What have you done with your Charger lately?

[Bob]

Martha is a real trooper, she crawls under there to tidy up all the wires.

That's definitely not you under there Bob 

[Ghoste]

Got the hood mounted turn signals working properly.

[JamieZ]

Got the hood mounted turn signals working properly.

Did you have any issues?  I had to run a ground wire to get mine to work.  Driver's side just wouldn't work reliably without one.

Disc Brake Swap/Front end rebuild has begun.   First to come off was the sway bar.  Did I need a complete front end kit?

Check out the sway bar bushing:


Or the end link:


Pretty much every rubber part looks like that and is as hard as a hockey puck.

Saturday I pulled off most of the driver side.  The lower ball joint put up a struggle, but pretty much everything came apart easier than I expected.  I'm waiting on a tool to pull the torsion bar to complete removing the lower.


I then went to work on the UCA.  I used the special socket on the ball joint and it came out very easy, in fact I found the threads coated in nice silver anti-sieze.  The bushings?  Not so much.  I still haven't gotten them out.   I tried using my vise and some sockets to push them out.....



So until the UPS man arrives with a new vise or torsion bar tool, my options are limited.  I can still pull the tie rod or paint the sway bar bits that need it.

Also does anyone know if the control arm access doors are repopped?  My driver's side is missing one (the one by the brake line).  I searched on eBay with no luck but I'm not sure of the official name.  I could make one I suppose.

[Ghoste]

I had to clean up the wiring and connectors, that was about it.

[terrible one]

Got the hood mounted turn signals working properly.

So until the UPS man arrives with a new vise or torsion bar tool, my options are limited.  I can still pull the tie rod or paint the sway bar bits that need it.

Also does anyone know if the control arm access doors are repopped?  My driver's side is missing one (the one by the brake line).  I searched on eBay with no luck but I'm not sure of the official name.  I could make one I suppose.

No need to wait on that torsion bar tool, you've got all the tension off of the front end. You can now unbolt the lower control arm shaft and strut rod nuts and use a pry bar to pry the lca back, this will push the torsion bar back enough for the hex end to come out of the rear crossmember and everything's out.  

[Paul G]

Yep, that's how I did it. Just remember to remove the retaining clip before pushing the t bar out.

[A383Wing]

working on getting the power windows all fixed in the black 66....replacing motors, fuzzies, broken & missing pieces, glass run channel, glass mounting rivets.....

I'm gonna really hate doing the rears....might get this all done this year..I hope

[Ghoste]

Thats awesome Bryan, power windows seem to be hardly ever seen in the fastbacks so that'll be cool.

[JamieZ]

The UCA is all back together, new bushing pressed in, ball joint attached.  I might give it a quick blast of chassis black just so it looks nicer.  Also my new vise showed up.  Never realized how much I used the old one until it broke.  Ain't that always the way?



As for the remaining parts, The tie rod came off pretty easily.  I've got the strut rod ready to come off....but the torsion bar tool is still MIA and the damn thing won't come out.  So I started doing a little cleaning.  I think the state of Michigan might show up looking to collect some property taxes:

I knocked a lot of dirt/clay off the bottom of the car.  Metal looks good once you get all the crap off.  Maybe it was just driven on a lot dirt roads?   Sure makes a mess.

Hopefully next week I'll get the LCA off then I can work on reassembly.

[BrianShaughnessy]

I dragged this 440 home from near Camden / Philly this afternoon in the back of E-boogers van... another journey that the details will remain secret until the statue of limitations has passed.    Low, low miles since rebuild.   Gonna go into Sinnamon in the next week or so.  Clean up some motor mounts and stuff.  Freshen up the paint, blah blah blah.

[Ghoste]

Drove it to see my cousin today even though I knew it was going to rain later.  Now many might say that's not a big deal but any of you that know me personally will understand what a big deal it was for me to purposely take the car out today knowing it was going to rain.  So only in my own mind, what I did to my Charger lately was to disrespect it.
But I had fun. 

[Back N Black]

Put 120 miles on her yesterday. 

[Charger-Bodie]

Got my green 69 apart, blasted and painted the engine compartment. Got the new rear springs installed, brake lines and I got all the other stuff blasted and painted black etc.

[Ghoste]

Put a new forward lamp harness in today and got the hood indicators working. 

[el dub]

Finally got front end all done. Also got my interior in except left upper door pad, thanks just dashes. Waiting for a map light from Jaak. Thanks Jason.Thanks to DC.com I am getting real close to finishing. lw

[comet_666]

Beautiful!
Love the green/white combo

[ChargedNJ]

This will sound like such insignificant progress to most of you, but for me this is monumental.  So i'm in the process of replacing my headers (which has proven to be extremely difficult to do).  But i got the old ones unbolted, plugs out, starter unbolted and centerlink out.  Not that im not mechanically inclined, but ive never gone any further than changing brakes on a car let alone disassemble steering components so im quite enamored with myself .  My mini starter was just ordered today so hopefully i can get everything back together by the weekend for a celebratory cruise!

[ChargedNJ]

Agreed.  Wow, the green on white looks so awesome!!  Well done.

[Dino]

This will sound like such insignificant progress to most of you, but for me this is monumental.  So i'm in the process of replacing my headers (which has proven to be extremely difficult to do).  But i got the old ones unbolted, plugs out, starter unbolted and centerlink out.  Not that im not mechanically inclined, but ive never gone any further than changing brakes on a car let alone disassemble steering components so im quite enamored with myself .  My mini starter was just ordered today so hopefully i can get everything back together by the weekend for a celebratory cruise!

Of all the things I've done to cars, having headers make it the worst.  It took me a while just to get my new wiring onto the starter thanks to the header.  I'd say you did just fine!   


Looking good el dub!   

[ChargedNJ]

Of all the things I've done to cars, having headers make it the worst.  It took me a while just to get my new wiring onto the starter thanks to the header.  I'd say you did just fine!   


Looking good el dub!   

Holy moly, i heard people say before whether or not headers are worth the headache and im thinking they are insane.  OMG, they are so right.  Its been a week now.  To this point, pulling the centerlink has been the worst part (im sure getting it back together will be the new "worst" part), but i can already see the starter wiring being problematic as getting wiring off has also been a pain.

[charger496]

   I am waiting on my driveshaft to be shortened for the new GearVendors that now lives snugly in my driveshaft tunnel. So far, the install has gone well. Yesterday was all the mechanical work, and that took about 5 hours. Today was all the electrical and ordering a few parts, like a new speedo cable. And installing a trans temp gauge, since I'm now living only on the aux trans cooler. Gotta get the engine temps down, and the trans never saw north of 140, even at the track. So if I get the shaft back in the am, and can relocate the 3" x pipe, I'll be on the road tomorrow afternoon! Fingers crossed for no (new) vibrations! Anybody installed one of these things and kept your X pipe? This could get real fun...

[nvrbdn]

well, i finally got it done, hate to say it took me longer than i wanted it to. having it tore down made me miss alans (41husk) car show at the granite city high school in granite city illinois. thought id make it this year and with the stomach flu last week put me behind. but today i got the front wheel bearings and seals in. and the new brake shoes on.so she will be ready for this weekends sunday show in woodriver il.

[71charger_fan]

Almost ready to go for paint (again).

[ChargedNJ]

Paint looks good!

[fy469rtse]

Jamie , I thought that first photo was out of the Godzilla film, and not a sway bar bush, lol