JamieZ's 68 Charger

[JamieZ]

Took 2 attempts, but I managed to get the grille back on. First attempt, the driver's side actuator was hitting the bumper bracket. I had to bring everything back inside, flip the bracket and lug it back outside again. Second attempt got it back on the car, but I had to call into work as soon as I got it buttoned up and the basic wiring re-attached. I also need to install the 4 bolts that go through the wheel wells, but that requires pulling the front tires and I'll probably wait until the car is back on cement to do that.

The hood latch needs to be adjusted to clean up the fit and I need to finish the 6 pin harness connector before I can test it on the car. After that it's just a matter of reinstalling the valance and bumper.

 

[tallhair]

Very cool thread and neat documentation of your lights .. I didn't know it was that involved working on those things

 

[JamieZ]

Fixed most of the turn signal issues. The hood mounted ones (which I installed but never tested) work now, the driver's side was not making ground, probably because of the paint. If I wiggled the light it would work, so I decided to run a ground wire to it. That fixed the issue.


For the valance lights, the passenger side connector was broken, so I snipped it off and put a brand new connector in. There was still an issue with the lights not working when connected through the harness. Again this turned out to be a ground issue. The lights were only seeing 1-2v difference when the hazards were flashing. I took the common pin and rerouted it to the radiator support ground that the rest of the front harness uses and then the lights were getting a 10-11V difference when flashing.


Once I verify all the wiring worked, I went ahead and reinstalled the bumper and the valance. I swapped all the valance bolts to be the same, as for some reason 4 of the bolts that were on the car when I bought it were metric.

The turn signals still do not work. They flash erratically if at all. I suspect the flasher is dead (since the hazards are fully functional). I have a spare flasher, but it was starting to get cold so I decided not to crawl around under the dash looking for it. Something tells me the AC duct is going to be right in the way. Sunday the snow came back so I guess it will have to wait until next weekend.

 

[Hazzard Lugnut]

Thanks JamieZ for the posts they will help me when I get to those points

 

[JamieZ]

Fished around under the dash and found the turn signal flasher. I wired it to a test circuit and the headlight I was using did not blink (it stayed lit). I put a new flasher in and everything worked as expected. I reinstalled it in the car and discovered I had the left and right pins swapped on the 6 pin front light harness. Fortunately I hadn't buttoned it up so I was easy to fix.
I started cleaning up the rest of the wiring and wrapping it.


Now the only thing left to do with the front lights is to aim them, but I can't do that until it is on more level ground. Now I need to move onto the rear. The trunk light connections need sorting and for some reason the reverse lights don't work. I figure If I've gone this far on the electrical path, I might as well sort out the last few annoyances.

 

[JamieZ]

Weather was good so I was doing some clean up under the hood. I decided to remove the vacuum line from the manifold...since the headlight doors are now electric. I now know why doors did not work correctly:

The engine will probably run better as well.

 

[JamieZ]

Last week the weather started to turn...but then it snowed Saturday. So the charger is still trapped in by mud until everything melts and dries out. I picked up a welder but haven't had time to do much more with it than fire it up and realize there is a whole lot I don't know about welding and I need a lot of practice.

Fortunately, the Challenger was readily available so I fired her up and took her out for a quick spin. No major issues and a crappy cell phone video to show it running.
http://youtu.be/psbFyfTUjJw

 

[Ron 73]

Nice Challenger!!

 

[JamieZ]

Well the weather continued to play nice and the ground finally dried up enough that I could free the charger from it's winter prison.

Now that it's in the garage I can start working on the engine and getting it to run better

 

[old_skool]

Nice looking Charger. You might want to think about making the wiring change and bypass the amp guage while the dash is out.

Why is this? Is there a mod for something different or...? I ask, because I currently have my dash out, and am always looking for upgrades.

 

[GearAddict]

Why is this? Is there a mod for something different or...? I ask, because I currently have my dash out, and am always looking for upgrades.

I'm certainly not the expert, but I believe that Amp guage, being wired through the firewall, is a fire waiting to happen. I believe most people ditch it in favor of a volt meter...Not as helpfull as a ammeter, but far safer.

- - - Updated - - -

Great looking Charger by the way...love the grill/headlight project, beautiful work.

 

[JamieZ]

The factory wiring/ammeter can be a fire hazard. A large amount of current is flowing through them, and the OE wiring was fine for this....40 years ago. Corrosion will create resistance / heat and could cause a fire. Also if you swap your stock alternator for a more modern higher amperage one, the circuit isn't rated for it.

 

[old_skool]

Thanks guys, I may do the same, ditch it, I usually end up using a volt meter anyway. Sorry for the hi-jack, and that is awesome work on the hd-lt assy.

 

[JamieZ]

Now that the car is in the garage I've begun working on a general tune up.
I let it warm up and checked the vacuum. Adjusting the screws on the carb did not seem to do much, I already have a carb to swap on it but I wanted to see how good I could get what I already have.

The engine itself idles nicely and runs pretty smooth.

http://youtu.be/4lwO79UsA08

Decent throttle response as well.

After it cooled down I pulled the plugs....access to #3 was a real beast but I got them all out.

(Left is engine front, bottom is drivers side).

I installed the new plugs but I don't like the look of some of the spark plug wires so I ordered new ones. It did run just fine when I fired it back up so the current wires are functional (just ugly).

 

[JamieZ]

Swapped the plug wires....a few of them look like someone used a pair of pliers on them

Besides, I'm a sucker for the stock orange look

But then I had to spend the rest of the day doing yard work instead of playing with the cars

 

[JamieZ]

Now that the car is in the garage and one level ground I decided to finish up the last part of the headlight project. I bought an old school aiming kit off eBay a while back so today I hooked it up and dialed the lights in.

 

[roadrunnerman]

That's cool. Haven't seen one of those in years.

 

[JamieZ]

They are so much cheaper than the modern beam setters because they only work with the "nub" headlights. I figured it was good enough back in 1968, it should be good enough now

Besides I can always use them on my Challenger and my Dad's Impala as well.

 

[747mopar]

Looking good Jamie, yes the weather is finally laying off finally. Forgive me if I've already asked but where in Ohio are you? I'm a half hour north of the Int77, Int70 intersection.

 

[JamieZ]

Looking good Jamie, yes the weather is finally laying off finally. Forgive me if I've already asked but where in Ohio are you? I'm a half hour north of the Int77, Int70 intersection.

I'm a bit further north, up near the 90/271 intersection.