71 Road Runner Restoration Started

[71airgrabberRR]

Today was another killer day out in the shop................... I finished the installation of the one piece AMD trunk floor in the Challenger.
Follow along and I'll show you some of the steps on how I did it.

After cleaning off the EDP coating where it was to be spot welded, I clamped the parts together using some vise grips. Then I simply spot welded in between the clamps................

and before you know it, I had a row of evenly spaced spot welds...............

This process continued until I had spot welded both rear frame rails and the rear cross member to the trunk floor...........

Then I wiped it down with some Southern Polyurethane's surface prep to get rid of any oil residue from the air tools and my hands. Finally I gave it some black paint to protect the bare metal.

Here's how the trunk floor looked from the driver side looking forward...................

and the passenger side looking across the trunk floor to the driver side................. (here the paint is still wet)

This picture shows how the "under the seat" floor pan and the trunk floor look once they were installed................. It's slowly starting to look a little more like a car............. kind of................

The spot welds look pretty nice !!!!!! They are also good and strong................................

Here the paint has dried some more and lost a lot of it's shine. I am very pleased with how this is turning out.

This last photo shows the finished trunk floor as it looks now.

The next steps are to go back and do a final test fit of the inner and outer wheel housings, and trunk floor extensions. Plus I need to mock up the trunk hinges and supports, which means the rear quarter panels and trunk lid go back on again........................ only to come back off after I have marked them in their final position.

Please stay tuned for updates.

Comments are encouraged..................................

 

[Riverdawg]

Awesome! Looks like great work. Keep up the good work.

 

[drobertson]

You're from Daytona beach, huh? One of my best friends was telling me he's got an uncle Todd in Deland who restores mopars. Know them by chance?

 

[71airgrabberRR]

You're from Daytona beach, huh? One of my best friends was telling me he's got an uncle Todd in Deland who restores mopars. Know them by chance?

Yes I know Todd very well. He's one of my best friends................... He and I make the annual "pilgrimage" to the Mecum Auction in Kissimmee, FL together each year.

Todd helped me to build the yellow frame rail jig that my Challenger is now sitting on. He has access to use the frame rail jig assembly, and my engine test run stand anytime he wants to use them. We are building adapters for it so we can put 68-70 "B-Body Mopar's" on the frame rail jig next. Then we may build a set for A body cars too. Time will tell.

Todd is a very good guy and an honest person. He also does the best restoration work that I have ever seen. I stop by and see him at his shop at least once a week if I can.

He restored a BEAUTIFUL red 1968 Hemi Charger that won 1st place at the Nationals several years ago.

It's a small Mopar World indeed......................

Here's Todd welding on the frame rail jig in this photo below.

and in this photo below, Todd and I are standing in the "GYC" pose after a hard days work on building the jig.................

Your friends "Uncle Todd" does some fantastic stuff with Mopar restoration.......................... small world indeed. Todd's a great guy and is very knowledgeable with our cars.

He's the best !!!!!!!!!!!!! Todd also has a Facebook page.

Send me a PM and I'll give you a link to the FB page.

On his FB website, Todd has a TON of cool restoration photos and a lot of pictures of some cars he has restored over the years.......... The red 68 Hemi Charger is in there too............

 

[drobertson]

Yes I know Todd very well. He's one of my best friends................... He and I make the annual "pilgrimage" to the Mecum Auction in Kissimmee, FL together each year.

Todd helped me to build the yellow frame rail jig that my Challenger is now sitting on. He has access to use the frame rail jig assembly, and my engine test run stand anytime he wants to use them. We are building adapters for it so we can put 68-70 "B-Body Mopar's" on the frame rail jig next. Then we may build a set for A body cars too. Time will tell.

Todd is a very good guy and an honest person. He also does the best restoration work that I have ever seen. I stop by and see him at his shop at least once a week if I can.

He restored a BEAUTIFUL red 1968 Hemi Charger that won 1st place at the Nationals several years ago.

It's a small Mopar World indeed......................

Here's Todd welding on the frame rail jig in this photo below.

View attachment 495614

and in this photo below, Todd and I are standing in the "GYC" pose after a hard days work on building the jig.................

View attachment 495616

Your friends "Uncle Todd" does some fantastic stuff with Mopar restoration.......................... small world indeed. Todd's a great guy and is very knowledgeable with our cars.

He's the best !!!!!!!!!!!!! Todd also has a Facebook page.

Send me a PM and I'll give you a link to the FB page.

On his FB website, Todd has a TON of cool restoration photos and a lot of pictures of some cars he has restored over the years.......... The red 68 Hemi Charger is in there too............

Wow! Small world indeed. Thanks for sharing! I know his brother David pretty well and his family. I follow Todd's shop FB page already, he does indeed do amazing work.

