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1968 Charger: Budget bomber build

70B5Cuda

Well-Known Member
Local time
1:19 PM
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
476
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Location
Newton, Ks
I traded for this Charger shell last summer. It had been sitting for 20+ years and needs cabin and trunk floor pans but the rockers and frame rails are surprisingly solid. I have several projects that are suffering greatly from scope creep so I HOPE to keep this one as as budget bomber. Something I don't have a ton of money in. The early plan is to ring/gasket a 440 I have sitting in the shop. I also have an 18 spline 4 speed just waiting to be used. I didn't get much with the car, but I plan to use all the cast off/replaced parts from my other 68 Charger rest-mod build. Paint job will probably be a satin or patina job.

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looks like a pretty decent shell to start with.I traded an engine for this '69 road runner. Between the missing and junk stuff, it was basically what you have.
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It had new quarter skins on it already. It took a lot of swap meets and horse trading to get it like this
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It was lost in a garage fire. I had a blast building it, and driving it.
Good luck!
 
looks like a good start. best of luck!
 
looks like a pretty decent shell to start with.I traded an engine for this '69 road runner. Between the missing and junk stuff, it was basically what you have.
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It had new quarter skins on it already. It took a lot of swap meets and horse trading to get it like this
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It was lost in a garage fire. I had a blast building it, and driving it.
Good luck!
A garage fire, that’s a terrible fate for the bird. Sorry to hear. I don’t know what to say,such an undeserving loss.
 
thanks...the insurance got me the one I have now.
 
First thing that bugged me when I got home with it was the bent corner on the driver's side front corner...
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View from the top looking down...
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I got an old 2x4 and a hammer and starting tapping away. It's not perfect, but I don't care...

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I think you did a fine job working her back into shape. Enjoyed the update. Hope ya get more done over the weekend.
 
Looks like a solid start. Like the idea of the cheap driver, just get it back on the road and have fun!
 
Right before my shoulder surgery in late January, I made sure I got the cabin floor pans cut out. The floor pans had lots of rust/holes but the frame rails and rockers are in good shape...I wish I had a good "before" picture

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Had 1.5 hours available, so I fired up the air compressor and got to work knocking all the undercoating off of the passenger side inner fender. If you haven't used a needle scaler, you need to try it. A needle scaler gun is super cheap on ebay (like $30-40 shipped) and does a nice job in a reasonable amount of time. The passenger side inner fender took one hour and 15 minutes. I will never use a torch and scraper again...

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I bought a battery powered Milwaukee Fuel DA sander a while back so I went after the rust on the roof. What a nasty job! THE roof skin has plenty of dings but it's cleaning up pretty nicely! Passenger side....

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I got the rest of the roof DA'd...didn't realize the roof had as many dents as it does!

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And I started stripping the cowl...
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have you guys considered "dustless blasting?" They can blast the entire car to bare metal in one hour. But I think it costs about $1000.
Seems like it would save a tone of work hours though.

I've watched youtube videos of early 60's junkyard cars getting blasted in 1 hour. Fun to watch if they speed up the video to like 8 minutes.
 
A previous owner hacked up the k member with a torch so its not useable. I removed what was left of the front suspension. Then I fired up the compressor and knocked all the undercoating off the driver's side inner fender, which took about 1.5 hours.

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Keep up the good work. I am enjoying watching your progress.
 
Thanks showard!

This update won't wound like much but it was a lot of work....I dug out all the sealer in the rain gutters and the forward pillar channels. Getting back under the lip was a major pain but every bit of sealer has been removed. I also removed all the windshield clips and retaining screws from the front windshield channel. I couldn't believe that they all came out! The rear window trim clips and screws were not as cooperative. It helped that the windshield had been out of the car for 20+ years.

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I spent another couple hours with the needle scaler. This time, I did the inner rockers, torsion bar crossmember, cabin floor pan supports, and I started on the rear frame rails and floor pans under the rear seat. I am always amazed how much better they look...

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