Grendel lives...resurrection of a 1970 Charger 500

[ckessel]

Caliper is hanging up somehow. Look at the slider areas for burrs, wear, lack of lube etc.

 

[Coelacanth]

When I pulled out the pins, there was no lube to speak of. The car hasn't been driven in over 20 years, mind you. I gave the shafts a polish with 400-grit and will get some proper lube on them when the rotors go back on.

 

[Coelacanth]

Some parts came in from RockAuto and Amazon (!!) so I was able to tackle the sway bar bushings and end links. The nicer ACDelco Gold link kit ended up being cheaper than RockAuto after factoring in shipping and USD-to-CAD conversion, and shipped next-day. This kit looked noticeably beefier than the original ones I pulled off.

I removed the bar, 2 retainers and 2 mounting brackets and cleaned off all the guck, degreased all the parts, nuts & bolts, gave everything a thin coat of Fluid Film for rust prevention, and reinstalled everything. Eventually I'll get around to cleaning much of the undercarriage and spraying on some Fluid Film.

 

[Coelacanth]

Surprise, surprise...more rust found.

While I had the front wheels off to replace the rotors, gazing up into the fender well, I saw some rust-through on the passenger side splash shield, at the top outer corner and near the bottom. What is that upside-down U-shaped rubber thingy called? Fortunately the driver side is good, I'll just need to replace one splash shield, but both rubber things need to be replaced.

Installation question: It looks like this part mostly just pops in with push-pins, but what's the process to replace it? Is there welding involved?

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

Surprise, surprise...more rust found.

While I had the front wheels off to replace the rotors, gazing up into the fender well, I saw some rust-through on the passenger side splash shield, at the top outer corner and near the bottom. What is that upside-down U-shaped rubber thingy called? Fortunately the driver side is good, I'll just need to replace one splash shield, but both rubber things need to be replaced.

Installation question: It looks like this part mostly just pops in with push-pins, but what's the process to replace it? Is there welding involved?

View attachment 1763415

The rubber is the upper seal of the splash shield and the clips just hold the the rubber to the sheild

 

[Coelacanth]

It's almost spring time in northwestern Canada and I got around to cleaning up some used front sidemarkers and restoring my original reverse lights. As Grendel will be a driver, I'm mainly concerned only with visible appearance of these parts, I won't be replacing with brand new repros. The sidemarker chrome had the usual crud and decades-old wax remnants inside the grooves. I cleaned that up with 0000 steel wool, now they're presentable again and ready to reinstall. My reverse light housings were a tad more work but at least the visible stainless parts clean up nicely with the steel wool. Here's a before-after showing one of them; the other will definitely need more attention.

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

It's almost spring time in northwestern Canada and I got around to cleaning up some used front sidemarkers and restoring my original reverse lights. As Grendel will be a driver, I'm mainly concerned only with visible appearance of these parts, I won't be replacing with brand new repros. The sidemarker chrome had the usual crud and decades-old wax remnants inside the grooves. I cleaned that up with 0000 steel wool, now they're presentable again and ready to reinstall. My reverse light housings were a tad more work but at least the visible stainless parts clean up nicely with the steel wool. Here's a before-after showing one of them; the other will definitely need more attention.

View attachment 1817570
View attachment 1817571

Looking good brother!!!

 

[Coelacanth]

I did my best to restore the reverse and license plate light housings. They were intact other than being rusty and cruddy. Even though the housings won't be visible when installed, I didn't want to simply reinstall them in this condition, so I sanded/filed off most of the rust and crud, degreased, then applied a few coats of Rust Bullet. I chose this rust converter paint for these parts because the slightly metallic grey finish looks quite similar to the original metal. Gloss black wouldn't have looked right or be as reflective, as far as the license plate light housing goes.

 

[Coelacanth]

I'd been putting off reinstalling my fuel cap because I wanted to install those anti-theft screws that need the special socket doohickey to install & remove them. Unfortunately, everywhere I searched on eBay, they were ludicrously priced at $26+ USD, which ends up being an asinine $50 - $60 CAD north of the border...for 3 frickin' screws and a socket! I found a much more affordable, almost as theft-resistant solution on Amazon. These #10 x .75" stainless Torx security screws were perfect. Plus, you get 50 of 'em AND the screwdriver bit to install 'em. You could do 16 gas cap installs with these, for a mere $18.49 CAD, shipped.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DHCYC2TC

Perhaps not quite as theft-proof as the funky ones, but most thieves aren't walking around with Torx security screwdrivers in hand, so this option should do the trick.

 

[Coelacanth]

When I bought my car back in 1986, the hood signal lights didn't work, and the passenger side amber lens was completely missing. Today, I went to install my housings and repro lenses I bought several years ago and discovered this...I've heard about repro parts quality being dodgy, but aren't these lenses supposed to fit better, without that huge gap along the upper edge? Am I missing something here? I can't believe these repros would be THAT ill-fitting! Has anybody else experienced this? If these are just a janky set, what repro lenses ARE a proper fit?

