My '69 Charger R/T Story

[Magnes]

Thank you all for the nice responses.

I should probably clarify a couple things. I am just a joe blow in my garage. I'm not a rich guy, far from it. I'm not trying to perfectly restore it to factory condition (as you can clearly see), I'm just repairing the damage the years have caused to the best of my ability/budget. My car budget will be tapped for a while by the time it hits the road.

I am going to leave the car's exterior and interior pretty much the way I found it. When I am done, it should look just like it did when I pulled it out of the mud... UNLESS you pop the hood or look under the car. I would like to say that this is for some high and mighty reason but the reality is because of budget. I know the proper way would've been a rotisserie but I don't even have the room for that nor the cash to do every aspect at once.

I may eventually restore the exterior and the interior but for now it is all about getting this car solid, safe, and back on the road reliably.

I feel an incredible rush to get it back drivable for the previous owners who are aging. I would love for the original owner's wife to see the car able to be driven again and for Cliff to be able to drive his car again. I don't think of it as MY car, to me it'll always be Cliff's car. I even started buying a lotto ticket weekly with the thought of: if I win I am giving Cliff his car back. I know it's dumb but whatever.

All of them have been so excited when I send them pictures. The original family remembers it new of course but Cliff says it didn't even look this good at any point when he had it.

Moparedtn mentioned being a good steward and that's exactly what I'm trying to do while also being considerate of the folks who came before and without whom, I wouldn't have this opportunity.

So again, thanks for the kind responses and for understanding the kind of wonky way I'm going about it.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Nothing wonky about it. I’m a young guy without a lot of money too, spend it wisely on the mechanical aspects, drive it and enjoy!

Not every car needs to be a 100 point show car, I keep quoting David Freiberger, because his words are so true “Don’t get it right, get it running.”

Enjoy your project!

 

[chargervert]

My parents bought a triple F8 Green 70 Charger R/T SE brand new,and I am familiar with more than 80 percent of the cars history. A friend of mine saw the car about ten years ago and told me it is still around. I wouldn't mind getting it back,or maybe I could help out the current owner with the cars history. My moms car was also hit in the drivers side door and rear quarter panel. The door was replaced and the rear quarter was replaced with an NOS one in 1982. The last picture is after the rear quarter panel was replaced and the car was repainted.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Yes, GREAT STORY
Great documentation!
Good Job!

 

[TTSaleen]

Love it. Great job.

 

[Runcharger]

Great story and I think your work in preserving it is spot on!

 

[440 4 speed]

Absolutely fantastic story and your goals.

 

[Magnes]

Alright it's 104 out there right now so it's time for a break til the evening so here's the rest.

I was stumped about how the hell I was going to prime and paint upside down with a HVLP gun. I had thought about buying a pot style gun but saw too many issues with leaking and I don't have the cash to waste on something that might not work or might waste a bunch of paint so I kept looking. I ended up going with the Devilbiss Dekup system. It was actually fairly cheap and involved using a fitting on my gun which adapts it to the Dekups cup and with that cup you are able to use disposable liners and most importantly allows you to purge the air out of the cup and turn your gun upside down and still be able to spray (bad explanation so look it up on youtube, I recommend the system if you have a similar issue).

When I climbed out from under the car after the final coat, I looked a bit like a Jamaican Blue smurf. It's so damn hot there's no way you could wear anything other than shorts and a T so maybe I shaved a year or 10 off my life by absorbing overspray but I only had less than a couple feet of space for me and the paint gun. I did wear a respirator of course but still... It actually went much better than I had expected though and turned out pretty decent. Better than I expected. I've painted quite a few cars now but it is always stressful AF.

Once it had dried I started in on it again. I ran the fuel line and return line then started on the brake lines. I went ahead on bought SS lines because most of the lines were still original. Like I said earlier, Cliff had installed a SSBC power front disc brake kit probably 10 or so years ago and never drove it after so most of all that is still like brand new other than a little dirt and dust. But the master cylinder had completely rusted on the inside and I wasn't going to have that thing contaminate the rest of the brake system so I had to figure out what that master came off of originally. Turns out it's actually an older Corvette master so I went ahead and ordered a replacement.

I'm limited on space and by now I needed some room to work. The rear end and trans were in the way so I got busy tearing down the rear end for the most part. I really just stripped it down and cleaned it up, then I repainted it and installed the new SS lines on it. At this point I decided to get new springs and ordered them from ESPO and added an inch so the rear doesn't look quite so droopy. Springs should be here this week. Once I reinstall the rear end I am going to go through the brakes and replace the wheel cylinders as well but I just didn't want to do all that with the rear literally perched on the jack stands.

Then I used my engine hoist to pick the assembly up and move it between the cars on the other side of the garage and out of my way for the time being until those springs show. I will not be using the old slapper bars and Cliff said he had saved the original shock mounts so he was able to dig those up and that solved that issue. I have everything ready to go to reinstall the rear once those springs come in.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Nice work!

I used Espo on my car, price was good, and customer service was excellent.

