6 years of storage, and it still runs

[Lord Warlock]

The old charger has been languishing in storage in the backyard garage for the last 6 years (in Florida) the last time it ran was when i backed it into the new structure six years ago, well the next door neighbor who also is into cars chided me into seeing if it would start as he'd never seen it actually run the entire time he'd lived next door, so we disconnected the fuel line to the pump and stuck it in a 5 gallon gas container, hooked up a battery, and filled it with water, then it proceeded to leak water and antifreeze all over the garage floor, so i spent a half hour removing the thermostat housing and the stat, resealed it and reconnected the hose, filled with water again, then proceeded to turn it over for about 15 minutes.  Lo and behold the old beast fired up and actually ran on its own for about 20 minutes before we shut it down to let it rest and let the garage air out.  Appears i have to fix a valve cover leak, probably from a broken stud in the head. 

Its always gratifying to hear the old 440 turn over and start after  along period of storage.  I've been focusing on the body and paint for way too long, and finally getting to a point where I'll be finished with it soon, and have started to pull out the chrome trim and decide what i need to replace and what i can save, the LH mirror and door handles have to go, but the RH mirror and vinyl roof trim will stay, as will the wheelwell trim and side moulding along the bottom of the doors.  There are alot of small pieces i still have dig out, clean and repaint prior to reinstalling, but at least we are starting to see some progress after way too long of seeing it sit neglected. 

Mechanically the motor is sound,  but once the body is done, i plan on taking the motor down to the shortblock, and cleaning and repainting all the engine pieces for a clean looking engine bay.  It may work, but it looks like a dusty mess for now, luckily I know it is all here, somewhere.  Time and effort will go a long way, but really think the money thing will be required to remedy the suspension, brakes, fuel lines, fuel tank  etc.  The grille went back in a couple weeks ago,  i expect to see it start looking like its old self soon. 

[TK73]

Mustard felt good!!

[charge69]

Nice that it got to run after a 6 year sleep. Keep at it (the restoration) and thanks for the story !

[nvrbdn]

great. its alive....... now wheres the pic?

[Ghoste]

Good feeling isn't it, you have to admire the old tech and its reliability.  Any chance your valve cover leak is just a dried out valve cover gasket?

[tan top]

 hey man  been wondering how your charger was going

 good feeling , when you hear the ole 440 come to life  

i remember we spoke about tan tops  good few years back  ,  thought this would be of interest , they repop them now , still got black on my though !!  

http://www.legendaryautointeriors.com/page/131/boar-grain-vinyl-tops.aspx

[bakerhillpins]

 

I bet it felt good to get that thing started up.    I suspect it felt a lot like when I started mine up this spring after putting it away for the winter with only 2 months of drive time on her.

[Lord Warlock]

i'm pretty sure the cause for the leak is a broken off valve cover screw, that snapped off in the head right side, lower rear, I may be able to seal it with silicon and a new gasket, but have to get the old screw out of the head first and that is gonna be a fun trick,  I'd prefer to pull the head and take it to a machine shop but don't look forward to trying to get the factory exhaust manifolds off, they were hard enough to bolt on when i swapped the shortblock a couple decades ago. 

I bought a new tan top for the car probably 8 years ago,  its ready to go on the car, as soon as i finish the right front fender (rebuilding the body line atop the wheel opening) and repaint it, the top will be the next thing to get done, mainly so i can have the glass put back in. 

I'll try to get a few pics to add into the thread in the next couple days.  Any progress is good progress, and at least we're moving forward finally. 

[Ghoste]

i'm pretty sure the cause for the leak is a broken off valve cover screw, that snapped off in the head right side, lower rear, I may be able to seal it with silicon and a new gasket, but have to get the old screw out of the head first and that is gonna be a fun trick,  I'd prefer to pull the head and take it to a machine shop but don't look forward to trying to get the factory exhaust manifolds off, they were hard enough to bolt on when i swapped the shortblock a couple decades ago. 

Yes of course, that does make sense.  When I first read it I wasn't thinking about the valve cover studs.

[Lord Warlock]

digging through old smelly boxes of bolts trying to figure out pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,  found what i think is the grill/hood latch and release handle tonite, strangely it looks very similar to the trunk latch, not sure how the two connect to each other though, probably a long rod, but i did figure out how the handle that goes through the grill itself attaches, this is kind of fun figuring things out (think i may plastidip the handle itself before installing it, just for looks) .  Wish I had done a lot better job of labelling pieces though,  i have several baggies with screws labelled for trim, but looks like alot of it will be hunt and find.  May have to go to a car show or two to figure out how they go together, don't want to put the latch on till i know exactly how to undo it or else the hood would be shut long term...lol.  