 

[rrTor-Red]

Now that's cool! I mean Mopar enthusiast helping each other out when needed to accomplish the goal of putting these cars back on the road. I saw kudos to you both!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Now that's cool! I mean Mopar enthusiast helping each other out when needed to accomplish the goal of putting these cars back on the road. I saw kudos to you both!

Yes Todd has helped me out quite a few times. In turn I give him a hand when he needs it. That's what friends do. We do share the common goal of getting our cars back on the road where they belong....................... Thanks.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today I was test fitting the rear quarters again................ I had the "Dutchman" or "trunk filler panel" (as it is sometimes called) mocked in place as well. I also had the inner and outer wheel housings in place, and was fiddling with the trunk hinge pivot supports.

The only parts I didn't have clamped back on the car were the trunk floor extensions, trunk lid and tail light panel.

That's when I realized that if I didn't spot weld the "Dutchman" panel in right now, that I wouldn't be able to reach everywhere with my spot welding tongs.

So that's what I did........................

Here's how it looks after I spot welded it in place.......................

I also spot welded the small support brace that holds the center of the Dutchman panel. In this picture below, you can barely see the three spot welds that hold the center support against the Dutchman. They are visible in the upper RH portion of the picture and are right next to the body panel stand in the back ground, that one of the quarters is sitting on. The reflection of the shop's light is shining on the location.

This picture shows where the chrome clips will eventually go................. I sprayed on some black paint to protect the area from flash rusting.

The Dutchman panel and the package tray are now very sturdy.

I didn't weld the very outside edge of the panel. The quarter panels tuck up underneath in that spot, so I wanted to leave a little room for them. I will spot weld the outer corner down tight once the quarter panels are in place.

These last two photos show the underside of the Dutchman panel. Here you can see the spot welds. This is from the passenger side looking towards the driver side.

This picture shows the same area, but looking from the driver side to the passenger side. The large oval openings are for the rear speakers..........

I am pleased with today's progress..................... I hope tomorrow will be another productive day.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Wow! Small world indeed. Thanks for sharing! I know his brother David pretty well and his family. I follow Todd's shop FB page already, he does indeed do amazing work.

Yes it is a small world ..................... Todd is the Mopar Master !!!!!!! and a genuine good guy................. I'm glad you follow him on FB. We do too.

 

[drobertson]

Looks like you're doing great work on the Roadrunner and Challenger, too! Keep it up! They'll be awesome completed.

In fact, you're work is quite inspiring. I've been thinking that maybe one day I'll make a jig like that, and make a brand new 70 challenger or cuda, etc. Using all new repop metal, because everybody want's 10k now for a rust bucket!

 

[Chargerjase]

You are making fantastic progress Louis and as always, I enjoy watching your Mopar wizardry at work. Looking forward to your next post.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Looks like you're doing great work on the Roadrunner and Challenger, too! Keep it up! They'll be awesome completed.

In fact, you're work is quite inspiring. I've been thinking that maybe one day I'll make a jig like that, and make a brand new 70 challenger or cuda, etc. Using all new repop metal, because everybody want's 10k now for a rust bucket!

Thanks for the compliments. However I sold off my Road Runner projects. I just had too many things going on at once. I couldn't seem to make any progress bouncing around from car to car. So I decided to sell the B body cars so that I could concentrate on my Challengers. It hurt to see them go, but I know they went to good homes.

Yes they are making a lot of new sheet metal for our cars, but some of it doesn't fit all that well. You have to be very careful when installing these aftermarket parts, since they are not 100 percent the same as factory sheet metal. I'm very happy that we have these parts available to us now. Years ago we didn't..............and things were much harder, so I'm not complaining.

I'm also very pleased that I decided to go ahead and build this jig fixture. With Todd's help, it came out great. Now I have 100 percent peace of mind in knowing the car will be nice and straight, built to factory alignment specs.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

You are making fantastic progress Louis and as always, I enjoy watching your Mopar wizardry at work. Looking forward to your next post.

Thanks Jase !!!! Here's todays progress...............................following this reply.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today I "temporarily" installed the rear quarter panels and tail light panel again on the Challenger.

Here's the other side:

The whole thought behind this was to get the inner and outer wheel housings set perfectly before spot welding them in place.

Here in this photo below, you can see how I have fit the driver side housings where they should be. Now I have them marked for final installation.

Here's a picture showing the passenger side.

The rear quarters will come back off again after I mock up the trunk lid hinges and pivots / supports. In this last photo you can see the passenger side pivot support laying on the trunk floor. It gets welded to the inner wheel housing and against the bottom of the package tray and Dutchman panel.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get some more stuff welded back on the car.

Stay tuned !!!!!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

I test fit the trunk lid in place, mounted with the hinges and trunk latch in place. The reason behind this was to get the proper placement for the trunk hinge support / pivot. I followed Todd's advice (who owns and operates Todd's Body Shop here in Deland) and so far it seems to be working out good.

