My '69 Charger R/T Story

[chargervert]

Great job man!

 

[Magnes]

The balancing shop is done with the rotating assembly. The machine shop will be done honing the block, cleaning it, and going through the heads by Friday. We will put the engine together next week.

So I have been cleaning up everything else and stripping it all down. Spent a couple hours at the varsol tank. Then stripped old paint off everything and cleaned everything up. Once we get the engine together I will epoxy prime it and paint it single stage.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high but I guess it's possible I could have the engine in next weekend.

At least the weather has cooled down. I'm so damn tired though. Not sleeping worth a crap. Stressed about moving. I'll feel a lot better once I see that engine in the car and I can start bolting this mountain of parts back on my car. Should go quick. *crosses fingers

 

[Magnes]

Weatherstrip, lock, and the floor seal for the filler tube came in which allowed me to basically "finish" the trunk out. Again, I will paint that trunk floor properly later when I jamb the car out. Just can't get into all that right now.

So after I finished that I decided I needed to straighten up the garage and the easiest way to make a bunch of room was to stick the interior back in it. No time like the present I suppose. I think everything in here is done anyway except the gas pedal.

You'd be hard pressed to find a rattier interior unless your *** is actually sitting on springs. I don't care. I may / may not do a new interior when I jamb it all out.

I think I'll keep the old inspection sticker... I like all the old stickers on the car... I turned 8 in '84 and was in the 1st grade. Pasadena, Texas.

 

[chargervert]

I would definitely do the interior. No sense after all the work that you did,not making it a comfortable environment to drive in. The seats are too far gone to let them go.

 

[Magnes]

I would definitely do the interior. No sense after all the work that you did,not making it a comfortable environment to drive in. The seats are too far gone to let them go.

I hear you. I just can't right now. I'm trying to just get it back together, running, driving, in the next few weeks so we can move. I'll revisit these issues after we relocate.

 

[chargervert]

I understand that, but you definitely need to make the interior a nice place to be. It will greatly enhance the driving experience. I am doing a similar build with my 70 V code 440 Sixpack Charger R/T inside and mechanically it will be all that,the body and paint is like your car.

 

[Magnes]

I understand that, but you definitely need to make the interior a nice place to be. It will greatly enhance the driving experience. I am doing a similar build with my 70 V code 440 Sixpack Charger R/T inside and mechanically it will be all that,the body and paint is like your car.

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That's a great looking car!

I will. I was worried my discretionary funds would run out before I could even get this thing back together so I didn't spend on cosmetic past the paint I used. I've done a lot of seat covers and I will do the entire interior eventually. Believe me, I'm not psyched to sit on foam.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Keep pushing you’ll get it done, you’re doing awesome

As far as interior goes, I was lucky to find some cordoba seats, threw some cheap seat covers on it, and threw a blanket over the torn up back seat. Cheap and effective.

 

[chargervert]

Keep pushing you’ll get it done, you’re doing awesome

As far as interior goes, I was lucky to find some cordoba seats, threw some cheap seat covers on it, and threw a blanket over the torn up back seat. Cheap and effective.

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You are going to be doing some seat covers too over the winter! I have two 71 Charger interiors to do over the winter. When it's too fuckin cold to work in the garage I like to find jobs I can do in front of the television. Dante's has some Legendary interiors in stock now, it took ten months to get these two sets of seat covers! They were supposed to be last winter's project!

 

[Magnes]

Alright well we started on the engine on Monday but as soon as I got there, I knew something was off... My buddy was late to work at his own shop. Turns out he had started getting sick Sunday. He came in late and you could see it all over his face. He was bad off. We started on the engine and a couple hours in he was getting worse off. He decided to call it and go home (which he never does) and his wife made him go to the doctor. He has pneumonia. The doc gave him meds and sent him home to rest. He's doing ok but still running a fever so we're waiting on him to feel better. In the meantime, I've been finding other stuff to do to keep progressing and lose as little time as possible.

The car had one of those shitty B&M Quicksilver shifters in it when I got it. Cliff put it in but I absolutely abhor those things. IDK why anyone would ever want one. That thing came out and shot into the trash can as soon as I got the car. Thankfully Cliff had saved the original column shift linkage. I found one piece and searched for a couple hours for the other. I was unable to find it so I spent another couple hours modifying a piece of linkage I had to work. I got it working fine and moved on to the next task... That's when I found the right, original linkage... Never fails So I pulled the one I had made and installed the original, adjusted it and we're good on transmission linkage now.

