that seals the bottom of the defrost duct to the top of the box.

[chargd72]

Great thread!!  Making me want to drop the engine work and start with the body.

This will all be useful in the upcoming months   

[Foreman72]

this is one i'm gonna follow! GOOD LUCK

[CDN72SE]

Thanks Foreman, where are you at with your resto? I loved seeing it emerge from the barn.  

[Foreman72]

Thanks Foreman, where are you at with your resto? I loved seeing it emerge from the bar. 

o it has my friend

Check it out...
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,60532.140.html

[CDN72SE]

So it looks like you are a bit on hold due to space and storage? That's what took me so long to get going I hand nowhere to work or store parts.

[Foreman72]

thats exactly it...exactly it

i'm really trying hard to get that sorted out so i can get moving...

also $$$ are in short supply...college is taking top priority right now...

[CDN72SE]

thats exactly it...exactly it

i'm really trying hard to get that sorted out so i can get moving...

also $$$ are in short supply...college is taking top priority right now...

Wish I had done my car before I got married, then my car wouldn't have to compete with my wife's list of expenses that are for the family since my car is only for me. Yup college is a prioeity, at least I was driving mine back when I was in college, good times.

[chargd72]

 

I recently finished school and got a real job (which was priority) before I got my car...    then my girlfriends ring became a priority...   then my fiances house become a priority...   now a wedding is priority....        See the pattern here?

All in all, there will always be 'priorities' that seem to take precedence.  Lucky for us, these cars are one of a kind and appreciate everything we do for them when we can. 

[CDN72SE]

All in all, there will always be 'priorities' that seem to take precedence.  Lucky for us, these cars are one of a kind and appreciate everything we do for them when we can.  

Very true, always getting pushed to the back burner.

Let's see if I can put some more pictures up now.