1972 Dodge Charger

[71383bee]

Just one step at a time.  You'll get there. 

Take my buddy for example.  At the beginning of 2009 he had a nice daily driver 72 satellite 318 car he upgraded and cruised around in.  By June he had bought a fairly complete 72 Charger Rallye and sold his satellite.  By the end of the year we had the car completely pulled apart and he had scored aTON of spare parts including a complete rebuilt k member and a complete 400 4bbl drivetrain from a 72 SE charger.  This year I think he is saving up to have the car dipped and prepped for body.

Here's a link to his gallery  http://gallery.me.com/gschmidt211#100047&sel=0

[72ChargerDodge]

I use to have a Olds 442, I had a fisher body manual and assembly manual and shop repair manual, does anyone know where to find these for a 72 charger?

[71383bee]

Get a factory service manual.  You can get a cd version for around 30 bucks or so or get an original from a vendor.  By far they are the most important items for these cars.  They are worth their weight in gold IMHO.

[Charger440RDN]

Looks solid, good luck with the restoration

[farmerjon]

nice car  I have been looking for one just like that 

check your clock for the battery drain  that is usually where mine is

there are some nice parts on e-bay sometimes as well  just watch close for price and shipping

[farmerjon]

Found a cool vin de-coder on the net. Heres what I found.

can you post a link to the vin de coder?  It would save me a lot of time looking them up in the tiny print

[71383bee]

Found a cool vin de-coder on the net. Heres what I found.

can you post a link to the vin de coder?  It would save me a lot of time looking them up in the tiny print

I use the one at stockmopar.com

http://www.stockmopar.com/mopar-fender-tag-decoder.php

[72ChargerDodge]

Heres the door panel and a better picture of the dash gauges.

[72ChargerDodge]

Anyone know what type of rear axle this is??? I have not seen one without bolts for a rear cover. How do you service it, from the front maybe?

[1972Rallye]

That's an 8 3/4 Rear... a pretty good unit if its in good working order.  It is serviced from the front... the "pig" holds all the bearings and gears and comes out easily.

[72ChargerDodge]

Any hints on how to check/change out the gear oil? I also have a broken motor mount on the drivers side. Any hints on how to replace it?

[CDN72SE]

Mike are you planning to do any work on the undercarriage, suspension etc.? I've got my car fully stripped of parts and am cleaning, replacing and re-painting parts bit by bit. I'm going to cut corners to keep the resto down by re-applying undercoat to the full underneath of the car and to the interior (Lizard Skin). I've seen others do it and it is something I can do myself. I figure if I don't get the underneath or interior painted I can save some dollars. My car is not too bad in the rust department.

[72ChargerDodge]

I am going to do about the same thing as you. Remove the undercarriage part by part one weekend at a time and clean up, repaint, and reinstall.

[CDN72SE]

I am going to do about the same thing as you. Remove the undercarriage part by part one weekend at a time and clean up, repaint, and reinstall.

I look forward to seeing your progress.
Here's my progess:
http://wichargerguy.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=6150&page=1#39698

Before shot.

[bakerhillpins]

I plan on restoring the interior back to blue.

Any hints on how to remove the black paint (its slowly removing itself) I would like a wild blue interior???

This might help you, at least for the dash and plastic bits..

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,65713.0.html

[oldrock]

nice looking project you have there. My son and I restored a 72 charger over the summer and it looked pretty similar to yours. My son's is a split bench rather than bucket but otherwise, very similar. We did a full writeup of his restoration if you want to see some pics of another 72. Took us about 3 months to get it drivable and now it is his daily driver to and from school. One thing though, your engine doesn't look like my son's stock 318. Sure that is the original in yours?


before pic


after Josh painted it himself (with a little help from Dad)


original 318 in Josh's car

[72ChargerDodge]

I am not sure if it is the original or not. The guy I bough it from told me that it was the original motor and he also told it had 340 heads was bored thirty over and had a bad@$$ cam. I don't know if anything he said is true. I haven't been able to get on it because of the broken motor mount.

[oldrock]

Looking at both pics side by side, it probably is the same motor. Just the different intake, valve covers and lack of ac that made it look different I guess. We really had fun restoring Josh's charger and he loves driving it. Be sure to post pics of your process.

[72ChargerDodge]

My son is only 6 but he has fun tinkering on the car with me. I had fun working on cars with my dad also. You sons car is looking pretty good. I bet he is having a lot of fun in it.

[71383bee]

I am not sure if it is the original or not. The guy I bough it from told me that it was the original motor and he also told it had 340 heads was bored thirty over and had a bad@$$ cam. I don't know if anything he said is true. I haven't been able to get on it because of the broken motor mount.

Wow does that SB look worked!.  You can't really tell from the outside too well if its a 318, 340, or 360.  Externally they look the same other than a few details.  this is assuming they all have 4 Bbls.  You need to look at the casting numbers on the side of the block or the id pad.  I can tell you that its pretty certain that the motor has been outta that car though...All engines in 72 were corporate Blue and yours looks red or possibly orange which are older motor colors.  There could be some truth to what the guy said to you. 

If that is truly a 340 or 360 then thank the good lord because those are VERY nice motor that respond well to mods (especially the 340). 

Also thank the heavens that you got the 8 3/4" rear.  That is nearly unheard of in a 318 car and is highly sought after.  They are BETTER that an ford 9" IMO and are excellent rear ends.  If it is truly a post 70 unit then it probably is a 489 chunk which is a very good unit too.   to change the fluid you have to pull out the axles and loosen the nuts that secure the pig and GENTLY pry it open to drain  (that thing is VERY heavy and if it falls on you or your body it WILL hurt). 

Or find a shop where you can put it on a lift.  Most repair shops should have a U shaped lube gun that can fill the casing.  There is a drain plug about 2/3 of the way up on the left side of the pig.  Take it out and you just pump in new lube and let the old stuff spill out into a catch can.  When the lube coming out looks clean or new then you have changed most of the old stuff out.  only fill to the bottom of the drain hole.  If the car is a sure grip then you need to add the friction supplement to the oil.       

[72ChargerDodge]

It sounds worked to  , its hard to make it drive slow  , it wants to go. It took some getting use to for sure. Its got great response, on wet pavement it wants to light the tires up (ya its got sure grip) . You have to take it very easy on the gas or you wont be going anywhere but into a cloud of smoke .

[71383bee]

It sounds worked to  , its hard to make it drive slow  , it wants to go. It took some getting use to for sure. Its got great response, on wet pavement it wants to light the tires up (ya its got sure grip) . You have to take it very easy on the gas or you wont be going anywhere but into a cloud of smoke .

then I am 99.9% certain that the motor was out because a stock 72 318 with just a 4 Bbl on it is not much of a performance motor.  If built well they can run well though.

Dude...Good score on that sure grip!

[ACUDANUT]

 You know it has a 73/74 front bumper and grill on it right ?

[72ChargerDodge]

the old bumper and grill got destroyed and the 73 bumper & grill were the only combo that could be found at the junkyard. I would like to put on a 72 grill and bumper with hideaway lights on the car in the future. I searched high and low for this car. I had to drive 340 miles to get it. I am stoked to have found it and I drove it the whole way home. I was really stoked when I got home and lit up the tires and found out that it had sure grip. I like to leave racing stripes on the pavement.

[mikesbbody]

You should be stoked it's a great car! nice score! and, it will only get better