74 Challenger rebuild pictures. Dialup Beware!

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Hey, what kind of lift is that in the one picture?

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My next project is gonna get hauled 3 hrs to Cinci and dropped off at your house!!

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B

Bring it on, I'll take it.
Thanks

Last nite I took the K and rear end out of it. Got a few more things to unbolt and it is stripped. I may mount it on the spit tonite for a preliminary pressure washing before I pull out the blaster. Plan is to partially blast some of the bottem and such, then take it off the spit and set up for sheet metal replacement. After all that is done then the whole thing will get a blasting.

Here's my work space,I'm luckier than most, not near as nice as some peoples work space.

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wow thats a nice body Be a great parts car for my vert
Great work by the way and fast

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Thanks,
Still have a long way to go. The bottem looked better than I thought it would. Lot's more hot water and dirt tomorrow. I changed shirts at least 5 times this afternoon and was filty when I got done, with a little muscle pump to go with it! I would'nt want to do it in 40 degree weather, that's for sure. I've been telling people to go rent a steam cleaner from the tool rental when it comes time to do this. Here's evidence, second car I've done this way.

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Nice, but I'll get my quarters cut off first!

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OKkkkk, we'll see. I have to make some room to work before I get to cutting quarters off.

I cleaned out the inside including all the seam sealer, well most of it. Don't worry, I took alot of pictures, of before. There was a ton of sealer all over and I still did'nt get it all out. But it is very clean right now, inside and out. I think I'm gonna go right to panel replacement before any media blasting.




It's supposed to rain tonite, man I hope soo....

Well you all know that I'm been working out behind my garage outside. This thing is bare steel in a bunch of places, so temporally I was given permission to store it here till I move my other two challengers to make room for this. When my GF looks out the back bedroom window she see's the bottem of my car!! You know what my backyard looks like, it quite a site.

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Making great progress!

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Thanks everyone for looking. TGIF!!!
Drilled few spotwelds while it's on the spit. I only drilled a few because the cars not supported yet. Lots easier now than later. IMO Cleaned out the lead top and bottem. Gonna move it tomorrow and put it on jack stands. Then off comes the quarter and the trunk pan, ect. I've been cleaning out seam sealer out of the trunk this week too. They use at least two different kinds and one of them sticks pretty good, nothing a little heat won't take care of. Same with weather stripping, apply a little heat under the steel gutter and the old weather strip will come off in one piece. Hopefully I'm gonna put time in this this weekend, even though tomorrow's... you know what.

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The steam cleaner thing is totally new to me. Had no idea it would blow off undercoating that way. I know it didn't happen in a moment, but that and rotisserie look to make extremely short work of an otherwise nagging, on your back scraping and eating dirt and guck job. Really great! Will you be soda blasting?

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Markz I got lucky I think.

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I have a deal with my mother inlaw to install a garage door operator on one of her two garage door. In exchange I get to use the other side of her two car garage! My GF bought the operator today and I might go get started installing it tonite. [image]

Sorry to hear about the rain, but I'd be more worried about your mother in law finding out about your GF!

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I have a deal with my mother inlaw to install a garage door operator on one of her two garage door. In exchange I get to use the other side of her two car garage! My GF bought the operator today and I might go get started installing it tonite. [image]

Sorry to hear about the rain, but I'd be more worried about your mother in law finding out about your GF!

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I'm sorry, I must clarify. My GF is my X wife and her mother I still consider my motherinlaw.

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In exchange I get to use the other side of her two car garage! My GF bought the operator today and I might go get started installing it tonite.

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wow he has a wife and a GF and no one cares

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wow he has a wife and a GF and no one cares

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I don't even wish that.

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Excellent pictures.

It looks like you need the same part of the firewall I do, between the firewall electrical and the brake booster....

If you find 2 donor cars...LOL

Allen

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Thanks,

Yes, there is some rot on the firewall. Not sure what I'm gonna do about it yet. Seems like a doner car would be pretty expensive. I see Goodmark is going to repro that part but that will be big bucks too I'm sure. I just may weld some metal in there and be done with it. Can't really see it when the car is together anyway. I've been thinking about fiberglass and resin inside... no I don't want to do it that way?? Any suggestions???

