Encswsm
Well-Known Member
I hope they take it on!
My '66 Charger Saga So Far
- Thread starter CherryBomb
- Start date
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Latest update is short and sweet! I officially have the freshly rebuilt 440 and 4 speed in my possession. I still need to get quite a few components to get ready for the swap, but having the big chunks taken care of feels nice. United Speed World did all of the machine work, assembly, balancing and break in on the 440. The 4 speed was rebuilt on the show Two Guys Garage using parts from Brewers Performance and is nice and fresh!
Brewers Performance just quoted me a comprehensive package of what I still need, and the price is better than I expected but still a chunk of change. More saving needed before I can tackle that unfortunately. Sucks not making much money but still wanting to play with Mopars haha.
My brothers '65 Mustang is making a cameo in the background of the picture there, that should be back on the road soon as well!
Brewers Performance just quoted me a comprehensive package of what I still need, and the price is better than I expected but still a chunk of change. More saving needed before I can tackle that unfortunately. Sucks not making much money but still wanting to play with Mopars haha.
My brothers '65 Mustang is making a cameo in the background of the picture there, that should be back on the road soon as well!
Looking good !!
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Thank you! I also purchased a set of wheels from a fellow forum member, once those arrive I should have another update
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Here we are, back with another update. I spent some time replacing the hacked up engine bay and headlight harnesses with new ones. Magically several things started working better on the car, who knew! One real pleasant surprise was when I reconnected the battery and the headlights auto-closed for the first time ever. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for them auto opening.
I made a fun discovery that the previous owner had hacked up the bulkhead connector and hotwired the main feed to the starter relay. He had literally drilled a hole in the bulkhead connector and poked a chunk of wire through, then gave it the ol "twist and tape" that I've found all over the car. I purchased a new connector, fully de-pinned the old one, and carefully pinned the new one, along with my newly repaired starter relay connection. After that, the brand new harness plugged in beautifully.
I still have to figure out what the heck is going on with the light green wire relating to the auto open circuit. That (under the dash) and the dark green wires up front where they connect to the drivers side open microswitch get real hot real quick when you turn the headlights on. In the mean-time, I treated myself to putting the new wheels on the car! HUGE thanks to fellow forum member 557Hemi for going through a ton of hoops to ship them all the way from NY to FL for me. Cannot thank him enough!
I am thinking I may need to tweak the studs on the wheels to better hold the dog dishes. They fit, but I feel like I may lose them if I try driving that way. I feel like just a teeny bit of grinding with a cylindrical bit to create a bit more of a lip on the wheel, and they will clip on just fine. For now, the below pic is how she sits.
Still a tough look, so I can live with it! I am hoping to get some floor time at my brothers shop in the next month or so, then I can swap in the new rear leaf springs and lowering blocks I have had on hand for a while now! That's it for the time being, but I am sure there will be more to come...
I made a fun discovery that the previous owner had hacked up the bulkhead connector and hotwired the main feed to the starter relay. He had literally drilled a hole in the bulkhead connector and poked a chunk of wire through, then gave it the ol "twist and tape" that I've found all over the car. I purchased a new connector, fully de-pinned the old one, and carefully pinned the new one, along with my newly repaired starter relay connection. After that, the brand new harness plugged in beautifully.
I still have to figure out what the heck is going on with the light green wire relating to the auto open circuit. That (under the dash) and the dark green wires up front where they connect to the drivers side open microswitch get real hot real quick when you turn the headlights on. In the mean-time, I treated myself to putting the new wheels on the car! HUGE thanks to fellow forum member 557Hemi for going through a ton of hoops to ship them all the way from NY to FL for me. Cannot thank him enough!
I am thinking I may need to tweak the studs on the wheels to better hold the dog dishes. They fit, but I feel like I may lose them if I try driving that way. I feel like just a teeny bit of grinding with a cylindrical bit to create a bit more of a lip on the wheel, and they will clip on just fine. For now, the below pic is how she sits.
Still a tough look, so I can live with it! I am hoping to get some floor time at my brothers shop in the next month or so, then I can swap in the new rear leaf springs and lowering blocks I have had on hand for a while now! That's it for the time being, but I am sure there will be more to come...
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Well I'm back with kind of an unexpected update... I picked up another '66 Charger.
If you've been reading along, you know the idea was for the Cherry Bomb to eventually become a big block, 4 speed car. And if I were to keep it even longer, it would have gone through a color change to GG-1 Green. Perusing the forums one evening, I came across a post several pages back that caught my eye and connected with the gentleman selling this car. He was kind enough to let me come out in person and crawl all over the car, then gave me plenty of time to figure things out and see if I could afford it. You can see how that ended, as it is now sitting in my garage!
