Thanks for the information!
Craig

Been a long hot summer, too hot to work in the garage. Did put the engine together. I found a 97 5.2Liter engine with a roller cam. I am going to keep the matching number 318 block but I am at least for now not going to do anything with it.
I went with a roller cam primarily because of the weirdness of modern oils and the slight horsepower gain of the roller system. Bet I cannot measure that one at all.
Went through the bottom end of the engine. Compression is decent and even between cylinders. Put a new oil pump and timing chain on. Put the sump from the old engine on the new pump. Top end is new Engine Quest heads with 62cc chambers. Everything else is from the LA. Oil pan, intake, Carter BBD, blocked mechanical fuel pump opening and all the front accessories are going back on. I have a Edelbrock 4bbl intake but that will wait. I will have to do enough trouble shooting than I want with stuff I know used to work.

On the exterior side, stretched on the vinyl top. It is beginning to look more like the old car.

I did such a great job of shining the fender tail piece extensions the anodizing came off. BE/A is now reproducing the trim! Mike shipped me the three pieces last week and they are now on. As soon as I get the rear reveal molding on, the back third of the car will be done inside and out.

Do you have any more pics? I always wanted to know what my car looked like brand new.
Here was mine as I was leaving the service and my practical joke buddies

Nice work!

Wow, looks a lot like my first pic on this thread. I have a ton of pics. I have never seen one close to mine. Looks like yours is a 1972. What engine and transmission do you have? Get yours fixed up so we can do a side by side before and after the Arab oil boycott picture. Thanks for posting.
I have about 400 pics so far.

Mine is definitely a 73 from the VIN number (real BS23) and I had the 5 mph bumpers & brackets, plastic bumper spacers etc...
It has a 340 with w/727 but not numbers matching.
Unfortunately, I am modifying it to the point of no return as it is in black primer now and I'm building a 572 for it.
You can see current pics in my Trans Am Cuda front spoiler thread up in the New Products section.

I am glad you are restoring yours as it is a beautiful color and car

Can you post a pic of the vinyl top in the side window area? When my top was installed, the guy wrapped the vinyl around and covered up the drip rail mounting holes. The top shouldn't wrap around that far right? Shouldn't it be trimmed off right after it wraps around the drip rail? The way it is now, my drip rail seal and the trim would be installed ontop of the vinyl. That can't be right.

Not sure mine is done right but mine does not cover the holes. I will have to take a picture, I do not have a close up. The diagram in the FSM does not show that happening but if the trim still fits over everything then I do not see where there is any problem.
Click on the attachment. It shows the glue being masked off on the bottom of the outside edge of the gutter. That is where I cut it off after putting a bit of silicon seal around all the edges except the windshield and rear reveal. I will do them later. I put a real light amount with a tooth pick where it was exposed between the trim on the sail panels. I will finish sealing the rear when I get ready to put the trim on so the trim will hold it in place while it dries.

Dante sells the sail panels.

I bought the correct style headliner for my Challenger from him. $159 through Dante instead of $265 through SMS.

Finally something to report. Engine and transmission went in last night! Pictures to follow.
Craig

Lots of progress to report. Safelite installed the new windshield on Friday and sat through the line at DMV to get the plates renewed. 600 bucks later and I am good til 2016. Today it took its maiden voyage to the gas station for more petrol. The last time I filled it, gas was about 2.19 a gallon. It was 3.51 today.
Here is a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXwrx5UsIbY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Of course the power steering fluid was low. I had a leak on the steering box that I had repaired with new o rings after it pumped all the fluid all over the garage. After firing it up, the fluid redistributed itself making more room in the reservoir. If you look close in the picture you will see the dipstick on the radiator cap. The radiator was boiled out locally. He also painted it and looks great for as old as it is. Set me back 115 bucks so no complaints.
The battery hold down will not fit the crummy group 24 battery I bought. The battery is too tall. Will have to save up for a reproduction or just throw an Optima in there.
Other stuff to do:
Put the trim ring on the wheel. Forgot it was off.
Lean out the way over rich carb.
Fix the exhaust leak. The manifolds are not matching the pipes real well.
Put the Beauchillon throttle bracket on. The throttle cable is interferring with the kick-down cable using a Mr Gasket bracket.
A/C parts from Classic should be here this week.
A small dent needs PDR treatment.
Several minor scratches and one chip needs to be repaired.
And finally, the stripes will need to be put on.
Craig

I thought you were going to back into the post.

It looks really good. The stripes will really set it off.

Nice work Craig! Glad to see your working out the bugs. You have done what it takes to bring another mopar back onto the streets. Good work man!! !

Thanks, Dennis and Darren! One problem at a time and pride of doing 99% of it myself.
Craig

Took the car out of the garage and around the townhome complex. Unfortunately, fuel starvation set in. The new Carter pump quit working. Got it back home courtesy of a neighbor with a sling. Replaced the Carter with an Edelbrock. The Eddy is way quieter. Set the mixtures with a vacuum meter. pulling around 17" at idle. Engine very very smooth.
Had earlier problems with the transmission. Thought the Bouchillon linkage was not set up right. Got their throttle plate and hooked it up thinking something about the geometry I was using was wrong. Transmission will not shift out of first. Totally took the downshift (throttle linkage) totally out and it still was stuck. First and reverse work great. At 35 or so the transmission starts bucking violently. Time to open it back up again and see what is wrong.