Matt's '68 Charger R/T Project

[Matt J]

Thanks Fellas.

Ron thanks for that informative post. I can see that will be nice and strong though I'm pretty sure I will go with the full rails. CARid have them at what seems to be a good price $220 each. I need to contact them about shipping to the uk though as they want $120 to ship one but $400 to ship the other. I think an error has been made somewhere.
Has anyone used CARid before?

 

[pat1969charger]

$220 sounds about right I think I paid somewhere in that area cdn funds but no shipping as we get parts freight free through my work account. $120 freight seems resonable to the uk but not 120 fr one and 400 the other holy price decrepency!!!

 

[Propwash]

I have the half rails as well. Like mentioned you can weld up the outside, the inside and drill out for spot welds. They lay in nice, give you room for adjustment and seat well against AMD trunk pans. They will need some cutting/carbide work where they butterfly out to the rear crossmember, but nothing that isn't easy to do. Good luck with your project, cool car indeed and after all your work restoring her, i'd imagine it would take kicking the bucket to pry that Dodge from your hands.

 

[Matt J]

I have the half rails as well. Like mentioned you can weld up the outside, the inside and drill out for spot welds. They lay in nice, give you room for adjustment and seat well against AMD trunk pans. They will need some cutting/carbide work where they butterfly out to the rear crossmember, but nothing that isn't easy to do. Good luck with your project, cool car indeed and after all your work restoring her, i'd imagine it would take kicking the bucket to pry that Dodge from your hands.

Thanks for the info. You've got me thinking now that maybe I should go for the half rails. I'll save a bit on shipping as they weigh less and as we get taxed on the shipping in the uk as well as the value of the parts it should workout much cheaper.

Cheers.

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I forgot to ask prop. Did you use the Goodmark rails?

 

[snakeoil24]

Well I've finally started work on my Charger after owning the car for nearly 6yrs.
Most panels seem to have some rust and there have been some not so good repairs made to the rear quarters.
The corner pieces between rear quarters and valance are just bondo.

I'm only working on the car for a few hours each weekend so progress will be slow but at least I'm getting on with it now.



I've started drilling the spot welds on the tail panel and rear quarters.
I need to remove the rear screen before I can go much further. I didn't fancy my chances of getting it out in one piece today as the car is outside and it's pretty cold. I'll get it done soon. If not tomorrow I'll make it my first job next weekend.

Here's some pics taken with my iphone:

Good luck with the car. Tell the queen I said Hello. Keep us in the loop with pictures you have a beautiful ride their. It was one of my first carsd and also had a XJ12 jag back then..

 

[Ron 73]

Matt here is a link to the 1/2 rails but with a little searching or maybe some help from jeff@501restorations you may get them at a cheaper price... I had to buy one and got it cheaper right thru Shermans!

http://www.jegs.com/i/Sherman+Parts/455/171-82L/10002/-1

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I think mine was $144.00 for the one... Not sure now without checking my records but i do think it was....

 

[Propwash]

I forgot to ask prop. Did you use the Goodmark rails?

No sir, they would be the Sherman rails that Ron has in the link above. Looking at the link he posted, pretty sure he found a better price then I paid! LOL!

 

[daytona kid]

The half rails will weld in just as strong as originals because of the overlaps and plug welds. If your before the hump front halves are ok then the rear half rear rails will save you a heck of a lot of work and will eliminate the chances of misaligning something when putting on whole rear rails. After I dressed up my welds you cannot tell where the splices are. The rear halves are very easy to do. You may find some useful info here where I did mine> http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?46289-500-68-charger/page3

 

[Ron 73]

Shermans isint that much cheaper, It is about the 15th on the list, 15 and 16 if i counted right and ill check my receipts but i am sure that's all i paid... of course i have been known to be wrong, ask my wife When i tell her in the AM she will say, "YOU really didn't order paint!" and lol, im going to need to say yes, and then take cover... lol Love it... old cars and building them is more fun then about anything i guess as i get older, oh boy... i am getting old! and its just 3 cans of rattle paint for parts, what can she possibly do to me! If im not back in a few days, don't worry, she don't hit that hard.. He he...

https://www.shermanparts.com/ecat/base/search.php?s=HALF+REAR+FRAMErail+++++RAIL+69+CHARGER

 

[Matt J]

Thanks for everyone's input. It's good to hear people's advice and opinions.

Daytona kid, thank you for the link to your build. Your car looks very similar to mine corrosion wise and the detailed posts on the frame rail install is a big help. I also need to repair my outer wheel housings as you did. I would like retain as much of the original metal as possible so will most likely repair them the way you did. I'm not sure I can remake the lip so I think I will purchase some housings and cut and replace in the same way.
The shipping and import duty will make it an expensive repair though.