I figured rather than spending tons of money and labor to convert my red '66 over, when it is already a solid running and driving car, that same effort could be put into a car that came from the factory as a green, big block, manual transmission car! As you can see from my recent posts, I have a 440 and 4 speed that would be right at home in this car. I will be hanging on to the original 383 and 4 speed that come out of this one, as they are numbers matching and I do not want to separate them from the car. So what have I been doing now?
Well I've been busy removing the cosmetic parts that I had installed on the red car. I will be transferring the more tired parts from the green car over to the red one to ensure it is still complete, and will be cleaning each part up as it goes on. I will not be removing anything mechanical however. The goal is to sell the red car as a solid driver for someone to enjoy right out of the box. Cosmetically it will look almost identical to how it looked when I first got it barring the engine bay, which is WAY better now.
I have a ton of work ahead of me just to get the red car ready for sale, but my goal is for end of November. After that, you will be seeing the start of the green car. I guess that car is going to need a new name... and so am I!
If you've been reading along, you know the idea was for the Cherry Bomb to eventually become a big block, 4 speed car. And if I were to keep it even longer, it would have gone through a color change to GG-1 Green. Perusing the forums one evening, I came across a post several pages back that caught my eye and connected with the gentleman selling this car. He was kind enough to let me come out in person and crawl all over the car, then gave me plenty of time to figure things out and see if I could afford it. You can see how that ended, as it is now sitting in my garage!
I figured rather than spending tons of money and labor to convert my red '66 over, when it is already a solid running and driving car, that same effort could be put into a car that came from the factory as a green, big block, manual transmission car! As you can see from my recent posts, I have a 440 and 4 speed that would be right at home in this car. I will be hanging on to the original 383 and 4 speed that come out of this one, as they are numbers matching and I do not want to separate them from the car. So what have I been doing now?
Well I've been busy removing the cosmetic parts that I had installed on the red car. I will be transferring the more tired parts from the green car over to the red one to ensure it is still complete, and will be cleaning each part up as it goes on. I will not be removing anything mechanical however. The goal is to sell the red car as a solid driver for someone to enjoy right out of the box. Cosmetically it will look almost identical to how it looked when I first got it barring the engine bay, which is WAY better now.
I have a ton of work ahead of me just to get the red car ready for sale, but my goal is for end of November. After that, you will be seeing the start of the green car. I guess that car is going to need a new name... and so am I!
Excellent.
I'm kinda partial to green myself.
And just plain black wheels.
I'm kinda partial to green myself.
And just plain black wheels.
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I also like the GG1. My interior is black and gold. Just finishing up new carpet and upholstery.
black and pearl white
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Always admired your car! Cosmetically mine will be much more rough around the edges initially, I will be focused on getting it to be a driver as efficiently as possible. Much like my old Chevy, all the stuff you can't see will be beautifully rebuilt and painted haha. I do plan on getting the body work sorted and the car resprayed further down the line.
I just pulled the steelies/dog dishes off the red car over my lunch break and tucked them away for use on the green car. The Cherry Bomb is now back on the torque thrusts that were installed when I got her.
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Mine is a factory green over black car. I love the beautiful colors of interior available in the Charger, but for the green I specifically wanted a black interior. Blame Steve McQueen for me falling in love with that color combo haha.
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
More progress on getting the Cherry Bomb ready for sale. She's actually looking remarkably presentable! I have finished putting the older exterior parts back on. I have combined the best components from both cars, thoroughly cleaned them and carefully reassembled them.
She is also currently sitting back on the Torque Thrusts that were on there when I got the car. I am considering pulling the 14s from the green machine and putting them on the red car to get her closer to stock. I would include the torque thrusts in the sale of the red car to give the buyer the choice, but I feel like a stock appearance may be more desirable. I am pretty pleased with how well the rear emblem cleaned up too! The before and after is below.
I have also begun putting the interior back together one last time after a cleaning, and am deciding on how far to go with some parts. I am pretty pleased with the look! Honestly I would love to steal this interior for the green car, but I want this one to be desirable for a buyer. I started the process of cleaning up the gauge faces. They are looking way better already, but I have two more rounds to go on them, then I think I'll be happy.
Once the gauge faces are cleaned up and finalized, I am thinking I am going to try and make the bezels and glove box door look nice enough to not need replacing. The chrome is totally gone like on the vast majority of them, but the lenses are in nice shape. I think with a thorough clean and possibly some clever paint work, they might actually look pretty good. I will also be reinstalling the mufflers so she is back to having a nice quiet rumble. I had my fun being the obnoxious straight piped car, but I am sure a buyer would not be excited by that...
