Lookie what $5000 buys you....

[Photon440]

Some progress today.

View attachment 1400795

How about that seat, huh? It matches the overall vibe of the car!

View attachment 1400796

This name "Jigsaw" is really appropriate. Notice the replacement lower hinge. Not much on this car is original.

View attachment 1400797

Remember the 1970s adult movie "Behind the Green Door" ?

View attachment 1400798

I remember the name but not much else. Anyhow....

View attachment 1400800

The gaps at the fender look good. the top is close to the other gaps too.

View attachment 1400801

The end of the door seemed a little low so I made a shim from 20 gauge sheet metal.

View attachment 1400802

View attachment 1400803

It fits between the lower hinge and door.

View attachment 1400804

As slight as the shim was, it still put the top of the door too high at the quarter.

View attachment 1400805

I guess I've been cheating...I just use the variable thickness shims in a kit like this. But to explain, that's what I pulled out in the first place so I thought the factory must have used something similar.
www.ebay.ca/itm/401594399323?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=706-159614-043509-9&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=401594399323&targetid=4585856844771833&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=440273763&mkgroupid=1316116946030195&rlsatarget=pla-4585856844771833&abcId=9301944&merchantid=136822&msclkid=7ace9070b9521b10efacf3cf32b0232c

 

[ckessel]

Some progress today.

View attachment 1400795

How about that seat, huh? It matches the overall vibe of the car!

View attachment 1400796

This name "Jigsaw" is really appropriate. Notice the replacement lower hinge. Not much on this car is original.

View attachment 1400797

Remember the 1970s adult movie "Behind the Green Door" ?

View attachment 1400798

I remember the name but not much else. Anyhow....

View attachment 1400800

The gaps at the fender look good. the top is close to the other gaps too.

View attachment 1400801

The end of the door seemed a little low so I made a shim from 20 gauge sheet metal.

View attachment 1400802

View attachment 1400803

It fits between the lower hinge and door.

View attachment 1400804

As slight as the shim was, it still put the top of the door too high at the quarter.

View attachment 1400805

I remember that movie. Marilyn Chambers was busy.

 

[Kern Dog]

The the spare Charger fender has a badly bent brace.

I figured that it would be too hard to fix so I cut out the brace from the Coronet fender.

I forgot that the body lines are different. The brace reflects that.

I figured that I could hammer and dolly it to fit the Charger fender.

I drilled out the spot welds.

 

[Kern Dog]

This shows my dedication to the hobby.

The edges were chiseled off and the brace was pulled away.

 

[hanks73340]

Doing some really good metal work KD.

it was Marilyn Chambers that was the star of Behind the Green Door.

 

[Kern Dog]

Marylin.
Wasn’t she the Ivory Snow kid ?

 

[Kern Dog]

Before I could remove the bent brace, I needed to peel back the bent edge.

Damn, that is ugly.
In the process of bending it back….

It started occurring to me that I might be able to leave the brace in place.

…. And just do what I can to make it work.

 

[hanks73340]

Marylin.
Wasn’t she the Ivory Snow kid ?

yes she was

 

[Kern Dog]

I wanted to see how the edge looks next to a door….

Without a helper here, it is hard to do with the parts on tables. I do see that the center body line is low and will need to be driven out to meet the ridge in the door scallop.

 

[Kern Dog]

I’ll have to mount the fender on the car to assess how much more work it needs. Nothing matches the rigidity of that.
Oh… I noticed that this black spray bombed fender is also green…

Was there ever a movie called “Behind the Green Fender “ ?

 

[440plus6]

FK5 burnt orange with matching interior. The 1970 Charger models were as follows: R/T was the performance model and had an XS in the VIN. The 500 was a trim package similar to a Sport Satellite, it had an XP in the VIN. The lowest trim level was the XH. THis car is the XH. I guess this was a lower priced model built to be more cost competitive. Bench seat, column shift, no clock or tach, no tail panel trim. View attachment 824468

Kern, I think you may have found Worman's 70 Charger lol

 

[dadsbee]

I found that nut you've been looking for....

 

[eldubb440]

I found that nut you've been looking for....

even a blind squirrel

 

[Nxcoupe]

I’ll have to mount the fender on the car to assess how much more work it needs. Nothing matches the rigidity of that.
Oh… I noticed that this black spray bombed fender is also green…

View attachment 1401157

Was there ever a movie called “Behind the Green Fender “ ?

Probably not, but there should have been!

 

[eldubb440]

Before I could remove the bent brace, I needed to peel back the bent edge. View attachment 1401142

View attachment 1401143

Damn, that is ugly.
In the process of bending it back….

View attachment 1401144

View attachment 1401145

It started occurring to me that I might be able to leave the brace in place.

View attachment 1401146

…. And just do what I can to make it work.

View attachment 1401148

sometimes a relief slice to weaken an area will help to bend it straight......then weld it back up

 

[Kern Dog]

I aligned the white fender back in late 2019 when I first replaced the front stub. The gaps seem pretty good to me.

The door edge gap looks much better with the UNbent green door.

The white color of the fender hides a lot of damage though.

 

[Kern Dog]

Mock up.

I was able to slip the old fender out and the next one in by just sliding the grille/ bumper assembly forward.

The gaps are not great but more adjustment should help.

The door is low. The fender planes to the cowl okay.

You can see how the door is low. The hinges do allow some up/down movement.

 

[Kern Dog]

The middle of the fender does need to come out more.

The fender is bolted in at the cowl, the vertical stud that sets on the tab near the door and at the rocker. Next up….

Harbor Freight to the rescue.
This hydraulic setup came in a parts stash I bought 7 years ago.

Then, just like Saturday night… a few good pumps and I was done.

I went a little strong so it would relax back a bit once the pressure is off.

I might have to push it out a little more still. The door has to come up about 1/8". I'll assess it then. For now, I can push the bumper back into position and crank it down.

 

[Kern Dog]

There has to be adequate space to allow the door and hood to open and close without contact but some old cars had gaps that were not consistent.
We have all heard of the sloppy build quality of the Musclecar era. I’ve seen builds in high end shops where they modify panels to tighten up the gaps. I’ve done this a few times too. It is a tedious process…. The way that I’ve done it is to take sections of welding rod….

Bend it to match the shape of the edge…..

Then using a series of short, quick welds spaced far apart, the rod essentially extends the edge and narrows the body gap. There are various thicknesses of rod to use. I’ve used .090 rod and sometimes had to gently grind it back down to get the gaps right. Welding thinner rod stock takes more skill than I have.
This point will get addressed too.

The fender edge at the door is uneven due to the damage so I’ll likely do the same thing here.

Not today though. My goal for now was to get the fender and door in place and adjusted enough to look better than it was before.

The valance sure fits better.

 

[HawkRod]

Then, just like Saturday night… a few good pumps and I was done.