71 Road Runner Restoration Started

[71airgrabberRR]

After studying the list of parts I ordered yesterday, I realized that I didn't order the front lower valance for the Challenger.

So today I called Ted back and had him add one to the original order.........................

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Wow ....................... There have been over a Thousand posts on this thread.

Thanks go out to all who contributed.

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Good news with the Misses.

We just got back from her surgeon as a post op follow up visit.

He removed the "sterile-strips" and said everything is looking GREAT !!!!!

Her incision has closed on the outside now. She still needs to take it easy for quite a while until the bone fusion is completed in the vertebrate.

 

[Chargerjase]

It's great to hear your wife is on the mend Louis.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Thanks Jase !!!!

Remember on my last post where I mentioned forgetting to order the front lower valance ????

Well today was kind of like that, but it was something I had been tossing around and not something I forgot to order.

Anyhow I just called Ted back again........................I've been wanting to try out the new AMD door hinges.

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So these will be headed down here with the other parts.

If you're reading this Ted, I'm sorry to be a pain........................

Thanks for all of your help Sir !!!!

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I just wanted to make sure the car was top notch and that the panel lines were good to go.
Door hinges can cause you a lot of head aches later down the road if not addressed early.

This will be a step in that direction.

 

[arveeotto]

Louis
Really glad to hear about your wife's progress. Looks like you are really going to go to town on the E-bodys. It will be as much fun to watch you redo those cars as it has been reading about your other builds. Thanks for all of your valuable information and the time that it takes to document all of this information.

Rick

 

[71airgrabberRR]

It's Official

Today was my first official day of retirement. And it was a GREAT day indeed.

Here is what showed up today................... Most of the AMD Challenger parts arrived.

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It's like Christmas in September.

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Both full OEM style quarter panels...................

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Full one piece front floor pan assembly.

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I had my work cut out for me. Just unwrapping everything was a job in itself. Everything was well packaged for shipping.

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View attachment 274732

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Trunk lid with spoiler cut outs, and a pair of rear bumper guards. Both are very nice quality parts.

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The chrome looked even better once I wiped it off with a soft cloth.

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The bumper brackets have the "Mopar" part numbers and Pentastar stamped into them.

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Here is a collage of photos. It was very hard to try and fit everything into one picture.

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Please keep in mind that not all of these parts will be used on the 73 Challenger. Some are for the 70 car, such as the trunk lid, rear lower valance and possibly the under rear seat floor pan..

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Then I loaded everything up into the car hauler for storage out of the elements.

I will pick up the bumpers from Ted at the Garlit's show.

The door hinge set should arrive tomorrow.

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Now before I can get busy on the Challenger, I have to reassemble the 72 SSB, so it can be transported up North.

(and I have to cut the grass.) All of the rain we got from the tropical storm has really caused the grass to grow.

If the hinges arrive I'll snap some photos and post them up tomorrow.

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You all have a good night.........................

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Here are the rest of the pictures I took. All of the part numbers are listed on the boxes.

Take care.

 

[arveeotto]

I didn't think you could get a complete (well sort of) Challenger into the back of a sb 1/2 ton p/u. Guess you proved me wrong,,,lol

 

[71airgrabberRR]

I didn't think you could get a complete (well sort of) Challenger into the back of a sb 1/2 ton p/u. Guess you proved me wrong,,,lol

I hear ya !!! It looked like a small mountain of Mopar .....

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Today the door hinges arrived.

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They look nice upon first inspection.

Today I got the front half of our yard mowed. Tomorrow is another day. I'll finish up mowing the back half and hopefully get some work done on the 72 SSB reassembly.

If things go as planned I'll post up some progress pictures.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Well it took longer to finish up all of the yard work today. But it's all done and caught up now. Unfortunately I didn't get any work done on the 72 SSB.

Tomorrow is another day. The plan is to get back out there tomorrow in the shop and finally get some work done.

Until then. Take care.

 

[Duda]

Oh wooooo that is a lot of welding you have there. This grasss thing is cutting in to your free time, lol. Keep up the good work

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today was another good day. I got a LOT done on reassembling the 72 SSB.

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Started out by giving it a quick rinse.

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Then I bolted in the side rear quarter windows while they were easily accessible.

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Then I installed the trunk hinges and torsion bars.

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And I bolted on the trunk lid next.

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I sat the Dutchman / trunk filler panel in place to see how it fit and I'm pretty happy with it. I put the trunk hinge bolts back in the same position as they were originally. The fit is pretty nice so far.

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That was followed by bolting on the AC condenser and radiator. The hood latch assembly was next.

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I installed the rebuilt door hinges on the doors then I bolted the doors on the car. I put all of the door hinge bolts back in their original locations as an aid with alignment of the panels.

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Then my attention turned to bolting everything back on the firewall.

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Next the dash was installed ..........

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Then I called it a day.

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So I rolled the car back inside for the evening.

Hopefully tomorrow I can hang the rear quarters.

I'll keep you all posted.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today I was able to hang the rear quarters and trunk gutters. I held them in place with a few small self tapping sheet metal screws in strategic locations.

The new owner wants to do all of the welding. Since the panels aren't permanently attached yet, I decided to leave the extra bracing in place for now. The downside of this is the braces won't allow the trunk to close.

Here are a few pictures. It's starting to look like a car again.........

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The trunk lid is about 1/2" inch from closing all the way. It will have to be tied down during transport.

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You all have a safe Labor Day weekend.

Until next time ...........

