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What have you done with your Charger lately?

Started by XS29L9Bxxxxxx, August 19, 2012, 10:51:52 AM

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Lord Warlock

Installed rear speakers from under the tray yesterday evening,  awaiting a few other stereo parts to arrive before i move on to running wires to the dash.  This morning I removed the trunklid from the car, the paint had issues I didn't like on that panel and when removing the stripe with a heat gun the top layer of paint stuck to the bottom of the stripe (getting it off was way harder than taking the original stripe off the car) so I decided to remove it and move it away from the car for repaint work, don't want to get overspray on the rest of the car as I'm pretty happy with the paint everywhere else. 

Get to install the door handle and lock rods this afternoon for the passenger door today, then pull the rear seat side panels off so the headliner guy can finish the work around the quarter glass and package tray areas.  Rear side panels look a bit rough along the bottom edge, that part doesn't show as it is below the area of the bottom seat cushion, but it has me wondering if i should go ahead and replace them.  Ordered two more cans of Organisol paint to re-do the v21 hood treatment, have to complete finish sanding and buffing the hood areas other than the v21 areas before i mask off the rest of the hood and paint the indentations. 
69 RT/SE Y3 cream yellow w/tan vinyl top and black r/t stripe. non matching 440/375, 3:23, Column shift auto w/buddy seat, tan interior, am/fm w/fr to back fade, Now wears 17" magnum 500 rims and Nitto tires. Fresh repaint, new interior, new wheels and tires.

NHCharger

Myk. I also installed the Firm Feel UCA's. Also added reinforcement plates on the bottom of the LCA's, and added a fat new sway bar as you can see. Still several weeks away from it's first test flight.
72 Charger- Base Model
68 Charger-R/T Clone
69 Charger Daytona clone
79 Lil Red Express - future money pit
88 Ramcharger 4x4- current money pit
55 Dodge Royal 2 door - wife's money pit
2014 RAM 2500HD Diesel

charger496

NHCharger, that's on a 2nd gen, right? Don't think it's one of your 3rd gens based on the sway bar bushing mounts. Did you weld the lower arm reinforcements on the car, or on the bench? I was thinking of attempting that. I'd have to keep the surrounding metal cool to keep from cooking the LCA bushings, which are newish. Probably gonna catch hell now for looking for an easy way to do it...

NHCharger

496- yes on my 68. I had the front end apart so it was easy to do. Welding upside down is always a lot more fun ;)
72 Charger- Base Model
68 Charger-R/T Clone
69 Charger Daytona clone
79 Lil Red Express - future money pit
88 Ramcharger 4x4- current money pit
55 Dodge Royal 2 door - wife's money pit
2014 RAM 2500HD Diesel

myk

Quote from: NHCharger on March 05, 2014, 04:42:44 PM
Myk. I also installed the Firm Feel UCA's. Also added reinforcement plates on the bottom of the LCA's, and added a fat new sway bar as you can see. Still several weeks away from it's first test flight.

I hope you test that stuff out before I plunk down my rent money for the Hotchkis UCA's; I'd love to hear how the FF units work out for you.

Meanwhile, today was a complete FAILURE for my car and I, as I wasn't able to mount my rear Hotchkis shocks.  If there's a technique to mounting those things I certainly don't have it... :brickwall:

twenty mike mike

Quote from: myk on March 05, 2014, 09:20:24 PM
Quote from: NHCharger on March 05, 2014, 04:42:44 PM
Myk. I also installed the Firm Feel UCA's. Also added reinforcement plates on the bottom of the LCA's, and added a fat new sway bar as you can see. Still several weeks away from it's first test flight.

I hope you test that stuff out before I plunk down my rent money for the Hotchkis UCA's; I'd love to hear how the FF units work out for you.

Meanwhile, today was a complete FAILURE for my car and I, as I wasn't able to mount my rear Hotchkis shocks.  If there's a technique to mounting those things I certainly don't have it... :brickwall:

Like this.  :icon_smile_big:

XS29L9Bxxxxxx

Checked my turn signals for operation, then drove the heck out of it for a few hours!!

