1969 Charger R/T - Journey to get it back on the road begins

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Chris,
I've been doing some digging and found several different colors and coil lengths of the kickdown spring, so I don't think any one spring one is right or wrong.This car just happen to have what I feel is the original so I just cleaned and repainted it and went with it.

Throttle spring seems to run more towards the grey one like on this car. Both of them I  believed to be original springs were still intact , just the throttle spring was kinda rough.


As far as the neg cable clip, I'm going junkyard rummaging this morning to see if I can find one along with a correct drier bracket.

thanks Bill!   A reference pic if you need it for the drier bracket...

[gtx6970]

Thanks Chris,
I picked one up this morning off of a 1969 Coronet 500, best of all it was free and in halfway decent shape.

Already went thru the blasting cabinet,primered  and now in paint. It'll be on the car late afternoon tomorrow .

I didn't get much time on it today but did get the heat riser parts on it and just need to get it welded and then put the manifold on.
If no issues arise,  Engine - trans - K-frame assy will be in the car and back down on it's own 4 wheels  wednesday afternoon

[resq302]

 

[tan top]

  nice work Bill  keep the pictures coming 

[66FBCharger]

Looks great!

[gtx6970]

While I had help today,  In it went.

[gtx6970]

Like Prego, It's in there.
I still need to get the heat riser welded this weekend. And it's a good thing,, as going in from the bottom was kinda tight

[gtx6970]

Pass side.

[gtx6970]

Small detail, Original style KV marked fuel line with the original style keystone clamps.

[resq302]

Love the attention to detail Bill!

[bakerhillpins]

Sweet! 

Great work!

[gtx6970]

Well, I'm getting back to it this week. So I thought some updates are in order.
Exhaust manifold heat riser has been  rebuilt and is now functional. And the pass side manifold is now on the car( tight squeeze to get it in there btw )

[gtx6970]

Alternator has been rebuilt and is now on. And as an fyi, spacers and the upper bolt length are A/C car only and took a little creativity to install. But it's done and looks good. Also, stripped and repainted the A/C car only idler pulley and brackets as well as the fan blade , but not until AFTER I had stamps made to replicate ink stampings on the blade.

I have to give a big thumbs up to Todd Hoffman of Hoffmans Winners Circle. He GAVE me the hard to find idler pulley, the bracket, and spacer I needed.

[gtx6970]

Last one for this morning.
Fan shroud , radiator and all the heater hoses go in today. Steering box is back from Steer-N -Gear . So it'll get painted today and will be in the car this evening.
I picked up gas tank mounting straps at Indy this weekend. And the new 3/8" sending unit  showed up from Randy at Dixie Restoration parts a few days ago.
With a little luck. It'll be back down on it's own 4 legs and waiting on under hood wiring by weeks end.

[ChargerSG]

Looking good

[69 Bama R/T]

Unnnnnnnnbeeeeeeeelieeeeeeeevaaaaaaaable!

[resq302]

Bill, I see you got the correct over spray on the exhaust manifolds but you can tell you painted the orange on them off of the engine.  Dead give away is the mounting nut for it.  Are you going to somehow air brush the orange onto that area?

[gtx6970]

Are you going to somehow air brush the orange onto that area?

brian,
Yes due to heat riser parts hunt issues . the manifold  had to be installed after engine installation and will be touched up later. My goal was to give it a look as how it would have looked after it was running about a week, thus why the entire manifoild was/is not painted engine color.

Yesterday was a mess.
I came in yesterday afternoon all ready to put the radiator and shroud and heater hoses in and finish up the cooling ststem, only to find the paint on the radiator top tank wrinkled badly, it couldn't have been on the bottom tank out of view.  NOOOOOOO  , it had to be in plain sight where any and everyone could see and it stuck out like a sore thumb . I guess from a reaction with what it was on it and what I painted it with didn't like each other.  To say I was not happy is an understatement.
So,  later today it will be stripped all the way back down to bare metal and start from scratch. It's already taped up and this time it'll go in the glassbead cabinet.

