Don's 1969 Charger Restoration

[mopar4don]

I know it is a small piece Don, but it sure must feel good to finally be welding in new instead of tearing apart.

You are right Elk. From here on out it should be getting heavier!

 

[mopar4don]

More passenger roof support patches

patch #2









Patch #3
This one was a little scary! I layed out where the bends were, then hammered the original flat.
Next I transferred and cutout a new patch (a little bigger to allow for fitment) layed out the bend lines, then put it in my vise and did some bending





Kinda hard to see were it transitions from high to low, but if you backup 3-5 pics you can see what I was trying to duplicate.



Patch #4
Similar process as patch #2

 

[Propwash]

Looking Good Don. Keep it up!

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Nice work Don! Giving me deja vu with the patch fabricating I've been doing the past week, fresh solid sheet metal is a beautiful thing! :icon_thumleft: keep up the great work!

 

[mopar4don]

Thanks Prop and Speed. And your right speed, New metal is a beautiful thing!

 

[CharGer]

Awesome work there, Don. You're becoming an artist, a mopartist.

 

[conv67bdere]

Awesome work there, Don. You're becoming an artist, a mopartist.

Great reply CharGer . . . I really like that . . . Mopartist . . . Fits the bill to a T . . . Very nice work Mopar4Don

 

[mopar4don]

Thanks guys for the support. An artist I am not! A mopartist??? I just like working on them!

On to the drivers side.

1st, I marked and removed the quarter panel reinforcement bracket.





1st patch welded in.
The metal where the 90 bend was good so I did not have to replace this.
I let the metal extend out over the bend, then came back and welded underneath



pardon the turkey poop weld.... I'm still learning!



3rd patch
In this sequence you can see a little better how I did it







You can see the overhang a little better here


and here


A few more patches

 

[747mopar]

You are one determined individual Don, keep on patching.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Not an artist? I beg to differ Don, looks to me like you're welding up your own Mona Lisa one patch at a time, great work!

 

[mopar4don]

Thanks Speedy, with the amount of metal replacement It's like I've got a blank canvas!

I don't know what the deal is but when I went to click on the thanks icon at the the bottom of speedy's post it gave me an error.......... I have seen this before, and when I clicked on 747's thanks icon it worked fine! WIERD!

vBulletin Message

mopar4don, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

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[hunt2elk]

Thanks Speedy, with the amount of metal replacement It's like I've got a blank canvas!

I don't know what the deal is but when I went to click on the thanks icon at the the bottom of speedy's post it gave me an error.......... I have seen this before, and when I clicked on 747's thanks icon it worked fine! WIERD!

vBulletin Message

mopar4don, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

That's happened to me before also Don. I just hit the refresh page, and then it works fine. Just a small little hiccup on this great site.

 

[mopar4don]

Hi Elk,
It does it to you to! And nothing changes when I refresh. Oh well, no worries

 

[BigBlock61]

Don, you should pat yourself on the back. Artist/mopargod, yea that's you. you are and inspiration to many of us here. No pressure just keep up the good work LOL.

 

[mopar4don]

Rear window lower corner

Decided to take a look at the pass side, rear lower window corner.


These 1st few pictures show what I have to work with. You also see this bracket.
I believe it supports the deck filler panel and trunk gutter.
I was careful not to cut it when I removed those panels.










Once I removed that bracket (drilled out the spot welds and carefully removed it)
I drilled out the spot welds in this corner support


and removed it


Before I removed the corner support I sectioned out a piece the lower window frame.
I did not get a good picture of this, but here I am showing the piece that was sectioned out

 

[conv67bdere]

Love watching your work Mopar4Don . . . even more now that you've told me you're in the same boat as me . . . keep at it, one of these days we'll both be driving some very nice rides ! ! !

And . . . you are WAY deeper into your build than I'm into MY build ! ! Thanks for the updates.

 

[mopar4don]

Forming the window corner

I had this idea that I would make a wooden form and try to form the window corner.
I started out with a chunk of wood, then using my router and grinders, I formed the wooden buck.










Now came the time to try and form it. I was a bit concerned that it had to form into a tight corner, and I wasn't sure it would work. But hey I came this far...
so I put in a piece of metal, and started hammering away....





I had to apply heat, it helped a little






I had to abandon this plan as the metal got to thin in that tight corner I was worried about!

 

[mopar4don]

ON to plan "B"

This time I'll form it by hand.













Here you can see I'm fitting the corner and the lower window frame patch

 

[747mopar]

I still say your nuts.:icon_eyes: Keep up the insane work.

 

[Chargerjase]

Love what you are doing to this Charger Don. You are literally bringing her back from the dead.