1968 Charger, Ray Barton 528 Hemi, Pro-touring.

[Jarven1977]

Wife projects! My wife wanted a larger deck, OK dear. So I added a 30' x 32' deck with a 28' x 28' garage under it. Win Win solution.

Well, I talked her into extending the roof on one of the extensions to have a 3-car carport so I guess sort of a win-win? The extentions are the two lower pavillions on each side in the 3D rendering. The bottom picture is how it looks now.

 

[Jarven1977]

Removed the masking and hanged the fenders just to have a look. Alot of adjustments to do.

 

[747mopar]

Removed the masking and hanged the fenders just to have a look. Alot of adjustments to do.

View attachment 1060602 View attachment 1060603 View attachment 1060604

Damn is that SEXY

 

[747mopar]

Thank's Funknut! But I have to disapoint you on the quality of the paint job! It looks pretty ok from a distance. But, bear in mind, this is just for making it decent enough so I can get the beast on the road and test everything out properly. After I'm pleased with it all I'm tearing it down to have a shop do a top quality job on all panels. I'm also probably removing the vinyl top to have the roof painted instead. I think this color looks better without a vinyl top.

Can't just wet sand and buff? Looks awesome from what I'm seeing.

 

[Jarven1977]

Can't just wet sand and buff? Looks awesome from what I'm seeing.

Might be possible. The dust came when I sprayed the clear coat. The base was almost dust free, not sure why though?

 

[Jarven1977]

I thought it was going to be a standstill when I'm abroad but as it turns out my father and a friend of his has started to align doors and hood so far! I'm truly blessed having this help, very thankful!

Right now I'm supervising a commissioning of a robotic wall line in Westmoreland, Tennessee. Any mopar geeks in the neighborhood maybe? Westmoreland is like an hour and a half drive from Nashville so planning on doing some sightseeing there this weekend.

 

[ckessel]

I'm on the left coast but enjoy that BBQ while there!

 

[Average Joe]

Nice!

 

[Jarven1977]

Been slow. During my visit in the US of A one of my closest friends passed away in Cancer. I was afraid that this would happen so I stayed one night with him at the hospital a few days before my flight over.
He still had his sense of humor so we had a lot of laughs strolling down memory lane that night.
He had a Harley Davidson that he cherished so one of the last things he said to me was "I'll be waiting for you on the other side buddy where we will ride Harleys and drive Chargers".. Jesus, I almost collapsed..
Anyhow, despite how much I'm gonna miss him I'm also relieved his pain is over.
So today I decided to pull myself together and get going again, he won't be riding with me in this Charger but I better get this thing on the road in his memory because we sure would have if it wasn't for that damn cancer.
Took on the dreadful work of sanding down and re-spraying the grille frame again. If it's not satin black this time I'm gonna go ballistic.

 

[HawkRod]

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend - it is always tough to lose someone close to you. However, I am sure he would want you to keep working on your project, so build it with him in mind and know he will be smiling all the way when you are during some serious burnouts with it!

 

[Jarven1977]

Finally, the satin black finish that I was aiming for.

 

[747mopar]

Sorry to hear, things like that remind you of how fragile life is... get busy living.

 

[Jarven1977]

Sorry to hear, things like that remind you of how fragile life is... get busy living.

Exactly, you aint taking anything with you into the grave so enjoy life while you can and never neglect friends and family.

 

[Jarven1977]

Zinc plating stuff again.
Started mocking up the electrical motors for the headligt doors. When I bought them I didn't have a clue what stroke to chose but ended up with chosing 50mm. Well, it fit really good and the stroke was spot on. Pure luck.
Fabricated some brackets and cut up the original one to make everything fit.

 

[Jarven1977]

Trial fitted the headlight brackets and the zinc plated fasteners together with some H4 headlights that I've had on the shelf for atleast 13 years!
Let's just say I wouldn't chose blue halos today.. not really my cup of tea anymore!
I'll probably wire it to a button just so I can turn them on when I want to look cheasy.
But the light itself looks ok. I need to enlargen the holes in the brackets slightly, too tight fit as it is.

 

[Jarven1977]

Adjusted the light buckets to fit the H4-lights.
The rings holding down the lights were to small so I'm gonna ask a friend to 3D-print something.
I like the mean look of the new Challenger lights were the upper part is cut off. Wondering if it would look good with having the holders covering the upper part of the lights?
Made some brackets for the electrical cylinders and welded them in place. Looks like it could work.

 

[BrianS]

That is some top notch work! Awesome

 

[Jarven1977]

Door actuators completed. Did some "cups" in the lathe to secure the door levers to the actuator rods. Drilled, tapped and secured the "cups" to the rods with some small (metric) screws.

 

[747mopar]

Love it! I thought about trying something like that but both of my actuators still worked so I said piss on it lol. If they ever fail I'll have to remember this.

 

[Jarven1977]

Started repairing the plastic grille parts. Old and brittle stuff! First a good clean.
Used the dremel to make a v-shaped groove in all the cracks I could find and tried an epoxy-glue. Let's see if it holds up? Does anyone have good pictures and measurements on the side tabs that tend to be missing on most grilles? If so, feel free to post it here. Going to try out the "Lego and Aceton" method to fabricate all missing pieces I might need.