My '68 Charger restoration

[tracy]

your wife is a good girl, buying you a car to fix. good luck with it. looks like your fixing it the rite way

 

[SGTPaul]

Wow those pictures are amazing. Especially the cowl ones. I bought a Louisiana barn find parts car for my 68 charger that was off the road for 30 years. It looked like every mouse or whatever was living in it for decades. Nest and crud packed the A/C ducts, heater box, cowl, seats, and behind every interior panel – everywhere. Structure was totally shot but most of the bolt on sheet metal and the forward parts of the quarters were ok. Keep up the good progress!

 

[Charger_68]

Looking really good on your 68 Dan, i just love the pic of your 67 lined up with all the (snobby i assume):sigh: sports cars! joe

 

[67Charger]

Looking really good on your 68 Dan, i just love the pic of your 67 lined up with all the (snobby i assume):sigh: sports cars! joe

Thanks... I equate it to bringing a P-51's supercharged V-12 Allison in a Model-A to the 2011 Indy 500. Yeah, it CAN be done and have a great time doing it and embarrass some high dollar rigs in the process.

As far as the '68 goes, I just ordered up some sheetmetal from AMD and did some horsetrading for a good fender. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the chassis blasting here shortly. I had my one good fender along with a spare hood for the '67 (needs a scoop for drag racing) media blasted and should get them back Monday.

 

[Donny]

yeah, flow of media is an issue, or, could be an issue if you have a non-screw compressor. I'm very aware of flow clogging, it's only moisture that affects it; if you have a screw compressor, and a good moisture trap, you won't have any issues; at least I don't have any, and I've blasted in the pouring down rain (rather, the compressor is out there in the rain). Pics/car looks great!

 

[67Charger]

My rain issue is due to the fact my sand is outside and uncovered. Seems to be drying outfairly well. Now it's just getting the time to do it. I didn't get the week off between Christmas and New Year that I thought I would.

 

[mac68]

i admire your willingness to save this gem.most wouldnt think of it.maybe you could ask AMD to sponser you.

 

[67Charger]

Did some more blasting last weekend. I tried some stuff called SharpShot, MAN that stuff was aggressive. Back to silica for me. Found some new holes in the rear tail panel and valence, but not sure if it will be repaired or replaced... Pleasantly, the trunk drop off on the drivers side is fine, and the floor continues to be flawless.

 

[Donny]

Cool! Never heard admiration for Silica like this before, other than the way it cuts? Bravo! Pics?

 

[67Charger]

My blaster setup

Swiss Cheese rocker

 

[roadrunnerman]

has the rest of the car been as bad that you've found? That rust in the door pillar,if the car had been sitting any longer b4 you found it,might've been a lost cause,but glad you're bringing it back.

 

[Propwash]

You got your hands full partner......Impressive project!!

 

[67Charger]

Post winter update.

Finally... After a pending rain storm forced me to hide the car in a 40' shipping container to keep the bare metal from rusting again, I pulled her back out last week. The blaster has been busy for the last few weeks, but I may be able to squeeze in some time this coming week. The hard part is finding room to safely store (in an organized manner) all the parts that are coming off.

Lately, I've been tied up building a car for my dad to run the higher speed brackets at Silver State, but I really don't think it can be done in time. As a backup plan, I've been converting my '67 back from drag to Silver State trim. Last night I welded up the new mounts for the Hotchkis 1 3/8" front sway bar that replaced the factory wet noodle bar. I got the dropped spindles installed and am working on fabricating an air dam for the front. I scored a few deals at Spring Fling for the '68.

 

[696pack]

Today is the first I have ever looked at this thread. I have only read the original post in it but after looking at the pics in the first post I have to say that I think your wife doesn't like you very much.:bootyshake::icon_lol:

 

[Superfreak]

Today is the first I have ever looked at this thread. I have only read the original post in it but after looking at the pics in the first post I have to say that I think your wife doesn't like you very much.:bootyshake::icon_lol:

Not a good road to go down.:nono: LOL

 

[67Charger]

Finally got some time with the car today. Fully windowed out the quarters and undid most of the panel junctions that had rust between them like the 1/4 to trunk rail joint and the bottom of the door pillars. Final blasting should happen this week then finally some metal may start going back on.

I'll get pics up as soon as I figure out how to get them out of my phone without the cable.

 

[67Charger]

As promised, an update. I'm trying not to remove entire substructure panels, but rather splice in good for bad to hopefully preserve factory fitment since there will always be other pieces holding the alignment in check. The trunk floor will remain and the bad center section clearanced out for a custom rectangular cell mounted midway through the floor for added clearance, but will still fill with the factory filler.


Drivers Side behind the 1/4. No unpleasant surprises

Trunk extension survived, will need minor pin-hole repair.

Exposing the trunk rails to salvage them and the stamped VIN

Passenger side was a little worse. I have a new section of rocker to replace most of the missing area without removing the ENTIRE rocker.

Door hinge post. Going to splice in new (donor car) piece.

Front P/S frame rail. Needs more cut away. Have donor rail, just determining the size of the splice.

 

[Donny]

Looks like it's getting away from you bro! However, I know that feeling myself all too well! However, I don't visit there too often anymore.

 

[northerndave]

How the hell did that trunk ext survive??

That's crazy!!

looks like you are making great progress, keep it up!!.

 

[67Charger]

It's all good, Donny, just need time. Nothing I wasn't expecting.

It's much harder to get time to work on it at the shop, vs. home. I'm trying to get the last few panel junctions opened up so I can finish blasting and get it back home where I can pop in and out on it. Minor spot blasting can be done at home on the areas I didn't get this go round. Still shooting for having her home by this weekend.