I do think i have a replacement valve cover gasket hanging on a wall somewhere, and an extra valve cover (and an extra head)

[Cooter]

Good to hear! Course, if it'd been mine sitting for that long, it woulda surely locked up, or blown a rod through the block. 

[hemi68charger]

That's great.....   

[Lord Warlock]

surprisingly, the 440 has endured several long stints in storage without getting started or run.  Its first storage while i went away for my first year in college, we had it running in its storage garage, and just poured oil slowly down the carburator until it started chugging and coughing and finally quit,  that lubed the car as well as protected things for a year, sadly the original 440 didn't survive long after it was pulled out of storage a year later, it died on a trip to an oil rig job, due to a piece of teflon from the timing gear that worked its way into the oil pump and snapped the shaft off.  It then got a 383 for a year or two, until i bought another parts car green charger r/t that danced with a telephone pole and lost, I swapped the motor and tranny (only 69k original miles) and it still has that motor today.  It sat for 10 years under a temporary tent garage in the same backyard and started on the first try with only a fresh battery, new plugs and clean points.  I never thought it would sit this long after i built the garage to house it.

Scoured the garage to find a new set of SE emblems I'd stored, took about 5 hours but finally found them, still in the box from year one.  So it looks like i'll be ready when the vinyl top goes back on. 

unfortunately, i'll have to get the old stealth r/t started (also down for 3 years) just so i can move the charger out of the backyard once i finally get it to run again.  I'll have to take it to a shop to have the brakes redone (need new rotors for front, and contemplating a disc conversion in the rear) or may just have the Aspen disc kit put on up front as i have the rotors and calipers, and lines for that still in boxes from back when i thought that was the only option, as i couldn't find anyone to rebuild the original calipers anymore.  (have a new set of original calipers now, but the lines are gone)

[Lord Warlock]

one step forward two steps back,  realized today that the paint was a little thick on the door jamb and it cracked when i opened to the door,  now i have to rework the front edge of the door and the rear edge of the fender again and repaint it again.  Shame too, since the paint on the door was great, front fender was iffy but was close to getting done. 

[Dino]

one step forward two steps back,  realized today that the paint was a little thick on the door jamb and it cracked when i opened to the door,  now i have to rework the front edge of the door and the rear edge of the fender again and repaint it again.  Shame too, since the paint on the door was great, front fender was iffy but was close to getting done. 

You win some, you lose some.  It looks like you're doing more winning though.  The fender had to be painted so not too much of a disaster that the door needs paint as well.  If it's a metallic it's even mandatory.

It'll be running and leaving tire marks in your area before long.   

[Lord Warlock]

Door and Fender repaint is completed, and has survived the wetsand and compound stage of buffing without cutting through any spots, actually looks pretty good now with a little shine to it and no orange peel in the surface. 

I had the tan vinyl top installed by a friend who has done them for 30 years, it looks awesome, yesterday i put the chrome trim back on around the top to give it a finished look, now if i can only find a few more speed nuts for the arrow pieces and rear quarter chrome and bolt them down tight.  The hardware store didn't have any when i looked for them yesterday, although i did find 3 in a baggie  i'd set aside.  Was a bit disappointed today when i tried to install the repro SE emblems, turns out the post for the speed nut isn't long enough to get the speed nut on it from the inside, will have to figure out another solution. 

Still waiting for a set of door handles I ordered over a week ago, and haven't gotten yet. 

I have a few pictures of the top going on, I'll have to load them from the laptop since that is where i download them from the camera. 

Buffing the trunklid and rear fenders today to prepare for the stripe reinstall.  Will have to readjust the lid slightly before i put the stripe on, has to be done before the stripe or it won't line up properly,  now that the arrow chrome from the top is in place i know how far back i'll have to adjust the lid so it clears the chrome. 

also, need a clip that holds the door lock in place from the inside of the door, have one from the other side, but can't find one of them.