Wait till tonite, I built something for the car last nite. Stay tuned.

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Is this one going to threaten the 20 plus page mark like the gold car? LOL, I love it, hands-down the best Moparts post!

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This is getting the fired started to get me going on my '69 XX.

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BTW: I have a cowl / firewall from a '67 'dart 'vert in my back yard if some of it has the sections you need, I am not sure as the e-bodys are quite a bit different... but some patches might work...


RAR II

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Hey appreciate the offer.

Thanks guys, I'm glad to share the progress.

Call me crazy, call me stupid or maybe silly. But I'm gonna blast some of the car right where it sits. I wanna do behind the quarters and prime it before I weld the quarters on. I don't want to move it, with no quarters, so this is what I came up with. It's not done yet, I'll use a squire cage blower to keep a negative pressure in there when I paint or blast which should help keep the dust in. I only have a few minutes of blasting to do, but the tent is neccessary even for a few minutes. I made it so I can slide it right out of the garage out of my way after blasting.Plus I may use it outside in the drive when it comes time to do the whole thing. I'm gonna go drill some more spot welds in the trunk now. Cya

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UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH????? And how are you going to be blasting in there without an air supplied respirator??????

Get that wallet out and spend some money where it counts!

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Funny you say that, I've been listening. I just spent some $$$ on safety.

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What kind of rotisserie is that?.

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It's a Auto Twirler out of Indy, er nearby Indy.

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Good evening everyone,

I've drilled a few spot welds, well maybe a bunch. I got the rear deck filler out and both trunk gutters too.Tail light housing is off intact! I have about half of the trunk floor spots drilled, hopefully I'll have the trunk floor out tomorrow nite. Then once I get both outer wheel houses off I can start to put it back together. Here's a picture.

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Excellant work
What spot drills are you using please and how much are they each.

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??? is that the same car I saw... there is nothing left

I am curious how the rear section attaches to the body... I need a trunk floor in the '73 but I do not think I need to pull the entire rear end...

I agree about the blasting in a closed area... - not fun and I have been using the "old" blasting media (playground sand and sandblasting sand...)... that stuff sucks... - gets in your ears, eyes, everything.... - gotten smarter and whare a mask now, but still... don't see the coal slag local here anyware...

RAR II

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Funny you say that, I've been listening. I just spent some $$$ on safety.

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Well about time!!!!!

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Later today I'll take a couple pictures of my spot weld cutters. How much they cost?

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Hi, Can you post a picture of the cutter please. As i am in Australia and they may be called something different here than America. Is their any other name for these as i can look on e-bay aswell. Not trying to take over the thread but i will be doing the same method of panel replacement as Challenger125.
Thanks, Kenny.

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Hi, Can you post a picture of the cutter please. As i am in Australia and they may be called something different here than America. Is their any other name for these as i can look on e-bay aswell. Not trying to take over the thread but i will be doing the same method of panel replacement as Challenger125.
Thanks, Kenny.

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No problem at all,glad to answer any questions that I can. Yup those are the cutters, they work very nice and have held up. I'm still on my first one, and I used it dry because when I tried using cutting oil I could'nt see as well.

Good News! I got the floor out,and the inside of the rear frame rails are solid with very little rust inside. Still have the outer wheel wells to get off.

I drilled the wire hanger straps off the drivers side gutter that will be spot welded to the new pieces. I was too cheap to buy a new spare tire mount so I have to strip it from the old floor still.
Gonna go get those outer wheel wells off now.

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I've used these... they are nice as they drill around the spot weld.... I have the double sided one... about $16 or so and about 10-15 for a pack of 3 blades.

My local paint store has them as well...

http://www.blairequipment.com/Spotweld_Cutters/Spotweld_Cutters.html

If all you are doing is spot welds the double sided spot weld cutter is great, Challenger125 kit has a bunch of different sizes, which you might not need...

RAR II

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Good to know, paint store huh.

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all this in just a couple days.....wow! Looks good(naturally). After the last Chally build we all watched you do, I'm sure this one will be a real beauty.