Seriously, most fun I have had with a car in a LONG time!!  :2thumbs:

cdr

Pulled the rear end out,setting up 4.57 gear,trying to remove undercoating.

LINK TO MY STORY http://www.onallcylinders.com/2015/11/16/ride-shares-charlie-keel-battles-cancer-ms-to-build-brilliant-1968-dodge-charger/  
                                                                                           
68 Charger 512 cid,9.7to1,Hilborn EFI,Home ported 440 source heads,small hyd roller cam,COLD A/C ,,a518 trans,Dana 60 ,4.10 gear,10.93 et,4100lbs on street tires full exhaust daily driver
Charger55 by Charlie Keel, on Flickr

TripleBlackGator

I pushed it out of the way (On dollies) to get something stored next to it. Then I pushed it back.
Malicious, vindictive, spiteful, cynical, pessimistic, sarcastic, & antagonistic. And those are my good traits!

ottawamerc

Started installing my frame connectors in, not to bad of a job to do so far.








I found a little trick with the second one: Hold the connector in place and sand blast the weld joint along the entire edge, it saves ALOT of grinding and sanding :yesnod:

Next is to get it back on its suspension and weld the whole thing up.

The front and rear torque boxes look like they will be more work to fit :brickwall:

Scott :cheers:
This hobby is more than just our cars, it's the people you get to meet along the way!!!

myk

Quote from: twenty mike mike on March 05, 2014, 11:27:30 PM
Quote from: myk on March 05, 2014, 09:20:24 PM
Quote from: NHCharger on March 05, 2014, 04:42:44 PM
Myk. I also installed the Firm Feel UCA's. Also added reinforcement plates on the bottom of the LCA's, and added a fat new sway bar as you can see. Still several weeks away from it's first test flight.

I hope you test that stuff out before I plunk down my rent money for the Hotchkis UCA's; I'd love to hear how the FF units work out for you.

Meanwhile, today was a complete FAILURE for my car and I, as I wasn't able to mount my rear Hotchkis shocks.  If there's a technique to mounting those things I certainly don't have it... :brickwall:

Like this.  :icon_smile_big:

Top bolt/hole isn't a problem.  But, the bottom is another story.  Didn't matter how much grease or whatever I put on the shock mounting stud; that Hotchkis shock just did not want to go on.  I started hammering on it with a socket and a hammer but...realized I had to go to work.  To be continued...

Ghoste

Getting the 67 ready for auction and the 69 ready to come home.

XH29N0G

I had a good weekend.  I installed a fuel filter, pulled dash and cleaned gauges - reset speedometer spring tension which for some reason was off, installed armrest plate on passenger side.  I also took the car for a drive and all seems to be in good shape.  Also fixed the lighter so I can run a USB adapter.
Who in their right mind would say

"The science should not stand in the way of this."? 

Science is just observation and hypothesis.  Policy stands in the way.........

Or maybe it protects us. 

I suppose it depends on the specific case.....

RIDELIKEHELL

AMD POSTER BOY

1968 CHARGER R/T  http://www.youtube.com/user/ridelikehell73

WHITE AND RED 69

Quote from: myk on March 09, 2014, 08:57:48 AM

Top bolt/hole isn't a problem.  But, the bottom is another story.  Didn't matter how much grease or whatever I put on the shock mounting stud; that Hotchkis shock just did not want to go on.  I started hammering on it with a socket and a hammer but...realized I had to go to work.  To be continued...

Yeah the bottom bushing is a bitch. Here is the easy way, get a large C clamp and a socket. Put the socket against the bushing, this way you can tighten the clamp and the bushing will just slide right on. I tried for hours hammering, pushing, pulling, adding grease and even thought about drilling off some material. But all it took was the clamp and a decent size socket and it slid right on in 10 seconds.   :cheers:
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee 75th edition
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
1972 Plymouth Duster

Mytur Binsdirti

Mine's on the lift & I looked at the underside today.

JamieZ

Fished around under the dash and found the turn signal flasher.  I wired it to a test circuit and the headlight I was using did not blink (it stayed lit).   I put a new flasher in and everything worked as expected.  I reinstalled it in the car and discovered I had the left and right pins swapped on the 6 pin front light harness.  Fortunately I hadn't buttoned it up so I was easy to fix. 
I started cleaning up the rest of the wiring and wrapping it. 