[tan top]

   looking forward to seeing pictures 

[Lord Warlock]

I had to upload the pics to photobucket as they were too large to attach otherwise.
first a pic of the installer in progress

finished, but blurred from drivers side

[Lord Warlock]

Now i have to get some pieces rechromed, buy some trim clips for the rear glass, install the mirrors and wheelwell trim, and install the bumpers (both of which need rechroming) and then i can start focusing on the drivetrain and suspension.  Brakes are the foremost concern suspension wise, will need to re-do both front discs, then determine whether to keep the rear drums, or convert them to discs, buy a new fuel and transmission lines from rear to front, then pull the heads and remove the front accessories to have them all redone prior to getting it on the road again,  but at least its progress, and the long haul on the body and paint is finally done.

[Indygenerallee]

Wow that is a unusual color combo!!! I like it!!!! 

[Lord Warlock]

that's the reason why I've held on to it all these years.  I've never seen another like it, although there are a couple on this site with similars, its always been unique, and the top keys off of the interior while the black stripe is a strong contrast to the pale y3 yellow.  The v21 hood treatment is the only non stock addition to what it was when i bought it in 78, I figured if I had ordered it myself, I would have ordered that option too, even if it wasn't actually available until later in the year.  I do remember suffering serious glare off the hood when it was driven daily back in the day, the black should help with that.

The upper interior trim above the door panels was always a different shade than the door panels, i'm currently trying to pick out the right brown shade that is darker than the seats and door panels, but not too dark, haven't found the right color yet though.  I figure i ought to get all of that done eventually. 

today i had another boo boo on the trunklid, buffed through the top coat while taking off compound.  right now its a small spot, too small to shoot with the standard paint gun,  unfortunately, the stripe won't cover the spot or i'd just cover it up with the stripe.  Knew I should have stuck with the foam pad instead of the wool, just thought i had more coverage in the valley in front of the rear trunklid lip.  Oh well, I have the paint to fix it, just really thought i was finished painting finally. 

[elacruze]

What part of FL are you in? I'm an hour north of Palm Beach.

NM, I see JAX.

[Lord Warlock]

south part of Jax, near 295

[hemi68charger]

What part of FL are you in? I'm an hour north of Palm Beach.

NM, I see JAX.

Palm Beach, my neck of the woods growing up....  

[hemi68charger]

   Very attractive combination.......

[Lord Warlock]

door handles arrived today, nice shiny new chrome.  Buttons are chrome though, where my originals were black, i'll have to see if i can transplant the buttons from the old to the new before installing.  They'll need repainting black for sure.

Also have a new antenna bezel kit on the way, i managed to lose a couple parts from mine so had to order a new one.

Polish on the front fender and door came out great, no issues with them at least.  Now i get to put on the show wax and see if that does anything. Wish the trunklid wasn't an issue, but hey life isn't always cherries.

[JB400]

Just gotta luv new chrome.  Swapping buttons is a breeze.

[Indygenerallee]

Leave your buttons black, mine are black on my 69.

[Lord Warlock]

from what i understand, early production 69's were black, and mid year they switched to chrome.  Since mine is a very early production 69, it makes sense to have black buttons.  Same thing applies to the seats without headrests, the headrest wasn't standard till mid year.  I prefer headrests but mine didn't have them so i didn't add them.  My build date is 9-04-68.

I just swapped one of the buttons, the drivers side was a bit scratched up for some reason, so i sanded it a little, and painted it with plastidip, we'll have to see how it comes out tomorrow.  Door handles and passenger side mirror will go back on tomorrow, door locks will have to wait, i may have to order new ones as the chrome surround isn't in good shape on either.  Found some online for 12.00, only need the pressure clip for one of them, but will likely get completely new ones.  Only hate to do so since the current locks and ignition key are the same.

I'm gonna have to get a job soon so i can afford to buy all the parts the car needs, have an interview thursday so we'll see, got past the phone screen, now I have the face to face with the major players.

[Dino]

from what i understand, early production 69's were black, and mid year they switched to chrome.  Since mine is a very early production 69, it makes sense to have black buttons.  Same thing applies to the seats without headrests, the headrest wasn't standard till mid year.  I prefer headrests but mine didn't have them so i didn't add them.  My build date is 9-04-68.

I just swapped one of the buttons, the drivers side was a bit scratched up for some reason, so i sanded it a little, and painted it with plastidip, we'll have to see how it comes out tomorrow.  Door handles and passenger side mirror will go back on tomorrow, door locks will have to wait, i may have to order new ones as the chrome surround isn't in good shape on either.  Found some online for 12.00, only need the pressure clip for one of them, but will likely get completely new ones.  Only hate to do so since the current locks and ignition key are the same.

I'm gonna have to get a job soon so i can afford to buy all the parts the car needs, have an interview thursday so we'll see, got past the phone screen, now I have the face to face with the major players.

