1969 Dodge Charger RT Restoration

[bg1767]

I was dreading the vinyl top, but with my wife's help it was actually one of the more fun jobs. My car didn't have its top on when I bought it 20 years ago. This is a bigger change in looks for me than going from purple to the correct B5 blue. Lots of little trim pieces are a big improvement too. Most were painted over with purple or black.

 

[bg1767]

And on to the trunk, bumblebee stripe, doors, and hood.

 

[Jesse6869]

Looks so cool great job love the detail

 

[bg1767]

I am glad the car came with a second grill. I used a lot of the plastic pieces form the second one. I will eventually have a most complete second grill for sale, but I will wait to test everything on mine before I sell it. I ended up buying new AL pieces as both sets were in tough shape. I used SEM Trim Black and OER Argent Silver for paint. I had just a few areas of plastic repair to do, mostly tabs.

 

[bg1767]

And the finished grille... The bumpers are back ordered with no ETA...

 

[bg1767]

Now on to the interior while I wait for glass and bumpers.

 

[bg1767]

Well, I got sick of waiting for bumpers and glass so I cancelled my orders and went directly to AMD. Before that I installed the wipers, brake pedal, and made an attempt at a head liner.

The head liner was much more difficult than the vinyl top and I was not happy with the results. I decided to focus on making it drivable so I can take it to the interior shop.

 

[bg1767]

The dash was also started and finished. The reproduction dash bezels available are not that great. They took some trimming to fit and unfortunately the black painted over the chrome plastic scrapes off easily. It is a big improvement over what it looked like before. The gauges were painted and stickers applied. They look very good and you can't tell they are stickers. I also did the quartz conversion for the clock.

 

[bg1767]

The "new" version of the AMD bumpers are just okay. They just became available and they said they updated there tooling. The shine is good, but you can see the metal had creases from forming before they were plated. Not bad, just not perfect.

 

[bg1767]

And the steering column... It was a pain get the two bolts that hold collar on to the column.

 

[bg1767]

And now that we are caught up, it has been started! Sniper EFI was a little tricky to get the idle set after engine break in. Break in went well because it ran smoothly at any RPM besides idle. It starts nicely now but idles a little high. If I go any lower using the idle screw (trying to get the recommended IAC %) it occasionally dies and does not want to restart. After it breaks in a little more I will try to set it again.

I also stuck in the drivers seat and old carpet so I can get it to the interior shop. After that it is windows and interior.

 

[ct71rr]

Very nice! You’re almost done. That’s got to be a great feeling!

 

[bg1767]

Very nice! You’re almost done. That’s got to be a great feeling!

Thank you! It is a great feeling to almost be done. I have spent thousands of hours over the last 4 years and am ready to start relaxing, and cruising in style.

 

[bg1767]

I have made good progress over the last few months. I attempted the headliner, but was not happy with it and did not think I would be if I tried again. It was the second item that I had a shop do. The first was the engine machine work and long block build.

The seats have been torn apart and some of them recovered using the seat covers that came with the car. They have been in storage for over 20 years but look good. There are a few creases that don't look too bad and may come out over time. Just the two buckets are left to do. The wood back rest of the buddy seat was broken, but all better now. I will add more pics when the buckets are done.

 

[bg1767]

The windows all went in much easier than expected. Lots of foam glass cleaner really helped for the front. It was a pain getting the door windows in as one piece. The front and back are definitely not one person jobs, but the wife and I had no problems getting them in.

 

[bg1767]

And now I can listen to all those great AM radio stations. I forgot to install this while the fender was off, but it really wasn't bad doing it while on. I traced the pattern from the old fender.

 

[Nxcoupe]

And now that we are caught up, it has been started! Sniper EFI was a little tricky to get the idle set after engine break in. Break in went well because it ran smoothly at any RPM besides idle. It starts nicely now but idles a little high. If I go any lower using the idle screw (trying to get the recommended IAC %) it occasionally dies and does not want to restart. After it breaks in a little more I will try to set it again.

I also stuck in the drivers seat and old carpet so I can get it to the interior shop. After that it is windows and interior.

View attachment 1239684

I am a holley efi dealer. I'd be happy to help you with your sniper tuning. What is your target a/f ratio for idle? How big is your camshaft? Where is your O2 sensor located?

 

[bg1767]

I am a holley efi dealer. I'd be happy to help you with your sniper tuning. What is your target a/f ratio for idle? How big is your camshaft? Where is your O2 sensor located?

Thank you @Nxcoupe. I did get it figured out. The factory default for the fans to come on was set to about what my operating temp was. For some reason when it came on it killed the system and the car would die or not restart. The car would get warmer the first few minutes it sat and would hit that temp so it would not start. It took me awhile to figure out what was causing it because it didn't happen much even during break in. I just set the temps higher so it would not come on and it has ran perfect since. I do not have electric fans so the wires for it are just terminated.

I do not know why that would kill the engine. If you have ideas on that or how I could or should do some light tuning I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. It is all at defaults and seems to be running great. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

 

[bg1767]

The interior went together very quickly over the last few weeks. We finished recovering the seats and am very happy with how they turned out. The only thing I would have done differently is putting more stuffing in the rear seat back. I used as much as the 15 year Legendary install video said, but the cover is not very tight. I could always go back and add more. This will hopefully be the last time I see that nice blue floor paint.

 

[bg1767]

Does anyone know where these door plugs go? I know I removed them, but I could not remember where they go during re-assembly. Online they say they are door vent windows plugs. I found no extra holes!