My '72 Challenger project

Daved_XB

Since I knew that the boot lid fit, next step for that was to give it a rust treatment & then paint it in primer to protect it between now the day the car finally goes for paint





Then I started the process of stitch welding & plug welding the panels together… now I took a lot of pics as I went, but there is little to no point posting them all as often the only changes are ab extra few inches of weld somewhere… but here are a collection of pics where the welding has been progressing well & you can see the number of clamps needed to keep the car in shape starts to diminish













Also test fit some of the trim so I can remember how the gaps need to be & how large or small my stitch welds can be

Daved_XB

A lot of welding of the wheel tubs was done on the inside as well as the outside







There is still a lot of welding to go as it was 30 degrees here this weekend so I was taking lots of brakes from welding to work on the XB project away from the heat of molten metal & also I didn’t want to overheat any one panel & run the risk of warpage, so there is still some welding to do but the structure is finished… I can stand in the boot & nothing moves at all… I’ll finish up the welding at night after work this week… but it’s official now, it’s a car again

I also took advantage of some Xmas deals in my local tool shop & got myself a new much larger tool chest that allows me to have the tools better grouped together & laid out so that nothing is buried under other tools… I’ve spend some OCD induced evening this weeks filling this up too

endacl

How do you keep your workshop so clean and tidy?!?

Daved_XB

Really? It's an absolute mess mate.... I try & tidy up at least once a week if I can

endacl

Daved_XB wrote: »

Really? It's an absolute mess mate.... I try & tidy up at least once a week if I can

I won’t post a pic of my shed.

Daved_XB

Next up on this was to learn a new skill… that of lead wiping, which I assume you all know is the way that they filled in the panel joins of old Muscle cars back in the day.. most modern cars use fancy sealants that aren’t trying to chemically kill you whist you are using them… but sure where’s the fun in that…

So first up you paint the area with a tin based paste that you then heat with a torch to get it to react on the metal so that the lead has a good coating to bond too



Then you start to lay the lead in by heating up a bar of lead with a blow torch & playing a delicate balancing act of heat… it’s such a fine line (like maybe 1-2 degs) between nice formable & workable lead or a pool of molten lead on your work boots





Then once you have the lead laid in on the join you get your wooden paddle & coat it in wax to stop the lead sticking to & burning the wood…. Now you gently reheat the lead again & then using the paddle you start to smooth the lead out over the panel so that it fully fills the join & extends about an inch over each side

Daved_XB

Now that you have way too much lead spread across the panel it’s time to get the speed file out & start to shave off the access till you get the shape of the panel you want





Then lastly you can use a fine sanding disk to get it perfectly smooth







Now I’m making little tweaks to this car as I’m doing the body, you already saw earlier that I’m filling in the side marker lights front & rear to give the side profile a much sleeker & cleaner look… tonight I had another thought, the panel that runs under the rear window has a join line where it butts up against the rear Qtr… see here



I’ve now lead wiped that area too to make the rear of the car from the roof down across the back of the car flow better (well at least better in my mind, feel free to critic my work in the manor of an obnoxious reality TV show judge)



I could undo this by just running the angle grinder blade along it & reinstalling the line… but I think it actually looks much nicer & cleaner without it

Wibbs

Fantastic work Sir. Lead loading is a black art, but so much more superior to filler. And yep I reckon smoothing that seam looks better

Daved_XB

I realise that this is just a single picture update to the thread, but I’ve been focusing on finishing up the welding & to be honest I didn’t see much point in taking close up pictures of lots of spot & stitch welds on the car…. But have no fear the project is progressing forward…. This pic is significant (well to me anyway), as it’s the boot channel welding on the drivers side of the car & what this represents is the last of the welding that needs to be done on that side of the car…. Happy days as they say, there is still a little more on the passenger side to go, but I think that the body work will be finished this month & then it’s time to prep for paint

Daved_XB

Really happy with how the lead join on the Qtr to roof section has come up with a bit of high fill



Decided to make a start on stripping back the doors of the Challenger to see how they look… sadly my door removal tool is designed to work on cars that are on the ground & it didn’t reach high enough to work with the car on the hoist so I had to use blocks of wood, agricultural but effective







Hmmm… oh that’s right I’ve been using the car to store a load of crap so time to clean it all out now



I’ve learned now that scratching the paint surface up before applying the stripper is the way to go, gives the chemical better penetration.. I do love watching the old paint bubble, I was then intrigued by the purple I could see starting to peak out from behind the paint.





So with the first layer of paint off you can now see that at some point in time this car had flames… looks like it was a black car with black flames accented with wild plum pin striped flames… very 70’s



Mrs XB then took up the job from here to get the doors stripped whilst I worked on some other stuff… she has some serious skills here now

Daved_XB

I’ve started on the floor of the challenger now, there are some patches of surface rust that are hiding under the factory sealer that was used… the sealer is very brittle & clearly all has to be replaced





It’s nothing to be concerned with, just light surface stuff, but still means all the floor has to be taken back to shiny bare metal to be sure





Found another spot on this car where the VIN is stamped… that must be 7 spots now I’ve found this… I have no idea how people used to clone these things back in the day..