Then I started on the engine and front lighting harness. I was going to wait until the engine was in but now I'm glad I didn't. I think I'll be able to run this out cleaner without it in my way. I'm not trying to hide the harness at all but I am attempting to run it in a better way than they did originally. Since I'm not going to go back with the original vacuum headlight door system, I will eventually either fabricate an electric system or just buy one. Anyway, not having the vacuum can below the battery gave me some free dead space that was perfect to "hide" the pretty large Maxi-Fuse holders that would've been obviously out of place anywhere else in the engine bay. I may also install the Derale power steering cooler in this area because it just lines up so well and I'll be able to keep it away from the fuses.

At this point I've got it pretty much laid out. I'm waiting on some more 6 ga wiring so I can finish running wire down to where the starter will be, then I can tidy up that back corner and route it. I got the neutral safety/back up light switch done, and put the new speedo cable on. I just bought the 80" cable they sell and took the original grommet off the old cable without tearing it, then stretched it out with a socket to install it on the new cable. That worked fine and I just routed the cable and found a place where it wanted to loop naturally under the dash so I let it do that, secured the loop and it fits perfect. I went back out there this evening (after I had taken this pic) and figured out the wiper motor pigtail and wired it in. Last night I ordered a few more things along with that extra length of 6ga. After looking at the harness I decided to just get a 1 wire alternator. I got the 100 amp 1 wire alternator from Summit. I'm running an electric pump and plan to add stuff in the future so that should have the capability to deal with a few add-ons.

It's not the progress I was hoping for this week but its progress just the same. Just hoping my buddy starts feeling better. I have enough stuff that I can do to keep busy (that won't be in the way of the engine install) for a few days.

 

[Runcharger]

I hear you on aftermarket shifters. I tried one once on my 64 and threw it and every one that came in cars I've purchased since into the trash as well.

 

[chargervert]

I only have an aftermarket shifter in one of my cars, but I really like it! Firm positive shifts,no operating malfunctions First picture is park,second picture is first or low gear,third picture is second gear,fourth picture is drive or high gear.

 

[Magnes]

Well, I didn't fall asleep. This last week has been pretty busy.

I got the wire I needed in and finished running the harness the way I wanted. I will wrap it all once I've made sure everything works correctly and I don't need to dig back in it. I hooked up the switch at the trans and just ran everything else out to the area where they'll be and then bundled it. 1 to the engine, 1 to the front lighting, 1 to the starter.

Then I tried to figure out what would be the best way to mount the power steering cooler. I didn't want it in the way or a bunch of extra hoses 'n **** running all over the place. Preferably, you wouldn't even see it. So, I mounted it (temporarily) under the battery as well. There's a little over 2" between it and the cover for the maxi-fuse box. I'm going to see how that works before I fall in love with it. If that thing gets scorching hot, I'll figure something else out. If it doesn't, I'll make some brackets to make it permanent.

My buddy started feeling better on Thursday, so we got to work. We had a couple issues that made for short delays or additional work, plus he's running his shop while still feeling bad, but we had the engine pretty much built on Friday. I screwed up and bought the wrong valley pan which pushed it out to Saturday morning. But we finished it up Saturday morning and I dragged it home. I screwed up again, thinking the auto paint shop was open on Saturday and had missed closing by 2 minutes on Friday which left me without any epoxy primer for the engine... Luckily, one of the shops I've built cars at is owned by my oldest friend and I asked him if he knew where I could get some, he invited me over to get some of his. He wouldn't even let me pay. My buddies really came through to help me with this engine. I've got to do something different next time. I don't want to take advantage and I've GOT to be out of favors at this point.

So in the end the engine lost the domed pistons, got flat top forged pistons, everything got balanced, the block was cleaned and honed, new bearings, new dampener, the heads were gone through/checked/new valve seals/the spring seat milled down. I don't even know what all. If they said I should do it, I did it. They all cut me deals and helped out. I just did what they said on all that and tried to learn something to be honest. I usually just pay to have it all done. I had my hands on all of this one though. We re-used the cam, lifters, push rods, timing chain. It was all perfect. Had, like I've said, maybe 50 miles on it and some idle time but looked great and everybody agreed.

After getting the engine home Saturday, on a stand, cleaning it about 5 times, masking it off, tracking down the primer, and getting back home, I was able to prime and paint it. That was a long day.

