so on april 20th 2012 while hanging out after school and work with some friends i get a call from my aunt telling me to come home we need to show you something.

i get home to my dad opening the hatch on his tahoe and seeing a 71 challenger R/T grille and a power window door panel sitting in back and i knew exactly what it was.

there had been a 71 challenger 383 4bbl non R/T car that was a customers at my dads shop (which is walking distance from my house) that sat there for 4+ years.

being in 8th grade when i first saw the car when riding my bike to see my dad at work, i wanted it to be mine.

so when i came home to my dad saying heres your high school graduation present, ive been the proud 18year old owner of a 71 challenger that i plan to clone in to a 440sixpack shakerhood car that i plan to race FAST with.

so now you can watch me make it happen

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more pics, hurry!!!

sweet!

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and the tear down begins (older pics)

You lucky SOB! Good looking car you got there! I never was able to do anything with the Darts I got for my grad present.

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thanks chrysler employees for the scare but its just so it fits

2 friends and 2 hours later engine/trans out (way easier then these new cars)

attacking the rust and the lead in the right quarter

cutting the trunk out

first time i ever drove the car ( was being pushed )

suspension out

off to the media blaster thanks to my uncle box trailer

blasted

ebody rust

more rust

catching some epoxy primer

primer

good picture

thats all for now

nice , i'll be watching, color????

what i had in mind for a while is B7 blue, black interior, black vynal top, black R/T stripe, B7 steel wheels w/ dog dish, power windows, rallye gauges, floor shift auto, and shaker is what i plan on/hope to have when its done

SWEET!
I cant wait to see it. with your support group you may be finished before I finish my project.

Nice project you got there. Get that thing together and well criuse. were not to far from each other. Let me know if you need any parts, i gotta bunch of extra stuff ...

Steve

thanks guys and steve i will deffinatly let you know if i need any parts, i most likely will and meeting up and cruizing sounds like a great idea

over the past week and weekend i got some more work done getting me a few steps closer to body work

repaired the small swiss cheese rust holes in the floor
thanks to who ever pulled the carpet out a long time ago it saved me tons of work replacing a floor pan

repaired the blistered frame rail

more frame rail repairs

need some advice from fellow members preferrably someone who has replaced a fire wall. as you can see in some of the pictures i posted my cowl and the firewall are fairly rotted so i plan on replacing the fire wall and upper cowl with the AMD parts but i want to do it with taking as little as possible off the car

my question for everyone is how should i go about bracing the car and if i should make a jig for the whole car to sit on before i start taking it apart and what i should do to make sure my car is straight when its all done, im not exactly sure where to start so any input would be greatly appreciated and i have time before i start the firewall, i have to finish the trunk area first because its already apart, so any thing you have that mite help me please give me your thoughts (its my first restoration trying to get as much help as i can)

thanks
Bryan

here's some motivation from Alan's site!! a real 440/6 71 gutted

http://www.alangallantautomotiverestoration.com/1971-440-6-Challenger.html

Hi Bryan,
My Challenger looked a lot like yours in the firewall area. I changed mine out as you are thinking of doing.

I first studied lots of threads on here to figure out just what needed to be reinforced on the body of the car. I then went and bought steel to frame up the front of the car. I only have one picture of my car with the framing under the front of the car and hope this helps out. The rest of the car was all together. These cars are very rigid and lite, taking out one piece of the car and having it supported will keep every thing in place.

There is a thread here on moparts.com, in the member projects & survivor pictures called, "Project Rust Bucket: 1971 Challenger R/T". This thread has lots of pictures and you can see many ways to rig up the body of your car to hold it in place to change out your firewall.

These cars are not perfect from the factory. Yes they had tooling to hold the pieces together as it was welded together, but as you can read from anyone that has restored any of the old chrysler cars, no, one car is just like the other.

Just one more thing that I found to be just a little hard to work with was that I bought the cowl and firewall as one unit. I don't know how perfectly square these two items are from the vendor, but it was difficult. With the two pieces welded together it is a very rigid structure and I had to work hard to get the unit installed.

To all that read this, I am in no way a pro at this restoration stuff. This is just the way I did it and in no way implying that this is the only way or may not even be the way to do it at all. I don't want to come off like I know anything, I'm self tought.