Standard Toaster

Unearthing the pin striped flames was pretty cool. The lines on the Challenger really are something.

Daved_XB

Lots & lots of surface rust hiding under the factory seam sealer & also under the body deadener, so definitely worth stripping the whole thing back to shiny bare meatal & then treating & painting it









There was some rust around the bolt hole for the seatbelt mounts on both sides… so I cut that out & welded in new patches of metal to fix that up





Up till now the rear wheel tubs have been properly welded in as per the factory install method



But I’ve decided to fully seam weld them in rather than just relying on the seam sealer…. Excuse the close up of crappy welds



Once all that was done, then I put a rust treatment on the floor & then I painted in rust proofing/sound deading spray… it’s come up well… I’ve also be covering this with dynamat before the carpet goes in

Daved_XB

The doors turned out to be hiding some very bad dent damage, each of those Bog patches turned out to be 12mm - 15mm deep & one of them right on the major crease line of the door that can’t be reached from the inside to panel beat out due to the internal intrusion bar… think I’ll either have to reskin the doors or replace them fully



Now if you go back many many posts in this thread you’ll remember that I never fully finished welding the front of the car together, it was tacked in place & not fully welded up… so got around to marking that off the todo list also



The passenger side inner fender panel was warped from the manufacturing process & it was always going to be a pain in the whole to sort… lots of heating, smacking & using ratchet straps later & it was all lined up perfectly so I could fully weld the top rad support panel & the lower support section









SO that’s it!! It’s done structurally this car is finished… it’s a complete straight rust free shell now



Next was to put the rear wheels back on & officially turn it into a rolling shell for the first time in like 2 years

Daved_XB

Now just to prove that this is a rolling shell…. I took the car for it’s first roll of the hoist in 2 years… it even went out of the shed… can I call this a road trip or is that a step too far?



The hoist is now finally free for me to use for other things too…



Which is good as I have a list of maintenance things I want to do to the GTO

Daved_XB

I needed to replace the original fuel tank of the Challenger so I noticed when buying the Aeromotive set up for the XB that they also sell OEM style tanks for US muscle cars complete with the Stealth pumps in them, so I got one..
 

 

 
The tank is constructed with proper baffles inside (sorry it’s almost impossible to get a good pic of that thru the openings)
 

 
The top of the pump assembly looks the same as does the kit for the XB, but due to the tank being baffled you don’t need the foam baffle to add in
 

 

 

 
The fuel sender unit is also supplied & unlike the original it doesn’t have the fuel flow thru it
 

 
Again the kit comes with a full wiring harness & all of the bits needed including a regulator to mount in the engine bay… these are great little kits I must say
 

 

 

Daved_XB

I bought some chassis strengthening bits for the inner fenders to install, I figured that given I’ve removed & replaced the whole front end including the chassis rails that I’d feel better if I over engineered the front end now… plus the new engine is over 500HP so an increase over the stock outputs even of the Hemi’s of the 70’s. So this is the stock factory inner fender bracing
 

 

 

 
The kit also has a section that beefs up the lower radiator support panel
 

 
The weld on bits for that support panel look like this
 

 
The inner fender bits look like this
 

 
Test fitting them before welding them in they needed a little bit of fettling to get them sitting just right… can you see the difference?
 

 

 

 

Daved_XB

I then test fitted the front guard & they just touch the new brace… sorry for the bad pic below
 

 
there is a strengthening brace on the underside of the guard that drops down vertically & it just sits on the brace… so I can trim a few mm of this & it won’t be an issue but I don’t know what the final height of the fender fitment needs to be… so now I guess I need to fit the new doors & hinges on & get the body like perfect across the rear Qtrs & the doors, then I can tack weld the new inner braces on & then fit the guards & trim them to suit so that the body lines are perfect & the guards don’t sit hard on the new braces.
 
First step remove the old hinges
 

 

 
As I pulled them off I noticed what looked like rubber or foam bits that surrounded the bolts themselves, as the openings in the hinges are square & not round
 

 

 

 
The remains of said foam/rubber
 

 

 
I was a little worried that the new hinge kit came with new bolts but not with any sort of foam or rubber inserts… I’ve since done some research & it seems that what Dodge did on the production line was to fill the square openings with body sealer & then let it go off after the hinges where installed… so I guess that’s what I’ll do then
 

Daved_XB

I cleaned off the metal behind the hinges to ensure there was no rust, treated the metal & then primed it before bolting on the new hinges
 

 

 

 
I have some brand new doors for this car, but before mounting them I figured I’d transfer the window guides etc before fitting the doors
 