Sunday, I spent the day tracking down all the stuff I've been moving back and forth across the garage for 6 months (so I'd have room to work) and getting everything cleaned and painted so everything would be ready when I go to install. Not gonna lie here, I thought I would have the engine IN on Sunday but trips to the hardware store, cleaning, painting, waiting on paint to dry, and painting again took up the entire day. I installed exhaust manifold studs and test fit the headers because I knew some would hit. Trimmed them down as necessary, installed the water pump, tstat and housing on the water pump housing. Cleaned up those old Direct Connection valve covers and bolted those up. The engine looked a little cartoony at this point. Another long *** day.

I was 10 years old when Cliff bought those valve covers at Houston Speed & Sport in 1987 for $55 according to the receipt he kept.

I got out there this morning and got it in there. Sat the headers in, laid the mini starter in the cradle of the pipes, dropped the engine in, stopped short, fit the headers on, dropped it in. Had some trouble lining up on the trans that wouldn't have been much trouble with an extra set of hands for 5 minutes but eventually I got it in. Then I had to, inevitably, start dinging up the new headers. I had to do it on the orange car a little so it was expected. Still rubbing the tbars slightly in 1 spot on each side but I'll sort it.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally. It hasn't been easy. I know I don't have to tell you guys. You know.

I've done a lot of stuff but I'm not a master of any of it. I'm constantly looking stuff up, screwing up, wasting time, spending more, worrying about ****, second guessing, back tracking. I am determined though. If this thing knocks or something breaks. I will finish it.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Awesome work, I love the cartoony look of the engine!

 

[chargervert]

That's how they looked back in the 80s! I wouldn't change a thing! Nice work! You have been thrashing hard on it!

 

[Magnes]

1st off let me just say, I know. I hate the blue plug wires too. I'll swap them out with black ones later. I ordered those a while back and idk if I screwed up and picked BL instead of BLK or if I was drunk and thought blue would be cool

I screwed up again and thought I could make the pulleys I had work without the AC compressor but as I'm sure every one of you know. That doesn't work. I got the right water pump pulley but don't have the right crank pulley. Trying to find that currently.

I added a set of auxiliary gauges so when I do start it, I have accurate readings. As I installed those I finished wiring the engine harness. I fit the fan shroud to the new radiator and mocked up the entire cooling system so it is good to go once I get that crank pulley and the right belts. Tomorrow I'm going to do the Lokar cables for the throttle and kickdown linkage. I've still got a few small jobs to do as well as fit the new exhaust system. Anyway, it won't be long before I stick a battery in and test everything. Still need to bleed brakes, install the dipsticks that I keep forgetting about and finally add fluids.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

You gotta keep the 70s theme and go with the yellow wires!

That’s part of the game, trial and error, good job on working on it until you figured it out. And ask any question you need, many knowledgeable people here that are willing to help.


Awesome progress. You’re getting there, it’ll be tearing up the streets again in no time!

 

[69ChargerR/TSE]

Weatherstrip, lock, and the floor seal for the filler tube came in which allowed me to basically "finish" the trunk out. Again, I will paint that trunk floor properly later when I jamb the car out. Just can't get into all that right now.

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So after I finished that I decided I needed to straighten up the garage and the easiest way to make a bunch of room was to stick the interior back in it. No time like the present I suppose. I think everything in here is done anyway except the gas pedal.

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You'd be hard pressed to find a rattier interior unless your *** is actually sitting on springs. I don't care. I may / may not do a new interior when I jamb it all out.

I think I'll keep the old inspection sticker... I like all the old stickers on the car... I turned 8 in '84 and was in the 1st grade. Pasadena, Texas.

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1984 Texas Inspection Sticker - $25.00 : Bob Hoyts Classic Inspection Stickers, Add a Final Touch to your Restoration!

Bob Hoyts Classic Inspection Stickers 1984 Texas Inspection Sticker - This 1984 Texas Inspection sticker has been carefully restored and reproduced identical to the originals, both front and back, size and color. approximately 3 1/4 by 2 1/2 inches. All Texas Inspection stickers show the date...

inspectionsticker.net

 

[Magnes]

Installed the accelerator pedal along with the throttle and kickdown cable setup today. Feels right. Should work good.

Also did the SS trans lines and started on the 2.5" exhaust. That'll take some cutting and welding but I've got the time to get it right while waiting on the pulley.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Do you have the “correct” pedal for your accelerator?