68 Dodge Charger Paint And Body On The Cheap (DIY)

[RIDGERACER383]

Hey guys.Been here for a little while but never posted anything.I've got a 68 charger i've had since 93 and had a $600 body work job and primer sealed in 95.Its sat outside its whole life and I took care of any rust issues with the car as they popped up.

Anyhow,being very low on money I basically wanted to get paint on the car as cheap as possible to protect it better.I first needed to take care of the lower quarters which were repaired with bondo in 95 and cracking out.I took out the bad filler and put in new.





I could have kept working these quarters to perfection but the cold weather was coming in quick and I had no car tent yet.

I tore off my fenders to put new paint and undercoating on the inside of them.




Pretty nasty underneath there but solid.

Heres the car after the the quarter work and scuffed up for paint.



Heres the fenders ready for paint and scuffed up.




For the paint I went out a bought tractor paint from tractor supply for $35 a gallon and there reducer.For the hardener which they were out of,was pretty expensive. MSA-575 it was about $60 a can.I already had a paint gun here that was old and had a dripping issue.I cleaned it up the best I could hoping it would work.I've never used a paint gun in my life,only rattle cans so this was all new to me.

So I hauled my old eagle vision to the salvage yard to help pay for a car tent by shelter logic.Got $360 for the car and the tent was $400 not too bad.With a place to paint I started taping and painted the jams.




That old gun was still dripping too bad so I had to go buy a new gun from tractor supply.Its gravity fed and was marked down from $99 to $60 great deal.

I put about 4 coats on the door jams then tackled the body.I was pretty nervous because i'm just throwing myself into doing this and learning as I go.

Heres first coat.





It got late on me during first coat so the next day early morning I wet sanded the car so I could shoot paint again.I have no pics for the 4 to 5 coats I laid on it but the second coat ran off the car like water because the weather changed quick.I used the tape method to get rid of as many runs as I could.I got the drivers side.It dried on me.After that I ran our heater in there and kept it between 95-100 degrees to paint.Took care of the running issue real quick and turned my flash time into about 7-10 minutes.

Heres after I painted it out in the sun light.




That white will blind you its so bright.

Heres the fenders and valance I did last.Did these about 3 weeks after the car.




For the hood I wanted to do flat black.Got the paint at NAPA for $35 a gallon.Its ready to paint right out of the can.No thinner or hardener.



Just the past few days I started putting it all back together and I think I did OK for my first time doing paint.It has some runs but not too visible with the white paint.

Heres the assembly.




I messed up and put the valance on first.The bumper goes first,but not bad to redo it.

And heres where I am now.



I'll post more as I go.

[Dans 68]

Welcome to the site! Nice looking job. 

Dan

[RIDGERACER383]

Thanks alot.I still have the rear panel around the tail lights to do and engine bay.

[RIDGERACER383]

This weekend I think I'm going to go ahead and paint the flat black around the tail lights.then I can dig my other pair of tail lights out and get them installed.last will be all the chrome around the tail lights and emblems.I think it's going to look good with the flat black in the rear.

[tan top]

welcome    ,  looks good in white  !!   don't see  that many in white  , 

[RIDGERACER383]

Thax....not too many in white at all and even less with flat black hood.The rims are stock steel rims painted black and i'm putting my baby moons on with the red mopar symbol on the middle.I also have a set of crager S/S i'm going to redo for them too.

[nvrbdn]

  keep up the work.

[Finn]

Cool! Where's your car at mechanically??

[RIDGERACER383]

The engine is a 383 and the tranns is 727 TF completely rebuilt with only hours on it.I have the third member 3.55 gears out of a 78 dodge truck in it.And the front end is rebuilt.The only thing I have to do is put tires on it and find a brake line leak....thats it.

[nvrbdn]

up and running soon. thats good. get that thing cruising

[BigBlockSam]

 

[NHCharger]

Very nice. your way ahead of me on my 68 project.

[69DodgeCharger]

My buddy frequently paints cars in solid colors with Rustoleum and then clear coats them and they look great for around $200. Most people think they were painted in a regular body shop.

[nvrbdn]

they had a car in car craft that they painted with a roller. after they let it set up, they sanded and buffed it out and it actually looked good. they were showing how to do body and paint for cheap. there is a bit of sanding though.

