My '72 Challenger project

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

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
 

 

 

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
 

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

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

Started the finishing off work on sections of the Challenger, so wire brushing the bare metal sections & then coating in a thick rust proofer… next step will be to seam seal these sections.. doesn’t look exciting but it means that some areas are officially finished & getting prepped for paint… happy days

quietsailor wrote: »

you must be so glad to be finished the tear down part of the restoration and move onto the painting things end of it!

Fear not there is still a lot of smacking with hammers, welding & grinding to go here.... I just wanted to start finishing some sections to make myself feel better, in a oh look I'm actually going to finish this thing one day kind of way

Then I cleaned up the welds & coated everything in weld proof primer, which is something I hate as it makes the mig splatter like a bugger… makes it feel like I’m using a gasless mig really.



With that done I was able to test fit the bigger outer brace piece



These needed a lot of patience & clamps to make it fit tight up against the new flat plate







The process was clamp a section tight, tack weld in place that section that was in place & then move the clamps again to get the next bit flat… it took hours as I was also not wanting to put too much heat into the car & risk warping something.. but in the end it turned out great… or at least I think it did



Then I cleaned the welds & coated in primer as another section hopefully finished

Once I had them tacked in place then I was able to fully weld them in



Now you’ll notice in this pic that the flat under section of the big brace is nearly an inch away from the flat section of the piece I’ve just welded in… well these need to touch, so rang the company & pointed out that the gap couldn’t be clamped up as such as it was just bending the top of the inner fender where the guards bolt too… turns out the instructions are missing a section where you have to cut & bend that lip to suit… great…







With that done I was able to clamp on the big brace section & tack that into place





Then it was just a question of slowly working my around & stitch welding small sections at a time so as to not put too much heat into any one place & risk warping the panels at all





Then a coat of primer over everything & we’re down with the new bracing & I think it looks awesome

Next up was a small job, as you may remember I’m filling in the front & rear side marker lights on the car to smooth out the side profile. The last one I hadn’t done was drivers side front side marker below



First up grind off the paint the panel shipped covered in



Then spray it in weld thru primer as I won’t be able to get to the back of it later



Then using the tried & test cardboard method of marking out the right shape for a filler panel, I cut out a patch to go in & again painted the back side of it in primer now.. then using my welding magnets held it nicely in place





Then slowly weld it in using many many spots or tacks if you will, again so as to not put too much heat into the panel & warp it



Then linish the welds back to flat & coat in primer

Now with the rear valence back on the ends actually line up & it looks good… not great but good, great comes a few pics later







I’m doing my best to have as close to zero bog in any of my cars as I can have, yes they will probably end up with a light skim in certain places but I’m not slapping it on thick anywhere & sculpting the shape out of it… so it was back to lead wiping as the best option I could think of to make the panel smooth & the gap just right… very happy with how this is looking now





Whist I has the blow torch & lead out I figured I’d do the door gaps I’d been working on too & also the join between the rear Qtr & the lower rocker, I haven’t filled this smooth yet so you can see how rough the first coat of lead looks before you get it smooth

Very happy with the driver’s side B pillar it’s spotless in there

Just a bit of an update on the Challenger, so whilst the car is pretty much a complete car shaped well car for want of a better word there is a lot more welding that I want to get done. If you take bits like this front chassis leg or the inner fender section where is attaches to the firewall, you can see that there good strong spaced welds holding the car together..





But I’ve decided that I want to seam weld as much of the car as I can, like this…





With that done I moved back to the boot section of the car… it’s been sitting in raw steel for a little too long & surface rust is starting to appear, so as well as finishing up the welding back here I’m also having to sand back that, treat it & then prime to ensure that it’s all gone… might have to look into a dehumidifier for the shed too perhaps long term



You can see the joins in the boot floor here that I’m being told I should just put a layer of sealant over & that that will be fine as that’s how Dodge did it back in the day





I decided against that & I’m seam welding all of these joins & then I’ll run the sealant over the welds in the end to make it look factory & to ensure that there is a perfect seal too

Also have to finish off the bootlid



There is a small patch of rust that needs to be cut out off the top & the rear lip & replaced





Along with the top corners of where the boot channels join too





I’m sitting in an airline lounge right now, but this should be my last flight for a full 4 weeks so I hope to have lots of time in the shed over the Xmas/NY’s period to get more done & who knows maybe even get to the point that the car could be painted early next year…. Fingers crossed

Thanks OAOB…. I too dream of the day that all 4 are lined up on the concrete outside the skunk works shed finished… maybe one day…

