'69 charger r/t-se: Building my dream car

[Budnicks]

looks good, can't wait to see her in color... Progress of any type is a good thing...

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Well I spent all day yesterday stripping the interior getting it ready to paint, (figured I should do this before the engine's in otherwise it'd be a pain in the @$$ to tape off the firewall) and it's pretty awesome the original floor pan is still in this kind of condition after 45 years, cleaned up really easily


Not much process to detail here, just started with scraping all the old seam sealer with a paint scraper and the biggest flat-blade screwdriver I could find. (the screwdriver works really well in the covered channel by the door sill where the wiring goes through)

Started with the firewall and just used a corded powerdrill with a standard coarse wire wheel. All really minor surface rust that came right off so I got as much as I could with the wire wheel then hand-sanded the hard to reach spots with 180 grit sandpaper. Used the same method throughout the car, just hitting the low spots and any surface rust with the wire wheel and scuffing the rest with 180 grit.







Still have to strip the package tray/sail area and headliner but so far, so good

 

[747mopar]

I can see the brown boogers now, hope your not planning on eating them haha. I don't envy you, that had to be a mess wire wheeling that all off. That's awesome your floor is that solid, one less thing to deal with. Moving right along

 

[BigBlock61]

That's Ok I've got enough floor rust for both of us.

 

[hunt2elk]

That's Ok I've got enough floor rust for both of us.

Me too. I wouldn't have known how to react with a car that solid.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Lol not too many brown boogers this time, I learned from past experience and got pretty well suited up: goggles, gloves, respirator, earmuffs. Ladies love the goggles haha :icon_cool:

Some decent surface rust on the inner roof skin


So I ditched the little 3" wire wheel for this big @$$ cup wheel lol. Made things move a little quicker


Cleaned up nicely, almost ready for some paint ccasion14:


- - - Updated - - -

That's Ok I've got enough floor rust for both of us.

Lol! Well there was still plenty to go around! My trunk, lower quarters and rear window surround definitely needed a good amount of TLC. But the front half of the car sure makes up for the back half
:headbang:

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Looking good!!!

Me too. I wouldn't have known how to react with a car that solid.

Nope...... Me either!!

Looking good. Great postings thanks!!!!

 

[Budnicks]

pretty solid car in those areas, nice not to have to fix any more rust repairs, than you absolutely have too... Dirty work, looks good thou

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks guys! Definitely a nasty job wire wheeling everything but it'll be worth it knowing how clean it's gonna be after I throw some paint in there, hopefully that will be tonight or tomorrow

I also got all the stuff ready for my grille resto which is probably gonna be next in line. It's in pretty good shape but has 1 missing vertical fin, a diagonal line of cracked fins on the driver's side, 1 broken bumpstop tab on the driver's side headlight door, and some dents in the trim. I'm gonna do a full thread on that, hopefully it'll help some people out
ccasion14:

 

[mopar4don]

I'll defiantly be taking notes!

 

[kiwigtx]

Good work on that floor pan and roof area. Looks like a very solid car inside. :eusa_dance:

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

I'll defiantly be taking notes!

Good to see ya back on here Don, seemed like you were MIA for a while! What kind of condition is your grille in?

Good work on that floor pan and roof area. Looks like a very solid car inside. :eusa_dance:

Thanks kiwi :icon_thumleft: yeah she sure cleaned up nice inside! Gonna be awesome to have it all painted and finally start throwing the guts back in :icon_pray:

Took a break from the interior prep last night to clean up a couple of things, distribution block for my brakes, engine and transmission mount hardware, and my heater box. Speaking of things being in good condition, believe it or not this is my original heater box with nothing more than a wipe down with water and shop towels :icon_scratch:



Just a super light bit of surface rust on the back that comes right off with scotch brite pads. Aside from pulling the heater core for pressure testing, I'm just gonna finish scuffing it up, give it some flat clearcoat and call it good



Weird how the back half of the car had so many gremlins but everything forward of the rear window is like a time capsule lol even had most of the factory stamp still on it, thought it was pretty cool

 

[cdr]

hear is a link on grill resto,i am fixing to do mine also.just did my ac/heater box.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,39926.0.html

 

[kiwigtx]

Not sure if you had planned to do this or not....but it would be a great time now to pressure test & flush that heater box radiator before it goes back in the car - much easier now that it is on the floor. :glasses10: looks in excellent condition...in fact the whole car looks way better than the '69 Charger I had many years ago.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

hear is a link on grill resto,i am fixing to do mine also.just did my ac/heater box.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,39926.0.html

Thanks Charlie, already had that one bookmarked and read through :icon_thumleft: that directory is a huge help. I'll be doing a full step-by-step in my thread too but if you start before me be sure to check this page out, lots of good info in there
http://www.69hemi.com/outsidetrim.html

Not sure if you had planned to do this or not....but it would be a great time now to pressure test & flush that heater box radiator before it goes back in the car - much easier now that it is on the floor. :glasses10: looks in excellent condition...in fact the whole car looks way better than the '69 Charger I had many years ago.

Yep I'm planning on pulling the core for pressure testing, definitely a lot easier out of the car haha

 

[cdr]

thank you sir!!!! more info is good info

 

[mopar4don]

Good to see ya back on here Don, seemed like you were MIA for a while! What kind of condition is your grille in?

Thanks Speed, just been really busy. My grill is in decent shape, but will need some broken off tab repair.
Although I thought my Charger was in decent shape when I got it to!:head_smack: So we will see......

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

thank you sir!!!! more info is good info

Glad I could help, that guy detailed the process really well
ccasion14:

Thanks Speed, just been really busy. My grill is in decent shape, but will need some broken off tab repair.
Although I thought my Charger was in decent shape when I got it to!:head_smack: So we will see......

Yeah that's a common one from what I was reading on DC.com. Lol don't we all before we actually start digging in? :icon_blackeye:

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Christmas came early!

Alright guys, finally an update. First off I guess I'll start with the good news, when I bought the car the previous owner told me the 440 had been rebuilt and supposedly had a good cam in it "hottest 440 car I've driven." He also said "the body is ready for paint" so I didn't necessarily expect it to be true, but when I cracked it open last weekend to do the rear main seal I had a pretty awesome surprise



Brand new pistons and rods, perfect bores, balanced crank, double roller timing chain (chain is super tight), brand new aftermarket cam, arp hardware, basically a brand new engine :icon_biggrin: Between all that and how nice everything was under the valve covers, it seems safe to say there was some headwork done along with the bottom end. Seems like everyone that's selling a car has a "fresh rebuilt motor!" but it looks like I got lucky on this one
:headbang:
Other than that I've been keeping pretty busy. Took my heater box completely apart and cleaned it all out. Also noticed the outlets for the heater core were bent pretty bad so I straightened them and pulled it for pressure testing. Just had one leak at the outlet, got it re-soldered for only $10, good as new. Otherwise just sanded and painted the rusty pieces the vent cables attach to and back plate with martin semour underhood black. I might do a better step by step post on all that if it'd be useful to anyone









Also spent a lot of time last weekend finishing up prepping and shooting the interior with Chassis Saver satin black. Came out pretty nice and won't be seeing any rust anytime soon, I'll try and get some better pics today
ccasion14:

 

[Budnicks]

Good to see the engine is a good one, :iamwithstupid: nice to have an unexpected surprise like that & save a few bucks here & there...