Don's 1969 Charger Restoration

[69 GTX]

Plastic work is so tedious.....

 

[showard]

Here is a pic of the pass side bucket and where it broke

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So my plan was to prep all of the plastic pieces (I used a dremel to 45 all edges and crack lines. I also drilled a hole at the end of the crack. This will stop the crack from continuing) and then to create a slurry using ABS shavings and acetone. Then using the slurry to fill in all of the cracks and holes.
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Brings back memories. It is a lot of work. Just keep it up, your doing a great job.

 

[cdr]

Just be patient on the dry time, AWESOME progress

 

[747mopar]

I never thought I'd see the day that this looked like a Charger again. I took way to long to check this thread out, what an achievement! I've never seen one taken this far down and brought back, you da man. Wow does it look great.

 

[moparsaver]

Pretty Damn Impressive!! Looking Great Don.

 

[mopar4don]

Thanks all for the words of encouragement.

 

[Don selleck]

amazing Don, keep going, you'll be driving it before you know it.

 

[mopar4don]

I had some problems with the ABS slurry not sticking to the original plastic.
So I started using 3m semi rigid plastic repair

 

[mopar4don]

I started with the easy spots first

And gradually worked up to the harder joints

 

[mopar4don]

This was a tough one.
2 joints at the same time. I used small pieces of sheet metal for "backers" to help locate the common surface. Down in that corner I bent a piece of sheet metal into a 90 then clamped it.

view from the back

 

[mopar4don]

So what I did was I used wax paper between the grill and the sheet metal backer. (This way the 3m plastic repair wont stick to the metal. Or I hoped it would not stick!) I un-clamped one side and gently opened the gap then applied the 3m plastic repair, then closed the gap back up and re-clamped it.

So after the 3m filler dried, I removed the clamps and metal backer, and then applied the filler to the other side of the joint (where it was previously covered by the metal backer)

Here is a pic after I rough sanded the joint (the clamps are there for the next step)

To hold the metal backer for the next piece

I was having a little bit of warping so I put a little english on it by tapping it up

Here you can see the missing piece I salvaged from a broken up grill I had

 

[dadsbee]

NICE Don! Wax paper, we must think alike! LOL

Wonder if that 3M stuff is the same basic make up as the JB that I used to do my hood box.

 

[mopar4don]

Thank you sir. All I know is I hope it holds together!

 

[dadsbee]

We're in the same boat when it comes to that Don!

 

[moparnation74]

That is some tedious and stressful work to restore these old plastic/fiber parts.

Great work so far Don!

 

[747mopar]

I feel your pain, I remember that process all to well but on a plus those repairs are still holding strong and you can't see a single one of them. Plastic weld, 2 part epoxy from any hardware store or even WalMart, worked great.

 

[hunt2elk]

Nice work Don. You are bringing back some Charger grill repair memories to me, although mine wasn't nearly as bad as yours. How many more parts and pieces do you think a Charger has on it compared to say a Road Runner or Super Bee? Quite a few I believe.

 

[mopar4don]

That is some tedious and stressful work to restore these old plastic/fiber parts.
Great work so far Don!

It sounds like you have had some experience? LOL
And without your thread (and others) guys like me would not attempt to fix these old cars!
So to you and all who help I say THANK YOU

I feel your pain, I remember that process all to well but on a plus those repairs are still holding strong and you can't see a single one of them. Plastic weld, 2 part epoxy from any hardware store or even WalMart, worked great.

Like all things, it seems there is more than one way to fix something. I went with 3m cause that's what a friend recommended.

Nice work Don. You are bringing back some Charger grill repair memories to me, although mine wasn't nearly as bad as yours. How many more parts and pieces do you think a Charger has on it compared to say a Road Runner or Super Bee? Quite a few I believe.

And to think that before I disassembled the grill, I thought I had an almost a perfect grill!
I am happy I don't have to fix any ribs!

It would be very interesting to know how many parts are on a car.

 

[mopar4don]

The next area was the broken mounting brackets. One on the center section, and one of the buckets.
I used modeling clay to form the area to repair.

Here is the mount on the bucket

Then fill em up

 

[showard]

Sounds like you are bringing back many memories with this repair. It looks like your brakes are the same places where my grill was broken.
Your doing a great job. I like how you are filling in the gaps. You will make it look brand new when you are done.