Have a locksmith take care of the locks.  They can either fix the old or make the new work with your old key.

I'm on dialup this morning so can't see any pics.  Since you have such an early build, do you have the short bumperettes on your car?

[Lord Warlock]

what is the difference in bumperette size? I have bumperettes in front and back, the front only go up to the bottom half of the bumper and i believe attach under the valence to the support bar (the bumpers are currently off car).  I'd have to see the difference to tell one way or the other.

based on a search after you asked, it appears i have the small ones, and since they are the only ones i'd ever paid attention to, i'd have to say i prefer the small ones over the large.  

With the early build date, I've always thought that this was one of the first few RT SE's to roll off the line, and its loaded with options (vinyl top batch was aug 68 still have a few pieces of the original).  It only seems to be lacking the electric windows, defroster, and sunroof.  The fender tag is one code short of being a full tag.  I'll need to have a new tag built though, mine rusted through and came off in two pieces.  Its in a baggie in the file cabinet with the build sheet.

[Dino]

what is the difference in bumperette size? I have bumperettes in front and back, the front only go up to the bottom half of the bumper and i believe attach under the valence to the support bar (the bumpers are currently off car).  I'd have to see the difference to tell one way or the other.

based on a search after you asked, it appears i have the small ones, and since they are the only ones i'd ever paid attention to, i'd have to say i prefer the small ones over the large. 

I agree, I prefer the shorties myself although mine has the longer ones.  I'll get a nice set one day to replace them.

[Lord Warlock]

passenger side door handle and mirror went back on today, i'm now cleaning off the wheelwell trim for the right side, then i have to go pick up some new screws as mine are all dispersed somewhere in the netherworld.

[tan top]

I had to upload the pics to photobucket as they were too large to attach otherwise.
first a pic of the installer in progress

finished, but blurred from drivers side

      nice

  tantop looks real good      

[Lord Warlock]

regretfully, it is coated with dust from sitting in the garage on top of the car waiting till now, I need to wash it off and make it pretty again.  The clean areas really look nice and bring back some good memories.  Car looks even better with door handles and mirrors installed, one wheelwell trim is on as well, have to clean off the other two pieces that are off the car, then remove the right rear piece that was never removed, just slipped inside the wheelwell during paint, (couldn't get the bottom screws off without removing the wheels, and was too lazy to do that).

re: door handle buttons, since the new ones were chrome, i painted those with black plastidip over the chrome, and installed those instead of the original buttons which were scratched up even with the plastidip coating the new ones looked better. 

Thanks for the compliment, appreciate it.

Are the trim clips for windshield and rear window different sizes? I'm missing 5 in the rear and one in the front.  suppose i could get a whole set and replace them all just because its easier now.

[Lord Warlock]

antenna went on last night, with a new chrome bezel kit, of course once i put it on, the missing original part magically showed up in the toolbox in plain view.  Also put the wheelwell trim back on today, still have a few screws to get in, but all but one are in place again after a long hiatus.  I have to remove the rear passenger wheel to get the last one off, so i can clean the overspray off then reinstall it.  It looks more complete today than it has in over 20 years. 

[PtitRaisin]

Indeed, the color combo is not common.

[Lord Warlock]

funny how your avatar pic shows what i worked on today.  removed the two endcaps for the rear end, dropped one and chipped the paint (actually it fell off when i unbolted it from the inside of the trunk and couldn't catch it quick enough), then repainted the black surround around the tail light area. Looked pretty nice until i found i painted over a cobweb under the r/t badge area, will have to sand that out and recoat the spot, should be an easy fix.   Also redid the black bar under the grill that fits above the bumper.  

Luckily the endcap should be an easy fix since it isn't attached.  I'll have to rechrome the tailight chrome trim pieces, including the pieces on each side, it is all heavily pitted.  I'm thinking of having quite a few original pieces rechromed like the original door handles and mirrors.  the originals feel thicker than the replacements, and have a flat edge whereas the replacements don't.  Really depends on what it will cost to have the rechroming done.  The bumpers need it most.  

