68 Charger R/T Clone refurb

[funknut]

It’s cold out in the garage, so I moved part of the operation into my home office. I have the dash frame on a table and I’m getting ready to do the wiring.

I bought the American Autowire Classic Update kit. It was initially a bit intimidating, but the directions are really quite good, and they provide a lot of extra length on the wires so you have some flexibility on how you run things if you have additional stuff in the way.

I have MSD ignition and have their tach signal box and will be mounting it behind and below the tach. Should fit up pretty nicely.

 

[showard]

After doing my car I'm still intimidated by the wiring.
Good luck on it all, you'r doing a great job!

 

[rolling_Thunder]

Progress is looking good -

Wiring isn't too bad once you wrap your mind around how it works - It is one of the "fun" parts for a project for me is making wiring from scratch -

Keep up the good work

 

[funknut]

Thanks guys! Luckily for me the American Autowire harness has been really easy to work with so far. I’m very happy with how the dash harness went in. The lengths are really spot on and all the wire and connectors are top quality. The wires are labeled every 6” or so, which is very helpful not having to trace anything back.

The gauge cluster wiring wasn’t terrible either but did take a bit of trial and error to start getting the lengths right. With a bit of practice it’s actually kind of fun.

I have MSD ignition and need to run their tach adapter and found space behind and under the tach where I could mount it. I made a simple bracket that will mount using the studs on the back of the lower dash pad.

It’s too hard to see in place with the dash wiring in but hopefully you get the idea.

 

[funknut]

Dash wiring is complete, I just need some fasteners for the upper dash pad and I can finally reassemble everything for good. I installed the RetroSound radio and am pleased with the fit and finish. It took some fiddling to get the thumbwheel "buttons" and the radio face correctly lined up so they fit in the bezel correctly. I'll get a picture from the front once I have the dash pad installed. Here's a pic of the backside of the dash with everything installed except the ash tray. I still have a couple things to finalize and wire wrap a few things, but she's 98% ready to drop in.

The RetroSound radio has 2 USB and 2 AUX ports available in addition to bluetooth, so I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate those where they aren't visible. I bought a couple of these off amazon to extend the USB and AUX port. They are pretty compact and only require a 1" hole:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCA9XEI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I cut a piece of extra ABS stock I had left over from my grille repairs and fit it into the ash tray to use as a mounting surface for the sockets.

I really like the look, but this plan requires me to cut up the ash tray to run the wires back to the radio, which I'm not super excited about, since it's actually in really good condition. I'm going to see if I can find a cheap one that's already pretty beat up, but my plan B is to 3D print a piece that will slide into place. This is my first attempt to 3D model and print anything, so wish me luck. Here's a screenshot of the model, I'm going to see if I can get one of my kids to print a quick prototype on the printer at their school.

 

[funknut]

We've had some surprisingly warm weather so I've been able to get some more painting and other small jobs done:

- Strip as much paint, adhesive and gunk off the top part of the firewall and underside of the cowl as reasonably possible.
- Etch prime the bare spots on the floor pan, firewall and under the cowl.
- Test fit frame connectors.
- Prime and paint the frame connectors, torque boxes and inner fender supports

To be able to get the frame connectors and torque boxes fitted and welded in I'll need to get the car up off the ground a bit more, so at some point in the near future I'm planning to build some cribbing out of 2x4s to give myself another 12" or so of working room.

 

[funknut]

Been having some fun with 3D printing a filler piece for the ash tray to incorporate USB and AUX ports. The surface finish is really bad on this print, so ignore that, but I think I'm a few small tweaks away from a result I'm happy with. Once I get it printed the way I want it I'll prime it and spray it textured black like the dash frame.

With that, the dash should be all done.

My (hopefully) next project is to remove the fenders and install the US Car Tool inner fender braces.

 

[funknut]

Primed and painted the USB filler thing, here it is in its final state. I drilled a small 3/16" through hole on the back and secured it with a small machine screw. Didn't get a pic of that before I popped it in the dash, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Today I spent several hours out in the garage removing the passenger fender and installing the US Car Tool inner fender brace. First time removing a fender and it was a learning experience! I kind of jumped in and got to work and forgot to stop and take pics. I did at least take pics of bolt/nut locations so hopefully I'll get the fender back on without needing too much adjustment.