 
I sat the new & old doors side by side & simply removed the guides & reinstalled… not rocket doctoring I’m sure you’ll agree
 

 

 

 
The actual winders themselves I think I’ll replace as they do make them new… oddly enough I can’t find the guides reproduced hence why I’m re-using my originals
 

 
Annoyingly there are two parts in each door that they also don’t seem to remake that I would love new versions off…. they sit at the top & the window slide past that should be covered in thick felt, these have worn off & as a result have over time scratched the windows… I guess worst case I’ll just remove the very worn felt now & re-glue some new thick felt to them to prevent any scratches when the new glass goes in
 

 
Right… now you’re up to date again, I plan to hang the doors over the weekend & hopefully fully fit the bracing…. Well that’s the plan

Standard Toaster

Yeap, still the best thread on boards.

Mississippi.

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Yeap, still the best thread on boards.

Absolutely, thanks for the updates

quietsailor

^^^What they both said^^^

Daved_XB

Thanks all... personally I think this thread is overrated... but I'll keep updating & posting so long as folks like it

Daved_XB

Started on the passenger side door first, sat it on my handy door jack as I was on my own for the day in the shed so this was a life saver with me only having a single pair of hands & all..
 

 
In case you’re wondering what that pool of oil is in front of the jack… it’s the jack oil, the plastic stopper fired out at speed from the pressure & spat the contents all over the floor & the front wheel of the GTO..
 

 
But once I fixed that it fairly easy if just a little fiddly to mount the door
 

 
Then I remounted the front guard to get a feel for just how off the door was sitting
 

 

 

 
It needs adjusting as you’d think but that is really a two person job so it’ll have to wait till I have a helper over again.. then it was on to mount the new hinges on the driver’s side
 

 
Then lift the driver’s side door onto the newly repaired door jack  
 

 
This tool was a cheap made in china thing, but it’s been a god send for this job as I’m on my own

Daved_XB

Door mounted & hinges checked for full operation of travel etc..
 

 

 

 
Then I mounted that front guard on too
 

 

 
There is a lot of fine adjustment required on the doors & also on the passenger rear Qtr, looks like it needs to come in a few mm at the top, it’ll be fiddley work for sure but not a big deal in the grand scheme of things I guess.
 
I had to have the car on the ground to fit the doors as the door jack doesn’t have the lift reach with the car on the hoist, but now that they are back on it was time to put the car back on the hoist to allow me to finish some other areas that are easier to reach with the car raised a few feet.
 
Of course this lead to first world problem number 107, having to play muscle car Tetris to be able to get it on the hoist, meant I needed to move the GTO so I could shift the Camaro to be able to move the Challenger… I need a bigger shed!
 

 

quietsailor

Does the door holder articulate and rotate to help line up the holes or are there cardboard shims involved?

Daved_XB

quietsailor wrote: »

Does the door holder articulate and rotate to help line up the holes or are there cardboard shims involved?

Perhaps there are more expensive better versions that do rotate to help, but no mine just jacks up & down... the top arm can be used to tilt the door back & forth but it's really just designed to hold it at the correct height & you have to shim & manually move yourself to get it lined up right.. but that's very simple compared to having to hold the doors weight by hand

Wibbs

Daved_XB wrote:

I needed to move the GTO so I could shift the Camaro to be able to move the Challenger.

Now that's a petrolheads wet dream summed up in a sentence.

Tommyboy40

Just read the thread from the start. Your work and dedication are outstanding. I wish I had a garage big enough to fit all my cars

Daved_XB

Finally getting back into working on the Dodge body work….. decided to focus on the passenger side to start off. As you may remember from earlier in this thread I have decided to blank off the side running lights in the front guards & the rear Qtr’s as I just think that it makes the line of the car much smoother & cleaner… so sanded off the paint the panels shipped with & sprayed with weld through primer



Then it’s a simple task of cutting out some flat metal that fits the factory recessed hole & welding it in





Whilst these new panels are good they are not perfect & sometimes they need a little fettling to make them fit… this is such an example, the guard has the top body line & that lines up with the door fine, then it has the mid body line & that also lines up nicely… but the lower line is a good half inch too low… so I’ve been playing the hammer & dolly to flatten out the line they pressed in & recreate it at the right level



Also the top of the door had been damaged a bit in transit & it’s also clear that their panel press for these reproductions is not as large as the factory original so I’m doing some hammer & dolly work here too



Now for the big job…. The door edge isn’t close to the shape of the rear Qtr at all & another issue is that the gap is massive & can’t be closed in using the hinge adjustments as there just isn’t enough movement to be had



So I’m using a few different techniques to try & solve this… first up was simple hammer & dolly work on the to stretch the metal forward a bit…



Once I’d gotten as much movement out of that as I could I then went to the next option…. I’ve used an old hot rodders trick & I’ve welded some tig welding wire to the edge of the door to physically lengthen the door itself & reshape it so that the profile matches that of the rear Qtr