'74 Chilli Challenger Project

Outstanding work!!

Some guy over on abodyjoe.com just put a headliner in a e-body cuda with white interior and it turned out great.

Very Sweet. I remember having one a little like yours once....

Couple of better pics shoing where I'm at now:





And here's the dash and radio coming together:

Some rapairs I did to the door panels before paintng them:









The original texture - exposed to sunlight - goes dead and just scrapes or sands right off. Where the 'dead' layer meets the parts that weren't in the sun, you have to feather them out in order that the texture will cover. IT was a major PIA, and with 8 cans of paint, plus other stuff, it'll be like $200.00 in materials.

Very cool. My dad and I did almost all the work on my car too. Saves lots of money, but takes time. Beautiful car, can't wait to see it done.

This build is turning out great. The detail is amazing! Keep it up!!

Thanks again guys - here come s another weekend for all of us to get something done!!!
Has anyone done their own upholstery - using Legendary or PUI seat covers? I installed most of mine last weekend, but the covers aren't nearly as "tight" as I'd like. I bought some different thicknesses and density foams today and plan on trying to tuck it in here and there, or maybe marking the areas needing padding and then gluing it directly to the original bucks.
Any input is appreciated!

As well, gonna tackle the headliner with a friend - to see if I can that nice and tight too! Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have the interior done!!

The thing is looking good. I dont know since i havent done my interior yet but my guess would be if they are not very tight then your form could just be worn out. Try posting in the Q&A section

Some nice pictures on his web site too:

http://edanneberg.googlepages.com/myway-coolwife!

Post deleted by theiceman

I can't recall if I included in this thread all the problems I had with the PUI upholstery I ordered through YearOne, but what happened was as I was installing the fronts I noticed the covers where missing crucial parts called pulls, that allow you to hook the inner portions into the foam bucks so they are pulled taught. I had to send photo's of the originals and call PUI to get them to add the pulls seperately so they would match the OEM parts. Obviously they have been selling these covers without the right parts attached!! For my troubles PUI send me a new set, properly sewn, and YearOne gave me a big fat credit. :-\

Par for the course, I was installing the rear covers last weekend only to find that they were also sewn with errors. :stomp: This time they weren't missing pull (there aren't any on the rears) but they were obviously "rushed" or "pushed" though the machine and missed Quality Control altogther. As you can see from the photos, the bottoms are puckered and the seat back corner stitches don't even meet the corners. Unbeleivable. So after ANOTHER wasted install, I have contacted YEar One again to get them repalced. By the time I actually get a good set and get them installed, I'll have enough credit to build another car! ullinghair:










On the bright side, I resprayed the door and quarter panels with a different White, which is a MUCH closer match to the original white. It has a lot more yellow in it than the initial white I used.





As well, I used WD-40 to remove all the glue from the woodgrain decal on the console plate. Came out clean as a ......

Shameless bump - Bueller? Bueller?

Looking fantastic man...

-Michael

So, after trying to install the PUI covers - sourced from YearOne Inc. - several times, in several ways, with several types and mils of foam under it, I called Year One and they decided to credit me the purchase price and told me to buy Legendary!! The fronts where missing pulls but after they sewed them on and sent me a new set, they still fit like SH1T!! The rears had seams that didn't line up and the coachman grain was puckered from being "pushed" through the sewing machine. PUI = Poor patterns, Unconditionally bad workmanship and Incompetent management. DO NOT BUY PUI (Catchy eh?! - maybe they'll use it!).

Sorry to hear about the seat cover grief. I had Legendary covers put on my front buckets about 10 years ago and they still look perfect. They match the original back seat too. You will be happy with the Legendary covers.

Well I FINALLY took delivery of a set of LEGENDARY seat covers - Front & Back and the company name thus far fits peoples reports and experience!
Out of the box there's a HUGE difference - in material, stitching, color, pulls intact, etc.
Once agin - I can't believe YearOne is distributing such obviously inferior parts (PUI in this case). To their (slight) credit, they sent me a letter thanking me for helping PUI make their seat covers better (missing pulls), but in the end that was the least of PUI's problems and differences!
I'll be installing the LEGENDARY covers next weekend and getting my interior much closer to finished - stay tuned!

|Interior is starting to look new again! And I got the engine buttoned up and running on my test-stand - rock&roll!!! Also sent the bumpers, HL rings and mirror for chrome - another $1000...

Interior looks really nice.

Gave the Chally another go-round with the 2000grit wet and the polisher and she looks great. Took the bumpers, HL rings and mirrors to the platers. Ordered my 14" BF Goodrich Raised Letter tires (not sure what to do about a spare...).

This weekend the motor goes back in!!!I'm also painting a bunch of stuff: Grille and wheels(argent), brake resevoir, front signal housings (cast) and driveshaft(black).