It was mostly uneventful, it just took a long time. I did snap both of the U-nuts or J-nuts or whatever those things are that fasten the fender at the rocker. No big deal, ordered some from ebay. $11 for 4 I'm sure I'll snap the other 2 so seems like good insurance. ;)

While removing the fender I missed the bolt just forward of the door at first, so it took me a bit to figure it out and be able to finagle it out. Finally had success with a deep socket, wobble joint and long extension. No idea how I'll get it back in, I may have to hire one of my kids because no way I can get my mitts in there to start the bolt.

Once the fender was off installing the reinforcement was pretty straightforward. I spent about an hour fitting the brace to the fender, then hit it with some weld-through primer, and another 30 mins getting it welded in and grinding back the ugly. Cleaned it up and hit the bare spots with some Summit chassis enamel.

The splash shield gaskets were pretty rotten so I ordered some up from Detroit Muscle Technologies. I've always had great service and fast shipping from them.

 

[funknut]

Recovered the rear seats. Used the Legendary kit plus a hog ring tool from Amazon.

I learned a lot. Definitely less is more when adding the cotton padding material. Legendary has a good video on YouTube that details the process, but the devil is in the details. If I had it to do over again I might find a local shop to do it. I’d bet an experienced person could do both seats in an hour.

The kit was excellent and very complete. Quality of materials was top notch. The video was very good, but a little more emphasis on the cotton batting would have been very helpful. I ended up removing a decent amount of it from the ends as I kind of went a little overboard and the seat cover was not going to fit.
I probably cut out 25% of the hog rings I installed by the time it was all over.

Good learning experience, I guess, but I would have rather spent the time out in the garage.

The pic was taken right after I installed the covers. There are a couple minor wrinkles that have already started to relax now that they are stretched over the seat frames.

 

[Pistol Pete]

Last time I installed a set of seat covers my hands hurt for three days. F'n hog rings.....

 

[funknut]

Last time I installed a set of seat covers my hands hurt for three days. F'n hog rings.....

I hear you! Between clamping the rings and using tin snips to cut out a bunch of them after I messed up, I'm glad I don't have to do it for a while (hopefully ever).

 

[funknut]

Next weekend marks one year since my Charger last moved under its own power, so I'm feeling a little bummed that it's still in so many pieces, but also motivated to get it back together. The weather looks like it's going to be pretty good the next 5 days or so, I'll see how much I can get knocked out before the 1-year milestone. With some luck I can hopefully get the frame connectors, torque boxes and the driver's side inner fender brace welded in. Oh, and I also need to weld in the wire guard things that run under the door sill plates. That would be all the major welding done. I would just have some firewall holes to close up after that and then it will be ready for paint.

I also decided that I won't be attempting any of the paint work at this stage in the project. My garage just isn't set up for it, and I'm sure I'd get as much paint on myself as the car when spraying the underside. There's a local guy that's done some collision work for us a few times that I'll ring up when I'm close to ready.

Yesterday I finally built the wheel cribs I've been procrastinating for... no idea how long. It was a cool project that my daughters and I had some fun doing together. Probably took us 2-3 hours in all once we finally got everything cleaned up and put away. They are definitely overbuilt for a car with no drivetrain. Not sure how comfortable I'd be if the engine and trans were in, but I know plenty of people use them without issue.

Not yet pictured are triangular wood blocks I screwed into the front cribs to prevent the jack stands from moving.

They are an enormous help. I really wish I had built them sooner.

With the car off the ground I was able to start fitting the passenger side frame connector. I'm reasonably happy with how it's turning out, but fitment against the rear seat floor pan is a challenge. Besides grinding the top edge of the connectors to fit the floor pan I had to make several relief cuts to get a snug fit against the frame rails. Here it is with a couple tacks holding it in place. The gap towards the rear closes up once I move the jack in place to push it snug to the floor.

 

[funknut]

Spent a good 4-5 hours over the last couple days getting the frame connector stitch welded in and fitting the passenger rear torque box. Need to spend a bit more quality time with the grinder to clean up some of my booger welds, but it is getting a bit easier to put down some tidy welds. I'd say I'm happy with about 70% of my welds. I did better on the table, but now I'm somewhat getting the feel for where the wire is when in tight corners or I can't easily see what I'm doing. It's a little hit or miss, though. I'll have a good run of welds, and then move to another section and create an unholy mess. Practice, practice!

I can see from the inside floor that I'm getting good penetration, so that's good.

The front torque box is a bigger challenge. There are some gaps where I'm going to have to add metal to just to get a good fit.

