New owner of 71 Charger project. Have some questions

[Wolfie]

Hi everyone. I have a few questions I need to ask. Mostly opinion. I bought a 71 Charger for 600 bucks. It needs an engine, trans, and axle. It needs body work. In other words its a complete project. But every time i try and buy a Charger they all get sold before i can go look at them. I got discouraged. So I found this project Charger for 600 really close to my house. And I bought it. Now im wondering if that was a bad idea. here are a few pics. I hope the links work. Tell me what you think

 

[WP29440SE]

if you had said you bought it for 2600 , i would be skeptical. with what you paid , i think its worthy of being "rebuilt" . any thing can be fixed and put back together. it all in what you want and how deep your pockets are. i would have bought it for sure, but i love 71 chargers.

without seeing pics of the trunk and floor, its hard to really say........

and welcome to B Bodies

 

[roadrunnerman]

Welcome to B-BODIES. That is in not too bad shape, we have seen worse on here come back to life. It all depends on much you are going to budget yourself to repair everything you want to do. If you are able to do most of the bodywork and mechanics yourself then you can keep your budget low. Don't get overwhelmed on this because of being discouraged on the other ones you missed. Were they in the same condition or better/worse. There are many,many members here that will answer your questions. How is the frame underneath and floorboards? Your car looks like it has a canopy style vinyl roof. Good luck if you plan on preceding further with it. I also have a 71 charger.

 

[Wolfie]

The drivers side floor pan needs to be fixed. The truck pan is solid. The frame is good as far as I can tell. No holes/rusted through or any of that stuff. I might have an axle that will hopefully work. But I need a engine tho. So for a base model 318. And my ability to do mechanics and im not a master at body work. I have friends that can help. You guys think its saveable?

 

[WP29440SE]

The drivers side floor pan needs to be fixed. The truck pan is solid. The frame is good as far as I can tell. No holes/rusted through or any of that stuff. I might have an axle that will hopefully work. But I need a engine tho. So for a base model 318. And my ability to do mechanics and im not a master at body work. I have friends that can help. You guys think its saveable?

hell yes its savable. i have seen much much worse brought back from the dead. too bad you are so far away, i have a fresh 360 /904 for grabs. best place to start is to take it apart and bag/label everything you take off. get the thing soda/media blasted and start replacing metal. it can get pricy in a hurry. do your home work and get reputable people to do what you cant. friends dont let friends do half *** body work.

 

[YY1]

Before spending a lot of time/money, check the cowl real good, including where the panels meet in the door hinge area, and inside the cowl (throught the vent screens under the hood) where the fresh air vent "stack" meets the base panel of the cowl. Those areas are prone to rust, and are just short of a mightmare to fix.

For a 71, new AMD quarters (both full and half) are available, but for a 318 car it might not be cost effective.
Floor pans are available.
Fenders are somewhat difficult to find, although they do turn up. about 1/2 of them will be as bad as yours or worse. Axle shouldn't be too bad, and I think a C body axle will work in a pinch, and be pretty easy to find.

Trunk lids are aslo kinda tough to find, and prone to rust.

 

[Wolfie]

1 fender I think I can fix. Th other I doubt it. As soon as i can get it home I will take it apart and make a restoration thread. I know it a valuable car but i would hate to scrap it.

 

[roadrunnerman]

Also as you take it apart make a list of what you can repair and what pieces/parts will need to be replaced and what parts that you don't have that you will need to find. On exterior pieces,be carefull what you buy. 71 is kinda it's own year and i don't think all parts, (doors,trunk bumpers, and maybe interiors panels) will be the same from the 72-4 chargers.

 

[Propwash]

Welcome...$600 bucks, good deal

 

[kdtjb]

Howdy, looks like a fair deal to me.

 

[fatecaptured]

rt clone that thing... good buy. If you can buy a car that can be parted for more than the price u paid, then thats a good buy to me.

 

[alleyoopmgv]

Welcome to the site!