[Lord Warlock]

This weekend i decided to try and repair the dashboard cracks and re-color the upper door pads in the interior that have long since faded.  I went out and purchased a vinyl repair kit, and proceeded to fill the dash cracks.  I got 80% of the crack filled in, there are still portions near the lower front edge that i'll need to fill and color, and will continue to work on those.  The kit did not include the vinyl filler as the instructions described.  at this stage i've filled and lightly sanded off the excess on the dash pad to prepare it for painting/dyeing.  When i finish all the filling and smoothing, i'll recoat it with bluebird brown to match the rest of the interior.  Lower kick panels and windshield frame covers were originally very close to bluebird brown, i test sprayed the SEM on the reverse side and it was a perfect match

I also decided to re color the upper door pads for the front and rear seats.  Originally they were always a different color than the door panels, not really darker but a different shade of tan or light brown, they always looked like they had a little light green in them somewhere but  that was probably just the fading from the sun hitting them when it was parked outside early in its life.  I decided I would match the upper door pads with the dash pad and glovebox, dash pieces which was a darker brown color.  I purchased two cans of SEM Bluebird Brown, and proceeded to color the upper pads with the new color.  They definitely look a bit different now than they used to.  I recoated the dash pieces with bluebird brown, repainted the horn cap and steering column and also did the upper door pads.  Have to say I like the new look, the two tone is a bit more dramatic than it used to be but the colors now reflect the darker and lighter parts of the vinyl top  on the doors.  I have new Legendary saddle tan door panels in the front, and they were not quite the same color as the originals but close enough.  

I also took out the goof off and cleaned off the overspray from the paint job off the dash gauges and woodgrain panel.  I was happy to see that this came off easily, i was worried i'd have to use paint thinner which could screw up things if it reacted wrong.  Now i just have to do the same with the steering wheel.  Anyone know what color the spokes of the woodgrain steering wheel should be?  silver or argent? I've got some leftover grill paint i could probably use on these but not sure its the right color, i know they weren't polished or chrome.  I'll also have to recoat the shift handle for the column mount trans shifter and turn signal rod.  I'm still trying out chrome paint for the armrest bezels, not that happy with the results, it looks like paint rather than chrome, so i'll probably have to buy new bezels.  

I'll get some pictures of the new upper door pads in the next couple days.  The upper pads both had some issues to deal with, one had a puncture hole right in the arrow indent, couldn't fix that to my satisfaction yet (shot it with a bb pistol when in college)and both had tears right below the area where the vent window latch would be once installed.  I was able to glue down the edges and make them less noticable.  drivers side also looks like the vinyl was lifting along the edge of the vent window area, eventually i'll probably have to replace them, but the cost of doing so now is a bit prohibitive so i'm making do with what i have. 

[Lord Warlock]

Dash pad is mostly done now, still need to lightly sand it and recoat one more time with the brown paint.  fixed all the cracks though, only the creases under the vinyl now show where someone probably pushed on the passenger side above the glovebox with feet or something else.  I'll probably replace it one day, but for now it will do.  It looks alot better than it did.  

Front bumper went back on last weekend, it'll need to be polished quite a bit but it did go back on.  We found that the nuts inside the frame rails would pop loose or slip a thread if tightened completely, but it is more than snug enough to hold the bumper securely in position.  The rear bumper will likely be installed soon. 

I installed the vinyl stripe that i've had sitting in the garage for a long long time.  Not completely happy with the results, the sides went on just fine and look great at the current time, but the trunk piece had a lot of small bumps under the stripe, not air bubbles as i got almost all of those out, but it looks like i didn't get the surface as clean as i should have before putting that particular piece on, i will likely get a new stripe in the future and put that on at a later date,  this time i won't wait nearly as long between buying it and installing it.  Peeling the backing off in one piece was problematic, one of the side pieces had small remnants that i couldn't get off without scratching the stripe from the underside, but when installed doesn't appear to be noticable.  For the current time though, the car looks so much better with an RT stripe on the back again, its been a long time its lived without it. 

Today I installed a new battery tray, including the support legs.  I'm sure the bolts holding it in place are not the exact size as the originals, the support bolts are, but had to guess with the tray.  I also installed about 5 of the missing trim clips around the back window, I still have 3 more to install, but the drill bit managed to break itself, so i'll have to go get a couple more drill bits.  The butyl tape kit i bought was missing one of the window support blocks, it only had one in the box, not sure it was the right kit anyway, it was a round cord of butyl, not flat like the originals were.  22 bucks wasted.

I got a new hood blinker hardware kit that i'll need to install as well, as soon as i clean up the housings, those will go in.  Initial contact with the new wiring for the bulbs I've encountered some issues with the bulb not fitting into the original turn signal housing, the old ones fit fine the new ones don't without some grinding to make the opening larger.  A little progress made every week, and its that much closer to completion.  Maybe one day.