Propwash, I've been reading your build thread too and have my car up on jack stands under the frame rails. I can't quite get the car perfectly level. I know the cars would not have been built to the strictest of tolerances at the factory and there doesn't seem to be any totally straight areas to get a truly accurate reading.
The chassis must be stiff as when the car is as level as can get it I can move the driver side rear jack stand. I will need to wedge a shim in there. I think the car was probably this way since day one.

I plan on removing the rest of the trunk pan today. So far it appears that the frame rails are solid from the hump forward which is good news.

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Good luck with the car. Tell the queen I said Hello. Keep us in the loop with pictures you have a beautiful ride their. It was one of my first carsd and also had a XJ12 jag back then..

What year Jag?
My uncle used to be into the Jags back in the 80's.

 

[Matt J]

Front half of the trunk pan is now out. Leaving the back half as I plan on removing both frame rails at the same time.
Looking at the inside of of the rails as where they attach to the floor pan under the rear seat they just seem to have surface rust.

I need to come up with a way of cleaning and painting the inside of the rails before it all goes back together.

Also so I may hold off ordering the rest of my parts whilst I consider/attempt to repair the wheel housings. I'm on a tight budget so if I can repair them I could potentially save a few hundred pounds.

 

[daytona kid]

Not sure if you've seen it but the Eastwood inner frame corrosion spray works great and comes with a 2ft hose that allows you to get it way up in the tightest places. It has zinc or something in it that kills the rust.> http://www.eastwood.com/internal-fr...grYLAm2dRt8P4b-bfs2_jild-p5D1cxTa5hoCezzw_wcB

Also about the level on your car, Is your shop floor level? Mine was not so I compensated for that. Here is a drawing that may be helpful when measuring.
And here is where I got my rails, not sure if they're cheaper than what you've been looking at, these are $173 > http://www.restorationperformance.c...ite-roadrunner-g-tx-belvedere-68-70-usa-made/

Holding off on ordering is a smart thing. I've found cheaper prices on parts after I ordered them somewhere else, also had to send a few things back after changing my mind on how to repair areas.

 

[Matt J]

Not sure if you've seen it but the Eastwood inner frame corrosion spray works great and comes with a 2ft hose that allows you to get it way up in the tightest places. It has zinc or something in it that kills the rust.> http://www.eastwood.com/internal-fr...grYLAm2dRt8P4b-bfs2_jild-p5D1cxTa5hoCezzw_wcB

Also about the level on your car, Is your shop floor level? Mine was not so I compensated for that. Here is a drawing that may be helpful when measuring.
And here is where I got my rails, not sure if they're cheaper than what you've been looking at...> http://www.restorationperformance.c...ite-roadrunner-g-tx-belvedere-68-70-usa-made/

Cheers Daytona. That Eastwood stuff would do it and it looks good too. Hopefully I can get hold of that over here.

My my car is on my driveway (unseen from the road) and the ground is very uneven but I have used shims with the jack stands to get it level but it's not quite there. I'd like to get it bang on but I think it may have been this way from new. Although the floor pan has been poorly repaired with sheet metal and the X brace that goes behind the rear seat has been removed by a previous owner (I bet I can't buy that repopped). I'm not convinced this would have caused the problem though.

I cant think why any one would remove that X brace though.

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Thanks for the drawing also.

 

[daytona kid]

I bet there are some used/donor X braces out there since that shouldn't get hurt in wrecks or rust away very easy.

 

[Matt J]

I bet there are some used/donor X braces out there since that shouldn't get hurt in wrecks or rust away very easy.

I suppose I should keep an eye on eBay for someone breaking a mopar and ask them if they would ship to the uk.

 

[daytona kid]

There's probably some guys on here that have spare parts/donor cars with an X brace, but I guess the shipping could be pricey going across the pond. Check the classifieds here. Here's one with an X brace left in it > http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?88191-70-Coronet-Super-Bee-parts

 

[Matt J]

There's probably some guys on here that have spare parts/donor cars with an X brace, but I guess the shipping could be pricey going across the pond. Check the classifieds here. Here's one with an X brace left in it > http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?88191-70-Coronet-Super-Bee-parts

Thanks. I have sent a PM. Fingers crossed we can do a deal.

I have ordered the rest of what I need for the back of the car minus the wheel housings. I will try and repair these.

Some of the parts should be here by Monday 9th and the rest by the 18th so will get back to work on the car in a week or two.