1972 Roadrunner Restoration

[plymouthman72]

Okay, So after asking a million questions and reading countless threads, I have decided to start a restoration thread on my 72 RoadRunner. I think its cool to have a timeline of what I am doing and share it with people who love these old car. My only reason for waiting this long was that I did not want to be destroyed for not doing everything "correct" and being an amateur in the build:

So here is a little history behind it. I am not sure about all of you but knowing the history behind the car is much fun as building it:

1972 RM EV2 Roadrunner with a 340 3 speed automatic on the column. Low optioned car with bench seat but all the ash trays a smoker could want in the 70's .

I am the 5th owner but only within the second family to own the car. The original owner bought the car in Marshall, TX and gave the car to his son in the 80's. My dad then bought it for my brother back in 1996. He restored it as best a 16 year old could, got it running and did what he could do to fix it up. He drove it for 8 until it had a dash fire in 2004 that fried most everything and then the car sat for 9 years. I was looking for a 73 RoadRunner since it was my first car and the day I found one, he randomly called me up to say he was ready to sell it. I was floored because I already committed to buying a 73 and was driving to pick it up. Needless to say, I apologized to the car for backing out on the 73 and got a truck to go back to east Texas for the 72.

The cool thing is I have all the receipts from him and my dad working on it. I was pretty young then but I spent countless hours out there with my dad in the garage as he worked on it and got to be the tool runner..... and learn how to cuss alot when things did not go well :-D. That is I also have all the pictures from when they worked on it and will post some of them when I get the chance. I even have pictures from 1972 the day he bought the car and the day he put on his slotted mags (which are still on the car)

My plan for this car is too keep the 340 (not original but a 1972 340) in it and keep it as time original as possible. I will do some work on the 340 and hope to achieve around 450-500 hp and make a high powered cruiser if possible. I don't care if I have to use repopped parts or if its not completely perfect. I want a super fun driver that I can take to shows and share with others. My brother drilled holes for an a body bench seat and took the steering wheel collar off of a 1975 dodge pick up. I am going to make it a bucket seat car with console and upgrade the door panels to the premium package. Its not correct but its my favorite so that is what I want to do.

Here are a couple of pictures of the car the day I got it.

 

[plymouthman72]

So some issues with the car:

- Electrical will have to be fixed
- There is typical rust for this car
- Rear quarters
- Bottom of doors
- Trunk canal
- Floor Pan
- Some on the Fire wall where it meets the cowling
- Rocker panel area
- Dents and Dings
- Redo Interior again Including dash - mostly done
- Find Bucket Seats
- Install Console Setup
- Rebuilding all drive train
- Have it Painted
- Enjoy the crap out of it and keep tinkering!

Some of this is already been done and I will post everything I can to keep a proper time line. Work started in October of 13 and truthfully, I haven'y gotten much further. I have found a very good guy that I am going to take my car to in September and have him do body and paint. I want to do all of it myself but know how and time are against me. Plus the HOA will bust my doors down should I try to paint in the neighbor hood.

Hopefully I can keep you all updated through out and this will motivate me to keep going. I have immensely enjoyed reading everyone's posts and would like to contribute myself. Just know that this is my first restoration and I am open to all advice anyone wants to give but please don't be to hard on me when I make mistake mistakes because it is bound to happen. I mean it already has but I haven't posted it yet haha. It won't be a perfect (even if I want it to be) but will be perfect to me.

Updates to come

 

[FridayGt]

Congrats on your car and I'm glad to see that you've started a thread on the restoration of it. Despite a big break while I was overseas, this forum has been a massive help for me with my '72. Just the people and knowledge to be found here are beyond compare. I'm super excited to watch this thread progress, and though I may be a smidge partial, good call on the '72!

 

[Dennis H]

Welcome. Looking forward to the pictures. Design of your car by Chrysler visionary John Herlitz.

 

[aldal]

Looking forward to your build.

 

[tldltd]

Nice car and great story! My uncle had a twin to that car. I have always liked that body style.

 

[sebring+]

Sooo Very cool. What's better than an orange roadrunner?
The same car is just sitting here in Nor Cal. Offered to buy it 4 times. Guy won't sell. 72 tor red black top buckets three speed pistol grip 340. Been sitting for 15 yrs.
Keep us updated on your resurrection.