She is also currently sitting back on the Torque Thrusts that were on there when I got the car. I am considering pulling the 14s from the green machine and putting them on the red car to get her closer to stock. I would include the torque thrusts in the sale of the red car to give the buyer the choice, but I feel like a stock appearance may be more desirable. I am pretty pleased with how well the rear emblem cleaned up too! The before and after is below.
I have also begun putting the interior back together one last time after a cleaning, and am deciding on how far to go with some parts. I am pretty pleased with the look! Honestly I would love to steal this interior for the green car, but I want this one to be desirable for a buyer. I started the process of cleaning up the gauge faces. They are looking way better already, but I have two more rounds to go on them, then I think I'll be happy.
Once the gauge faces are cleaned up and finalized, I am thinking I am going to try and make the bezels and glove box door look nice enough to not need replacing. The chrome is totally gone like on the vast majority of them, but the lenses are in nice shape. I think with a thorough clean and possibly some clever paint work, they might actually look pretty good. I will also be reinstalling the mufflers so she is back to having a nice quiet rumble. I had my fun being the obnoxious straight piped car, but I am sure a buyer would not be excited by that...
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Well it's been a week, went to Tennessee and back for a wedding and had a great time. Then had a fun dentist appointment where I discovered I need a tooth extraction and bone graft. Gonna be one hell of a Monday next week...
I put some more time in on the dash components and they are looking fantastic! I definitely think I succeeded in making them "nice" where a future owner does not need to spend the near $1000 on all new cosmetic parts like I did on mine.
I took the advice of folks on here about cleaning and prepping the gauge faces, and was pretty pleased with the results! Todd's Restorations definitely did a better job, but I at least took these from powdery white and sad looking, to a pretty uniform black. As to whether or not the EL works in these, I don't yet know. I will test when they are reinstalled in the car. Would LOVE if they just popped to life, that would be a real treat.
I also swapped the steelies and Hoosiers over to the green car so I could pull the stock 14s off. I did decide that both sets of wheels would be sold with the red car, excited to see it on stock wheels soon as she never had them before. Fingers crossed over thanksgiving I will be able to make some big inroads on the car assuming my recovery doesn't leave me feeling too sorry for myself!
Anyway, tune in next week for another episode of "What he hell was I thinking!?"
I put some more time in on the dash components and they are looking fantastic! I definitely think I succeeded in making them "nice" where a future owner does not need to spend the near $1000 on all new cosmetic parts like I did on mine.
I took the advice of folks on here about cleaning and prepping the gauge faces, and was pretty pleased with the results! Todd's Restorations definitely did a better job, but I at least took these from powdery white and sad looking, to a pretty uniform black. As to whether or not the EL works in these, I don't yet know. I will test when they are reinstalled in the car. Would LOVE if they just popped to life, that would be a real treat.
I also swapped the steelies and Hoosiers over to the green car so I could pull the stock 14s off. I did decide that both sets of wheels would be sold with the red car, excited to see it on stock wheels soon as she never had them before. Fingers crossed over thanksgiving I will be able to make some big inroads on the car assuming my recovery doesn't leave me feeling too sorry for myself!
Anyway, tune in next week for another episode of "What he hell was I thinking!?"
Nice job on painting the gauge cluster.
I did mine years ago (sadly had too as I had a fire under the hood which etched everything from battery fumes).
Mine were close to perfect prior to the fire.
But what are you gonna do?
Would you share with the group what paint you used for your dash?
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Certainly! I believe it is a Rustoleum product, but I will get the exact info when I get home later tonight.
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
This is the stuff. The smoother the surface, the more mirror like it gets. I also feel like a good gloss clear would make it even more "chrome" looking.
Cop car wagon
Well-Known Member
The "chrome" finishes are not scuff resistant, and I have had no luck clearing them.
CherryBomb
Well-Known Member
Good to know, I feel like a gloss clearcoat could resolve this though?
Cop car wagon
Well-Known Member
I've tried laquer, made it flip and look metallic.
I've tried urethane, and made it look like silver wrinkle.
I tried enamel, (which is the only clear you can put directly on aluminum), and it didn't work either.
The other problem is getting anything to stick to it. Try a patch, and see if paint passes the scratch test.
The way they get the metallic to flow, is they put more than the normal amount of surfactants in it. It changes the surface tension of the paint on application.
I've tried urethane, and made it look like silver wrinkle.
I tried enamel, (which is the only clear you can put directly on aluminum), and it didn't work either.
The other problem is getting anything to stick to it. Try a patch, and see if paint passes the scratch test.
The way they get the metallic to flow, is they put more than the normal amount of surfactants in it. It changes the surface tension of the paint on application.
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