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Thanks FrankenScamp
I still have a long way to go.

I passed out last nite right after posting, was it all the work or the buds?? My muscles are aching this morning and my arms are hard from all the drilling last few days. Oh well, got lots more to do today.

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Hey GT,
How many Challengers do you have..... Is their one under the car cover ? And have you thought of putting a 70 tail panel in instead of the later model rear while you have it in a way were it would be easy to do or are you happy with the 72-74 look. Just asking

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Good question!!

I have three challengers now, two complete and this one.

Yea I seriously considered converting it to a 70. But I was convinced by the good people here to keep it what it is plus I'm saving 500 bucks by not having to buy the 70 tail panel. Now that does'nt mean I'm gonna stick a stock motor in there! But I am gonna keep the outside stock 74 with the strobe strips and all. I'm gonna move the bumpers in though like a 72, so I guess I'm not keeping it stock. I'm also converting it to a 4 speed too!
I'm gonna do some light media blasting today I think. While I was getting my blast equipment from work, I brought home some Urea plastic media, gonna use it on the outside body. I don't usually recycle my media, but this plastic is exspensive and designed to be reused. I used this once before to strip the outside of the gold challenger in my signature picture. So I have to sift it before going back into my blaster. Thought some people would like to see what it looks like. I gonna use something different for the bottem and behind the quarters. Have a real nice sunny day today!! Perfect for fall car work!

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So what is the other Challenger year model you have ?
If you would like a 70 Challenger in your fleet, i would seriously think about it now while it is at this stage, it would look great sitting next to your Gold 71......... You are building this car for yourself after all
And it is looking great by the way,if i have not said so allready.
Hot Stuff Buddy.

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Hey Thanks a bunch guys, Sure I would love to have a 70 someday, but this one will stay a 74, I think it'll be worth more that way. There weren't that many 74s made. Maybe the next car I do will be a 70? Took some pictures but haven't loaded all of them yet. My tent worked pretty good along with a fresh air breathing mask. Got the rear frame rails cleaned up and painted. Started to make some patch panels, got one welded in.

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I was wondering how the lines lie up at the trunk lid gap on both sides and if the panels match the curvature with the top of the lid as well...on my Challenger , the gap was way to big and uneven on both sides with the goodmark panels. Make sure your panels are not warped in this area....also check the recess for the bumper cut-out area and the body line around the wheel well at the top . The Goodmark panels need more work than some people think.

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Good points, I haven't put it back together yet. I'll let you know how it works out. This is all new to me, so I'm learning as I go. Thanks for the heads up.
I need a spot welder!!

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I need a spot welder!!

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I need a spot welder!!

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Is that a hint?

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Awesome work

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Thank you guys,

I got home at 9:30 PM last nite, I did a little.
Tough for me to find the time during the winter because we are busy at work this time of year. Here's some of the hardware that will be going back on the car that I cleaned up.

This is what it looks like naked.


Gonna pull the quarters off one more time and under coat them just like the originals.I bet most people forget to transfer the rear window hardware from the old quarters to the new, you can see it in this picture. It needs to be welded on the new quarters for the windows to worh right..


Here's some of the sheet metal that this car is gonna get. There's more for the front that's not shown, like new inner and outer front fenders.


More I post the more I get reved up

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Amazing considering your schedule!!

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BTW: Where in NJ was the car?

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Any info?

Keep the progess pics coming.

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I keep forgeting to look at the title, I don't remember exactly where, but I will look and post what city.

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BTW: Where in NJ was the car?

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Any info?

Keep the progess pics coming.

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I keep forgeting to look at the title, I don't remember exactly where, but I will look and post what city.

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This car came from So Plainfield NJ I bought from a guy named Leon. I remember seeing a sign that said New York City 12 miles ahead while I'm cruising my toterhome and 49' trailer along thinking this exit better be soon and it was. I did'nt want to get into NY with my truck and trailer. I picked up the car at a comercial business with a large lot. I'm not sure if I was in So Plainfield though when I picked it up. Just where the car was titled.