 

[Magnes]

With the rear end out of my way I was able to figure out a way to pick up the K frame and move it to where I could work and I built this custom (patent pending) work bench to work on cleaning up that K frame. Don't laugh

I was only able to get at the top side that way so I did it as well as I could and then bolted it back in the car (surprisingly without scratching stuff) and with it in the car I was able to easily get at the bottom to finish cleaning and painting it. I could have done more and done better but time is of the essence and I can always go back to it and do more, the main thing was get it spotless and painted. The master cylinder came in so I was able to continue on with the brakes. I didn't realize there are 2 different types of brake line setups for a 69 and apparently I had ordered the later version which required the smaller secondary valve so I had to get that in order to make the lines I had work. I sure wasn't going to try to send those lines back...

The master is CLOSE. I knew that going in and the stock lines were nowhere near right for it other than they were the correct size so that took a bit of thinking and bending to get them in place and looking right. The shock almost touches the master on this setup, with maybe 3/8" space but it works fine.

I think this is where I pulled the front sway bar and stripped it down because it had chips in the paint and repainted and re-installed it. Pretty sure this is a PST sway bar.

I've got crap everywhere lol

Cliff had said that the steering box was bad and I keep hearing folks rave over the Borgeson unit so I splurged on that and the Bergman coupler so I don't have to cut the original column.

I'm going to completely rewire the car. I've done quite a few now and I hate the original wiring so I went with the American Auto Wire upgrade kit. But to even get started I still needed to work on the dash so I stripped that down. I did the same as on the bottom of the car and laid up in there and hit everything with a wire wheel on a die grinder to knock out as much of the surface rust as possible, then I shot it all with a black rust encapsulating paint on the inside of the dash.

I searched to find any info on where I could buy the correct shade of B7 for the dash but was unable to so I ended up just taking a sample piece to the local Tasco and having them mix me up the proper paints so I can repaint the dash and SEM for the soft parts, then Landau black for the plastic dash pieces.

This is as far as I've gotten. I took the engine to my buddy's shop and tore it down because I didn't have room and even though it ran fine, it just has too much compression with the way Cliff had it built. I believe it was 13/1 domes with iron heads (a lot of head work, ported and huge valves) but I don't want to have to run race gas so I bought flat tops and we're going to swap the pistons out so I can run it on pump gas. I just have to get back over there and get that done. I'm going to be needing that soon.

I should have it back on 4 wheels next week and I'm fairly certain I can be driving it by the end of this year. I actually waited several months after buying it to get started so I could replenish my car funds but it seems to be coming along fairly quickly being that it's only me and my 2 hands that touch any of it. I'll update this as I do more.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Cool story and you are doing a great job. I always use original repro wiring for my older cars, too much hassle routing universal kits, just my opinion. Remember to weigh the old pistons and the new pistons, if it's more than a few percent difference, the crank will need rebalanced. You can get around this by ordering custom made wrist pins in whatever specific weight you need to make the pistons weigh the same as the old ones. I've done that a few times when replacing one on one of my race engines.
I think it's cool you painted the underneath on your back like that, shows what can be done if you put your mind to it. How many days did it take for the paint to wear off? lol. Where did you get the original looking brake metering and proportioning blocks? Thanks, keep up the good work.

 

[Magnes]

Cool story and you are doing a great job. I always use original repro wiring for my older cars, too much hassle routing universal kits, just my opinion. Remember to weigh the old pistons and the new pistons, if it's more than a few percent difference, the crank will need rebalanced. You can get around this by ordering custom made wrist pins in whatever specific weight you need to make the pistons weigh the same as the old ones. I've done that a few times when replacing one on one of my race engines.
I think it's cool you painted the underneath on your back like that, shows what can be done if you put your mind to it. How many days did it take for the paint to wear off? lol. Where did you get the original looking brake metering and proportioning blocks? Thanks, keep up the good work.

I have been flip-flopping between 2 different shops that work on old cars for quite a few years now as they need me and I've installed every kind of aftermarket wiring harness there is as well as factory harnesses. The first time was a bit intimidating but since then I think I've come into my own with it and I actually LOVE doing the new harnesses. I spend a lot of time routing them and getting the wiring route to "flow" (for lack of a better word) with the car. Sometimes everything needed to be hidden and others wanted it to flow like the original.

The buddy's shop where the engine is now was actually the machinist who built the engine originally in the 80's and directly across from his shop is another good friend and his engine machine shop so hopefully between the 3 of us we can figure it all out again without too much of a headache but THANK YOU very much for mentioning that. I will be sure to address that concern. I know enough to take a car apart and put it back together but I do not build engines and really know squat about the intricacies so again, Thanks!

It took a few days for the paint to wear off and I had blue tinted fingernails for a couple weeks lol

The larger proportioning valve is the original and I found the other available at Mancini.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I used American Auto wire for my car, it is a little universal in the fact it’s for all 68-70 b bodies. And they give you options for aftermarket gauges and that stuff. But every wire is clearly marked, and the instructions have really detailed colored pictures. It also gets rid of the torpedo fuses and uses the modern blade style. And it comes with every connector you need.