[Darkman]

Great effort 

A lot of body shops will use the fly screen and bondo repair jobs (instead of replacement metal) and it works just fine. If you are not that precious and want a daily driver, not a trailer queen, then this will buy you another 5 to 10 years of body life (providing it is done correctly)

[b5blue]

Inspiring! 

[RIDGERACER383]

I want to have it drivable while I can afford to get body parts for it.Luckily I only need lower quarters and probably a trunk pan which is solid but pitted in a few places.I got some small places to fix which i'm going to do with 14 gauge after I teach myself to weld on my 1977 power wagon 4x4.We got a Century 100 mig welder for $50 from our neighbor which should work for all my car needs.The first thing I really want to fix is some rusted through spots on my sub frame in the rear and where the tranny cross member is.Hopefully that will only be a patch job.Also later on I want to remove all that nasty under coating thats caked under the car.

[superbirdtom]

I want to have it drivable while I can afford to get body parts for it.Luckily I only need lower quarters and probably a trunk pan which is solid but pitted in a few places.I got some small places to fix which i'm going to do with 14 gauge after I teach myself to weld on my 1977 power wagon 4x4.We got a Century 100 mig welder for $50 from our neighbor which should work for all my car needs.The first thing I really want to fix is some rusted through spots on my sub frame in the rear and where the tranny cross member is.Hopefully that will only be a patch job.Also later on I want to remove all that nasty under coating thats caked under the car.

              IF YOU GET THE LOWER PATCH PANELS  JUST CUT OUT OLD ROTTED ONERS AND GLUE IN THE NEW ONES  USE SOME SELF TAPPING SCREWS TO SCREW IT INTO PLACE THEN WHEN DRY  JUST FIX SCREW HOLES WITH SAME GLUE, IT WILL LAST FOR YEARS. NO WELDING  GRINDING AND THE PART IS SEALED FROM THE MOISTURE BEHIND.   DONE IT  A MILION TIMES   FOR CAB CORNERS ON TRUCKS  ROCKERS  DOOR SKIN BOTTOMS ETC.

[RIDGERACER383]

That's not a bad idea glueing it.but I plan on not overlapping my panels but butting them together to avoid any places for moisture to hide.

[superbirdtom]

thats the beauty of autobody glue. what you do is underlap the piece and put liberal amount of glue coating the edge so when the 1/4 inch underlap is in place theirs glue on the inside thus forever sealing the seam from moisture. if you butt weld it then you have to get down to where the welded seam on the interior is and coat with loads of undercoating that not always gets to all mated surfaces. with glue theirs no chance of missing this,  I have seen welded panels after a ong time start to explode with bubble cause of tiny pinholes that are missed then theirs wire and slag mess too .

         Trust me we glue on roofs all the time. we had a ford truck roll over and cut out old roof panel. I prepped the new panel by getting the inner edges down to bare metal with a scotchbrite wheel the prepped the cab.  then I actually painted the roof in the booth. so all the painting is done then we put the glue on the roof area and put foam back where it was . and laid the roof panel down. and clamped it into place and some screws too.  , we put one tack weld on each corner per i car. and then let dry overnite . and puled all the vise grips and clamps then snapped the trim piece back on.   job done.   now If we welded the roof  what a mess and all the covering of interior with fire blankets all the glass etc etc.  its the way to go nowadays in a lot of applications.   were going to document the charger resto where it gets full roof  both full quarters. trunk floor and  factory door skins.    putting on door skins with a roller and glue is da bomb.  no distortion with this method.

              Don't be afraid of  glue  , the guns are now very inexpensive.   you 'll never have a comeback from inside moisture creep.     good luck

[RIDGERACER383]

Thanks...i'll keep that in mind.

[RIDGERACER383]

I was going to paint around my tail lights,but I can't find my chrome trim that goes around the tail lights.I have the long pieces.I have them somewhere in my over packed garage so that will be fun.

[HOTROD]

   At least you are doing some thing ,I am just sitting on my ass !!

[lexxman]

The car is looking goodyou'll be driving in no time. I have to put some patch's on my truck,I'm going to try gluing them on.

[superbirdtom]

its very fast and easy . let us know how you like it . just need to secure it good with clamps  vise grips etc while its drying over night. and the job will last a very long time.