[gtx6970]

While I think about it. a friend of mine stopped in late last weekand asked why I didn't  use either Mopar belts or the Quanta reproduction belts.


My reply was simple, Mopar discontinued all the belts to fit this car.
2nd I absolutley refuse to use the Quanta belts on anything, They might be ok for show poodle but if your actually going to start it, it's not a matter IF they squeel, but more a matter of how LOUD they squeel

So it got a set of quality gates belts so I don't have to worry about issues later on

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

While I think about it. a friend of mine stopped in late last weekand asked why I didn't  use either Mopar belts or the Quanta reproduction belts.


My reply was simple, Mopar discontinued all the belts to fit this car.
2nd I absolutley refuse to use the Quanta belts on anything, They might be ok for show poodle but if your actually going to start it, it's not a matter IF they squeel, but more a matter of how LOUD they squeel

So it got a set of quality gates belts so I don't have to worry about issues later on

Bill, I've had mine on since last season & so far I have about 400 miles on them with no problems....this included several WOT runs & highway driving.....no problems as of YET

I really had a hard time getting the alternator bolt & spacer set up correct as well.  Also went through 2 alternator pulleys because I didnt have the right puller to pull it off...finally bought the correct internal puller & pressed the correct pulley onto my in-correct alternator

[tan top]

nice work bill  looking good 

[resq302]

Are you going to somehow air brush the orange onto that area?

Yesterday was a mess.
I came in yesterday afternoon all ready to put the radiator and shroud and heater hoses in and finish up the cooling ststem, only to find the paint on the radiator top tank wrinkled badly, it couldn't have been on the bottom tank out of view.  NOOOOOOO  , it had to be in plain sight where any and everyone could see and it stuck out like a sore thumb . I guess from a reaction with what it was on it and what I painted it with didn't like each other.  To say I was not happy is an understatement.
So,  later today it will be stripped all the way back down to bare metal and start from scratch. It's already taped up and this time it'll go in the glassbead cabinet.

Bill, by any chance would this have been the Eastwood radiator paint?  I have had numerous problems with their radiator paint within the last two years with the same problem you describe. I ended up having to spray multiple very light coats, almost fogging it, and then once that was dry, go over it with one last medium coat to give it a nice smooth finish.

Also, Ive had my Quanta belts on for a couple years now.  After the intitial thrown belt from a wide open throttle blast, I ended up checking them before everytime I took the charger out due to them stretching.  They never squealed but always stretched a lot.  I ended up getting one size smaller just because I ran out of adjustment with the correct numbered ones.  So far, after they stretched out, I have not had to readjust them.

Good to know about the manifolds.  I knew you wouldn't leave it like that!

[bakerhillpins]

Bill

Any more progress on this one? Looking forward to seeing it all put together. 

[gtx6970]

Bill

Any more progress on this one? Looking forward to seeing it all put together.  

Brian,
I primered and painted over what ever paint was on it and it bit me in the butt. I use enamel from a HVLP gun whenever feasible. I just play with the flattening agent mixture to get what I feel is a good match on shine to as close as I can  to OE

Otherwise -
I'm waiting on underhood wiring to show up. and the ignition ( the original single point ) dist to comeback.
But,,,With exception to installing heater hoses and spraying the battery tray and braces, Underhood is essentially done.

I had to repair a broken mouting tab on the grille frame and when I started to media blast it, I quickly realized it might be time better spent to just drop it off and the strippers and dip it. So, I had the grille frame support dipped, stripped and power coated and I just picked up this past thursday afternoon.

Add in the fact I'm moving the shop less than 1/4 mile . An opportunity presented itself the end of Feb to move and save almost $600 a month on building lease costs. So this last week/10 days of March is down time to move.

[gtx6970]

With several pieces being in rather less than ideal condition.  I decided to have items for both the charger and the Road Runner replated.
All plating was done at Dynamic Renovation