This last summer (2017), I was finally able to lock up a deal on a 1968 Dodge Charger that I've been chasing for about 2.5 years. It's not a rare Charger, but it was quite solid and I just fell in love with it. This is the first picture of it that I saw:



The guy I bought it from lives about 15 miles from me but he kept the Charger on an out of state property. After about a year of talking about it I was able to schedule an in person inspection on a weekend, but he wasn't excited about selling. About a year later he had to move his cars back to Kansas so the car became a lot easier to see and drop in to chat...

After another 6 months I came across a car that he really wanted so we were able to work a trade. I was super happy to finally get the deal done. My intent is to keep this car simple (yeah right) and have a rough and tumble car I can enjoy but we will see if that can be accomplished. "Hello, My name is Kelsey and I struggle with scope creep."

The early plans are for a 6.1, an A518 automatic transmission, and possible a Dana 60....since I have a rebuilt Dana sitting in the corner of the shop.

The day I picked it up:

The underside is really what drew me to this car. The rear frame rails and torsion bar cross member are rock solid. It does need a new driver's side rocker.

Even the rear window corners were pretty decent. I'm sure the lower channel under the rear window will need work, but I've seen much worse.]





Even the quarter panels are solid, considering they're 50 years old and the car has been outside for at least the past 25 years.

The paint on this car is a real patchwork job. It was originally red, and then was painted blue. Then someone sprayed yellow on multiple surfaces but not the whole car. The engine bay is black. The front fenders were originally metallic bronze so they've obviously been replaced. At first all the colors bothered me. It has grown on me a lot, but not enough to keep it that way. I started stripping the top coats to get it down to the original red paint at least. I'm not sure where I'm going with the color yet, but I don't want to spend a ton on body work and paint. I'll figure that out later.....

The engine bay:

The floor pans were much better then I expected too. The driver's side was as solid as can be. The passenger's side had lots of little holes. A previous owner had cut a hole in the hump for a 4 speed (hung manual pedals too). That wouldn't have been bad to do but the biggest issue was that the Charger had been moved around many times with a forklift. it was forked from the side and the ends of the forks pushed the floor pans up. You can sort of see what I'm talking about from these pictures:

With the passenger side having lots of little holes and with the forklift damage, I just decided to replace all the cabin floor pans. I plan to use the one piece AMD forward pan and the two smaller rear AMD pans. A couple Saturdays ago I got the wild hair to dig in so I got the chisel out and fired up the compressor. This picture shows how solid the driver's side pans were. I didn't find one perforation on that side.



Once the big pieces were cut out, I've been slowly but surely grinding down all the spot welds.

I got on craigslist and bought this A518 transmission from a 1991 Dodge ram. I looked for a 1990-1991 A518 because they did not have lockout. Also, the 727 converters can be used with the A518 and 6.1L because the forward half of the case is identical to a 727, which was the 3 speed automatic. However, the A518 has a .69 overdrive ratio. I paid all of $100 for the core A518.



I went after it with solvent and a couple wire brushes. it's not quite done in this picture, but you get the idea...

I ordered up a rebuild kit from Transtar for $215 and took the transmission over to a buddy (GY3 here on Moparts), who is really good with the 727. Mark is the man! He pulled it all apart and the transmission was remarkably clean. The fluid was bright red, free of any debris, and smelled good. In fact, none of the parts had been cleaned or even wiped down when these 2 pictures were taken. The clutches were not discolored at all. I also called A&A Transmission and I ordered a manual valve body.

A518 Update:
A port had to be tapped, threaded, for a plug that came with the A&A manual valve body kit. You can see the plug in the middle of this picture



Clutch packs stacked and loaded...





I upgraded to the billet servo design.



All done! I picked the transmission up today

That 518 was like wrestling a bear compared to a 727!

No joke-that thing is HEAVY! Thanks again Mark!

I wire wheeled the top surface on the cabin frame rail channels.



Then I tackled the trunk floor



It's kind of fun to see the progress...and the scrap metal pile.

Next up was the nasty task of removing all the factory undercoating. Last time I used a propane torch and a 2.0" wide paint scraper but I figured that there had to be a better way. I saw one guy online talking about using a needle scaler so I bought a cheap needle scaler off eBay to give it a shot. It worked like a champ. It took me about 5 hours to strip all the undercoating that was left. I didn't even have to drop burning hot rubber down my sleeve or get it on my face. You will still want to wear a respirator because the dirt and rubber really flies and hangs in the air. Here's the box mine came in:



Where the paint was thin, the needle scaler just took it off completely and left a pretty nice surface:

The needle scaler left very small pieces of rubber so I then used a braided wire cup wheel to clean up the surface of the frame rails and rear floor pan. First some "before" pics:




And after.....

I dropped the car off at a local blasting company to just have the frame rails and inside rockers blasted. Then I can epoxy the inside of the rails and have the floor pans installed.