 

[Budnicks]

welcome to FBBO, now you have introduced yourself, maybe post some of your questions on some of the other appropriate forums here, you will get more responses to your many questions that way... Is it worth it ?? @ $600 you can't really go too wrong, as long as it's not totally rusted out frames, floors & even they can be repaired.... I guess it all depends on what you plan on doing with the 71 Charger ??, resto-rod/hot-rod, restoration, strip car ??, the gen 3 Chargers don't really have as good of resale as the 68-70's, so don't expect to make a bunch of money on it, restoring & selling it, you will spend as much as it will cost to buy a decent running car, if that was your plan anyway... I say keep it, build it how you like it & drive it, they are great looken' cars when done right... Good luck

 

[old tired rebel]

Welcome and you will have a easier time to bring yours back to life than I will.Mine is a 74 model here is a thread about it,right now it's stalled until I can get a welder.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?36663-Green-Envy

 

[fla 66 cuda]

Welcome to FBBO we too have a 73 charger that we have been replacing sheetmetal on since Apr. 2011,we are now to the finish body work stage [high build primer]. I had never welded,painted,fabricated prior to this [always had it done] but this project is my son's car and low buck is the goal so i learned to do all this by the school of hard knocks. Good luck with the project keep us posted,if you care to check out the link to our charger project below.

 

[detmatt1]

Welcome to the site from the Motor City! I have a 71 parts car for sale in Detroit. If any of those tough spots mentioned in a previous post are rusted on yours this could be a good doner car for you. I also have a bunch of misc parts for the 71 including front bumper cores, a grille set that's restorable and a bunch of other stuff. Let me know when you want to start shopping.
Oh, I also have a decent build able 440 that's complete if your looking for a big block.

 

[Wolfie]

rt clone that thing... good buy. If you can buy a car that can be parted for more than the price u paid, then thats a good buy to me.

Im kinda tempted too. I have to replace atleast 1 door skin. So maybe ill do R/T doors... Not sure.

welcome to FBBO, now you have introduced yourself, maybe post some of your questions on some of the other appropriate forums here, you will get more responses to your many questions that way... Is it worth it ?? @ $600 you can't really go too wrong, as long as it's not totally rusted out frames, floors & even they can be repaired.... I guess it all depends on what you plan on doing with the 71 Charger ??, resto-rod/hot-rod, restoration, strip car ??, the gen 3 Chargers don't really have as good of resale as the 68-70's, so don't expect to make a bunch of money on it, restoring & selling it, you will spend as much as it will cost to buy a decent running car, if that was your plan anyway... I say keep it, build it how you like it & drive it, they are great looken' cars when done right... Good luck

I will make a thread. Sorry about that. I kinda want to restore it. But its a 318 car. So a resto-rod kinda thing. If I was able to id want a 340 in it. I know a BB would be more powerful. But I figure a small block might be a good idea. Im not sure yet tho. Time will tell once i strip it down

Welcome to the site from the Motor City! I have a 71 parts car for sale in Detroit. If any of those tough spots mentioned in a previous post are rusted on yours this could be a good doner car for you. I also have a bunch of misc parts for the 71 including front bumper cores, a grille set that's restorable and a bunch of other stuff. Let me know when you want to start shopping.
Oh, I also have a decent build able 440 that's complete if your looking for a big block.

Well I do have a grill for it. But yours might be better. Not sure yet. I would be more then willing to buy parts. I have family in Michigan so maybe I can have someone come and pick them up.

Ill start a new thread later. Right now I do not have time at the moment.

Thank you FBBO! I will take pics of it when its taken apart/stripped. On a new thread. Tell me what you guys think!

 

[Ron 73]

Welcome aboard!

 

[arsinist01]

I'd say the answer depends on how much of the work you can do yourself. If you are a good at body work, paint, mechanics, or interior all the prices will come down. It's when you need to pay other people to do that stuff that the price goes up.

 

[Wolfie]

Ok last post on this thread. Because i dont have time to make a new thread and post pictures at the moment. I talked to a friend of mine who does body work for a living. Hes willing to do it for we as long as i provide he supplies. His reasoning? Loves old cars. So my thoughts are to get an engine and trans (found a 91, 318 and 727) put my C8.25 (i did some looking. It might actually work) under it and get the brakes working again. So once its running and driving Ill bring it in for him to do the quarters.