Finally got my 68 charger

[68 charger freak]

hey guys I'm new to the site .here's the car /68 charger that i bought last month. it a 318 it has a/c, at,ms,mb.

[Charger_Fan]

Looks good so far, it is 4-wheel drive?


Welcome to the site!

[8WHEELER]

JJ1 Gold, like the color, my wifes 68 is that color congrats    welcome to the site.

Dan

[BigBlockSam]

looks good, good luck with her

[chargervert]

Looks like an excellent starting point! I love the gold!

[greenpigs]

I like the sticker on the windshield.

Welcome, and first thing I would do is get some better tires.

[viper r/t]

Welcome to the site and a big    to the car to.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

for some reason a 68 charger non-r/t looks so much meaner and cooler without the charger emblem on the grille and only the base emblem on the hideaway headlight.-MATT

[PocketThunder]

Looks good so far, it is 4-wheel drive?


Welcome to the site!

thats the first thing i noticed too...


Nice ride and welcome to the best dam site in the universe...  (regardless of what this guys says  www.maddox.xmission.com)

[rare69]

great looking ride. welcome to the family.

[Johnny SixPack]

Looks good so far, it is 4-wheel drive?


Welcome to the site!

You're killin' me, C_F! 

Pocket's right, gotta get some new tires.

Sweet Charger though, man!

Welcome!

[Silver R/T]

welcome to the site

[TheGhost]

(regardless of what this guys says  www.maddox.xmission.com)

I like that guy.  Especially his responses to hate mail.


Welcome to the site, and she looks like one helluva nice start into this hobby.

[Big Lebowski]

Put a Hemi in it.

[68 charger freak]

well i guess its time for a build thread.. ill start back in 06

[68 charger freak]

So back in 06 when I was 18 ,I found this car online on the  hlpag website. a month later my dad and I drove from Toronto to Michigan to pick it up. Luckily hlpag didn't lie about the condition of the car ,as many members here used to complain about. The car had the typical charger rust issues but nothing major

[68 charger freak]

Yes that is a skinned squirrel in the trunk 

[Mopar Nut]

Yes that is a skinned squirrel in the trunk 

DINNER!

[68 charger freak]

The 318 was seized and full of mouse turd and tranny fluid, I guess someone was trying to un seize it at one point.

[JB400]

A nice blast from the past

[68 charger freak]

every day after school I would  slowly take it down to the shell,bagging and tagging along the way

[68 charger freak]

Wow those door pins were shot

[Bronzedodge]

+1 on the bagging and tagging.  Folks forget this important step and it leads to discouragement. 

Did you get the A/C stuff with it - hoses, compressor, etc?

[68 charger freak]

+1 on the bagging and tagging.  Folks forget this important step and it leads to discouragement. 

Did you get the A/C stuff with it - hoses, compressor, etc?

No none of the a/c components where with the car other then the heater box and heater control valve

[68 charger freak]

last time there well be a 318 between the fenders 

[68 charger freak]

dip time

[68 charger freak]

On the way to the body shop for some primer...

[Lennard]

Great job, that's how you restore a car.

[68 charger freak]

So here I am,with the car ,at work on my day off. Getting ready to clean all the oil off the car from the dipping process. Lucky I worked at a shop that allowed me to work on my car and get it in some primer, we restored many mopars at the shop over the years, that's a 69 R/t SE  before getting a full restoration on the hoist. And a 68 dart gts. it helped that we were all dodge guys at the shop.The owner even owns a 69 rt with a 572 hemi 5 speed

[68 charger freak]

.

[68 charger freak]

After cutting off the quarter panels and hours of degreasing,the car was ready for primer

[68 charger freak]

Later that day it's back home .. let the fun begin

[hemi-hampton]

So far so good. Have fun. LEON.

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome!!!

[68 charger freak]

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[68 charger freak]

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[68 charger freak]

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[68 charger freak]

For people who are thinking of getting there cars dipped ...the Process doesn't remove all the rust in the seams, especially in the heavily Corroded areas. But for the most part it sure leaves you with a nice starting point. The key to the dipping process is to get it neutralized  thoroughly and if you can get it ecoated... unfortunately they didn't offer it where I had it dipped

[68 charger freak]

After the repair to the rear crossmember was done I removed what was left of the trunk pan. The rear rails were then boxed . Next the rails were braced to the floor of the garage, the roof structure was braced to the rail, the wheel well flange and trunk/Dutchman supports were braced as well

[68 charger freak]

With the inner and outer wheel well missing the need for all the bracing can be seen

[68 charger freak]

Test fitting the outer wheel well to the quarter skin with the newly welded inner tub ... like a glove

[68 charger freak]

And then for some reason I did lots of work and didn't take any pictures, but as you can see the trunk pan is in as well as the extension. I also modified the outer wheel well to gain tire clearance then it was painted body colour

[68 charger freak]

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[68 charger freak]

/

[bakerhillpins]

    Great progress you are makin.  Looks good. 

