I have no words to describe how awestruck I am by this. I have lived in the desert my whole life, and can tell you back in the day we parted out cars that were FAR less rusty than this because we thought they were too far gone. Your skills and patience are commendable.

--Jeff

Hey Guys been awhile since an update, been pretty busy lately, been working on some other things. Anyways...

Been working on the wheelhouses and trunk extensions, A lot of work went into making these things fit, The trunk extensions fit well, but the wheel tubs inner and out are very poor...




Tubs welded together, seat belt bracket installed. The holes that are pre punched were even close. They were an inch plus off, and thats not including have to cut new metal to make them work




Installed...








Now the passenger side i remembered to take pics of the modifications. The tubs are too long, pushing the trunk extensions down. Therefore the quarters do no fit. It was not too bad to fix, just extra work




I had some rust to fix before on the seat belt bracket and the webbing...





Tubs and trunk extension installed and modified...












Thats all for now, getting close

you must get an amazing feeling of satisfaction as you see and feel it coming together! really nice work

I'm watching this with extreme enthusiasm my 70 FM3 challenger is at least this bad. Could you PM me basic info on the jigging used and placement? What im worried about is the car folding in on itself or not able to be placed on a jig like that, BUT my frame rails and torsion mount are just as bad as yours were so maybe I'm wrong. Have all your measurements stayed true throughout the process? I'm a body tech by trade and what you are doing and I am facing, is daunting, even to me. Keep it up! Awesome job bud from one young gun to another!

Thanks Guys...

Been working on the tail panel...Boy i wish that had reproduction ones!


Sadly the best that we could find to replace ours, was still bad...




Lower flange made...




Sides redone, all blended, and blasted...



Primed...




I went ahead and mocked it up, everything fits very well now i just need to bend the floors up to weld...






What it will and should look like (for those who do not know)

Hey Steve! Happy New Year and great work!!! I've been silently following along. If you decide to keep the car 383 powered as original, I have a 71 383 HP short block. It was remanufactured by a rebuilder years ago, its .040 with a steel crank, and doesn't have a lot of miles on it, but should be gone thru. I'm not sure what it came out of, but its a 71 block. If you are interested in it, let me know. For you the price is cheap.
Oh, and my 69 Charger is still awaiting your skills

i feel the exact same way i wish they repoduce the 71 tail light panel, i also had to replace my panel it was rotted which wasnt bad but it was so bent from me car getting hit directly where the quarter meets the tail light panel finding a good panel is rare.
car is looking good

Looking like it's getting down to the short rows on metal replacement. You kinda lost me on the "bend the floors up to weld" thing. Does the trunk pan protrude that far out from under the tail panel? If so,are all Challengers like that, or just 71's? I guess I'm lucky that I've never had to deal with what you have on this car!

Great work as always. I am learning alot about the inner workings of sheet metal on my car by watching your build.

bschargerse Hey Brian, thanks for the offer but the motor plans have already been taken care of. Check you PM's on Charger...

JDMopar All the challengers are this way, the floors get folded up (as seen in the second pic. If you look at the tailpanel its no where near strait...

Its getting close for sure, I'll be very happy once all this metal work is done

Thanks Steve. I went downstairs and moved some junk from around my 70 A66 Challenger, and was able to see it better. I have to put a trunk floor in that car, so thanks for showing that detail.

Hey Guys a little bit of an update for you. I pulled the rear speaker tray to get better access to straighten and blast...



The damage...



Blasted and looking like new...



We had no braces so i pulled some from a donor car out back...



I proceeded to mock the entire back end up to check out how all the panels fit together, Overall its not to bad, will need some small tweaking...



Good gaps after some quick tweaks...





Now The decklid is a whole different story, its bad. I initially put it on but then swapped out for an original. You can actually fell the difference on the passenger side, youll see why below...


Original...



The repop...




Keep Tuned

Were getting close!

I pulled the hinges apart to blast, then rewelded...



Deck Filler Installed...



After installing deck filler placed hinges into place...



Then proceeded to install tail panel, bent floor up just like factory...



Almost There!


Going to take the car off of the Jig tomorrow, this way i can properly install the Quarters. I can not install the rear valance the way that the jig is designed. Before ya know it well be on the rotisserie

Ok small update...

First off the car came off the JIG!!!!!!!



We wanted to use an aftermarket rad support for the car since were adding some extra stiffening and horsepower to it. After seeing whats on the market and the limited availability we decided the best option was to just make one. I thought that the best way to do it was to make it look as close to factory as possible.

I started by using to factory mounts to make the install as clean as possible...





I made some extensions for the rad support to make it clean and factory looking...



Welded them top, bottom, and inside out




Then i trimmed the bottom down some (thought it was too bulky) and added some curves for cosmetics on the outside. The final product is below(more grinding needed)...








In the end i think its close to factory with a lot more rigidity!

Getting ready to put quarters on...



Trunk lock bracket installed...



Misc. Brackets Cleaned for re-installation...



Quarters Installed...



Floor cut for Hump...



The Trans...



Mocking up the trans, modifying the tunnel for potential clearance issues...





Mocking up rear, checking for tire clearance...Looks bad

Holy ding Dang that was quick, looks great from my end.

Wow! Impressive.

looks awsome
are you using a flip top gas cap? if you are you might want to check fitment both my original and repro flip tops dont fit the new AMD quarter, the part that cap sits in is not recessed enough. i know another guy that the same thing happened to so you might want to check that and compare to an original quarter before you do any body work

Thanks Guys! I have heard of the issues with the AMD quarters for the flip top. I am going to mock everything up on the car before body work...

Steve