Aluminum oxide was the media I selected

The Charger went on the frame table this week. The lower quarters were cut off in front of the rear wheel openings to see what condition the rockers were in. The passenger side rocker was completely packed with mice nesting but somehow it is solid and won't require any repair!

Setting up for 2"x3" subframe connectors.......

I knew the driver's side rocker was bad but I didn't think it was as bad as it was. When I first brought it home it had a hole in the rocker about the size of a half dollar. When I cleaned the car off with the power washer, it punched a hole in the driver's rocker that was bigger then a baseball. I was planning on replacing the outer rocker, but once opened up, it needed to all come out...I just made a call to AMD to get the inner rocker coming my way.

Rear quarters have been cut off...



New rear crossmember is in place

It always requires more sheetmetal then expected. I was hoping to save the dutchman panel but it had several deep dents in it, rust in the channel (between the dutchman's panel and package tray), and a deep dent in the trunk gutter lip that bowed the dutchman's panel. So, out came the dutchman's panel.



The trunk floor was welded in and the rest of the quarter panels were removed. I am very impressed with how solid/clean the quarter panel and roof structure are.



And finally, the cabin floor pans have been channeled for the subframe connector rails and welded in.

Nice score, and keep up the good work. Thanks for the needle scaller tip.

Nice job. That needle scaller did a very nice job. I used a Harbor Freight pneumatic scraper while wearing ear muffs.

Wow, had not seen the car taken down this far!

The stock wheel tub shape/profile drives me crazy so these are getting modified heavily.
This is the passenger side tub. A widening strip was welded in place.


The slope of the outside tub leaves a lot of tire space on the table. On a stock Charger, the tires look silly because they are set back so far away from the wheel lip. Everything inside the green tape line will be cut out. And when you look from the front/back you will see a yellow card that is displaying the new profile/slope of the outer tub.

With the new outer tub.....which started out as a single piece of steel...

Side by side comparison:

Very nice!!!

I wandered over to Matt's shop to take some pics of the car. In the last two months, the AMD quarter panels arrived are just hanging on the car in these pics. Matt also removed the original K member/front suspension and installed the Reilly Alterktion front suspension. Also, my 70 Barracuda photobombed this picture (it's in the background).




I parted a wrecked 1970 Challenger last year that was equipped with this aftermarket 9" rearend wit Baer discs and a 4.10 limited slip diff. Since I have it already, I'm going to use it. I ordered a Reilly Motorsports 4 link-you can see the bar in the trunk.

Well, a year later its making some progress...new AMD quarter panels, dutchman's panel tail light panel, rear crossmember, rear valance, one piece trunk floor, and trunk floor extensions.

The RMS 4 link bar has been welded in. The Ford 9" rearend will be narrowed to fit my wheels and tires.



Also, I changed direction on the transmission. I had a TR6060 laying around in my shop from when I parted out a late model Challenger SRT8 so I'm going to use it. So the tunnel had to be enlarged...

Nice work, please keep posting photos of your progress. It's a really interesting project that you are doing there. When I retire and will live in my summer property in Spain I want start a similar project just to keep myself busy.

Smooth firewall coming....

A few pictures of the start of the tunnel...

Firewall is roughed in...

Lots of work going on there.

Thanks!

Windshield wiper motor notch is gone...

The wheel houses were done very nicely. See a lot of guys doing it but cutting the piece all to sh it and welding pieces here and there to make it work.

Thanks!

Firewall is in place...also the 6.4L BGE Hemi and the TR6060 were mated and installed for mockup of the transmission crossmember.
A front lower radiator support was built since I'm not a fan of some of the other aftermarket offerings. It's got a pocket on the passenger side to account for the vintage air conditioning condenser/hard lines.

Firewall is in place...also the 6.4L BGE Hemi and the TR6060 were mated and installed for mockup of the transmission crossmember.
A front lower radiator support was built since I'm not a fan of some of the other aftermarket offerings. It's got a pocket on the passenger side to account for the vintage air conditioning condenser/hard lines.

Since the TR6060 has a fixed flange (not a slip yoke) I ordered a Magnum conversion kit. This makes the transmission crossmember much easier. Transmission crossmember is in place

Rear end is set up...

I sourced the clutch/brake pedals and master cylinder from a 2010 Challenger SRT8. The pedals had to be straightened and shortened but they will work well.

Exhaust is mocked up

Front frame rails are reinforced by a bar that runs from the cowl to the front frame rails; the bar also ties into the top of the shock tower. I don't like these types of reinforcements to be in the engine bay. A plate was welded in at each end for the bar to be welded to.

I'm going with 2010 Challenger SRT8 front seats so the floor pan profile needed to change. In the first picture, you can see the humps that needed to be removed in order to get the seats to sit lower in the car. The seat motors interfered with the humps and ig pedestals would have been built, the seats would sit too high.



The center of the pans was cut out and a new plate welded in...





Also, the column is now in place...

Exhaust is mostly done and brakes have been mounted...

The car is now sitting on it's wheels for the first time in nearly 2 years.

Looking really nice.

Thank you!

