I needed a nice out of the way place to store stuff. Someplace I could leave things for a while and no one would mess with them. I chose the attic. It's hot, cramped, and inconvenient. I could leave stuff up there for years and no one would bother it. (and I have) I spread out some carpet remnants and deer skin rugs in the high traffic areas, and up it came. (There's more behind me that isn't in the picture.)

My car is in the attic.

Tav

During the disassembly, to keep everything straight, I picked up a lot of cheap tackle boxes from Wal-Mart. Every bolt, nut, screw, clip, etc. is cataloged in these along with how many of them I'm supposed to have. (often I was missing some of my fasteners) I knew this would be a big help later when it was time to put this thing back together. (Meanwhile, the bodyman was throwing all the 'Cuda hardware into a bucket. Needless to say, I referred to these Challenger boxes often while assembling the 'Cuda.)

Tav

All the bolt boxes (up to this point)

Well, that's about it for disassembly (for now). The only parts left on the car at all were the ones required to roll it around. leaf springs, rear axle, wheels, tires, K frame, torsion bars, strut rods, lower control arms, & upper control arms. Shocks were gone, brakes were gone, the doors were removed from the car and gutted to a shell. I would have liked to take more parts off the car, but it would have been too impractical to work on jack stands.

This brings me up to February of 2002. The 'Cuda had come a long ways, and it was time to start working on the Challenger.

Tav

HELLO ! Can I get a word in edgewise here? You've done a great job with this post, and I would love to see one or both of your cars someday. Get back at it....you've only got 7 more years of typing to do

LOL!

Thank You!

Everyone feel free to comment or question.

I'll get back to posting when I have more time, but that's about it for tonight, I've gotta go out and work on the car...

Tav

Great post!! Great info!!

Thanks!

I should probably add that when I disassembled the car, every part I took off was flipped around every which way to see if It could possibly be installed incorrectly. Most parts were engineered in a way that they could only go onto the car one possible way without having obvious fitment issues. The parts that could go on different ways without having an obvious fitment problem are the ones I took pictures of, which is what you see above. You'll notice that a lot of those parts only have 2 mounting holes, which is why they could possibly be put on in the wrong way.

Tav

You love your cars, that much is obvious. This was a good read and good motivation to go out to the building and play with my challenger. Keep up the good work Tav!

Josh

It's my Challengers 40th Birthday today!
"Happy Birthday!"


Tav

Tav,
You inspire me! Keep up the good work and the posts coming. Thanks for the detailed pics and info.

Ray

Thanks for the kind words Ray! It's been a while since I posted on this thread, but I WILL get back to it again.

Tav

Hey! Great thread! Nice reference pics! Helped me out a few times!! keep up the good work!!