This is a 68 Charger resto thread, there are many like it, but this one is mine...

[morrow_jacob]

Great build.

I dropped my '70 at North Texas Customs right after you got yours done. They actually thought I was bringing your car back!

David

I just found your thread! They do look identical, although your tow vehicle is a tad cooler than mine...



They did a fairly good job, missed a few spots blasting and/or primer here and there, but all in all I'm happy. So much nicer than before working on a clean surface. That media keeps falling out though!

I dont know how you got it up on that uhaul car hauler, my wheels on the auto twirler were too close together to fit, had to get another trailer.

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more pictures of the rat rod please

Okay...


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Build update:

I've been working through the pains of getting the floor in, and getting all the metal around the floor fixed while its easy to get to.

I purchased a 400 block, I plan to make it a 451 with edelbrock heads, been throwing around the idea of pro-charging it (so maybe I will keep the compression reasonable...we'll see)

Filled in one of the holes on the side of the rear frame rail, its rotted on three sides.

I ordered my rear suspension.... Its early, but I wanted to get it done and paid for. I went with ridetech 4-link, I like the shocks behind the axle, which is different from the rms 4 link. I plan on using it will overs-not bags. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JVF31G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 

[1970RT]

I just found your thread! They do look identical, although your tow vehicle is a tad cooler than mine...

I dont know how you got it up on that uhaul car hauler, my wheels on the auto twirler were too close together to fit, had to get another trailer.

Thank you, sir. Seems like we have very similar builds going, albeit a couple of years apart.

We built a cradle that spanned the open deck and held the front of the body cart while the rear fit fine. We managed to make things work, but the trailer sucked to pull and I doubt I'll rent that from Uhaul again.

Subscribed, and enjoying your progress.

David

 

[morrow_jacob]

Been working on the inner passenger rocker...















With all of my measurements showing the car is square. and when leveled across the rockers everything else is level with it.... I feel comfortable with welding in the US Cartool braces (frame conn and torque boxes) , only tacked for now but when I am fully ready for the pan and it fits how I want it I will fully weld in the braces before the floor goes in.


Its amazing how much stronger it feels and looks with the bracing in. I know some people say its best to weld in with the weight, but with my way of thinking Id rather not "lock-in" the car in a weighted position, I'd like the "frame" to resist the bending of the car not resist the bending in an already bent condition if you know what I mean.

I'm getting the car done with basically 6 hours a month, a toddler and infant and rotating shift puts the brakes on getting anything done quickly.

 

[Matts68bird]

The frame connectors look great. I will be going this route w mine here soon. Did you do the whole stiffening kit, or just the torque boxes in the floor? Also what did you use the seal the body. a rust encapsulator of some sort.
Thats matt

 

[morrow_jacob]

The frame connectors look great. I will be going this route w mine here soon. Did you do the whole stiffening kit, or just the torque boxes in the floor? Also what did you use the seal the body. a rust encapsulator of some sort.
Thats matt

Thank you! I know there are many ideas on the order for connectors, but this order made the most sense and was the best for my situation. I didnt buy the whole kit from us car tool, I bought the connectors and the boxes from us car tool and I bought the front lower radiator support from Mancini I believe. I will be ordering the pieces that tie in the firewall and inner fender sometime later or I might just make those myself since I'm not too excited about how they look from makers as of now.

I hauled the car to a shop in Dallas that blasted it and put on epoxy primer, I think thats been the absolute best money spent. Its clean, looks good and I dont have to worry about it rusting anymore for now.

 

[440+6]

Just found this thread, great work your doing. I like the flat British green idea, too many flat black cars out there already.
Keep up the good work, subscribed.

 

[747mopar]

Much appreciated. I am skilled with cars and welding, but I've never done body work, and I have to start somewhere. I plan on starting with replacing the front floor and crossmember and get some practice with welding butted sheet metal before I move on to the outside. I learned to weld stick and TIG in the Navy, and I'd consider myself a fairly proficient welder. I am also smart enough to know when I should hire out, case in point, a few days ago I hired someone to remove the windshield (never done it or seen it done, so I watched and learned ;)

Really my vision for this is a driver car, I'm not striving for perfect, as in zero bumps on any panel. I'm striving for new floors, solid and painted/protected frame rails, any rot cut out and replaced with new metal, and surface rust sanded away. Currently I'm thinking flat Hot Rodz British racing green paint with flat black hood (maybe a hemi scoop), but that could change of course, long time till that happens.

Im not going to modify anything from the original car, since its an RT. I want stock interior, and little lowered suspension, kind of a rough-ish exterior with the flat green and black hood/scoop, good sounding engine... sounds like my dream car.

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I'm also going to be leaving off some of the amenities for some time in the distant future, such as the a/c. Its going to be a sunny day driver car, so maybe some things can wait.

I'm hoping to stay around 20K-25k for the entire project.

Your first mistake in bodywork is not striving for perfection, the attempt at perfection is seldomly achieved but the goal in itself will push you to a better overall product so set your goal high. Even a novice can knock out a high quality job using guide coats to point out flaws....... long process but worth the effort. Love Chargers :headbang:

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Judging by what I'm seeing your capable!

