Begun the Journey!

[TomIGo]

I have finally been getting some time into the 70 Challenger. Here is how the starting point looked. It is numbers matching everywhere. Was FY4, I was not able to find out when it was repainted. Was able to scratch areas of all sheet metal and the FY4 shows underneath everywhere except the passenger side quarter, so appears all the rest of the sheet metal is original!

So far have removed the engine and trans and was able to free up a frozen cylinder enough to get all the parts out of the engine! Everything mechanical from the block looks ok except for cylinder number 8 that had a collapsed intake lifter and the piston rusted in place about half-way down the cylinder. Next up for that is measuring all the cylinders to see if it needs to be bored, or if I can get by with a good honing. Just by eye, the bad cylinder doesn't look too terribly scraped.

Also have the front of the car torn down to the frame rails and core support. The LH inside fender needs replacing as well as the shock mount, and some work is needed on the RH inner fender where the hood hinge attaches. I have removed as much rust as possible - I was surprised how much of it was just surface rust, and how nice the frame rails looked! All remaining was covered with a rust converter.

Interior is gutted except for the headliner, rear seat belts and dash. All will be coming out this weekend. Passenger side is covered in surface rust, but pounding on it with a screwdriver did no damage. Drivers floor is gone as well as part of the torsion bar support, so I am looking at a drivers side floor pan and a new support. I think Dynacorn has a full floor with everything, so I don't know maybe we'll do it all! The rear under seat pan is also no good, so that will be replaced.

Not planning on doing exterior panels at this time although they need lots of love. I already have 2 replacement fenders ready when I get to that point.

 

[JDMopar]

Looks like you've got a great start on it! As far as the floor pan goes, I'd replace the whole thing with an AMD full floor pan. AMD has the rear under seat section also, along with the torsion bar crossmember. AMD produces the best quality sheet metal for our old Mopars. There's a big Mopar show somewhere in MN every year, and Stephens Performance comes to that show. They are the largest AMD sheet metal dealer east of the Mississippi, and could bring you the metal you need and save you money on shipping. I'm sure you probably know which show it would be, but I don't remember. It must be a big show in order for Stephens to make the trip from Alabama to Minnesota. Good luck to you!

 

[Mopar426power]

Should be a good project! Keep us posted.

 

[Xcudame]

Unfortunately when the rings rust to the cylinder such that the piston is stuck in there, it'll need a bore.

Looks like a great project car though!

 

[340challconvert]

to FEBO from New Jersey
Nice project Challenger!

 

[TomIGo]

Looks like you've got a great start on it! As far as the floor pan goes, I'd replace the whole thing with an AMD full floor pan. AMD has the rear under seat section also, along with the torsion bar crossmember. AMD produces the best quality sheet metal for our old Mopars. There's a big Mopar show somewhere in MN every year, and Stephens Performance comes to that show. They are the largest AMD sheet metal dealer east of the Mississippi, and could bring you the metal you need and save you money on shipping. I'm sure you probably know which show it would be, but I don't remember. It must be a big show in order for Stephens to make the trip from Alabama to Minnesota. Good luck to you!

JDMopar, I have been on the AMD site several times, and cannot find a full floor that includes all the braces and supports. That is why I am thinking about going with the Dynacorn sold by Classic Industries. It includes everything! You can take a look at it here: https://www.classicindustries.com/shop/search/?q=MM1390
If I am missing something on the AMD site, please send a link!!

 

[JDMopar]

I see the difference now. The Dynacorn comes with the torsion bar crossmember already attached, plus the seat reinforcements and the side braces. If you need all of that stuff, that would be the way to go, but if your torsion bar crossmember is good and the side braces, the AMD pan would be a lot cheaper. You can remove the seat reinforcement washers and weld them back to the new pan. I did notice on AMD's site, that they are currently out of E body floor pans.

 

[TomIGo]

I see the difference now. The Dynacorn comes with the torsion bar crossmember already attached, plus the seat reinforcements and the side braces. If you need all of that stuff, that would be the way to go, but if your torsion bar crossmember is good and the side braces, the AMD pan would be a lot cheaper. You can remove the seat reinforcement washers and weld them back to the new pan. I did notice on AMD's site, that they are currently out of E body floor pans.

Unfortunately the torsion bar cross member is rotten on the rear side of the drivers end. Approx 2-/12 inches of it is missing, as can be seen in this pic! Although I could not force a screwdriver through any of the rest of the cross-member, I don't want to take a chance not fixing it and having a suspension failure!

 

[heminut]

Unfortunately the torsion bar cross member is rotten on the rear side of the drivers end. Approx 2-/12 inches of it is missing, as can be seen in this pic! Although I could not force a screwdriver through any of the rest of the cross-member, I don't want to take a chance not fixing it and having a suspension failure!

View attachment 124128

That's pretty bad!

