JAAK's 1969 R/T

[jaak]

I've never really made a thread about my 69 R/T, I've talked about it, shared a few pics, but never made a thread about it, for updates and such. So I thought I'd make this, share some pics of my journey up to now, and have a place to show updates (seems I'm moving faster since the body and paint is done).

My journey actually started in early 1999, when after a 2-3 search I bought this car, a 69 Charger R/T......


That car was pretty rusted, but had alot of nice parts on it, when about 1 1/2 years later I found this.........


So a decision was made to part car #1 and build car #2 (remember this was 10 years ago....long before AMD came along). The second car was running, but I pulled a few things from first car, and actually drove it around a while as it was. The car's wiring was in awful shape....cut/splices everywhere. One day the wiring in the engine bay caught fire, so I laid out of work the next day to remove all wiring and the engine, I guess the 'rebuild' officially begins........


BODYSHOP HELL.
In late 2002/early 2003, A friend (or so I thought at the time) was running a shop repairing painting classic cars. He come by, gave me a quote, struck a deal and the car was sent off to his shop. Here is a couple of crappy pics I found while it was in his shop.........



After 2 years, stripped and primed shell, half-assed trunk floor welded in, and about $1400 later, I had to go get my car back........



This is where it stalls for a while. Since buying the car I have had 2 kids, and bought a house (with a 40 x 32 shop!), then had another kid. So I just piled up the Charger and all my parts in my shop, bought parts when I had extra money, and restored little stuff (ie; grill, console, trim, etc.) until time to get back on the car. I had all the machine work done on the engine, rebuilt the 727 (with guidance from the trans guy at a dealership I used to work at). Also at the time I had a small flux welder and welded in some patches here and there where needed.

Time for body and paint. I absolutely could not find anyone....anyone who wanted to touch this car.....so I rolled up my sleeves and took it on myself. After all rust was taken car of and any and all dents pulled, I started skimming the car with filler and blocking with a long block to get it straight and the lines sharp......


Car was primed with epoxy followed by polyester primer then blocking, then polyester and blocking again.......


Then primed with 2k Urethane and blocked again.........


At this time I decided to jamb out the car. The color I picked was FJ6....always loved the color, and since its a non matching number R/T, Im building it the way I want.....



Primed/blocked the car one last time with 500 grit in prep for paint........



After alot of hard work, finally paint.........




TO BE CONTINUED........

[jaak]

Restored grille.....


440 Assembled and painted.......

[stripedelete]

Did you paint it your self too?

[jaak]

This is pretty cool........first pic me with Charger in fall of 2000, next pic me with Charger in fall of 2010 (10 yrs. later).




Jason

[jaak]

Did you paint it your self too?

Yes.

Jason

[dookie01]

Awesome build, keep the picts rollin My favorite color to

[tan top]

awesome Job Jason  !!  good pictures     , love looking at this kind of stuff    , makes me wish i took more pictures when i done mine !

[Tilar]

Wow, That's quite a transformation. Looking great! 

[stripedelete]

Did you paint it your self too?

Yes.

Jason

Now that's taking the bull by the horns.  Good for you.

Looks good.  Good thread.   

[TiMopar]

Good work, well done!

[hemi68charger]

 

Good job.........

[Charger-Bodie]

Its come along way! Keep her going!!

[jaak]

Some more pics over the last 3-4 years....out of sequence, but just posting to show some stuff I've done.

Stripping, priming, painting engine bay.......





When I had the rear end out, I cleaned/painted it with Nason Acrylic enamel......


When reinstalling the front suspension, I upgraded to disc using the late B-body stuff........


Here is a pic of my steering column after restoring, I took it apart, clean/painted everything and reassembled with new upper and lower bearings.......


Prepping/Painting small parts.......




More soon,
Jason

[69 Bama R/T]

That's what I like to see.

[rt green]

nice work

[NHCharger]

I really like your home made paint booth. How effective was it for keeping out the dust?

[jaak]

I really like your home made paint booth. How effective was it for keeping out the dust?

It worked pretty good, I did get a few 'nibs' in it, but it come out during the cutting/buffing process. I had 2 fans blowing in the back (through filters) and 2 pulling out in the front (through filters also) to create a positive pressure. It pulled all the overspray out pretty quick also.

Jason

[HOTROD]

 

[maxwellwedge]

Did you paint it your self too?

Yes.

Jason

Now that's taking the bull by the horns.  Good for you.

Ditto!   

Looks good.  Good thread.   

[pipeliner]

Good work!

[greenpigs]

Funny you aged better than most 10 years later.

I agree on picking the color paint you want, even if it had be # matching.

[jaak]

Still digging through old pics......
Here's a couple of things I did prior to painting it, first off I went ahead and installed the engine and trans, because I done had the engine bay painted and I had already removed/reinstalled/realigned the hood 2-3 times during the bodywork process, and I wanted this to be the last time I had to screw with that hood! I also painted the tailpanel and various other parts (grill frame, dash, etc.) before painted the green. Once again just being a 'driver' I used a single stage satin black urethane for durability (it looks glossy in these pics, because it was still wet).....




A couple of months ago, I addressed the fuel system. New tank, sending unit, straps, pad. I also bent up my own new fuel line, using the old one as a template. And here is a pic of the fuel cap install (Alright, I know its a '68 cap, but I've always preferred the smooth top of a '68 cap)..........




Also 2-3 months ago, I wired the car. The only thing I replaced was the engine harness. I used a new M&D harness upgraded with electronic ignition and for a dual field alternator. All the other wiring was in pretty good shape so I was able to make a couple of repairs and reuse it. The only one I had to fabricate was the harness that runs from the dash harness to console harness (runs under driver seat), I couldn't find that one anywhere, Lost mine. Also not I made my own bracket to mount the ECU on the rear of the intake, Ive seen these on eBay, but some scrap metal and about 15 minutes labor I made my own........

[jaak]

  JAAK's MOPAR SHOP 

[BIGBLCK11]

  Nice build and thread, thanks for all the pics!

[flyboyedwards]

Jason,
That is great work! Love the pics, keep them coming for those of us that aren't finished yet..............it's great motivation!