 

[plymouthman72]

Sebring, that makes me very sad. I get why people want to hold on to them because they are sentimental to their past but its always painful to see an old car just rotting away. I plan on doing some work tonight and will start posting progress of the things I will start posting pictures of things I have done over the past couple of years. I really haven't done anything to the body yet and everything thing I have put on is about to come back off. Now that I have space and funds I am going to have the bodywork/paint professionally done and have it all painted at once, then I will reassemble her and build the drivetrain myself . That way I can have some ownership of the rebuild and still get the professional look.

I keep telling myself that this will be the only car I will ever do but all my friends keep telling me that once you start down this path, Moparitis sets in and you will never be able to cure it. I think they may be right because I am already trying to find a car for my fiancé so I can rebuild it next. She has fallen in love with Mopars and really wants a 70 charger painted plum crazy purple. I tell her she has expensive tastes because that is one of the most expensive to build! At least she is supportive and wants to be apart of everything! However, if I am blessed enough to be able to get one, I will do everything myself. This one is just to sentimental to learn on and mess things up so I am going the super duper expensive route. haha

 

[rrTor-Red]

Welcome and I'll be checking in on your progress. I have a 71 EV2 and I need to make a post about my build....oh, someday

 

[68sprtsat383]

Welcome great looking car

 

[Ex_Birdgunner]

This will be a fun one to watch. EV2 is my favourite colour! Have fun making it what you want. I am doing something similar with my 71 Charger. It is a 318 car with bench seat that I am converting to buckets with console and a 440. I was going to change the paint to EV2 but the original GA4 Gunmetal Grey is rare from what I know and the blue interior will go good with that. Perhaps my next Mopar will be EV2?

I look forward to seeing your progress.

Denis

 

[plymouthman72]

Here are a couple of originals from 1972. The first is the day he got the car with the rallye rims and the second is when he put on the mags. those are the same rims that are on the car today. Theonly thing I am having trouble with right now is if I want to go with the white stripe or the black one. I like the black but everyone does the black strobe (with good reason) but kind of want a unique combo. I do plan on putting a go wing and front spoiler on it and since those are black, Ill probably keep it in sync.

 

[dla4567]

Just my opinion but I like the white stripe, even with black spoilers.

 

[plymouthman72]

So on to some of the work I have done. keep in mind I did this two years ago so I will have play catch up on some of my posts. I am not bionic or even fast. I am taking things nice and slow.

First I started pulling out all of the interior because the car had a fire under the dash. This was about the only thing I could do living in an apartment working in a 1 car garage.

I was not confident in my welding so I went all out and bought a whole new front floor plan. Looking back, I really wasted some money here but hind sight is 20/20. I still had a lot of fun doing it and think it turned out well enough. However, I have found a guy that is going to paint the whole car and will end up repainting the inside for me so it will be all matching. I am super excited about it!

 

[plymouthman72]

Since I was living at an apartment at the time. The only natural thing was to pull all my interior pieces in side and to start restoring them! Made perfect sense to me! Most of the stuff I repainted was on my balcony when nobody was watching. Most of it is not pefect but I am not worried about perfection for parts that can not be seen. I do care about details but I didn't have the resources and it was more about protecting the metal. My main goal was/is to clean the metal as best I can, use etching primer and what ever color it should be or black.

Here are my seats. Since the orginal bench is long, I picked up these 73 Charger seats for 250 and recovered them in the 72 garb. I really enjoyed doing these:

 

[plymouthman72]

Here are the updated door panels. These were also a lot of fun to do. I screwed up the first one and had to redo it but you cant tell.

Here are some shots of the dash resto. I got excited and had to put everything in to see how it would look. Unfortunately the dash is going to come out again next month for the whole paint job. Worth it in the end. That is an original dash pad. I paid 200 for in East Texas and thought I found the lottery. I had to repaint it using a special paint but turned out great. I also painted the roadrunner symbol myself along with everything else.

Well thats all for tonight. sadly, I am catching up fast and really havent gotten a ton more done than this.

 

[plymouthman72]

Just my opinion but I like the white stripe, even with black spoilers.

I know! That is why I am so torn! I love both. If I had really thought about it , I might have gone with white seats to go with the stripes but black wears better imo. Thankfully I have plenty of time to think about it.

 

[rrTor-Red]

I know! That is why I am so torn! I love both. If I had really thought about it , I might have gone with white seats to go with the stripes but black wears better imo. Thankfully I have plenty of time to think about it.

I'D keep the white strobe and the black seats. That way, the seats can have some color flow with the go-wing. IMHO. Looks good!

 

[moparnation74]

Beautiful 72!

Progressing well keep the pics coming!

 

[Glenwood]

awesome!