Time to get back at this one, I keep changing my mind as to whether I should be working on all the projects at the same time or if I should be focused on one only at a time.. so as you saw from the updates to the GTO thread I had focused on that car & that car only once the lock down started… now I’ll commit to focusing on this one only for a bit until I get bored or until the engine finally shows up for the GTO

Anyway I did a shed tidy up & moved some bits about & put the Challenger in the middle where she can be worked on easy, I’ve opted not to put her back on the hoist as it will be so much easier to put the engine & gearbox back in the GTO with the GTO still on the hoist & it’s a ****er with a capital F to push the GTO off & onto the hoist as it’s a heavy car… but there is plenty that can be done with the car on the ground or on some axle stands anyway



My plan is to start at the rear of the car & work my way forward finishing each section as I go to a point where its ready to go to the painter, so when I get to the front I should be done & by then hopefully the painter is free & looking for work. Job 1 was the boot floor, I linished back all the welds & double checked that I hadn’t missed anywhere, then rust treated the floor & painted in a sound deadening black paint







It will need a 2nd coat but I’ll do the whole car floor again in a 2nd coat soon… I stood & stared for a while trying to work out how the fuel filler runs.. then I realized that they supply the new floor pans without the hole cut for that for my convenience, so if you look at the slightly raised flat area in this pic that should have a hole cut thru it to allow the filler neck to run from the Qtr panel to the tank.. so I’ll have to dummy up the tank & filler neck & cut that out



The top corners of the boot channels need some tidying up, I’ve been told by a few people now that I shouldn’t be too fussed here as I have to cover the joins in seam sealer anyway & the underlying metal join will never be seen.. but I can’t leave it looking this shocking





I’ll be linishing these back & then making up some filler plates to fill in the gaps so that it looks only halfarsed & not fullyarsed as it does now



The bottom corners of the boot channels need work too obviously, again there needs to be some seam sealer applied here but I’d like the join to be solid metal underneath that if I can

Right so onto these parts on mine.. I cleaned up the seam welding I’d done & then I fitted the lights & the old trim piece up so I can see how they fit & how the panels & joins are looking when the car together again









Now this old trim piece is dented & always was the 9 years (can’t believe I’ve owned this car 9 years now) I’ve owned it



This means I can’t gauge the fit correctly as it sits way too high on the Qtr panel



Sticks out a little too much on the side too



I do have brand new chrome trims to go on, so I’ll search the shelves of parts & find them & then fit them on, no point in adjusting the fit & finish with these old ones, I also need to cut this bit of rust out of the boot lid too & then I can finish & prime that panel so that I can put that back on to work out the gaps & put the rubber on too to work out the height

I’ve polished the metal back to get rid of any surface rust



On the passengers side behind where the light housing covers there is a small hole from rust



So I’ve welded that up to make it whole again



Spent a while getting the rear bumper on where I want it



The drivers side gap started off looking like this



This is where I have it now, I might pull it in a few more mm but I’m happy with this as a fitment



The passenger side is still way off for now, I’ll spend some time tomorrow on that to make it match the driver’s side

I finished up the welding where the tail light panel meets the bumper support panel



It was only welded in sections & had gaps that I had been told it would be fine to just cover with seam sealer… but I have a welder & I like using it, so stuff that



Now I’ve stitch welded the whole panel





Getting the drivers side rear trim to line up exactly as I wanted it wasn’t too hard really



But the passenger side had me almost wanting to covert the car in petrol & just burn it again… the last inch of the panel was just not right & was not the right shape at all



After spending a long time getting it right my next issue was that it was too low & with the top & side of the trim held in place there was a 2mm gap between the lower inch of the panel & the trim, so in the end I went with the option of making a little 2mm thick pad of weld on the end of the panel to bring it out far enough to meet the trim… this took a long time so as to not over work the area or put too much heat into the panel & to not lose any shape or contour of the panel at all… all up getting these two trim sections right took about 4hrs of my life that I will never get back…..









Just a little more to be done & cleaned up & I can spray this panel with primer & call it done… or lose my mind & beat the car within an inch of its life with a large branch Basil Fawlty style…. Find out in my next update which way I go… smart money is on the latter right now

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Only discovered this thread when the update a couple of weeks ago popped it to the front page.

Been reading it obsessively every night since then and finally caught up!

It's practically a new car at this stage!

Amazing amazing work.

Nearly there!

Thanks... still a ways off yet, but I think I can actually allow myself to see a light at the end of this tunnel now...

If you liked this one, I have 3 other project builds threads on here too you may have missed... you may like them too

Cheers