Tomorrow the plan is to reinstall the passenger fender. I have to do a small repair first, though. One of the rectangular captive nuts on the fender broke off when I was removing the bolt. Then I'll remove the driver's fender and get started on the driver's side bracing.

I didn't make my March 15th goal but I should have all the bracing done this week and hopefully some good progress on the firewall holes.

Also, my neck and shoulders are tired, lol. I need to finish this car before I get any older!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Allot of great stuff going on in this thread... Your last post rings true... Don't know how old you are, I'm guessing 30's or 40's? The older you get the more your gonna hurt... It gets harder to get stuff done but most of us find a way.... I'm in my 60's & I have two cars in progress, not as fast as I was 30 years ago but still getting it done....

 

[funknut]

Allot of great stuff going on in this thread... Your last post rings true... Don't know how old you are, I'm guessing 30's or 40's? The older you get the more your gonna hurt... It gets harder to get stuff done but most of us find a way.... I'm in my 60's & I have two cars in progress, not as fast as I was 30 years ago but still getting it done....

Thanks! I'm halfway through my 40s and I'm picking up a couple aches and pains along the way, but nothing I should complain about. After a lifetime of contact sports, arthritis is knocking on my door. The biggest change in the last 5 years is I don't like working in the cold. You won't catch me rolling around on the garage floor very often between October and April. I can really understand why so many people retire to FL.

All the up/down/up/down of fitting and grinding the frame reinforcements, plus contorting every which way with a welding helmet on really found some muscles I hadn't used in a while. I feel bad complaining, though. I'm out in the garage goofing around with my hobby so life's pretty good!

 

[funknut]

Finished up most of the reinforcement welding underneath the car, I just have the driver’s front torque box and inner fender brace to finish. I’ll get to that when I remove the drivers fender.

I removed the factory a/c and will be installing a vintage air heater unit, and moving the MSD box inside the car so there are quite a few holes in the firewall to address. I’ve been working on closing up a number of those the last few days. Hit a small snag when my welding helmet ran out of batteries.

Here’s the progress so far:

While spare batteries are on the way I’ll start test fitting the seats and figure out how to adapt the 2012 mustang seats to the original seat anchor locations.

 

[funknut]

Spent a few hours in the garage today. I removed the driver's fender and splash guard. Cleaned and painted the splash guard and then spent the rest of the time emptying out the engine bay and starting the paint prep.

The wiper motor would not come out. Or I wasn’t willing to try to pry it out any harder. Those grommets are really stuck on the threads. They’re in good enough shape that I don’t want to wreck them removing the motor. I’ll leave the motor in and mask it off.

I have a bit more prep to do and will drill the bolt holes for the American Autowire bulkhead connector, but I guess I’m getting close to spraying the first coat of primer.
The plan is to epoxy prime, filler, 3 coats of urethane primer and then color.

Should be interesting if not a bit fun.

I still need to finish the driver’s front torque box but my body was not going to let me roll around on the ground today!

 

[funknut]

Finished welding the last of the body reinforcements today. I still need to do some grinding to clean things up but at least I can put the welder up and make room to get started on the engine bay paint.

Here’s a shot of the leading edge of the front torque box. I don't know if it's good, but it’s definitely an improvement!

The rest of the day was getting ready to paint. Cleaned the gun really well and started masking off the engine bay. Should be plenty warm tomorrow to spray the epoxy primer. First time with an HVLP gun so tomorrow will be interesting!

 

[funknut]

Today I sprayed the engine bay with epoxy primer. I used SPI epoxy and a 1.4mm tip gun. The first coat was super thin and I couldn’t figure out why. Turns out I didn’t mix the epoxy base very well and a lot of the solids were in the bottom. Rookie mistake. Luckily I only mixed a small amount. Second coat was much better and coverage looked really good. Not sure how well you can tell from this pic but I’m reasonably happy considering it was my first attempt.

 

[daytona kid]

Thanks! I'm halfway through my 40s and I'm picking up a couple aches and pains along the way, but nothing I should complain about. After a lifetime of contact sports, arthritis is knocking on my door. The biggest change in the last 5 years is I don't like working in the cold. You won't catch me rolling around on the garage floor very often between October and April. I can really understand why so many people retire to FL.

All the up/down/up/down of fitting and grinding the frame reinforcements, plus contorting every which way with a welding helmet on really found some muscles I hadn't used in a while. I feel bad complaining, though. I'm out in the garage goofing around with my hobby so life's pretty good!

40's ha, Add another 20 years and you'll know how I feel..