 

[Deathproofcuda]

I see the difference now. The Dynacorn comes with the torsion bar crossmember already attached, plus the seat reinforcements and the side braces. If you need all of that stuff, that would be the way to go, but if your torsion bar crossmember is good and the side braces, the AMD pan would be a lot cheaper. You can remove the seat reinforcement washers and weld them back to the new pan. I did notice on AMD's site, that they are currently out of E body floor pans.

Since your car is a 70, just be aware that AMD floor pans do not use the correct pattern for the stamped stiffening ribs. Many people will never notice the difference, but if you are a person that sweats the details, this could be an issue for you.

Looks like a good project. Good luck with it.

 

[Stev-o]

Any progress?

 

[TomIGo]

Any progress?

Hi Stev-o, Yes! I have been making slow progress - slow should probably be restated as very slow (home business has been taking a lot of time lately).

I have finished disassembly of the remainder of the interior, including the headliner and dash. Looks pretty bare inside now!!

The number 8 cylinder wall doesn't look as bad as I thought it would be. Pitting from the rust is very light, so I may have lucked out there and won't need a bore (fingers, toes and eyes crossed)!! I have cleaned all the removed metal parts, but unfortunately I have been so far unable to remove the upper ring from the one piston that was stuck. Looking like a new piston will be required. Still need to mic everything including the cylinder bores before finalizing the plan, buying parts or performing any reassembly. All of the bearings look to be in nice condition (high mileage, but well cared for), and the cam and crank both appear undamaged as well.

Recently I finished removing all the front suspension components, the rear valance, gas tank and rear shocks. Still have leaf springs and rear end to remove, but have removed and inspected both axle shafts and the diff internals. All that looks good, even the diff fluid was decent when I drained it! Somewhere along the way the original rear-end was replaced with a 9-1/4 rear end that is newer than the car (of course). The ring gear shows its a 3.21 and a date of 12/17/75. In front I have cleaned up all the surfaces behind where the suspension parts were located. Didn't find any new rust areas that I should worry about beyond what I had reported earlier.

My "needed parts" list cntinues to grow! The spreadsheet is currenty at 457 lines of detail!!

Attached are pics of the work done on the front end metal inside the fenders. Not doing anything additional to the drivers side as next step will be to remove the shock tower, brace and inner fender metal and replace.

That's pretty much it for now!

 

[TomIGo]

Just to keep the post up to date, here are a couple pics of what I am finding while checking out my dash wiring (needed something to do indoors during the winter months in MN!). The previous owner must have had an issue with wiring at some point because they had burned a couple of fuses. They decided it would be a good idea to put tin foil around them and reinstall!! I have a list of the color, length and gauge of wires I need to replace as well as the connectors and terminals needed. I will replace burned wires with one gauge larger. Will be ordering them this week I hope. Also going through each connector / terminal using different tools to clean and spraying with electrical cleaner. After finishing repairs on the main dash harness, there are several more I will uncover and repair as needed one at a time. As temps improve here, I will get back to working on the metal pieces. First will be the drivers inner fender, brace and shock tower so I can begin rebuilding the front and suspension.

Under-dash pic where you can see the fuses at the bottom of the fuse box installed with tin foil around them. Appears there may be a little corrosion on some wire connectors.

Main harness behind dash being uncovered to find issues.

First issue found at Headlight Switch connector. The pink wire was melted to the casing of several wires within the length of the main harness. It took a couple of days to separate everything without causing more damage.

Although the wires themselves were ok, the connector to the Floor mounted Dimmer Switch shows some heat damage as well.

 

[Challenger RTA]

You are encountering the electrical issues of mopar. Looks like you have an understanding of what you are doing. Some would say buy a new one. I myself too. Then I thought who much is a new one. Me thinking
$700-800. NOPE! 1289.95+shipping and tax. There was a member here that bought a new AAW harness and there were issues. nothing that can't be sorted out.
But any how proceed. Just my 2¢.Whith my experience and some others here are too have. I would do what you are doing. You have the harness opened up and tied, so inspect for melted wires and brittle ends. The headlight hi low switch is a problem there is a replacement plug for it. The the best fix is a headlight relay circuit. Or else it will happen again. And other thing is the bulkhead connectors. Abandon the amp gauge and battery wires through the connectors some how. The wires in the dash harness from alternator and battery are sometimes melted from an over load. In any event I replaced and didn't wrap them up back into the harness.
The other thing to check is the fan switch and the fan connector. The also over heat.

The bulkhead connectors are more than likely the issue. Clean them up and check again. Splice 1 is never the issue unless someone messed with it. You can feed it some other way. through the washer foot pump grommet. But use the fusible link.

View attachment 132330

 

[TomIGo]

@Challenger RTA

Yeah, I've seen these kinds of issues previously. I love Mopars except for the wiring issues! I will be repairing the original harnesses (as long as they aren't too destroyed). I have a background in electrical and electronics and am unafraid to tackle this. The cost savings over something like the AAW harness will be huge, and usable elsewhere on the car!! When I am finished it should appear OEM too, using the original colors and routing.

That said, I haven't been through the remaining harness pieces, so there could be one or more that will require full replacement.