71 project UPDATE Jan 2012!!

[71wrenchhead]

Hello all
im new the forum so ill give yall my story

when i was around 12 my next door neighbor had a 71 charger, i didnt know much about cars at the time, but i knew i liked the way it looked. anyway, he let me start it up and i instantly fell in love with it, all summer i helped him restore it and got to ride around in it, he even let me drive it to get my license. One day i was joking that he should sell it to me, he agreed, and we struck a deal, so i busted my a$$ to get what he was asking for it, unfortunately he had a heart attack and passed before i could buy it, and his sister sold it to someone willing to pay way more than i ever could at the time.
So i bought a jeep and tried to put the frustration and anger aside.
A couple years later i saw a charger in a guys barn while he had it open, i stopped by and asked him if he would sell it. he said he already did to someone else that was going to use it for parts. So the desire was rekindled and i started searching high and low for anything i could get my hands on, but to no avail
So i put it to rest again, have a kid, get married, join the military, and by pure dumb luck my wife was on craiglist looking for nothing in particular and stumbled across a 71 charger about 3 hours from where we lived. She actually laughed because she thought it was a joke
when she told me about it.
Long story short (had to say it lol) i now own a lovely rust bucket of a 71 charger and started tearing into it.
ive been reading all your posts for a while now and firgured i would post my resto project and try and get some advice and know how

pics to come later tonight, im at work right now

[1972Rallye]

Welcome!  Thanks for sharing your story.  Pics are always appreciated here.

[GunMetal]

Welcome to the site. Good to see another 3rd gen rising from the rust.

[JPL]

Welcome '71 Brutha!

[71wrenchhead]

Soryy no pics of it before i got it, i started tearing into it the moment i had the title in my back pocket......literally
so heres kinda what ive done so far

[71wrenchhead]

One more

[CDN72SE]

Welcome to the site and congrats on getting the car, looks like your going full-speed ahead. 

[jaak]

Welcome,
Cool story, I sorta know what it feels like, the first 69 Charger I almost bought was sold out from under me. It was 2-hours away and I arranged to pick it up on a Sat. morning, bastards sold it Friday night......all was well though about a year later found/bought my RT. Look forward to the progress, and you've come to the right place the information here is invaluable.

Good luck with your '71 

Jason

[FlatbackFanatic]

Welcome! It sure looks like you got your work cut out for you there.. good luck.

[ACUDANUT]

Dang, how much did you have to give for it ? I just sold a 71 Charger for 2K that ran great and had a solid body.

[moparstuart]

welcome

[71_Charger_R/T]

Welcome! Good to see another 3rd gen. being brought back.  I can donate some tail lamp lenses to the cause. P.M. me
Lyndon

[71wrenchhead]

Dang, how much did you have to give for it ? I just sold a 71 Charger for 2K that ran great and had a solid body.

I got it for 500, with a delivery charge of 300, so i think it was an awesome steal

Welcome! Good to see another 3rd gen. being brought back.  I can donate some tail lamp lenses to the cause. P.M. me
Lyndon

you have a pm
like i said, you dont have to, but im not gonna argue with any help


thanks all for the welcome, ill be sure to put up some pitures as i go, this weekend probly, im on 14s right now so i dont get to do much with it.

[ACUDANUT]

 Not a bad deal I guess...Looks like you have plenty to keep you out of trouble (bars). 

[71wrenchhead]

engine slowly being put back together


btw changing valve seals is a b!tch
took me forever with that spring compressor thing...lol

[chargd72]

That alternator bracket looks oddly out of place.

[71wrenchhead]

ah yes thats just kinda chilin in there for now, ive just been hittin it with some random cans of paint around the house from other projects ive done, and temporarily putting things back together.
i think theres like 2 bolts in each head
anyway, im buying a house for the wife and the car (more for the car but dont tell the wife)
2 car garage with its own living room bedroom kitchen and bath, so WAY more space to work on it lol

car packed with some of my tools and parts ready to get hauled over to the new house



so soon i will have some hopefully updated photos
i.e car on rotisserie and sandblasting

[71wrenchhead]

so, i got back, from deployment, got that house, and got some tools to work on the car, sorry for the lack of updates, ive been pretty busy
anyway, i have pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

on a side note, APPARENTLY whoever painted my car decided to use nuclear infusion to stick the paint to metal, cuz chemical stripping just made it shiny
AND sanding takes FOREVER, so the lesson here is..............dont give up hope! 

on to the pics, as you can see someone decided to fix some damage with an industrial bucket of bondo, but all around, i think all i should need is some patch panels and ill be good to go

let me know what you think!

[71wrenchhead]

i should add, everywhere you see black primer is what i have already sanded down to metal, i just primered it to keep it from surface rusting and whatnot

currently im just sanding, no welding yet, that comes after i make the damn frame for this thing  (stealing the idea from mustangcentral.com)

[68RT4ME]

 Very nice that you're able to do the work yourself. I wish I had those skills. Looking forward to seeing more. 

[ACUDANUT]

500 bucks for the car is a good deal. However, I think you should have paid a litle more and only 1/2 of the work to do.  Goodluck.

[Wicked72]

nice ride! looking forward to watching your progress!

[TK73]

Way COOL 

[nvrbdn]

keep it up. welcome to the site

[41husk]

Welcome to the site making some good progress there.

[71wrenchhead]

id rather spend the time doing all that work myself, for 2 reasons
1 im changing quite a bit about the car, ie making a frame, altering some of the panels and whatnot
2 id rather have such a large project to do because my kid and wife like to help me work on it

and thank you all, im working little by little. im in no real rush to have it done, working on it is enough fun for me