'73 Charger Build Log

[Triple Black 73]

Finally got the trunk, engine bay, and under body painted:

Before and after of trunk:

 

[Triple Black 73]

Before and after of the engine bay:

 

[Triple Black 73]

Underbody painted:

Rear suspension hung:

K-Frame ready to go in:

 

[Triple Black 73]

On the ground again after 18 years!

 

[Triple Black 73]

The rear end is sky high after removing the ISO clamp. I have 2" lowering blocks for the rear until I can order custom rear springs. Also note, the factory rear sway bar wouldn't work after removing the rubber ISO clamps. The angle of the sway bar bracket was all wrong. I'm going to get Firm Feel swaybar once I get it on the road.

 

[Triple Black 73]

 

[EccentricMagpies]

Your car is coming along nicely

 

[Bb70charger500]

Wow it's looking good wish I could get something done on mine! My poor sunroof car is just sitting out back burred in the shed/garage sometimes I forget I even own it because I don't see it and have a horrible memory, my wife laughs at me because I get excited when I see a picture of it somewhere and I tell her that's a nice solid car we should get it . She then points to the shed and says surprise I got it for you it's on there . It deserves to get fixed soon

 

[Triple Black 73]

Your car is coming along nicely

Thank man! I put a ton of work and money into it. I'm very happy with how it's coming along. I just wish I had more time to get over there to work on it. I can only go make the 240 mile round trip on the weekends to work on it for 20 hours max before I have to get back to real life.

Wow it's looking good wish I could get something done on mine! My poor sunroof car is just sitting out back burred in the shed/garage sometimes I forget I even own it because I don't see it and have a horrible memory, my wife laughs at me because I get excited when I see a picture of it somewhere and I tell her that's a nice solid car we should get it . She then points to the shed and says surprise I got it for you it's on there . It deserves to get fixed soon

That's funny. I'm so jelly about that factory sunroof. It is the one feature which I don't have, can't easily add, but really really want. To let you know how much I like sunroofs, I recently bought my wife a 2016 Journey R/T. We had a choice between one with a sunroof and one with AWD but no sunroof. Every other feature was exactly the same. I got the FWD Journey with the sunroof. lol!

 

[Triple Black 73]

This weekend:

• My dad put the front bumper on the car; it looks like a car again! Yippe!
• My dad ran some of the underhood electrical harnesses.
  
• I rebuilt and managed to get the '74 steering column to work in the '73 by swapping the mounting plate. The whole '74 column had to be disassembled to swap the plate. The proper plates just slips off the matching column.
• I installed the speakers (Alpine Type S 6.5 in the doors and 6x9's in the package tray), ran the speaker wires down both the sides to meet under the passenger seat. I then ran the cables flat just to the right of the tunnel to the dash then behind, up, and over to the radio hole.
• We started working on the engine.

Sorry, I was working too hard to take any pictures.

My new target is to have the car on the road by ... my dad is right. There is no time table for a project like this. You work on it when you have time and money until it's done.

The bad: The rear cam bearing is fitting too tight for my dad's likings. He's hoping the local machine shop will help him fix it.

Insurance: I looked at insurance for the Charger. State Farm quoted me $816/yr for liability only! Geico quoted me $480/yr for liability only. Hargerty quoted me $300/yr for $15k of full coverage. Hargety requires I park the car in a private locked garage when not in use. Also the car can't be my daily driver and I can't leave the car unattended in a parking lot. I'm going with Hargety.

 

[Root2812]

I have Hagerty for both of my classics. They are a good company. After all that work you'll probably park it inside anyway. Your progress is great so far!

 

[Triple Black 73]

What you got in the car? Seats and a steering wheel.

Engine coming together. It is a 383 bored 30 over. Compression is right around 9:1. Mild cam. Should be a nice driver. The heads are stock 452 castings that came off the 400.

Trailer full of spare parts. My dad put the parts (except the block) in a old mini-van like any proper Alabama natives would do, lol. The block is the original 400. One day, in the distant future, I hope to build it to a 512ci 650 HP stroker with a 5 speed manual.

 

[Triple Black 73]

I really like how the car sits with the engine and transmission in it. Not too high, not too low. My friend took some pictures of the engine going into the car as my phone was dead. I'll post them when he sends them to me.

Yes, the car needs a bath but my dad thinks the wax adds a layer of protection. Whatever, we'll finish the polishing the paint then put a car cover over it when I go over there September 10th.

The project is suspended until I can save up money for the rest of the parts, about $2k worth. Maybe October, maybe next spring, I just know I've already put $6k into it, using mostly my lunch money, and I'm ready to take a break. Before I left on Sunday, we organized all the parts before I left last Sunday. All the spare parts went in the trailer and any parts left to put on went into the trunk. Just think, all those parts that was there before, became a car.

 

['68 Charger]

That Charger is awesome.

 

[Triple Black 73]

I washed it this weekend before putting the car cover over it. A few new lights makes the paint pop. We need to buff the top of the doors, fenders, and hood. The car will sit in the cocoon until I have money to buy a new radiator, gas tank, A/C upgrade kit, and all the miscellaneous parts to complete the car, about $2k left.

I'm really likely how the car sits.

 

[Triple Black 73]

Here's the engine going on August 20th. Those headman headers were a breeze to install. We did have to remove the right side header to swing the engine around power steering box, but it was easy to install.

BTW, having a lift makes every thing EASIER! If you have a shop and a spare $3k, get a lift! It is the best thing you can buy for your shop!

 

[Bb70charger500]

It's looking good I love watching these things going together. Guess how far the sunroof car has come.....
Nope still in the shed . Maybe one day soon I'll bring it out and attach it to the rotisserie and finish it off under neath

 

[Triple Black 73]

It's looking good I love watching these things going together. Guess how far the sunroof car has come.....
Nope still in the shed . Maybe one day soon I'll bring it out and attach it to the rotisserie and finish it off under neath

Heh. That's ok, only thing I've done to the Charger since September has been push it around the shop, mount the exhaust from the headers to mufflers, bolted on the front brake calipers on, and ran the new stainless steel brake lines (Couldn't stand the look of rusted old lines against the fresh black paint). I'm going to order the last block of parts this week in HOPE of getting the car on the road by the week ending April 8th.

What's remaining to do:

• Fix electrical wiring at the steering column
• Brake proportioning valve
  
• Finish the lighting (led headlights; leds tail and corner blubs)
  
• Wire in electrical fan controller (Derale Single-Stage Fan Controllers 16720)
• make brackets to mount the radiator ($600 to fit and look right, $140 for something that works)
  
• Install Vinyl Roof
  
• Weld up and paint exhaust (going to use Band clamps for the mufflers and silver Thermo-Tec Hi-Heat paint)
  
• Connect transmission shifter
• Wiper crank

Things that will be done after it's driveable:

• A/C system upgrade
• Replace 22 year old BFG's

So close but still two full weeks of work left.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Well the sunroof charger is gone I turned my focus to my 72 rallye charger I'll be getting on it soon I just sold my Buick too so only thing in the way is a deuce and a half but I think I can move it enough forward to pull the charger out behind it to get it to the main work shop !

 

[Fitz73Chrgr]

Nice progress!