Don selleck's 68 charger rt project

[Propwash]

Wow Don, you are really rolling along! Impressive! Keep up the pace, looking good.

 

[a68postcar]

moving right along. this is my favorite year. it looks real good in new sheet metal.

 

[daytona kid]

68's RULE! Great work!:headbang:

 

[Ron 73]

Yea it does, thank god my shop is well insulated, makes a huge difference, i remember changing a trans in a 66 olds in my dads driveway back in the 80's in a snow storm, really wasn't as bad as it sounds, piled snow up around the windward side blocked most of it, Had to get my car goin to chase some tail around on the weekend. thats when i could lay the tranny on my chest an lift it into place holding the tail shaft with my leg, and fumbling to get two bolts started in the bell housing, and say those were the good ole days. What really is gonna be fun is the day before i take it to be dipped I have to powerwash the car to remove the water based rust inhibitor. so I gotta wait till it gets above freezing, I do have drains in my shop but I dont want to wash everything inn there to, but i do have a big roll of plastic, maybe i can build a tent.

Man, i think all of us or most of us can relate to changing a trans or engine in "dads' driveway.. And well insulated it has to be with this winter, i have a small shop but insulating my ceiling was the best thing i did in it lol.. OH i wish spring would pop in soon! Good luck... and im thinking more of it getting above freezing then getting it power washed

 

[Don selleck]

i was thinking of the tent inside the barn to keep everything dry in the barn and using the drain, but it would be a hell of lot easier in front of the barn out side, last day of february, so march should be getting better,hopefully, almost done welding i can mount it to the rotisserie now, and finish up some underneath work and upside down welding, that the rotisserie will help with. I went with the 1.3 x the factory spot weld ration to new welds, seems like this thing is very solid, that and a full trunk pan seems to really firmed it up.

 

[Ron 73]

Bud, i hope your right with the weather, here in Pa its getting old to and now i have email warnings of 4 to 8 inchs of snow on its way, I would love to have a tent, building or just plain great weather with a tent roof over my stuff and have a rotisserie! but im pretty much locked in with room lol... I hope it all gos well with you in Michigan, I can only wait and see what happens here but 18-20 is the only space i have to work with, hey, could be worse,,,,,,- car still on trailer waiting for leaves to come out on the old garage! rofl....

 

[Don selleck]

just got some time yesterday to get car hooked up to rotisserie, car seems more rigid that in did before tear down, less bounce, maybe full trunk gave it a little, sure makes welding on the bottom a breeze.

 

[Don selleck]

Still not dipped, work has been busy, have to fund this thing some how. I did manage to get the final welding done, bought the cartool sub frame connectors, didnt weld completely the whole length, just the spots that were touching or very close figure seam sealer will take car of the rest, they were a little large fitting over the rear frame rail so i cut a slice out of both side and tapered them in. Welded in what was left of the three sided tie in at the bottom outside corners of the rear window, added a fabbed piece to give it a little extra support. Got the passenger side rear quarter adjusted sightly to even out trunk lid reveal, persistence pays off, having the internet, and especially all the mopar guys posting there fine work here at fbbo sure is a blessing, would be nearly impossible to pull this off without them. The back glass fits!! taped the chrome trim together and did a rough fit, came out suprisingly well. have a gap at roof to sail panel contour on passenger side. I talked to a guy I know thats done a few of these, he said to definitely lead in these areas because of the stress, makes sense i was gonna lead in the quarter tie in areas anyway. Also he said to do the body work first, before epoxy, so I've researched that, think I will get it dipped first then use ever coat products to bondo over the epoxy, then prime. I'm looking for this paint to last a long time it wont ever see winter, might get caught in a rain storm, and will always be in a heated barn, probably going with ppg paint viper silver. Any thoughts?