 

[Superfreak]

Those hinges you bought will need to have the small hole on the upper hinge drilled out to a bigger size. I bought a set from Rick Erinburg (spelling) and identical to those you have and was told by Rick that it needed to be done. I installed them first without enlarging the hole and found I couldn't get enough movement on the hinge for proper door alignment.

 

[The not so tall man]

When you put the quarter on how did you deal with the tab that goes underneath the dutchman panel?

Or was this a non issue because the dutchman isn't welded in yet.

I'm having a heck of a time with mine but it may be do to the fact the dutchman had been previously repaired by me back in the early 90s when I was still in high school, I built up a section with mig weld and though its not a whole lot thicker, I'm wondering if its giving me issues.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Those hinges you bought will need to have the small hole on the upper hinge drilled out to a bigger size. I bought a set from Rick Erinburg (spelling) and identical to those you have and was told by Rick that it needed to be done. I installed them first without enlarging the hole and found I couldn't get enough movement on the hinge for proper door alignment.

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know about this and would have found out the hard way.

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When you put the quarter on how did you deal with the tab that goes underneath the dutchman panel?

Or was this a non issue because the dutchman isn't welded in yet.

I'm having a heck of a time with mine but it may be do to the fact the dutchman had been previously repaired by me back in the early 90s when I was still in high school, I built up a section with mig weld and though its not a whole lot thicker, I'm wondering if its giving me issues.

My Dutchman panel was placed on top of the tabs on the quarter panel. I simply placed it on top of the quarter panel tabs. It was easy since the part hasn't been welded in place yet. I did notice the gap between the quarter panels and the Dutchman were fairly large. This may be due to the fact the quarters haven't been placed "exactly" in position. The rear quarters have been secured very close but not "perfect" and will require a little more tweaking to get perfect.

In the past on previous restorations, I have had to cut a small line with a thin cut off wheel into the Dutchman parallel to the seam line. This was done to get the gap perfect.

Hope this helps.

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Today I installed the new Spectra Premium gas tank, stainless steel straps and 3/8" stainless sending unit.

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If you ever need to replace a sending unit, this little tool costs around $7-10 and makes life easy.

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It took me almost two seconds to tighten the lock ring.

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Down here we have a problem with mud dauber wasps building nests. So I plugged the vapor return vent lines and sending unit connections with a small section of hose. This will keep the wasps from building nests and blocking the lines.

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Then I installed a new fuel filler neck grommet.

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And finally bolted the new tank assembly in place.

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Ok. The last picture is upside down. Oops.

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Forgot to mention the gas tank felt paper. It goes in between the tank and trunk floor.

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Now the filler tube gets installed.

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Topped off with a new gas cap. These are available from O'Reilly auto parts.

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And there you have it. Gas tank installation 101. Pretty easy.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today it was raining pretty much most of the afternoon. I took advantage of this since it helped with to keep the temperature out in the shop down a little.

I started out by installing the original leaf springs.

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Then I rolled the 8 3/4 rear in place using my floor jack.

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I then finished bolting everything back in place. It won't be too long now and the car will be back on its wheels.

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Next up was the rear lower valance and then the rear bumper installation.

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It's starting to look like a car again from this angle.

Have a good evening.

 

[roadrunnerman]

You're putting that car back together so fast, it almost seems like it's reassembling itself.

 

[conv67bdere]

I think he's making up for lost time when he wanted to be working on the car and had to be at work . . .

. . . can I retire now ? ? ? I want to work on my car . . . .

 

[747mopar]

Wow, I'd want to retire too with all those parts showing up! Looks like a whole lot of fun, great work!

 

[arveeotto]

Louis
You my friend are going to put me to shame. Putting the car together overnight, it will probably take me a year to break it down again ;). Nice to watch it come together, too bad it wasn't closer to me so it wouldn't have to be put back together for transport (would save us both a lot of time). Thanks for the update posts Louis, much appreciated.
Rick

 

[71airgrabberRR]

I think he's making up for lost time when he wanted to be working on the car and had to be at work . . .

. . . can I retire now ? ? ? I want to work on my car . . . .

I hear ya buddy. You nailed it. LOL

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You're putting that car back together so fast, it almost seems like it's reassembling itself.

Thanks my friend. It's actually taking more of my spare time than I expected. So far, so good. It's been smooth sailing.

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Wow, I'd want to retire too with all those parts showing up! Looks like a whole lot of fun, great work!

Yes it has been great fun. I enjoy doing this type of work. It's one of my hobbies and it relaxes me. Thanks

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Louis
You my friend are going to put me to shame. Putting the car together overnight, it will probably take me a year to break it down again ;). Nice to watch it come together, too bad it wasn't closer to me so it wouldn't have to be put back together for transport (would save us both a lot of time). Thanks for the update posts Louis, much appreciated.
Rick

Your welcome Rick. Thanks for the kind words Sir!!

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I did make a little more progress. I was able to install the rear tires.

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These are the wheels that are going to eventually go on the 73 Challenger.

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Then my step son helped me to rotate the car around inside the shop. Now I will have great access to the front of the car.

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Next I'll start reinstalling the K frame and front suspension.

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I needed a good radiator to keep the 440 cool that is going into the Challenger. This one is a 4 row "Big Block" version. It's made by Champion and they claim it will cool up to 850 HP. (not that this engine will be anywhere close to that)

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So I also needed a good fan shroud for the new radiator. This one is coming from Summit Racing.

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This is a picture they had listed with the new radiator. If mine looks this nice and works as advertised I'll be a happy camper !!!

As soon as these parts arrive I'll post up some photos.

You all have a good one .........