 

[747mopar]

Good call on blasting it, that epoxy is tough stuff not to mention it's more encouraging working on a car that's one color...... and not rusty! Love the stud guns, I've yet to buy one but have borrowed them a few times.... what a time saver! You might want to talk to Donny a bit before the bodywork starts, he's blasted a lot of cars and recommends doing the filler work over the epoxy instead of metal and I'm in agreement with him on that one. Looking good

 

[morrow_jacob]

Just found this thread, great work your doing. I like the flat British green idea, too many flat black cars out there already.
Keep up the good work, subscribed.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it.

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Your first mistake in bodywork is not striving for perfection, the attempt at perfection is seldomly achieved but the goal in itself will push you to a better overall product so set your goal high. Even a novice can knock out a high quality job using guide coats to point out flaws....... long process but worth the effort. Love Chargers :headbang:



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Judging by what I'm seeing your capable!

Great words of advice! As Im going along its actually pretty cool to go back and look at all the things I wanted and said early on, now that I've done a bit more I wonder what I was thinking back then haha.

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Sorry to give this update, but my wife and I decided we needed a bigger house and I needed a bigger garage. So the Charger was very regretfully placed into storage until our new house is built. I did line the floor in plastic and made a semi-tent over the Charger to prevent drips from condensation. I also put several pans of kitty litter around to keep the moisture down.

The house should be done in 7-8 months since we are just getting started. But when its done I will have a large 4 car around 1300-1500 sq ft and two of the bays will be cathedral ceilings so one day I can put a couple lifts in there if I need em.

Thank you guys for the reading these posts and your encouragement, I will be back with updates asap!

Take care fellas!

 

[morrow_jacob]

Look who's back out of storage!!!

Well we decided to rent out our current house after we move into our new construction home instead of selling it... So we brought back everything out of storage.

Not a ton to report, but I did finally get enough funds together to buy the rest of the rear suspension. Its the Ridetech 4 link and their shocks, bought a rear sway bar too... about 2200-2300 in suspension at the moment

In the back of my mind I've been worried about how well of a job my buddy and I did on measuring the frame for square, so I put it back on the adjustable jacks (turned around this time for making measurements both ways in my slightly sloped garage) and leveled it.

Everything measures the same from the ground in terms of driver side versus passenger. But even still I purchased a $200 Tram gauge off of Amazon to make accurate measurements for square.... I just want to be as close to 100% certain as I can. I called all the local frame shops and no one wants to touch it, so short of building a frame table this is the route I'm going to go down.

I've also been working on grinding and fitting....grinding and fitting.... more grinding and fitting the damn box stiffening kit I got from US Cartool.... They are nice, but damn are they a lot of work to get them to fit right and look right too...

Had to use a long socket wrench and dolly to bang the frame drain holes flat.... The wife sure didnt like that at all

 

[1970RT]

Glad you're back! Nice suspension selection. Been considering that one. Looking forward to your install.

 

[morrow_jacob]

Been chipping away slowly still so I think I will do an update. Been working on still finishing up the area around the floor pan, seems like there is a never ending list of things to fix before the pan goes in for the final time. As soon as I think I'm getting close I run across something else I need to do... Latest thing being checking that the doors fit properly before/during welding in the full floor. Had someone tell me that they helped fix a Charger that when they welded in the floor it "taco'd" the car if you will, pulling up the ends. When he stuck on the doors the glass overlapped the rear window.

So, I've been upping my knowledge on hinge resto, bought some wavy washers and detent pins from Resto Rick. Sand blasted them and self-etched them today.

Took apart the 400, and covered it for long term storage, much easier to handle now

Also build a nut, bolt, washer and anything else that needs to be organized, organizer...

Hope all you fellas are doing well!

 

[morrow_jacob]

Got the doors out. Notice that someone hacked away at the inner driver's door to fit in the cheapest speaker Ive ever seen. Any ideas on how to get it close to its original shape? Its got some complicated curves and not much room, I think I'm going to just get it close and kick that can down the road, its under the door panel anyway and wont be seen. A dent in the lower part of the door, shouldnt be an issue.

Whats the best way to restore the door internals? I assume most of them arent painted, what should I do to them, paint them or just scrub them? Not sure the best route on that yet.

 

[747mopar]

Glad to see you back at it with parts arriving, Enjoy.

 

[morrow_jacob]

My ghetto sandblast rig.... works like a charm tho!

Jack and 2x4 trying to get the pan to fit properly across the top of the hump....Its quite the bear. I learned thats the part that needs to fit first through trial and error. Lots of fitment and grinding to go. I think putting in the subframe connectors first is going to make fitting it nicely across the floor even more difficult. Because instead of just pulling in and out the frame connector, I have to pull in and out the floor! oh well, such is life.

 

[morrow_jacob]

Glad to see you back at it with parts arriving, Enjoy.

Thanks, 747, its slow going, but thats okay. We are going to be on a budget for a while until we get our next house built. But I'm determined to not let this just sit and lose interest. I love this thing, its my dream car. I'm just hoping I am able to do it right.

 

[morrow_jacob]

Organizer I built...

 

[joseph p.]

good job sir....