1969 Charger R/T - Journey to get it back on the road begins

[gtx6970]

Under hood is about done. Heater blower motor isn't installed till it's decided if I'm going into the dash and /or  heater box or not.
Gotta finesse a few areas , clean up the headlamp vacumm harness and / or make a new one and give it a good cleaning.
We need to fine tune  the ft end sheetmetal for just a better overall fit and appearence for gaps and such.

Plus , I'm still looking for the one A/C line .

[hemi68charger]

Lookin' great Bill..   

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Woot!   Gotta paint the yellow diamond on my compressor one of these days....

[tan top]

   nice work   

[gtx6970]

I thought I would bump this back up to keep it fresh.
Yes,, I have been working on the car.
Some issues on another car during the summer and early fall kept me on it .
But I've been back on the Charger  and in case anyone couldn't tell. Componnet work is in full swing.

A/C - Heater box is done and back in the car.
Left vent housing was pulled, cleaned and redone and is now back in the car.
Entire interior is stripped and out of the car, with the firewall and ft floorpan covered in Fatmat material.
Door glass vent wing assemblies are back in the car , with final adjustments awaiting on door and roof rail weatherstrips to go in .
Removed the owner installed flor shifter brackets , as we are converting it back to column shift as original.
Steering column is completely dis-assembled and painted, but waiting on the shift tube to return from the plater.
The brake pedal assy is out, cleaned, painted and re-assembled with new bushings and back in the car.
Park brake pedal assy is cleaned, painted and set aside till the pull handle rod and spring return from the plater.
Dash frame was pulled, stripped down to bare metal, repainted in the correct black suede finish.
Ashtray as replated, repainted and assembled with the correct rivets.
All the gauges were pulled, tested and refaced . Clock was rebuilt with a new quartz movement.
Dash bezels were sent  out to be redone.
All the switches were tested and new knobs from BEA installed and now back in the cluster.
Needed a better lower dash pad, so that took a little bit of effort, but now I have them all , cleaned, and dyed black are now ready to go in.

But here is a tease.

[gtx6970]

Whoopps wrong one.The above pic is another members park brake assy.

This is for this car.

[gtx6970]

OK,
To answer some questions . Yes this car is still in process and going forward slowly but surely. I work by myself and kids activities dictate how many hours a week are billed.

So,
Wanting to keep the original hood signal indicators I tackled them a few weeks ago. with positive results .

[gtx6970]

Bead blasted the pieces and painted with aluma-blast to give them that dull flat aluminum color
Replaced the wiring and soldered in new bulb contacts . and replaced the tension springs . All told I have maybe 2-1/2 hours in them give or take? Considerably cheaper than the repops and there still the ones the car was born with.

[gtx6970]

wiring replacement with new brass contacts using a  split brass tube rivet

[gtx6970]

AND they actually worked when I was done.

[gtx6970]

Ended up searching for and found better dash pads as the originals were really wavy and and already been dyed once, I preferred to start with fresh meat so to speak.

[gtx6970]

Replaced all the chrome  knobs with the repops from Mike at BEA .
And the dimmer switch proved to be the one to fight me.
Grind the rivet off at the small end and slide it out to dis-assemble the assy.
Drill the end and tap it for a #6 machine thread screw works perfectly( add a drop of thread lock for good measure )

[gtx6970]

Once drilled and tapped and after cking the resistance coil integrity , re-assemble in reverse order

[bill440rt]

Looking sweet, Bill! 

[gtx6970]

Once the radio, and instrument panel bezels return I will finish re-assembling the dash and put it back in the car.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Bill, curious as to how & what you used to paint the lenses black for the hood signals....I have a set of the early Charger Specialties repro lenses sans the black paint treatment.  Still on the fence if I want to black them out or leave them be  (its been a long fence since they've been on there like that since '99) 

[tan top]

  awesome work Bill great stuff  

[nvrbdn]

this is great. enjoying following along.

[gtx6970]

Bill, curious as to how & what you used to paint the lenses black for the hood signals....I have a set of the early Charger Specialties repro lenses sans the black paint treatment.  Still on the fence if I want to black them out or leave them be  (its been a long fence since they've been on there like that since '99) 

taped up the area to remain unpainted. then with a scrotchbrite pad scuffed up the area to be painted and sprayed it flat black out of a rattle can

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Thanks Bill looks like a PITA to tape up....prolly why mine are still clear

[bill440rt]

Thanks Bill looks like a PITA to tape up....prolly why mine are still clear

Say, uh... I might know of someone that could lend a hand. Just sayin'...   

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Thanks Bill looks like a PITA to tape up....prolly why mine are still clear

Say, uh... I might know of someone that could lend a hand. Just sayin'...   

Thanks bro but this is one of those simple jobs I'm sure I can handle.....now the V21 that is another animal!! 

[bill440rt]

Woof! 

[tracpack440]

Nice car. I like the color combo. 

[gtx6970]

Radio arrived this morning.
We had the internals upgraded to modern electronics with an MP3 / Ipod jack
Was done at S+M Electric aka www.turnswitch.com