Good luck, I will attach a pic.
Steve

Here is one of the firewall installed

thanks alot for your input, im no expert either this is my first restoration. im 18 but have a number of people with experiance willing to help me so im learning as i do it and knowing its been done before id like to get as much input as possible to try and make better decisions when i go to fix my fire wall,

also i havent updated recently, been busy with the holidays and all that good stuff but have been working on it and will post new pictures hopefully this week ,Bryan

and theres a change in plans with the finished project, ive been looking at different cars on the internet and toying around with different combos in my head, so my plan for the car is

B7 blue
black vynal top
black interior
black R/T stripe
power windows
rallye guages
15x7 black steel wheels with dog dish caps
440 sixpack 4 speed w/ console
shaker hood

its pictured in my head and the only thing i would want different is a Hemi in place of the 440+6 but lets face it im 18 i cant afford no Hemi

setting the trunk floor

under side, original tank straps screwed in to make sure the fit is good on the new floor

Nice work and cool car!

Mine was painted a similar color when I got it.

I don't like ot post pictures in other peoples build threads (and I will remove it if you want) but yours will look good. Black steelies are nice. Here is mine, B5.

thanks for posting the pic your car looks good and it keeps me motivated to keep working hard on my car ,bryan

welded in the gas tank straps and put the pass. door and trunk lid on and started drilling the spot welds on the quarter this weekend, quarter should be off this week then i can start putting it back together with the new metal

pulling off the quarter

the quarter is off

Nice!

Looking good man! You going to reinstall the power windows?

the power windows are hear to stay.
its the only power option im putting back in.
manual brakes, steering, and trans

been a while since i posted, spent alot of time fixing the wheel houses and the inner structure so the quarter could be fitted, everything is primed up and ready for the quarter

mock up on the quarter

have been trying both taillight panels and deck lids and seeing what fits best (new deck lid is slightly twisted)

Nice work.

all i can say is you are way ahead of you age,on repairing an ol mopar!you are taking on a project that most people twice+ your age would pass on,and or having some shop to do for them...congrats! this a success story to go on for hopefully years,and many more cars to come...ps..dont let girls screw up this process,lol...mike...keep up posted w/ pics!

thanks! i can tell im ahead for my age just by seeing that my dad and most people to begin with wouldnt take on this kinda of project. people tell me to just buy a done car but signing a check is easier then picking up some wrenchs, a welder and spending countless hours on restoring a peice of history. building the car is also a learning expereince for me and it allows me to build what i want and when the car is done i can point to it saying "I built that" which is something not many people can say. chances are this is not going to be my last restoration, theres alot of cars i want but project cars are getting more and more rare everyday and yes im focusing on my car over the girls, after all my car and dirtbike cant wake up and tell me they dont love me anymore

trunk floor is welded in

trunk floor, finished welding and grinding

Very cool....you are making great progress. My car was in similar condition to yours when I got it.

Inspiring! Great work you are doing there. There is no feeling in the world like the feeling of accomplishment you get from what you are doing.

Please keep posting lots of pics.

Making some good progress dude. Keep us posted!

Congrats on your new Challenger. Your moving along at a great pace. Hope to see you on the 1320 soon.

"after all my car and dirtbike cant wake up and tell me they dont love me anymore"
Such wisdom in one so young.... Excellent work!

thanks guys i made some more progress today and more tomorrow i will post pictures tomorrow night for all to see, thanks for all the good input its good motivation
i also enjoy seeing your 71 challengers or ebodys in general so post a pic or 2 maybe you can spark my imagination with new ideas ,Bryan

fixed the corner of the deck filler panel and fixed the rust on the taillight panel this weekend, would have more done but a two good friends came home from college so i was hanging out with them today so i didnt get much done today

tail light panel

Brian,

Keep up the good work!

Don't you know anyone in Phily that could let you borrow a Hemi?

Hope to see it at the track soon.

Ed

thanks Eddie and i think i know of a few hemis in my area but i dont know how that borrowing thing will go hahaha

Cool project, I saw your post in another thread but it was turning into so I came here.

