69 Charger SE Project Car

Good afternoon,
My son and I are embarking on a journey together. We have a 69 Charger SE that currently has the engine bay and under body finished paint, the shell metal work is complete and primed, and I have inventoried the parts and pieces that came with the car. I am not looking to finish it as a numbers matching car, since it was born with a 318, so I don't take a classic muscle car out of commission (I hope I do not offend). I am pondering putting front disc brakes, drums on the rear (489 rear end), 727 tranny, and some front suspension aftermarket parts on. The car came with a 440 HP block, so with the thought of going old school on the engine, I might just sell the stock block and purchase an aftermarket block. Again, I do not want to take out a true rare part out of commission by boring it out. I do want an engine that will crack some ears and set off car alarms ;). I also want to get some nicer seats, radio, and tint the windows. I am open to any helpful hints of how to approach the re-assembly. I'm not sure if I should paint the outside first, then assemble, or assemble then take it into get painted. I do not have unlimited funds, so I need to be smart about the approach and also watch how fast the funds go flying out the shop door. I would be very interested to see what/how y'all would approach this. I am so eager to start ordering parts, but if I do need to paint it first, then I am going to save up for the paint and buy parts later. I thank each one of you that reply with helpful tidbits of information, as we are still in the honeymoon phase.

I'm sure the guys here will be happy to share useful tips. I hope the pictured tie down strap didn't cause indentations in the quarters.

I am open to vendors to order from, that could also help with what we are needing. Any suggestions on the following:
Front suspension kits
disc brakes for fronts only
The steering box did not come with the car, so does anyone know of a replacement that might be better than the OEM box?

Is there anything that should be done that others have kicked themselves for not doing as they re-assembled a car?

I meant to post this photo of all of the parts:

That’s cool, that looks like my Plymouth when I bought it in 2006. Bare shell, a couple of pickup loads of parts. Just like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Good luck.

68n69charger ya mite want to check those upper A-arms they don't look rite to me more of and older valiant arms there is no flat spot for the rubber cushion is suppose to rest on. Just the way they look to me

Check for the vendors forum, you can get discounts just for being a member.

Great looking car! Make it what you want. I am looking forward to watching your progress.

I suggest you paint the engine bay and chassis/tunnel underside first (and a rotisserie is an enormous help), then install the driveline - already mounted on the restored k member from the underside, and back mask the joint at the inner fender tops when you paint everything else, with the engine and bay thoroughly sealed off of course top and bottom before spraying. I used PST for suspension parts, Hotchkis makes awesome steering pieces"geometry corrected" improvements over stock mopar, but very pricey.

Nice shop space, definitely better than I've ever had of my own...and YOURE A GOOD DAD!

Well....see what happens when you blink? Over two years have gone by without posting and/or concentrating on the '69. I am getting back to it and I thought I would post of what has been accomplished.
- We have painted the car! I chose a grey that will look great with the tinted windows and satin black trim. I'm planning on painting all of the trim pieces satin black, so no chrome on the car. They painted it off of a rotisserie and we love how it turned out!
- We have gone through the rear end, prepped it, and painted it with POR. A little too much gloss, but I figure that it will dull with some use. The piece is under the car now and bolted in.

** I do have some questions on the 489 8 3/4" rear end. The one that came with the car, I don't see anything on the axles to set the end play. Shouldn't the axles have the lock collars on it to set the end play or is that something that is split and isn't pressed on with the bearings?**
**Also, I am not confident that the car came with the correct sized leaf springs. When I went to bolt up the leafs, the shackle is way forward (angled). When I put the car on the ground, will the shackle move back such that the shackle will angle towards the rear bumper?

-I am having to repaint the front suspension, as the color just did not come out right, with the final chassis color, so i am painting the pieces the factory black. One of the first Re-Do's and I am confident that we will have plenty more Re-Do's to do ;)
-My son and I took the 440 block, heads, and intake up to our dirt track engine builder to check them out for re-use. Another question would be, should I look to sell this combination and utilize a after-market block, heads, and intake? I am pretty sensitive to taking out original pieces that someone might need for a date correct virgin pieces to use for a numbers matching project. What should I do?
-We have roughly set the brake and fuel lines.
-We have painted/installed the fuel tank, installed new sending unit.

Next up will be getting the new wiring harnesses, the Dyna Mat, and decide on the dash gauges/heater box.
I am considering the following:
-Classic Industries wiring harness
-Classic Air A/C defrost unit (new), as I did not get all of the parts and pieces with the car.
-Dakota gauges
These are some pricey decisions, but I do want reliability in this car. I know that with some elbow grease and finding what I am missing, that it would/could be cheaper but I'd rather not be chasing rabbit holes.

Well, that is where we are at. I'm trying to figure out the steps in the process, so I don't do something out of order then have to Re-Do things, so I am open to any Lessons Learned on this project.

Y'all have a Happy New Year and I look forward to chatting more soon!!