dodgechargerfan
Active Member
An eBay find back in 2002, I did what you’re not supposed to do: I bought it sight unseen.
I was still happy with the purchase, but it’s been a nightmare roller coaster ride from day one.
As if the 16 hour run to pick it up weren’t enough, the trip was topped off with a heart wrenching stop at U.S. Customs. They wouldn’t allow me to bring it home to Canada because they didn’t like the paperwork. I had to drop it in the parking lot and go home, hoping that it wouldn’t get towed away in the 3 days that it took to clear the paperwork. The frustrating part about that was that the originally submitted paperwork was fine and it cleared without any changes.
So, now it’s home and the work begins.
This is my first restoration. In fact, I’ve never really worked on my own cars in any big way for a very long time. My cars were always “get me to work and home” cars and I couldn’t afford to have them apart in the driveway for any length of time.
I started with disassembly and tore through it pretty quickly. I thought I had a good system for bagging and tagging, but I’ve since learnt a better way. Hopefully, I’ll get through everything though.
While working under the car, a good look at the frame rails and most of the cross members told me I didn’t have the tools nor the skills to do this right. So, I found someone who could do it for me. I figured he might as well do the sheet metal work as well and get me as close to paint as possible.
There's tons of pictures of this stage of the process here: www.niagaramopars.com
I brought it to a guy that I thought would do a good job for me. I had seen some of his work and it was amazing. Honestly, I was happy with the work he did for me….. at first.
13 weeks, 11K, quarters, floors, rear valence, frame caps, filler and primer later, I had what I thought was a good solid base to start the rest of the project.
Well, let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t get it painted anytime soon. A couple of years lapsed on this project and when I got back to it, I noticed some cracks. I wasn’t too concerned because the car had been sitting on the rotisserie most of that time. However, I knew I had to dig out the cracks to be able to fill them properly. Well, after digging – with just my fingernails – I opened up some pretty sad sights.
Aluminum body tape and mounds of filler do not make for a good structural repair. I found this stuff in the rocker panels, and the tail panel.
Seeing that, I wondered what the frame rails looked like under the primer.
Since we're talking frame rails again, I knew better than to tackle it myself.
So, off to another shop it goes. www.myclassicautobody.com is doing a fantastic job for me. I know I'm in good hands because I hear stories of how pissed they are about the bad work they are finding. They're more pissed than I am - I think I may just be passed it already, but it's probably a good thing that I can see the BS first hand. I get regular updates and pictures, but that seems a little removed from actually looking at it for the first time.... and that seems to be working for me.
They found that the rockers were nothing but rust, tape and filler. Old rust holes were taped and filled over and they were starting to rust again.
The trans cross member folded when they took it out.
The rear shock mount cross member had holes under it and the washer welded in to fix the ovaled-out original was a real treat.
They found that the rear deck filler or dutchman panel – which was perfect before is now warped beyond repair. Maybe having the previous guy replace the package shelf wasn’t worth it after all.
Lot's of pictures of this phase here: www.niagaramopars.com/b2 but here's a teaser.
Well, the rockers are done, the front passenger frame rail is done along with a new inner fender. I got a ton of great used original parts from an eBay seller in New Mexico.
I got a bunch of AMD parts through www.nationalmoparts.com - a tail panel, a dutchman panel and a new hood. Another order for OEM quarters and front fenders will go in as soon as those are available.
I only need the back section of the rear frame rails, so I ordered up the Goodmark pieces from www.crosscanadaparts.com.
In the meantime, I need to get the rear end, front end and engine ready to go. I want the car on it’s own suspension for the trip home. We moved it to the current shop on some home made “legs.” See the blog. They didn't hold up too well, but they got us there.
I was still happy with the purchase, but it’s been a nightmare roller coaster ride from day one.
As if the 16 hour run to pick it up weren’t enough, the trip was topped off with a heart wrenching stop at U.S. Customs. They wouldn’t allow me to bring it home to Canada because they didn’t like the paperwork. I had to drop it in the parking lot and go home, hoping that it wouldn’t get towed away in the 3 days that it took to clear the paperwork. The frustrating part about that was that the originally submitted paperwork was fine and it cleared without any changes.
So, now it’s home and the work begins.
This is my first restoration. In fact, I’ve never really worked on my own cars in any big way for a very long time. My cars were always “get me to work and home” cars and I couldn’t afford to have them apart in the driveway for any length of time.
I started with disassembly and tore through it pretty quickly. I thought I had a good system for bagging and tagging, but I’ve since learnt a better way. Hopefully, I’ll get through everything though.
While working under the car, a good look at the frame rails and most of the cross members told me I didn’t have the tools nor the skills to do this right. So, I found someone who could do it for me. I figured he might as well do the sheet metal work as well and get me as close to paint as possible.
There's tons of pictures of this stage of the process here: www.niagaramopars.com
I brought it to a guy that I thought would do a good job for me. I had seen some of his work and it was amazing. Honestly, I was happy with the work he did for me….. at first.
13 weeks, 11K, quarters, floors, rear valence, frame caps, filler and primer later, I had what I thought was a good solid base to start the rest of the project.
Well, let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t get it painted anytime soon. A couple of years lapsed on this project and when I got back to it, I noticed some cracks. I wasn’t too concerned because the car had been sitting on the rotisserie most of that time. However, I knew I had to dig out the cracks to be able to fill them properly. Well, after digging – with just my fingernails – I opened up some pretty sad sights.
Aluminum body tape and mounds of filler do not make for a good structural repair. I found this stuff in the rocker panels, and the tail panel.
Seeing that, I wondered what the frame rails looked like under the primer.
Since we're talking frame rails again, I knew better than to tackle it myself.
So, off to another shop it goes. www.myclassicautobody.com is doing a fantastic job for me. I know I'm in good hands because I hear stories of how pissed they are about the bad work they are finding. They're more pissed than I am - I think I may just be passed it already, but it's probably a good thing that I can see the BS first hand. I get regular updates and pictures, but that seems a little removed from actually looking at it for the first time.... and that seems to be working for me.
They found that the rockers were nothing but rust, tape and filler. Old rust holes were taped and filled over and they were starting to rust again.
The trans cross member folded when they took it out.
The rear shock mount cross member had holes under it and the washer welded in to fix the ovaled-out original was a real treat.
They found that the rear deck filler or dutchman panel – which was perfect before is now warped beyond repair. Maybe having the previous guy replace the package shelf wasn’t worth it after all.
Lot's of pictures of this phase here: www.niagaramopars.com/b2 but here's a teaser.
Well, the rockers are done, the front passenger frame rail is done along with a new inner fender. I got a ton of great used original parts from an eBay seller in New Mexico.
I got a bunch of AMD parts through www.nationalmoparts.com - a tail panel, a dutchman panel and a new hood. Another order for OEM quarters and front fenders will go in as soon as those are available.
I only need the back section of the rear frame rails, so I ordered up the Goodmark pieces from www.crosscanadaparts.com.
In the meantime, I need to get the rear end, front end and engine ready to go. I want the car on it’s own suspension for the trip home. We moved it to the current shop on some home made “legs.” See the blog. They didn't hold up too well, but they got us there.
(That's a bit of a joke - the owner won't let junk go through his shop. He's sort of the the Mike Holmes of auto body and car restoration.)