[tan top]

 

[68 charger freak]

Shiny new amd full quarters took the place of the skins that I was going to use originally... at the time when I started the project ,amd wasn't around yet! So I figured if I was going to do it , do it right
Around the same time I started to mock up the dash. Ill be making the dash, console and door panels out of fibreglass and carbon fibre. The mdf is how I will be making my moulds. The foam door panel was just to see how ideas would look

[68 charger freak]

The seat are out of a jaguar that was gitting scraped at the shop

[68 charger freak]

New amd fenders and a swap meet amd door .... starting to look like a car again. for the most part the amd stuff fits well ,and if I could do it again I would have replace the original door with an amd piece. The amd stuff fits better to it's self then to original panels

[68 charger freak]

.

[CRW-FK5]

Great thread, man.  And nice job.  Looking forward to seeing you progress.

[lukedukem]

Cool build. So this car is done? And your just taking us through the resto.

Luke

[qwick68]

Very
Cool

[68 charger freak]

Cool build. So this car is done? And your just taking us through the resto.

Luke

No unfortunately the car isn't finished yet

[68 charger freak]

then it sat for 4 years... until the spring of 2016 when I started to refine the door panel design. I then went to my buddy who owns a graphic design company,  we uploaded the designs to his computerized  router. 3 sheets of 1 " mdf later I had the 56 pieces that would make up the door Panel moulds .I then glued all the parts together to make 4 door panels

[hemi-hampton]

How are the gaps & fit of the new AMD Metal? Good or not so good? LEON.

[68 charger freak]

How are the gaps & fit of the new AMD Metal? Good or not so good? LEON.

The driver quarter had lots of stamping imperfections, wavy body lines and poor fitment along the rocker pinch weld. I Had to add 1/4 " of metal to the quarter to close the gap between the pinch welded and the quarter flange. also the contour of the new quarter was not the same as the original door. to fix the problem I had to use a shrinking and stretching tool along the door jam flange. Another problem with the quarter is with the door closed and flush with the quarter, The inner edge of quarter (along the side glass) is short of the door edge .I think this is going to cause the belt moulding to be misaligned

Passenger quarter has the same stamping imperfections and wavy body lines, but the main problem was the rear window flange. it was 3/8" to short to meet up with the pinch weld flange this was fixed by adding metal to the sail panel  

Passenger door, other then the door being slightly longer causing the gaps to be tighter, and the door scallops being longer then original, other then that they're great reproductions (so far)

The fender are also nice pieces  ,but will require some touching up to Match the gap at the top meeting the door

[keepat]

Very cool build! Awesome door panels!
Pat

[funknut]

Can't wait to see the door panels!  Please post pics of the process, if you have them.

[hemi-hampton]

How are the gaps & fit of the new AMD Metal? Good or not so good? LEON.

The driver quarter had lots of stamping imperfections, wavy body lines and poor fitment along the rocker pinch weld. I Had to add 1/4 " of metal to the quarter to close the gap between the pinch welded and the quarter flange. also the contour of the new quarter was not the same as the original door. to fix the problem I had to use a shrinking and stretching tool along the door jam flange. Another problem with the quarter is with the door closed and flush with the quarter, The inner edge of quarter (along the side glass) is short of the door edge .I think this is going to cause the belt moulding to be misaligned

Passenger quarter has the same stamping imperfections and wavy body lines, but the main problem was the rear window flange. it was 3/8" to short to meet up with the pinch weld flange this was fixed by adding metal to the sail panel  

Passenger door, other then the door being slightly longer causing the gaps to be tighter, and the door scallops being longer then original, other then that they're great reproductions (so far)

The fender are also nice pieces  ,but will require some touching up to Match the gap at the top meeting the door

OK, THANKS. LEON.

[6spd68]

Awesome job so far!  We'll have to go cruising once both our cars are done  ...  I messaged you re: the old dash pieces, and I'd probably take any other good interior pieces you don't need if the price is right 

[greenpigs]

Good stuff

[moparnation74]

Man you don't play around.....Great work!