 

[The Rebel]

Beautiful story, and awesome work! I love that you saved this from a rusty grave. Looking forward to your updates!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I used American Auto wire for my car, it is a little universal in the fact it’s for all 68-70 b bodies. And they give you options for aftermarket gauges and that stuff. But every wire is clearly marked, and the instructions have really detailed colored pictures. It also gets rid of the torpedo fuses and uses the modern blade style. And it comes with every connector you need.

How do they handle the bulkhead connector? I've seen guys do a really clean job of filling the hole & I've seen really crappy attempts at running the wires through the hole & filling the extra space with silicone... If someone made a 3D printed two piece plug that fit the hole & sealed it while still allowing the harness to be routed through it IMO that would be a pretty good solution...

 

[Nxcoupe]

With the rear end out of my way I was able to figure out a way to pick up the K frame and move it to where I could work and I built this custom (patent pending) work bench to work on cleaning up that K frame. Don't laugh

View attachment 1318603

I was only able to get at the top side that way so I did it as well as I could and then bolted it back in the car (surprisingly without scratching stuff) and with it in the car I was able to easily get at the bottom to finish cleaning and painting it. I could have done more and done better but time is of the essence and I can always go back to it and do more, the main thing was get it spotless and painted. The master cylinder came in so I was able to continue on with the brakes. I didn't realize there are 2 different types of brake line setups for a 69 and apparently I had ordered the later version which required the smaller secondary valve so I had to get that in order to make the lines I had work. I sure wasn't going to try to send those lines back...

View attachment 1318604

The master is CLOSE. I knew that going in and the stock lines were nowhere near right for it other than they were the correct size so that took a bit of thinking and bending to get them in place and looking right. The shock almost touches the master on this setup, with maybe 3/8" space but it works fine.

View attachment 1318605

I think this is where I pulled the front sway bar and stripped it down because it had chips in the paint and repainted and re-installed it. Pretty sure this is a PST sway bar.


View attachment 1318606

I've got crap everywhere lol

View attachment 1318607

Cliff had said that the steering box was bad and I keep hearing folks rave over the Borgeson unit so I splurged on that and the Bergman coupler so I don't have to cut the original column.


View attachment 1318608

View attachment 1318609

View attachment 1318611

View attachment 1318612


I'm going to completely rewire the car. I've done quite a few now and I hate the original wiring so I went with the American Auto Wire upgrade kit. But to even get started I still needed to work on the dash so I stripped that down. I did the same as on the bottom of the car and laid up in there and hit everything with a wire wheel on a die grinder to knock out as much of the surface rust as possible, then I shot it all with a black rust encapsulating paint on the inside of the dash.

View attachment 1318610


I searched to find any info on where I could buy the correct shade of B7 for the dash but was unable to so I ended up just taking a sample piece to the local Tasco and having them mix me up the proper paints so I can repaint the dash and SEM for the soft parts, then Landau black for the plastic dash pieces.

This is as far as I've gotten. I took the engine to my buddy's shop and tore it down because I didn't have room and even though it ran fine, it just has too much compression with the way Cliff had it built. I believe it was 13/1 domes with iron heads (a lot of head work, ported and huge valves) but I don't want to have to run race gas so I bought flat tops and we're going to swap the pistons out so I can run it on pump gas. I just have to get back over there and get that done. I'm going to be needing that soon.

I should have it back on 4 wheels next week and I'm fairly certain I can be driving it by the end of this year. I actually waited several months after buying it to get started so I could replenish my car funds but it seems to be coming along fairly quickly being that it's only me and my 2 hands that touch any of it. I'll update this as I do more.

What's this steering column adapter look like? Just curious.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

How do they handle the bulkhead connector? I've seen guys do a really clean job of filling the hole & I've seen really crappy attempts at running the wires through the hole & filling the extra space with silicone... If someone made a 3D printed two piece plug that fit the hole & sealed it while still allowing the harness to be routed through it IMO that would be a pretty good solution...

I’m glad you asked and I’m home to take a picture. Excuse my failed attempt at making sure it was nice and neat, and my crudely drawn arrows to try to point to bolts.

They give you a template based off the hole for the original firewall for 2 holes to be drilled. Then the interior part has studs that go through the hole. Then 2 nuts (crappy red arrows) secure it. Then the front harness plugs in, and secured with a bolt in the center. There’s plenty of foam to seal it, and I haven’t seen come through. And it’s a very tight firm connection.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I’m glad you asked and I’m home to take a picture. Excuse my failed attempt at making sure it was nice and neat, and my crudely drawn arrows to try to point to bolts.

They give you a template based off the hole for the original firewall for 2 holes to be drilled. Then the interior part has studs that go through the hole. Then 2 nuts (crappy red arrows) secure it. Then the front harness plugs in, and secured with a bolt in the center. There’s plenty of foam to seal it, and I haven’t seen come through. And it’s a very tight firm connection.

View attachment 1318717

So, in other words they installed a GM style bulkhead connector.... I'm okay with that...

 

[1 Wild R/T]

What's this steering column adapter look like? Just curious.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

So, in other words they installed a GM style bulkhead connector.... I'm okay with that...

I didn’t know that was a GM thing, I’ve only worked on Mopars. I’m just fine with having my electrical system work, and not have to worry about it.