Now the only thing left to do with the front lights is to aim them, but I can't do that until it is on more level ground.  Now I need to move onto the rear.  The trunk light connections need sorting and for some reason the reverse lights don't work.  I figure If I've gone this far on the electrical path, I might as well sort out the last few annoyances.

myk

Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on March 09, 2014, 03:31:17 PM
Quote from: myk on March 09, 2014, 08:57:48 AM

Top bolt/hole isn't a problem.  But, the bottom is another story.  Didn't matter how much grease or whatever I put on the shock mounting stud; that Hotchkis shock just did not want to go on.  I started hammering on it with a socket and a hammer but...realized I had to go to work.  To be continued...

Yeah the bottom bushing is a bitch. Here is the easy way, get a large C clamp and a socket. Put the socket against the bushing, this way you can tighten the clamp and the bushing will just slide right on. I tried for hours hammering, pushing, pulling, adding grease and even thought about drilling off some material. But all it took was the clamp and a decent size socket and it slid right on in 10 seconds.   :cheers:

Ok thanks.  Question: did you put the bottom or the top of the shock on first?  If you put the bottom first, which is what others have done and I agree with, how do you compress the top of the shock into place?  I'm guessing that I raise the body of the car, drop the axle down until the proper distance is reached?  Does the use of the socket and the C-clamp deform the bushing at all?  And why is that bottom bushing so goddamn stubborn?  Thanks again...

JamieZ

Weather was good so I was doing some clean up under the hood. I decided to remove the vacuum line from the manifold...since the headlight doors are now electric.   I now know why doors did not work correctly:


The engine will probably run better as well.

myk

Quote from: JamieZ on March 10, 2014, 04:51:40 PM
Weather was good so I was doing some clean up under the hood. I decided to remove the vacuum line from the manifold...since the headlight doors are now electric.   I now know why doors did not work correctly:


The engine will probably run better as well.


That's exactly the road my car and I traveled.  I just need to get the doors hooked up like yours...

charger496

   On recommendation from a friend, I took the car to Grand Turismo East in Chamblee to get aligned. If you're in the Atlanta area, these guys are very knowledgeable and accommodating. I gave them the specs I wanted, and they did it in less than an hour. With the new UCA's and proper alignment, it handles scary good. Gonna be fun. Then I came home and put in a trans temp gauge in anticipation of running only an auxiliary cooler without the factory rad cooler. Cleaned up some hacked up wiring under the dash while I was at it. Probably some dumb kid who worked on the car 15 years ago. Stupid kids.
   Now I'm thinking about a 4spd conversion...

WHITE AND RED 69

Quote from: myk on March 10, 2014, 07:19:33 AM

Ok thanks.  Question: did you put the bottom or the top of the shock on first?  If you put the bottom first, which is what others have done and I agree with, how do you compress the top of the shock into place?  I'm guessing that I raise the body of the car, drop the axle down until the proper distance is reached?  Does the use of the socket and the C-clamp deform the bushing at all?  And why is that bottom bushing so goddamn stubborn?  Thanks again...

No problem Myk. I did the top first but didn't tighten it down. That way i could raise or lower the rear end to where I needed it to be and still leave a bit of room to move it around. The clamp and socket shouldn't do any damage, at least in my case it slid right on(I did use a little dish soap to help it). But those bushings are tough enough to take it.

There was a thread on another site about the bushing fitment and the hotchkis guys said it needed to be that snug, for what reason I have no idea?  :shruggy:
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee 75th edition
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
1972 Plymouth Duster

71charger_fan

Paint's 18 years old. Time to get the structure right before one last repaint.

AKcharger

I installed a new battery in my '72 and started them both and let them run for 10 mins or so...then covered them up and lock the garage

myk

Quote from: AKcharger on March 11, 2014, 12:19:34 PM
I installed a new battery in my '72 and started them both and let them run for 10 mins or so...then covered them up and lock the garage

Them open roads is waitin' for ya...