Rook's 68 Charger - What have I gotten myself into this time?

[Coelacanth]

Agreed with the rest, looks like a solid project. I'm working on a '70 Charger. My body man fabricated a simple, straight repair patch for the trunk floor extension on the driver's side. It obviously doesn't look original, but it works for Grendel...she's a driver.

 

[Cranky]

I'm all about cars that handle well but just how well does a person want them to handle vs ride quality going down the highway? Heavy duty springs vs lighter springs but bigger sway bars is what I like for a street driven car. Never did like my cars to ride like a heavy duty truck going down the freeway so they got a bit softer spring and bigger sway bars with better shocks. Think about it.....3/4 ton truck going straight down the freeway or one that rides smoothly going down the freeway.....but handles well in the corners? It can be accomplished unless you want a car that handles really really well in all aggressive cornering but rides like a 3/4 truck (or even a 1 ton) in the straight line riding.

 

[Coelacanth]

I'm all about cars that handle well but just how well does a person want them to handle vs ride quality going down the highway? Heavy duty springs vs lighter springs but bigger sway bars is what I like for a street driven car. Never did like my cars to ride like a heavy duty truck going down the freeway so they got a bit softer spring and bigger sway bars with better shocks. Think about it.....3/4 ton truck going straight down the freeway or one that rides smoothly going down the freeway.....but handles well in the corners? It can be accomplished unless you want a car that handles really really well in all aggressive cornering but rides like a 3/4 truck (or even a 1 ton) in the straight line riding.

I agree...I want my Charger to handle better than it did in 1970, what with the new radial tires and some suspension upgrades, but not at the cost of riding like an ox-cart. I think I'm aiming for a compromise suspension situation with all new shocks, offset Moog UCA bushings, and maybe the 1.03" front stabilizer upgrade and quick-ratio Pitman arm...and add a rear stabilizer bar if budget permits. I'll leave it at that.

 

[Cranky]

I agree...I want my Charger to handle better than it did in 1970, what with the new radial tires and some suspension upgrades, but not at the cost of riding like an ox-cart. I think I'm aiming for a compromise suspension situation with all new shocks, offset Moog UCA bushings, and maybe the 1.03" front stabilizer upgrade and quick-ratio Pitman arm...and add a rear stabilizer bar if budget permits. I'll leave it at that.

I lowered my 66 Belvedere at least 2" and installed 15x7 wheels with 235-75 tires at all 4 corners. Yeah, the tires were tall but that's what I had on hand. The car didn't even have sway bars on either end but I pulled out weight that started with 3370 to 2950 lbs. Could not believe the difference it made. My 71 Cuda with factory front and rear bars responded very well with better shocks and tires. It too surprised me with the way it handled with 275-60's on 8" wheels the back and 14's on the front. Don't even remember the tire size on the front but it ended up being pretty neutral unless I stabbed the loud pedal in a turn and only then would it turn into total over steer lol. That was one car that I totally regret selling....

 

[Coelacanth]

With Kern Dog's suggestion to lower the front end along with the offset UCA bushings, getting as much caster as you can, hopefully makes a big difference.

 

[kiwigtx]

Hi folks,


My name’s Paul, and this is my first classic car project.
I’m especially interested in the sheet metal and fabrication side of things, so I’m looking forward to learning a lot as I work through this ’68 Charger build.

From what I could gather from the seller, the car was originally torn down for a restoration back in 2016, but the project stalled and the car was stored away then later changed hands with the current seller having too much on the plate to get it done.
There’s been a fair amount of patchwork repair—possibly due to limited availability of full panels at the time—so my thinking is we’ll likely need to scrap a lot of what's been previously done and start fresh in many areas. I’ll get into more detail of the ugly in a following post but as a spoiler its clear this car has had a hit on the front passenger side at one point.
For now, here are some overview photos some bad some good, I'm new to these cars so please feel free to share insights but be kind:


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440 with a 727 transmission and an 8 3/4 based on the imagery I've seen online. Orange paint on the block implying its a later model motor thats likely been swapped in? Only have the VIN, no fender tag to work off of.
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Maybe it was originally Burgundy before being resprayed to red?
You can also see the outline of the patching that was done around the arches and the front and rear sections of the quarter panel.

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Looks like the trunk extensions and the outer fender wells have been patched (true for both sides) Not very impressed with the execution so we're probably going to need to take the quarters off and do this properly.
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I did find a pair of AMD outer wheel houses in the trunk though so maybe that was always someone's plan.
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I can still see what I believe is the lead filler - shame they approached the quarter panels the way that they did.
You can also see they replaced the panel on the back of the rear window before the trunk.

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The trunk floor looks okay with some patches having been done but since the car has been undersealed its hard to really tell whats hiding under there.
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It was also hard to see what was hiding underneath all the junk on the floor of the car..

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The good news is that as I went through the parts - its pretty complete as far as I could tell, maybe I can do a review of what I found in a following post before I get to the challenges at hand.

Thanks for taking the time to read up so far, I think im limited to 10 photos per post so I'll leave it here for now.

Nothing that cannot be fixed up with a few lazy Sunday afternoons and a few twelve-packs.

You have a decent jump on a good looking car to restore....we've seen way worse on these here pages over the years.

 

[Rook]

Thanks, guys — a buddy of mine lent me a Bristle Blaster for stripping the underseal.
That’s where I plan to start, just to see if anything’s hiding underneath. I can already see some patchwork on parts of the frame rail, so I guess in the interest of managing scope creep - does it warrant full replacement, or is it something I can live with for now?

I'm planning on stripping the car back to bare metal then getting it on a jig.


Right now, I’m thinking of picking up the following from AMD:

• Pair of rear quarters (which also gives me a chance to replace the patchy outer wheel wells using the AMD set that came with the car, and replace the trunk extensions)
• Pair of new front inner fenders, with upper and lower cowl to fender brackets
• New drip rails

Would be great to hear your thoughts on this approach.

Will get started on the taking off the underseal next week