'69 Charger Build - It moves!

[chaos52]

By the way, thank you all for the kind words and encouragement.

Wow! You are really in there gettin' busy! Love to see this type resto work. Making all those little patches is time consuming isn't it? I still can't figure out why the aftermarket hasn't come up with a front/rear window channel pre-bent and formed for these type repairs yet.

yes, patching is VERY time consuming. It certainly would be nice if they made window channel patches. Maybe they don't because of the 3 layers of metal that come together right there?

I'm jealous of your beautiful grille...  

lol, thanks. I was (am) super excited to find one in such good shape. Problem is, I'm paranoid something is going to happen to it before I install it.  

[cdr]

you are doin great,lookin good

[tan top]

 looks good 

[grizparker]

lol, thanks. I was (am) super excited to find one in such good shape. Problem is, I'm paranoid something is going to happen to it before I install it.  

You don't think he would have another one like it for sale, do you?

[chaos52]

he has another one in even better shape, but it's not for sale. Sorry 

[Skyview69]

Nice work!  looks like it is shaping up nicely 

[lexxman]

That is look'en dam fine.

[chaos52]

Dad devoted his Friday off (the day before I left for college) to helping me work on the car. At that point the drivers quarter panel had arrived, but we both knew it wasn't wise to try getting that done in a day. Besides, there was no way I would have gotten the bondo work done and I preferred not to have that half-finished until christmas. So, we decided to work on finishing the engine compartment.

Dad had two sandblasters. One was a gravity fed unit and the other was a spray gun type. I tried the gravity unit, but it didn't work the best. Dad called another friend and was able to borrow his pressure tank sandblaster. That was the first time I had sandblasted anything. It certainly makes a mess, but dang, can't complain about how nicely it strips metal. I think I would have committed harakiri if I had been forced to grind or chemical strip the engine compartment and core support. I also started grinding welds from all the frame work we did, but there's still a lot more work to do there. We also stripped and primed the cowl and vent that day.

Well, that's the last of the summer work. My plan for Christmas break is to hang the drivers quarter panel. I usually don't get as much work done in the winter because the shop isn't fully insulated and heated yet. There's also always lots of events, gatherings, etc to go to. I think that's still a realistic goal however.

[chaos52]

 

[Mopar Nut]

Now, this is the stuff I would like to see on T.V. Kids working with their parents on real projects.

Nice work, keep the pictures coming.

[6pkrtse]

Now, this is the stuff I would like to see on T.V. Kids working with their parents on real projects.

Nice work, keep the pictures coming.

I agree & no 7 day due date to be at some show or auction somewhere.

[chaos52]

I agree & no 7 day due date to be at some show or auction somewhere.

The "shop drama" and due dates are what annoy me most. A friend of mine saw a car from one of those shows. It looked terrible. They just don't hold up when they're completed start to finish in a week.

[70chargerkrazy]

 i love to see the fab work on these biulds your doin a kicka$$ job keep it up and dont forget the pics 

[6pkrtse]

 These shows are never know where near done in 7 days. Most of us know that already. We have donated and/or sold many of the engines to these differerent shows, such as Overhaulin, Hot Rod TV & others. We ship them to them months in advance & they mock everything, fabricate everything needed or buy what they need to make it all work. Then the televised part is the final install being filmed.

[chaos52]

Well, I'm back from school for about a month. It sure feels good to be back in the shop. Here's progress from this afternoon.

[chargerman69]

glad see ur putting it back on the road some day and am picking up my 69 projeck next weeked

[ProDartGTS]

   You are doing an awesome job!    

[Charger-Bodie]

Looks pretty solid under there. Keep on it.

[XS29L9B2]

  great job man 

[PtitRaisin]

Amazing.

Good work man. 

[chaos52]

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement. Here's progress from over the holidays. This is my last week home, so I'm really pushing to get stuff done.

Once I got the drivers quarter cut off, I realized that would be an opportune time to work on the trunk floor. My original plan was to replace the rusty spots with regular sheet metal. I planned to buy a bead roller and make it look as factory as possible. Thankfully, before jumping into that, I started doing some price comparing on the replacement panels. I found them for under $100 per side from Sherman parts. It just wasn't worth the time fabricating patches when I could have a factory floor for $200, so I ordered them.

I had done a lot of fabricating and straightening on the passengers side of the trunk where the car was hit. At first I was reluctant to cut all that out of there and planned to seam the new panel on the inside of the passenger's frame rail. After getting a second opinion and thinking more, I realized I needed to spend the extra time and replace the entire floor. I also bought new bits for the spot weld drill, which made removing the other half a bit less infuriating. After the floor was out, I spent an afternoon wire brushing and cleaning mouse nests from inside the frame rails. Then came a coat of rust converter.

The new panels didn't have the factory edge to connect with the rear valance. I used a scrap from the (new) passengers quarter panel to fabricate a replacement piece. I was also reluctant to cut out the brace that the trunk latch bolts to. But, having it there made test-fitting the new floor and fabricating the new edge far too difficult. I took measurements and removed it.

[chaos52]

 

[bakerhillpins]

Wholly crap baskets barman*!!*  You have some crazy skills and motivation.  Great work. 

 

[chaos52]

Well, I'm back at school. I finished the trunk floor at about 12:30am on the day I left.  It went pretty well. The drivers side went in with absolutely no issues. I had some fitment problems on the passengers side because I fabricated the trunk extension 2 years ago during the quarter panel repairs. The inner edge wasn't perfectly straight it and pushed the panel around at a weird angle. I also had to cut the end of the trunk extension so it could be bent (vertically) to conform with the edge of the trunk floor. When I did the repairs on the extension 2 years ago, I assumed it was flat. Turns out that it curves upward toward the rear of the car. I guess it's all part of dealing with collision damage.

I also had to do some trimming on the center seam to get each side to connect together properly and had problems with getting the panel to fit flush against the framerail where it angles upward into the passenger compartment.

In other news, I picked up an almost-complete A/C dash. All that it's missing is the dash pad to the right of the column. it came with all the wiring, a complete cluster, all black bezels and the pads are in excellent condition. I don't have any pictures of it at the moment.

Another thing I forgot to write about over the summer, was the 4-speed I picked up. I found it on craigslist shortly before I went back to school. The owner said it came from a '69 383 Roadrunner with about 80,000 miles on it. He included a big block bell housing, flywheel, shifter and the original tailshaft. The shifter is a hurst converted into some sort of racing deal-definitely not what I want. I haven't looked that closely, but I might be able to shorten the linkages to make it work as an interm solution.

[chaos52]