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New guy from Ohio

RT68440

Well-Known Member
Local time
9:25 AM
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
Messages
615
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924
Location
Akron, Ohio
Hey guys, I am a long time lurker of the site so I figured it was about time that I join. My name is Chris and I have a '68 Charger R/T that I am restoring. Im also a member of dodgecharger.com. Ive been working on the Charger for the last few years on and off. So far I have replaced the rear frame rails, rear crossmember, one piece trunk pan, trank pan extensions, CBD full quarters, and rear valance. Its my first restoration and Im having a blast. The wife and I bought a house a couple years ago so I recently moved the Charger to my garage and have begun the process of replacing the front rails, torsion bar crossmember and floor pans. The car is a factory black R/T with a dark green interior and green vinyl top and a white rear stripe. Its a 440/727 column car with manual steering and manual drums. Other than the R/T package and light group package, its a pretty bare bones car. I will be restoring it back to original for my dad. He bought the car as a father and son project back in 1998 when I was a freshman in high school. We tinkered with it over the years and he taught me basic mechanics. I went to WyoTech when I was 22 and learned how to weld and do body work. My dad wanted me to restore the car, and after graduating and working at a hot rod shop, I finally worked up the nerve to start cutting the car up.
Here are a few pics of the last month of process. I have a ton of pics from the rear sheet metal replacement, but they are all on my dads computer. Once I get them I will post them up. For now, here is some of the pics of how I braced the front end to remove the front rails:

This was loading it up from my parents one car garage on to my bosses trailer to go to my house. This was just after New Years of this year





Unloaded in to my garage:







Front fixture up and core support and aprons coming out:









Front of the floor removed and cutting torsion bar cross member out:





Crusty inner rockers:



Passenger section of inner rocker cut out and prepped:





Fabbed up a new piece on my lunch break at work:



Welded in and ground:







Drivers side rocker cut out, patch made and welded in the same as the first side:



So that's where Im at right now. I bought an AMD torsion bar cross member but I am not impressed with it to say the least. I have modified just about every piece of sheet metal that Ive installed so far to get it to fit how I want, but with the amount of work that I would have to do to the cross member to make it "good enough", Id rather find a clean original like I did with the front and rear frame rails. I emailed Mopar Mark but haven't heard back yet. I will create a build thread and update that as I continue progress...
 
Welcome Chris. Lurk no more!

Thats going to make a nice ride. Your work looks like it's coming along just great. Keep us posted...
 
Great story and car. Very interesting color combo. I'm looking forward to see the progress and the finished car. My buddy restored a 69, Tor Red with black interior, vinyl top and stripe. Day 2 style. Took him a long time also but it turned out fantastic.
 
You're going to have a beautiful Charger. Enjoy the restoration ride. Welcome to FBBO
 
Welcome aboard. Nice project, love the 68 Chargers! I'm only about an hour South of you and am also a Charger guy (69). Good luck with the restoration.
 
Welcome aboard. Nice project, love the 68 Chargers! I'm only about an hour South of you and am also a Charger guy (69). Good luck with the restoration.

Thanks, I recognize your car from the Mopar Nationals..very nice Charger!
 
Welcome from the Buckeye State. This site has helped me a lot! There are so many helpful members in all areas so use it when you can.
 
Hi Chris,
Welcome aboard and thanks for joining the forum!
Great project!
Thanks for the pics!
 
Welcome aboard Chris from Alaska and you really have some talent there! A wealth of knowledge on this site from the members, they have done most anything you can ask about.
 
Hey Chris and welcome to the site! Great looking project you have. Keep us posted!
 
Welcome to FBBO from warm & sunny NorCal

nice detailed 68 Charger Project

make sure to do a build tread in an appropriate forum section too,
it will get far more viewers that way too...

Good luck
 
Welcome that's going to be a good looking ride when you are done with it
 
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