Time to get back on this Charger. Doors are coming off first to rebuild the door hinges....

Panels and gaps are getting dialed in starting with rebuilding the left door hinges first. Then a relief cut was made along the bottom of the quarter to pull the quarter in at the bottom. Once the door and lower quarter were set, the forward edge of the quarter was adjusted to create an even gap between the door and quarter.

The left door had some rust in the corners...which has now been repaired. Also, the AMD rocker was a little too short; you can see it as you follow the door's leading edge gap down to the rocker. It's now been fixed.

I may get some static on this post, but the marker lights have been deleted. The wheel lips were also trimmed.

A cut was made along the bottom right quarter panel so the quarter panel could be pulled in match the door profile.

Right door hinge was rebuilt and then the right door to quarter gap was set before welding the leading edge of the right quarter...

Tedious work, but it really pays off when those panels all fit perfectly.

Agreed!



Next up...fine tuning on the rear valance and valance corners. They always fit terriby.






A pie cut was used to straighten the upper line on the valance.


A pie cut was also made on the quarter just forward of the corner. After...

So because you pie cut the quarter you were not able to weld the valance corner along the flange right?

So where is the valance corner plug welded?
just along the top and at the bottom?

Your work looks great!

Amazing metal work bringing this charger back to life. Super awesome project

The quarter panel caps didn't fit very well, so the quarters were massaged to get a better fit.

The decklid lip had some rust bubbles so a patch was made...




Trunk floor braces were welded in

I bought a new AMD rear bumper for this car....I've been a bit disappointed in it. The yellow tape to show you the profile of the edge, which wanders. It will be powdercoated satin black anyway, so the edge was shaved so it would be straight/parallel with the taillight panel. Compare the gaps between the bumper and taillight panel and you will see the difference

Do you have any more pics showing how you got the end caps to fit?
Did you slice the quarters?

No slicing. Slowly heated up the metal and manipulated/tapped from the backside. Be sure to frequently check the cap fitment as you go

Since the wheel tubs were widened and the trunk lid supports were moved, it took a bit of work to align the decklid.

This one is a little out of sequence....The dutchman's panel took some real work to make it fit right...

Cowl vent....deleted.

There are always surprise rust areas on any old mopar and this one is no different. The cowl looked rock solid until paint was stripped and some lead was melted out of the cowl to pillar joint. so do yourself a favor and always melt the old lead out of a project. Here is the repair.

Driver's side fender is aligned and pinned (on top and bottom) so it will be super easy to align if removed and reinstalled.

Right fender has been fitted/gapped. It's also pinned for consistency/minimal effort when removing and reinstalling.

My straightest front bumper had been painted flat black at some point...and it has some rash on one end.

The bumper took some tweaking but now the bumper fits well

Since the lower radiator support was boxed in, the lower valance needed some attachment brackets fabbed up

The hood had several layers of paint to remove. There were some dents under the layers. The hood must have been slammed hard against the adjusters several times because the hood was dented in several areas.

In primer, stripped, media blasted, epoxied

Looks good! I may have missed it, but what brand of epoxy do you use?

The hood was just epoxied with Nason...nothing fancy

1. Original condition
2. Undercoat taken off with needle scaler
3. media blasted
4. trimmed, epoxied, and installed

Man, you have been busy while I was away! Quality work as always.

And thanks for the tip about leaded seams....I never would have suspected.

The hood alignment was good except for the fit to the after market passenger side fender, which was a little too long at the forward inboard corner. The fender was cut at the leading edge, trimmed, re-arched, and welded back up.

Front corner of the hood had some bubbles.

Back on its own wheels for a bit. From the four corners...

The stance is great.

Thanks!

The doors dings were next...

The left front fender looked decent in epoxy but had plenty of dings from over the years...

Man this car is going to be STRAIGHT!

I hope so! I have been very pleased with the sheetmetal work that has been done by Zach. He's the man!





May as well get some cool pictures in bare metal before it all comes apart for media blasting inside and in all the nooks/crannies.

This is going to sound a bit silly, but the car looks longer to me without it's trim, handles, and in polished metal.

I thought the same thing. The back sure does. Killer stance and wheel- tire combo without going overboard and looking cartoonish.

Yeah-I thought the same thing. I think it's mostly the lower stance??? THe funny thing is I bought the wheels and tires a few years ago since they were a good deal...but I didn't really like them. The longer they are on the car, the more I like them!

On the rotisserie...

Passenger side inner fender undercoating removal and hole filling.

Same for the driver's side...

Nice solid inner fenders. Jealous.

Some roof skin and rocker dents were addressed...

The exhaust was running pretty close to the rear frame rails, so the rear rails were narrowed next to the cylinder mufflers. The firewall welding was also finished up.

Doors/fenders were blasted and primed.

The shell left for the blaster this week...

The shell was blasted and is back in the shop! Epoxy coming soon...

Happy Thanksgiving!


The shell is sealed in epoxy.

Looking good!

I like the frame notches for the exhaust resonators.

Bottom of hood was blasted and primed.