So if you're reading this Todd, thanks for the input buddy !!!! I took your advice....................

Then the driver side rear quarter came back off again.......... as did the inner and outer wheel housings. I decided to keep the passenger side parts in place.

While I had the wheel housings out for the last time, I put the inner one in the glass bead cabinet and knocked off the EDP coating in preparation to spot weld.

Next I spot welded the trunk lid hinge pivot bracket in place, using the scribe marks from the last mock up fit session..............

Using the marks from the original factory spot weld locations, I spot welded this part in place. Here's a close up photo above showing this..........

Then the inner wheel housing went back in place....................... Here it's ready for spot welding.

In this picture above, I have started the spot welding process.

Next I placed the outer wheel housing in position. If you look close by the vise grip pliers, you will see that the bolt hole tabs don't line up at all. Other than that the fit was very good.

Here's another look at the outer wheel housing................. I'm not going to spot weld this part in just yet.

I'm going to temporarily install the driver side quarter panel again before I tack the outer wheel housing in place with a few spot welds. This way I can ensure that the gap around the wheel opening between the outer housing and the rear quarter panel is right on the money, before I finally spot weld the outer part in place.

Once I place a few spot welds on the outer half of the wheel housing, I'll remove the quarter again so I will have better access for spot welding this part.

It's been a little while since I have had the chance to spend some time out in the shop lately. But today went very well....................

Please stay tuned for future updates.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today was a very productive day....................... I was able to get the rest of the internal parts spot welded in place on the driver side.

Here's how the car looks now:

Here's the bracket for the end of the vehicle jack after it was spot welded to the trunk floor extension, just like "Ma Mopar" did it......

Followed by the lug wrench hold down: On the original part, it was held in place by a single spot weld on each end. I replaced the part and did the same thing.

This picture shows the upper bracket for the vehicle jack after it was spot welded to the outer wheel housing. I used the original places where it was spot welded as a guide when I spotted it back in place...................

Here's a close up of the outer wheel housing. If you look farther back on the car you can see the trunk floor extension is in place now too..........

This picture shows how the vehicle jack fits into the brackets. I used a jack to make sure the parts were properly positioned before I spot welded them in place.

Here's another picture of the same thing from a slightly different angle. The trunk floor extension shows up nicely here in these last two pictures shown above.

Here's how the car looks now from the driver side: It's staring to look more like a car now !!!!! If I wanted to, I could install the driver side quarter next. But next I will concentrate on welding in the wheel housing and trunk hinge support on the passenger side.................

This last picture shows the trunk floor extension bracket. This little part gets welded to four other parts, and really stiffens things up after it has been installed...............

Hopefully (over the next few days), I can get busy with the passenger side and install the wheel housings.......................

So please check back for further updates................. These parts used on the driver side have fit very well so far. I'm hoping that the passenger side will fit as nice too. If they do I will be very pleased !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today we temporarily installed the doors, and I again placed the driver side rear quarter back on. I'm getting to where I can do this in my sleep............................ The doors will come back off again, but for now they will be used to make sure the gaps and alignment on the rear quarters is set before welding begins............................

Here's the passenger side:

Followed by the driver side...............................

I am going to install the new AMD door hinges next.

Now I need to find the new door striker pins I have stashed away someplace..........................

Then I'll give the doors a final alignment, before I can start the spot welding on the rear quarters.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today was another good day. I installed the door hinges and new strikers. Then I removed all of the internal hardware and glass from each door. The doors would have been a whole lot lighter if I would have removed the internals first..................... But I needed to get them done and didn't have the extra time available at that moment.

These new AMD door hinges for the Challengers fit very good and look almost identical to the originals. I purchased mine from Ted Stephens and they have "Stephens Performance" right on the outside of the box. Ted and Jackie are great people.

Here's a picture below of the hinges installed on the driver side:

Followed by a close up of the upper hinge:

and the lower:

Here's the new door striker for the driver side shown in this photo below:

My originals were pretty well beat up and worn out. Plus sometime during the past these had been shimmed out excessively by a previous owner.

The end result was this: The driver side door is properly aligned and it fits pretty good against the new rear quarter panels in both the gaps and radius of the angles. The door will sit just a little high now at the end by the door handle, since all of the internals were removed.

Here's the same thing again, but this time it's all about the passenger side............................... Both hinges are installed here.

Here's a close up of the passenger side upper hinge:

and the lower:

Followed by the new striker ....................

Finally here's a photo showing the passenger side door installed. But here the internals are still inside the door. (and believe me it's heavy)

I'm pretty stoked with today's progress.

Hopefully tomorrow I can start spot welding in the inner and outer wheel housings on the passenger side.

Getting closer !!!!!

 

[sdistc]

Awesome work.
I've been following for the past couple of years, and I think you're doing a great job. Keep it up!

 

[The not so tall man]

No updates in a long time. I was learning a lot from this thread I hope you continue.