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

[tallhair]

Yeah definitely, but it was really cool tearing it apart and seeing how everything works with the vacuum pods and stuff. And those pics you sent me a while back really helped with getting the outer tabs straight, thanks again for those! That's funny I was thinking how much simpler my Chevelle grille is too, just a few pieces of stamped tin pretty much lol.

Well I guess the weatherman was on his game this time, got hit with a good amount of snow and the low tonight is supposed to be in the single digits. Gonna crank the heater, throw on some Mad Max movies and knock out some work on the Charger.
ccasion14:

I admire your determination. You go man

 

[conv67bdere]

Well here's a little update, didn't get a lot done last weekend but had a badass time going on a little road trip with my girlfriend to see Alice Cooper haha

Hey Speedy - Cool Alice Cooper pics ! ! ! Reminds me of a story when I was younger - I was working at a gas station in Michigan, and a guy pulls in with his muffler sounding REALLY LOUD. Tells me he's a photographer for some magazine ( could have been Rolling Stone ) and he was n his way to Cobo Hall to take pictures at the Alice Cooper concert. After applying a band-aid to the rusted out pipe ( after all it was Michigan ) he got my address and hit the road. Must have been about 6 months later - I had forgotten about helping the guy out and an 8 1/2 x 11 manilla envelope shows up at the house.

Open the envelope and it's a close up of Alice Cooper - the guy remembered and he sent the picture to me !

I'll have to see if I can find that picture . . .

GREAT work on the car Speedy - I'm also following along with all your fantastic work ! ! ! Keep up the great work and keeping us all posted ! !

 

[Propwash]

Funny, just heard Alice Cooper "Schools Out" of the radio........thought of a '69 Charger lol!

 

[Budnicks]

Well it was a busy, cold holiday weekend but I finally got the gas turned on to the shop, heater cranked, and the grille frame all fixed up, sanded down and painted. Had to straighten the outer tabs on each side that were tweaked pretty bad and the wide vertical piecethat goes down the middle had a bit of a bow to it. Nothing some gentle convincing and a pair of vicegrips couldn't take care of.

For once I remembered to do the smart thing and test-fit it before paint haha
View attachment 155298

Didn't have too much surface rust, so I just took a wire wheel to wherever there was and sanded down the rest. Don't mind my ingenious cherry picker/ bungee cord hanging system lol

Then the usual program, some etch primer..

..and topcoated with some satin chassis black. On to the trim and hopefully thowing this thing back together soon :icon_pray: hope all you guys had a righteous turkey day
ccasion14:

Great work, I love the attention to detail on your projects...

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks to all you guys, it's really cool to have so much support for all this work I've been doing especially considering the quality work you're all doing. This forum really is a great place to be
ccasion14:

Funny, just heard Alice Cooper "Schools Out" of the radio........thought of a '69 Charger lol!

Well that's one hell of a compliment if I've ever heard one lol "Under My Wheels" always comes on when I'm working on the car, must be a sign!

And that's an awesome story conv67, very cool of the photographer to remember you! I'd like to see those pictures if you can dig em up!

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Progress Report

Just so you guys don't think I've been (completely) slacking off.. here's a little update. I was lucky enough to get a bit of a Christmas bonus at work last week, and it was enough to get the last odds and ends I need to finally fire up old frankenstein. Since I'm finished up underneath the car/engine bay and the interior is ready for the dash/pedals/etc, I decided that firing off the 440 will be my main focus here over the next month or so, then back to the bodywork and paint. I just can't wait disturb my quiet little neighborhood any longer

So I treated the Charger to an early Chistmas and picked up all my gaskets, belts, hoses, spark plugs and stainless braid sleeves for the wires, and one hell of an aluminum radiator lol





Also figuring out my order from summit for some dynamat that's on sale, mufflers, and maybe my rear shocks I've been putting off spending the money on. At the moment I'm kinda split on what mufflers to go with, dynomax superflo's or thrush chamber/ flowmasters/ etc. Leaning towards the superflo's but still not sure.. I bought my tips from P&G, and they've supposedly been shipped so hopefully no customer srrvice nightmare like other people have reported. Also made a deal with my friend and fellow mopar guy at the muffler shop for 3" header-back exhaust with an x-pipe and my supplied mufflers and tips for $300, pretty excited to get my mufflers decided on and bought so I can take the car up to him.

Let's see.. on to the grille AKA "pain in my @ss" lol. The last little bit of silver paint around the finned sections has been fighting me every step of the way and it's doubtful I'll be able to save my I-beam trim that I sanded through. So if anyone has a '69 Charger center "I" beam grille trim piece it'd be a huge help if I could pick it up from you for a reasonable price! Didn't let those issues keep me down though, got the headlight hardware all blasted, flat-cleared and back on the frame







Sandblasted and painted the hood release with ironcast paint and flat clear for some extra wear protection





And started mocking up the plastic sections.





I was missing all the spacers along the top so I picked some up from my friend with the mountain of parts, for anyone that also needs to replace theirs, they're interchangeable with '70 'Cuda grilles. I was also missing all the bolts/screws that go through these spacers into the plastic sections to hold them in place, so I hit the local napa and found some black hardware I thought looked pretty good! :shruggy:



Also got my emergency brake assembly stripped, etch primed, and painted with a flat "underhood" black I decided on using for all my pedals







And I don't remember if I mentioned on here that I broke off a bolt in the power steering pulley trying to press it back on (probably bottomed out and kept trying to tighten it, and used a cheapo bolt like a moron lol). But yesterday my dad and I messed with it and ended up drilling out the off-center hole i drilled, and retapped the hole. Part of the old bolt even came out with the tap, nasty business lol.