After that I need to paint a few things with BLACK Single Stageliek the hood center, T/L panels and Grille outer panel.

If anyone has some advice or input on this part, I'dappreciate it!Thanks for looking!

The grill outer panel(I assume you are talking about the entire headlight surround piece that accepts the center grill)should be painted body color. The front fender trim is incorperated into that piece and doesn't look right painted anything other than body color.

Paint the plastic center grill flat black instead of gray and the front end will look great. I also don't think it looks right when guys paint the Rallye hood inserts black. They should be body color as well. There is a small center piece that goes inside the hood louvers that I have seen people paint orange instead of just body color and that look prety good. This is just my opinion and you do what ever you want to YOUR car.

Fantastic job you are doing on your Challenger and you are paying incredible attention to detail. I wish I was talented (and patient) enough to do my own work on my cars.

Keep up the great work!

Well, after 3.5 years of weekends, holidays, Xmas's and such....the Chili Challenger is so nearly done. Here it is on it's first trip out of the shop, needing only to have the Thermoquad set-up, the engine tuned and dyno'd and a wheel alignment before returning for and strobe stripes put on. (I'm waiting for it's return before the FINAL polish and stripes)....

Thanks to all who gave me some motivation and kind words over the times I've posted it here!!

Hey, no problem. THe car is looking really good. Yah...if it were me, I would have painted the front white but other than that it looks pretty good. Like you said, it wouldn't be very hard to change.

I saved some of your pictures to a "reference" folder on my computer. THat pic of the engine compartment (without the engine in it)is going to help me out alot when it comes time to put mine back together. Good work.

OK, so the mechs couldn't start it due to low oil pressure. Had it towed back ($80 again!) and pulled the engine again. Changed the oil pump and drive, ran up the pump with a drill to get 60lbs and also painted the intake blue to match while I was at it. Stuffed it back in and heres the result.

Thanks again for looking!

E-tek Engine Start up

Bump...

BTW, I think you are going to need an agent for your on air talent.

Joe

fantastic work

Today I installed the Strobe stripes....shows anyone can do anything if the want to!!













Just need to drill holes to fit the forks....

Oh yea! Those look great and you did a nice job of getting them straight too. They really set off the car nicely.

THey look great! You DID do a good job of aligning them to the body line. To be honest...most of them I see run uphill. That's the first thing I see when I walk up to one...they didn't line up the stripes with the body line.

I've seen that too! Measure twice, apply once!
Thanks guys.

very nice work

Stephen

Looks good Ed.

Last week the MOPAR Mania show go RAINED out - and I mean RAIN!!! Next week there are 2 shows...

Here's some decent before and afters, as well as the LAST items to go on prior to the big showing!

Etek, You have done a fantastic job on your project! I've been following it for most of it's progress, and it's has been a real inspiration for me to get motivated on my project Just another '74 Challenger I anticipate having similar issues with reupholstering the seats but I won't be able to get much satisfaction from the manufacturer if they're screwed up; I'm going to attempt the job myself LOL. I've never done car seats but I have done a couple motorcycle seats that turned out acceptable and I know my way around a sewing machine pretty good. So watch for results in a few months. In the mean time I have work to do on the top to keep the weather out

Did you buy our build bumper brackets to pull them in? They look great! It appears you used the original 74 bumpers; correct?

Where did you get your strobe decals? You did a top notch job applying them. I hope mine come out nearly as well. It'll be a while b4 I get to that point; I've only had the car for 4 years...

Scott C

Thanks much - glad to be of help!!

If you have the skills - and recreate everything from the originals - you should be much better off than I was with the PUI covers!

I bought everything at once from YearOne to get the 25% deal, so the strobes came through them, but the vendor was Dante I think. Phoenix Graphics is another good vendor, that's where I got the decal kit above.

The rear brackets I cut, removed 1.5" and re- welded, the fronts I slotted the original holes 2inches with a die grinder. Worked well. Those are the original bumpers, rechromed for $350 each(ouch!).
If you have time, here's the build on CC.com - it's largely the same, but has some different pics as well... Chili Challenger build

Looking forward to watching more of your build!!
Cheers!

Here she is after a long shake-down run, then hanging with it's stable mates!

Took the Chally to its first show - ran great, save for a muffler-floorboard love-in....Lots of interest and - I know I'm biased - but it was the nicest MOPE there!!!

Thanks guys - really appreciate the kind words...

I missed the big MOPAR show by one day - but it was pretty-much rained out anyways. Another big show this weekend that I'll be attending.

Did I mention I had the car re-appraised? My insurance agent called me because they thought it came in low....so I had a much more experienced guy do it and it came in at $35,000.00. That'll do!

As well, I re-did the oil gauge with a larger-faced dial and brass tubing. No hot oil showers for me!!