Lookie what $5000 buys you....

[Phantomx]

On the seats, I actually prefer low backs honestly. 68 are best, no headrests and the setbacks have latches so the passenger seat doesn’t flip forward when you’re driving in a spirited manner.

On your alignment, I’d be interested in what it measures out to with it set as is. My old school alignment guy at G12 garage in downtown Sac said you could only set the mopars to about 2deg positive caster before you start running into bump steer issues. I’m curious how all of these cars drive that are using high caster upper arms. I haven’t heard anyone talk about correcting bump steer, except when Rick ehrenberg was doing articles about suspension on the green brick 30 years ago.
Travis..

 

[Kern Dog]

If the G-12 guy was Dave, he was skilled but holy crap that guy would talk your ear off.
Bump steer…
I’ve read about correcting it by cold bending the steering arms on the lower ball joints.
Whatever bump steer I have, I don’t feel it.
Mark… YES. I have done the camber measurements with a level and block of wood. This was with my Camaro. Those took shins between the frame and the upper control arm shafts. I used to aim for a half bubble off of plumb.

 

[Ceedawg]

I have to really restrain myself to keep from blowing up at those people.

Try finding a sock 4 speed bell at a reasonably price

 

[Phantomx]

Yes, bell housings and anything 4 speed related is outrageous now. As a rule I never get rid of anything 4 speed related
Travis..

 

[Kern Dog]

A/T version brake pedals can be cut down to resemble Manual trans versions...I've done that.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

I could have saved you the time, effort, and worry of making it too nice by swapping you my nice black 70 bench for those buckets. Woulda been a bolt-in affair and kept the car more “correct”. Per the usual, you did it the hard way ;)
Travis..

..yet Kern has the cool buckets. For the win!

 

[Ceedawg]

..yet Kern has the cool buckets. For the win!

And color

 

[Kern Dog]

I picked the charcoal color out of a Year One catalog in 2002. I didn’t know whether it was an actual factory color or not. I just liked it.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

Came over from the link you provided on my welcome thread, you have it right to where I would start with my ideal project, maybe even a bit nicer. Looking forward to what's next.

 

[Kern Dog]

The other day I was looking at the fender that I swapped in awhile back.

Given that there are no steel reproduction fenders made for this car, I'm stuck with buying something used or making do with what I have. The black fender isn't perfect but the white one I had on there was worse.

I bought the white one 20 years ago at a swap meet for under $100 ! Have you seen what some guys are asking for these now?

This black fender came in the deal with the car back in September 2019.

It is pretty straight except at the door edge.

It looks like the car was in a front end collision and the fender was pushed back enough to obstruct the door, then the driver shoved the door open, bending the edges of both the fender and door.

The door edge of the white fender was the cleanest part of it. The rest of the fender is repairable but would take more work. I chose to use the black fender. I straightened out most of the creased edge and bolted it in place.
The door was pulled and replaced since I wanted to have one of the two panels with a clean edge to work with.

The door edge will allow a point from which to work. The fender damage did result in uneven gaps that will need attention. I've done this before:



The fender still has that wrinkle in it that would be hard to get out. I can't hammer and dolly it since that brace is behind it.

My original plan was to pull out the brace, straighten the edge of the fender and replace the brace. It turns out the brace is unique to the Charger but probably fits from 1968-70. It means caniballizing another fender which isn't cost effective. I'd almost be limited to scrounging for an otherwise junk fender just to harvest the bracing from it.
Nah...
I could remove the brace, hammer and dolly the waves and weld the brace back in....OR try pulling the low spots up with a dent puller using those welded studs the pros use.
I'm just spitballing here....It is raining heavy and I'm not in the mood to go out to the shop!

 

[Photon440]

I'd use the dent puller. Effective, and easier than removing and replacing the brace.

 

[eldubb440]

sometimes you work with what ya got.......

 

[OneWheelPeel]

I'd use the dent puller with studs, Harbor Freight makes it accessible and there may be even cheaper ones that work on Amazon.

 

[ckessel]

Looking at the issues with the door and fender, I'm thinking if you were able to do some sheetmetal pulls on the two edges, they and some of the other problems would get remedied. For the pulls, both units need to stay bolted on. You weld pull tabs, not nails, to the edges to pull against. As you're tugging, work the area there and further back with the hammer and dolly routine. You could quite possibly use a come along for the pulling with something clamped or welded to the pull tab edge for the CA to fit into. Slow, steady pressure works many wonders as opposed to hard yanking. You'll need to be careful as on both of those edges, you're dealing with an inner structure and an outer skin. One may seperate from the other as you tug. Both the inner structure and the outer skin are playing a part in the game. The inner structure probably more so as they are generally thicker material and the contours/shapes of them make them very strong. The damage to those edges/inner structures will be a major player to the damage further in. All locked together. Some examples of tools to use or get ideas from.
Mo-Clamp 4
Mo-Clamp Long Nose Clamp - 0660

 

[Kern Dog]

The flange of the brace is pushed in at the side nearest the edge. It probably isn't visible in pictures but enough to leave wrinkles in the outer skin and a gap that is inconsistent.

I was able to get the flange even with the door in terms of in/out but the gap sucks. The other gaps are not too bad.

I already need to address the area near the point below.

The gap isn't bad in this picture.

It seems too tight at the rear of the door to quarter area:

 

[ckessel]

Looking factory now.

 

[fesser]

I'm just spitballing here....It is raining heavy and I'm not in the mood to go out to the shop!

Raining like that here too. I still went out to the shop but somehow got to messing around with some old Coleman lanterns that I seem to collect without intending to. Have three running on the roof of the Coronet right now that weren't running when the weather was nice, so I guess that's something. As for your fender, I am with Photon440 and OneWheelPeel, use the weld on studs and pull out what you can. Might even be able to rig up a way to keep tension on the stud and hammer around the part you are pulling up, sort of inside out hammer and dolly.

 

[hanks73340]

Its looking really good. Is it possible to shave the bottom portion of the door just a bit? I know your definitely more of a body man than I am but I have found this guys tricks very helpful last year when working on my neighbors 67 Delmont.

 

[eldubb440]

The replacement rails were cleared of all the old floor pan and welds, then I went to work removing the rest of the RH frame rail. The center pin in the spotweld cutter broke so I called it a day. I noticed that the floor pan is buckled a bit on the right side. I expected there to be some additional work to get this replacement stuff to fit.
The torsion bar crossmember looks fine though. That is encouraging!

View attachment 872864

I can't believe this was 5 years ago

 

[Kern Dog]

I look at how much I got done on the other car in the same time frame.
Engine/trans/axle/brake swaps, body and paint, interior.....
But back then it was my only car to focus on. I was working though so time was limited to nights and weekends.