Then a little work straightening he pulley itself which had a pretty nice wobble to it, and bam! Good as new and ready to go back on the engine.

 

[CHARGERSTEVEN]

hey speedy it looks great i still have that chrome here if you need it

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

hey speedy it looks great i still have that chrome here if you need it

Hey thanks Steven! :icon_thumleft: I was actually going to email you again today, wasn't sure if you got my last one, how much do you want for the center "I" beam piece?

 

[conv67bdere]

Great Job on the early Christmas presents and the continued progress on your car Speedy ! ! !

Like usual . . . you're doing a great job on it ! ! ! ( smile ) Keep it up !

 

[tallhair]

Sweet sweet Christmas treat ... thanks for the update Mr SF. I've been missing your posts. Happy Holidays speedy!

 

[747mopar]

"Yeah" I've been wondering where you've been. Congrats on the early Christmas and looking forward to hearing it run "we are going to hear it aren't we"?????????????

 

[hunt2elk]

Looking good Speedy. Your attention to the little details is going to make this car a cut above the rest.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks fellas and merry christmas/happy holidays too all you guys! I gotta take a picture of my little charlie brown tree when I get back to the shop, broke out the little Charger ornament I forgot I bought and everything lol

"Yeah" I've been wondering where you've been. Congrats on the early Christmas and looking forward to hearing it run "we are going to hear it aren't we"?????????????

Roger that! My dad just got a gopro so I'll have to sneak it from him for a couple videos here shortly :icon_thumleft: I want to do a bunch of them after the car's finished of my roadtrips, racing, and general hooligan-ing too :thinker:

Looking good Speedy. Your attention to the little details is going to make this car a cut above the rest.

Thanks elk I've definitely learned the meaning of "the devil's in the details" haha hopefully it ends up even half as gorgeous as yours, I'm jealous seeing the fresh paint :eusa_drool:

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Just finished decking out the little shop tree, can you tell I'm a B-body guy? Lol
:Santa1:


Back to work in the morning, more brake pedal painting and think I'm gonna take a shot at fabbing up a heatshield for my starter. I'll be updating on that as I go, hope your guys' Christmas pre-game weekend is off to a good start
ccasion14:

 

[kiwigtx]

You are making some really good progress, and the workmanship is outstanding. Very pleasing to see someone taking care over the restoration of such intricate and difficult pieces. Such a pity that when I started restoring my '69 Charger the internet hadn't been invented....or at least it wasn't available to the general public I think you are a great inspiration to other's who have yet to start a project, or are having difficulty deciding how to tackle certain parts on their cars. Well done

Love that shop Xmas tree ....LMK if you need more Charger ornaments, I have a few spare Hotwheels Chargers (and other MoPars) kicking about on my shelves.

:Santa3:

 

[HYRDGOON]

Hey Speedy,

Who is the rad supplier that looks sharp? also that air filter is that a spectre or K&N?

Just from what I've heard in the sound I would go Ultra Flo over Super Turbo but that's my 2 cents only as they just seem to sound a little bit more loud and rich

And one last thing I also got my tips from PG... no problems with shipping and am happy with the quality. Here's a couple pics of mine

 

[Ron 73]

Love your decorations! thats the way to do it, nice stuff!

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

You are making some really good progress, and the workmanship is outstanding. Very pleasing to see someone taking care over the restoration of such intricate and difficult pieces. Such a pity that when I started restoring my '69 Charger the internet hadn't been invented....or at least it wasn't available to the general public I think you are a great inspiration to other's who have yet to start a project, or are having difficulty deciding how to tackle certain parts on their cars. Well done

Love that shop Xmas tree ....LMK if you need more Charger ornaments, I have a few spare Hotwheels Chargers (and other MoPars) kicking about on my shelves.

:Santa3:

Thanks for the kind words kiwi! It's a long tedious process with all the little details for sure but I know it'll be worth it, and if it gives someone else any help or inspiration it's the least I can do for all the inspiration I get from all you guys
ccasion14:
And yeah that'd be awesome! You can never have too many of em lol most/all of the other ones I've bought I'm saving up to give to my nephew when he's old enough. There's no gift like the gift of mopar addiction haha!

Hey Speedy,

Who is the rad supplier that looks sharp? also that air filter is that a spectre or K&N?

Just from what I've heard in the sound I would go Ultra Flo over Super Turbo but that's my 2 cents only as they just seem to sound a little bit more loud and rich

And one last thing I also got my tips from PG... no problems with shipping and am happy with the quality. Here's a couple pics of mine

View attachment 158414View attachment 158415

Thanks man! The radiator is from Northern I just had ordered in by the local radiator shop. It's a two row but they're oversize so it's supposed to cool like a 4 row, but with better airflow through the radiator. I guess it's a good sign when the radiator guy calls to say it showed up and all he says is "Hey I've got a pretty bad@ss looking radiator sitting here" lol

And the filter is K&N's "x-stream" with a drop base robbed from another cheapo autozone type filter. I ran it on my Chevelle but since it's out of comission for the moment I grabbed the filter for the Charger

Yeah I think I'm halfway decided on ultraflo's, the videos I've seen with them so far all sound awesome and I'm sure I won't mind them being a little louder lol

Damn those tips are gorgeous! Can't wait til mine get here now, I think the tracking said estimated delivery the day after christmas :waiting:

- - - Updated - - -

Love your decorations! thats the way to do it, nice stuff!

Thanks Ron and glad to see ya around more often again! Hope you and your family have a merry christmas!

 

[snakeyes]

haven't been on much ,just dropped in ,looks like you've come a long way and its looking very good thanks for the updates :headbang:

 

[cdr]

MERRY CHRISTmas speedy.