 

[Don selleck]

one thing about getting your car dipped in akaline is they dont get all the crap out its about impossible to do and make money at it. I've been rolling the car around on the rotisserie finding more and more stuff that looks like battery corosion. I know some places offer akaline or acid dipping and priming dipping one right after the other, I would shy away from this until it dries good from the acid then search and search guarantee you will find more crap in it, air hose and a flash light checking every hole in the frame, another good spot is where any metal sandwiches together like rear quarter at trunk extensions meet, also rockers. i bet i shop vac a couple of gallons of stuff out.

 

[jfreakofkorn]

looking good ...

 

[Don selleck]

well scheduled the dip for this thursday will drop it off at 10 am and pick it up friday at 10 am, cant wait it to the paint stage, 340 hrs so far (not bad for a drywaller). Went over everything pretty well I think, got the leading done on the body seams, and filled in the sail panel a little to get it closer to the window chrome, Talked to e.a. tech they said to sand off the primer on the replacement panels figured i'd give the whole car a d. a. with some 80 grit so its consistant.

 

[ga66mopar]

Back around 1980 I had a friend that had a bought 68 R/t charger silver with a black vinyl top with black interior just like yours. I street raced that car with my 72 GTO 455 ho and sometimes I won and sometime he won. I remember thinking how cool the taillights were (even though I didn't like seeing them) By 82 the 440 was worn out and started to smoke but the body was nice. He sold it to a guy that drove it back to Michigan. I still have my GTO and lot of the guys wonder what happened to the silver charger. It was a one owner car that was bought new in Ringgold, Ga by a local guy. Around 77 the owners son of the local Dodge dealership bought it and started street racing it until my friend bought it. I wonder if it could be the same car. Seems like it had a bench seat but it could have been buckets with a buddy seat with a column shift but I'm not sure if I remember correctly. It also seems like it had 4 wheel drum brakes because we had to let the brakes cool off. It had 323 gears with a suregrip. I will have to find out if he has any info or old pics of the car. We did a lot of street racing in that car. That would be cool if your car was the same car.

 

[Don selleck]

I wish i could say it was probably that car, but i bought the car in mid ohio, it was painted green probably in the 80's after it was wrecked it got the passenger quarter, the car was bucket seats with a console, the car was raced found dragway 42 tag, and some car show stuff in it, and it was set up for nitro when i got, looked like it sat for while, the guy that sold it to me said that a couple had raced it and that his wife had passed, and it was time for it to go.but who knows? might have been, did some research on it and found out they were around 70 something 68 silver rt's made ( if the source was accurate). but next summer (2016) it will be ready to go, so if you ever get up north, ill take ya for a ride and who knows maybe you can see a set of gto headlights in the mirrors. ha ha just kidding thanks for the great story. awesome..

 

[ga66mopar]

My GTO is a 4 speed and the charger being a automatic was quick off of the line. I remember lining up from dead stop with charger and I would look across and see the rear of the charger raise up as we came off of the line. It would lay two long straight black marks. The GTO was tough to get off of the line without smoking the tires. GM didn't have any snubber on the rear end and you had to do your best not to wheel hop.

The silver color really complemented the charger body style.

 

[Don selleck]

thats good to hear that, was gonna go with viper silver, its brighter than AA1 buffed silver, looking for the blinding effect when its sunny out, which doesnt happen to often here in michigan.

 

[HawkRod]

Don, It's looking great! Fantastic progress!

 

[snakeyes]

well Don it has been awhile since I checked out your it is looking very good you have done some very nice work thanks for sharing your build with us :headbang:

 

[Don selleck]

Thanks to all for your support, it really helps, doing a car like this is so time consuming, but the anticipation for the final product, helps to push it too. Saw your comments on 42 snake eyes found a pit pass to there dont know how old it is but it was sept. 27th see pics. also have a few of the d.a. 60 grit on rockers will be doing the final metal sanding tomorrow cleaning and power washing, for the dip thursday.

 

[Propwash]

Damn that thing is clean! Gotta be a good feeling starting with a clean slate. Keep up the good work Don!

 

[Don selleck]

its cleaner now, drying in barn waiting for the dip tomorrow! power washed, and blown dry with leaf blower. first time in the sun since october.