You really can't tell what kind of heads are on my car. I got just the regular stealth heads on my car. Wow, did it wake it up. Revs higher and just way stronger. I was going to run it at the nationals last year, but after wasting 2 hours waiting in line the rain came. a-hole in staging lanes . But anyway, I did that and a new intake and the car sounded so much better. Next Friday if the weather is nice I'll be able to tell you what it shaved of my previous "best", which was SLOW. But ya get those heads and have them gone through by the shop you were talking about, they'll be top notch.
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/317940_3464960185259_908878619_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/282331_3464960385264_54665483_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/487315_3464961025280_834903108_n.jpg

Obviously you just gotta paint them and you have no idea they're aluminum.

thanks 68killerbee ur heads look great nd they are pretty stealth but the only thing is id like to run the car in FAST and they wont be legal but i have pairs of 906s nd 346s that i could use and get them ported but it depends where FAST is when it comes time to build the motor so im not to worried about it now but thanks for the pictures, Bryan

got some good work in today
welded on the quarter patch and fixed the gutter

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THANK YOU!! You made my day, seeing a young man your age, in today's environment, getting into AMERICAN muscle cars. Your Dad has to be proud of you. Keep up the good work and Good Luck.

Thanks! being around muscle cars that family and friends have made me want an E body in the worst way and now i have one , not to mention being at tech school listening to kids talk about how fast their lowered imports are made me laugh knowing what a real 11 second car feels like, im a muscle car car but dont get me wrong i wouldnt mind having a subaru STI 300hp,AWD and a sixpack scoop plus they sound a bit like V8s but id WAY rather have my challenger

it was like christmas time today when the UPS truck dropped off my new seat covers! my car is going to have one cool interior, black and white plaid seat, power windows, rallye gauges, and a console shift 4 speed

Looking good. First race of the 2013 season is next week at E-Town NJ. Come on out and see Joe's 440+6BBL 4Spd. in action. It sounds like your build will be similar to his.





Real Deal V-Code #'s matching 4SPd Super Trak Pak

my 19th birthday was on the 12th and my parents got me some 4 speed parts!!!!!!

haven't had a lot of time to post but I have been working on the car, the AMD trunk extension didn't fit right but the original did and it was rotted out, so after hours of fitting, welding, and grinding I cut up both new and old extensions to make one good one that fits near perfect

more extension pics

more2

anyone know how to put multiple pictures on one post???

set up a photobucket account, it's quick and easy.

You can have subfolders in it with links to each folder. Or just copy the link of the picture from photobucket and paste it on here. Can put as many as you want.

Keep up the good work?

been doing a lot of final fitment recently but im almost ready to weld the back half together

also did some work on the aprons

got the new woodgrain insert for the console so the console is finished

great work going to be sweet ride!

sorry guy havent posted recently but ive got a lot done, got the new quarter, extensions welded in and now just need to zap in the taillight panel, lock support and the gutter then the back half of the metal work will be done

a bit more

had to patch the structure under the roof awhile back

looking good. thats a lot of work in a year. waiting to see whats next......

Great Work!. The Ebody rust is nearly gone. I wish I had started the restoration activity at your age. That will be a sweet ride when its completed. Keep posting progress pictures.

I got a lot done today, tail light panel and trunk gutter are all welded together and got all my gaps the way I want them also put the tail lights to make sure they fit

new gutter

lights bezel and trim

havent posted on here in quite a while but im still making progress, got alot of parts out at carlisle and got the truck all seam sealed, got the driver seat all recovered, in the middle of doing the pass. seat and im going to start work on the firewall next weekend
these photos seem to rarely work, i will post them tomorrow on my computer

That really looks like a car again, congrats.

Sheldon

not to bad for my first time reupholstering a seat

seam sealed

Looking good buddy! It was nice to meet you at carlisle, i will be bringing back my mopar BBQ this year, you should try and come up to check out some cars and have a good time!

You are doing a fantastic job on that
Challenger! My brother has a '71 also.
He is planning on doing a similar build...
440-6,727 auto,power windows,sunroof(factory)
SE rear window,power disc brakes. He is going
the original color, Tawny Gold with white interior/R/T stripes/Gator Grain top. Keep up the great work.

hemichallenger, yea it was good meeting you as well, and a mopar BBQ sound like an awesome time, let me know when and where I would come to that

RoadRunnerLuva, thanks a lot the positive feedback is great motivation and you brothers car sounds like a pretty sweet car, I would like to see that ive always liked 71 challengers since I was a little kid and I also have a thing for orange T/A challengers or T/As in general, I blame ScatPackTom he is a good friend of the family and I was around watching him build his orange T/A that is in FAST when I was in 3rd-4th grade, I actually helped put the 340 sixpak sticker on the driver side fender, I mean what 10 yearold doesn't love a bright orange car

had a good productive weekend firewall and upper cowl are out

2

3

mock up

got the firewall all welded in... how may 19 year olds do you know that have done this???? What do you guys think?