72 Dodge Charger Hard top Project

[old_skool]

Yeah, I like the 72 lights better than most of the other years, I even like the 73-74 lights a lot. Fortunately, the rust is concentrated, on individual areas, it's not like it has cancer spread throughout, so fixing it won't be that bad, I'll get it handled with time.

 

[old_skool]

Haven't finished the head repair yet, still sick, pumped full of meds, but, I did just order a new carpet for it! Got cold here again, going down to freezing tonight, sick of this Ohio weather.

 

[old_skool]

Still sick, but between hacking I managed to repair the head, and the exhaust manifold, hopefully feel well enough over the weekend to put it back together, I've got an interior to work on as well.

 

[challenger6pak]

Feel better soon.

 

[old_skool]

Thanks, appreciate it.

 

[old_skool]

Got the engine back together today, and the exhaust manifold on the drivers side leaks...arghhh, going to have to take it off again and see if it either needs resurfaced or just a crappy gasket set I got.
Carpet came in today, but I've got a little bit of sheet metal work to do to both the drivers floor and passengers floor before I can install it.
I've only got tomorrow to get some work done, the 3 more days of rain, typical, the yard will never dry out, and when it does, the grass will be 12" high.

 

[old_skool]

Well, fixed the exhaust leak once and for all, I made several mistakes over the past few days, first off, by not checking the levelness of the exhaust manifold, ground it down smooth again, finished it off with a belt sander, next dumb oversight, assuming, ...never never never....long pause...never, assume anything is good just by looking at it, and I know better. It ran a little anemic, even for a 318 which was supposedly rebuilt with more HP, found it to running on only 5-7 cylinders...amazing how well these run even then, replaced the plugs, I assumed someone did a half *** tune up since it had the goofy yellow wires, pretty red cap and rotor, well, the only half *** was me for assuming it only needed plugs, some of the plugs were burnt up and I could tell weren't firing at all, replaced them, no better, started checking the pretty yellow wires...some of them weren't getting any spark, closer inspection and they would fall apart in your hand, replaced the wires....next dumb *** move on my part, was to assume the cap and rotor were good, and I know better, cap is for ****, rotor will get replaces as well, AF, pvc etc has already been done, looks like new points and condenser, I have new ones just in case, but first I'm replacing the cap and rotor and see if this thing will fire on all 8, I'll be checking dwell and timing also. DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME....not you guys, I'm talking to myself, I wish I could reach my *** with my left foot, it would get one hell of a kick, I know better.
I'll report back tomorrow, once this is done, it's off to the interior and sheet metal work.

Oh, and any Ohio boys reading, Mid Ohio Mopar Club meeting tomorrow!!!

 

[old_skool]

oooops, look what happens when your sick and bored...

 

[69chargerboy]

Lookin GOOD! :VB toast:

 

[old_skool]

Thanks, haven't been able to do much, been sick as a dog, wife's still in the hospital, we've been battling pneumonia, getting ready to go visit her now. Any updates on the Coronet?

 

[old_skool]

Well, if at first you don't succeed, or second or third...passenger side exhaust manifold was going tick tick tick, seems I missed a spot resurfacing the manifold, all better....again. Now I can hear the right front wheel going whirrrr, damn bearings probably, time for an inspection. Need to shake down the front end anyway, can already tell multiple bushings are toast.

 

[old_skool]

Tore out the interior yesterday, patched the holes I had in the pass and drivers floor board with some stainless sheet metal, installed my new ACC carpet....whew, not as easy as I remembered it...will try and finish it up today before the rain comes back in. Also, anyone removing your door sills after 40+ years of never having been removed, a couple notes, if the screws feel like they don't want to back out, don't continue to try and force them with a screwdriver, you'll only strip the head of the screw, or snap the screw head off, then your into drilling. Here's how I did mine, sure enough, tried the first one with a screw driver, no such luck, so before any damage, I had set up my impact screwdriver(can be bought cheap at harbor freight) one wack, and they came loose, sheared a couple bits on the tough ones, and one I couldn't extract the bit pieces to refit a new one into the screw, so after a lot or trying, I got out a cutting wheel, and made a nice slot in the head of the screw, and removed with a large flat blade screw driver, that was the only screw to be damaged and no drilling.

Have to clean up my console, install my back seat, and fit my leather seats in next. I love comfy seats. Then back to checking timing and sorting that out. Still, plenty more sheet metal work to do, but nearly done for now as far as mechanical work goes.
Unfortunately, the rack-n-pinion on my wife's Mustang is taking a dump, so something that will need attention in the next couple days, so between the upcoming rain and her car, the Charger will have to wait a little longer for updates.

 

[GearAddict]

Wow... getting a lot done. Looking good.

 

[old_skool]

Thanks, I just wish I had all the body work done so I can get a cheap paint job on it, that might have to wait on next year. As soon as I finish the interior, I plan on running the dog sh$% out of it, I'll daily drive it everywhere, my only real concern is the front end, I think my tires might be cambered in a little, got check it out and see if I can get away with re-aligning it a little for now, front end parts replacement is destined for this winter, but don't want to be eating up tires several times a year either. Hopefully I can get those camber/caster adjusters loose, going to have to mix up a batch of ATF/Acetone penetrating oil and soak them really good.

 

[old_skool]

Found my build sheets under the seats after 42 years of never being removed, there was actually 2 identical build sheets, one under the passenger bucket seat, which was in poor shape, pretty much a puzzle to be put together, and the other was under the rear bench, and was mostly complete with a couple small tears and wrinkled, currently got that one in between some books being pressed back into shape by about 30 more books on top of it. Since my fender tags are nearly eroded away, I'm hoping the build sheet will shed some light on all the options this car has.

 

[old_skool]

Finished one side, the driver side is carpet/seat/trim buttoned up, tomorrow will finish the passenger side, and holy crap, the Lincoln LS seat feels sporty, comfortable as hell, and the leather makes it look cool as....with the new carpet. Sorry about the pics, a little bit of sun glare interference, oh, and I adapted the seat to use the oem seat belts and oem seat slider/tracks. They look like they belong in there, they go well with the oem rear seat, and the size of the seats were perfect.

 

[Robliepse]

Thanks, that's where it was on my 72 340 RR. For some reason the service manual led me to believe it was under the dash and I've seen several other pictures that don't have the valve so I'm still confused. The service manual also has a nice picture of the valve but no reference to where it's located

 

[GearAddict]

Finished one side, the driver side is carpet/seat/trim buttoned up, tomorrow will finish the passenger side, and holy crap, the Lincoln LS seat feels sporty, comfortable as hell, and the leather makes it look cool as....with the new carpet. Sorry about the pics, a little bit of sun glare interference, oh, and I adapted the seat to use the oem seat belts and oem seat slider/tracks. They look like they belong in there, they go well with the oem rear seat, and the size of the seats were perfect.

Wow! those seats look great!

 

[MT_Mopar]

+2 on those seats, they look great! - That is pretty cool you found the build sheet, awesome!

 

[old_skool]

+2 on those seats, they look great! - That is pretty cool you found the build sheet, awesome!

yeah, it's more wrinkled than anything, I filled in the couple missing numbers on the scanned copy, referenced from the other build sheet that's tore into pieces but is legible.
And the interior is finished, I'll get some new better pics when I can.

I used a blank online copy of a 71 build sheet to make a readable copy for my records, I would like to find an online copy of a 72, they're a little different.