 

[OKDart]

I'd been putting off reinstalling my fuel cap because I wanted to install those anti-theft screws that need the special socket doohickey to install & remove them. Unfortunately, everywhere I searched on eBay, they were ludicrously priced at $26+ USD, which ends up being an asinine $50 - $60 CAD north of the border...for 3 frickin' screws and a socket! I found a much more affordable, almost as theft-resistant solution on Amazon. These #10 x .75" stainless Torx security screws were perfect. Plus, you get 50 of 'em AND the screwdriver bit to install 'em. You could do 16 gas cap installs with these, for a mere $18.49 CAD, shipped.

Amazon.ca

Perhaps not quite as theft-proof as the funky ones, but most thieves aren't walking around with Torx security screwdrivers in hand, so this option should do the trick.

View attachment 1824304 View attachment 1824303

I recommend using machine screws with lock nuts for security. You would need access to the trunk to remove.

 

[Coelacanth]

My passenger side inside fender rear splash shield was rusting out and the rubber piece falling apart. The driver side isn't so bad, but I bought the set of both and fasteners.

I was kind of dreading what I might find behind that passenger side splash shield...

Removing the 3 bigger bolts was easy, but I found the handful of smaller fasteners much more of a challenge. The heads are very shallow and difficult to get a grip on with a socket or Vise-Grips. I was concerned that I'd round off the heads because they were stuck in there pretty good. Looking at them, I think the very thin, round washers under the bolt heads weren't helping as they just increased the surface contact area and were likely rusted to the bolt heads, so here's a tip that worked for me: smack on those washers and all around them with a hammer. This must've jarred them loose because I was finally able to remove those shallow fasteners with a socket.

What was revealed behind the shields wasn't as bad as I thought. Some surface rust in places and a rusty mounting clip at the top, but a good wire brush, degrease and DOM16 should preserve that nicely, before reinstalling the new shields and rubber pieces.

What I wasn't expecting was each of the original splash shields had a strip of rubber weatherstripping of sorts pinned along the edge facing the curved inner fender. I don't recall seeing repros of those anywhere. I hope treating them with some Aerospace 303 Protectant and careful removal, I might be able to re-use the original rubber strips.

 

[440 4 speed]

My passenger side inside fender rear splash shield was rusting out and the rubber piece falling apart. The driver side isn't so bad, but I bought the set of both and fasteners.

I was kind of dreading what I might find behind that passenger side splash shield...

View attachment 1826819

Removing the 3 bigger bolts was easy, but I found the handful of smaller fasteners much more of a challenge. The heads are very shallow and difficult to get a grip on with a socket or Vise-Grips. I was concerned that I'd round off the heads because they were stuck in there pretty good. Looking at them, I think the very thin, round washers under the bolt heads weren't helping as they just increased the surface contact area and were likely rusted to the bolt heads, so here's a tip that worked for me: smack on those washers and all around them with a hammer. This must've jarred them loose because I was finally able to remove those shallow fasteners with a socket.

View attachment 1826820

What was revealed behind the shields wasn't as bad as I thought. Some surface rust in places and a rusty mounting clip at the top, but a good wire brush, degrease and DOM16 should preserve that nicely, before reinstalling the new shields and rubber pieces.

What I wasn't expecting was each of the original splash shields had a strip of rubber weatherstripping of sorts pinned along the edge facing the curved inner fender. I don't recall seeing repros of those anywhere. I hope treating them with some Aerospace 303 Protectant and careful removal, I might be able to re-use the original rubber strips.

National Moparts should have them. Purchase the kit. They are made buy DMT.

 

[Coelacanth]

This post will serve as a comparison of Canadian1968's custom hood signal lenses for the '70 Charger and some repro units I bought several years ago. I wish I could remember the maker of the repros but I believe they're the ones commonly available on eBay. The difference in quality is noteworthy.

The repros have pretty low-quality moldings of the lenses themselves, the surfaces look wavy and have molding marks or lines that almost look like scratches, but that's how they're molded. These repros are new, right out of the package and haven't been installed on my car yet. I just test-fitted them to the housings. I just want to show that these weren't marked up by installation or shipping, this is exactly how they look.

The surfaces of Canadian1968's lenses are perfectly flat & smooth and the mounting holes are perfectly round, not ovalled-out. The pigtails use an LED bulb which should be brighter and last a lot longer than the filament bulbs used with the repros. Another issue I found with the repros is the knurled threaded socket on both doesn't fully thread on all the way; I suspect this will result in the metal grounding tab that's retained with the socket not grounding securely, unless there's a washer or something added. The filament bulbs are also stuck in there pretty good, I wasn't able to pop one out with a fingernail, so replacing those filament bulbs might be a hassle compared to the twist-and-pull type socket and pigtail with Canadian1968's design.

All this said, I highly recommend going with his hood signal lenses if you need them, and avoid these repros!

 

[Canadian1968]

@Coelacanth thank you again for the comments and review ! It's great to be able to do a side by side comparison with the aftermarket ones !