'73 Challenger Rallye Restoration

[Bill]

Thanks Leo.
Any suggestions on how to fix my header grille? I looked for some old forums but was unsuccessful. The broken one is off of my 74 but I am putting it on my 73. A "assume" the header grille is the same for the 74 as the 73.

 

[moparleo]

They are the same. They are made of fiberglass . So you need some experience working with fiberglass and resin.
I will try to find you some info. I'll be back.

 

[Bill]

PST polygraphite kit.

 

[Bill]

My Challenger looks like a Lizard!! Weird feeling "mudding over" all that nice work that was done over the past 9 months.

 

[Bill]

Nice weather is hard to come by here in Vermont so I took advantage of the 70 deg. and sunny weather with low humidity and shot the engine area, door jams and inside the trunk today. Alpine White.

 

[moparleo]

Just checking in to see your progress so far. Keep up the good work. Lots of time/love goes into it.

 

[Bill]

Thanks Leo! That single stage stuff looks great. Come time, a coworker who use to paint cars for a living is going to paint the car with base and many clear coats. Next it's back in the garage to route brake and gas lines and maybe mount the gas tank while it's still on rotisserie. Fun stuff!!!

Just checking in to see your progress so far. Keep up the good work. Lots of time/love goes into it.

 

[rbbruno3]

Looking good Bill, what part of Vermont are you? I'm pretty close to the border

 

[Bill]

Hotchkis springs

 

[Bill]

Mopar tool part #0987340987610945813075 "Spring expansion tool device / thingy" I rigged up so I can sandblast, prime and paint the whole spring surface area.

 

[Bill]

Finally off the rotisserie. I'm getting tired of working on my back already. (argh)

 

[Bill]

Any comments good or bad would be great. Still have this weird vision of driving this car cross country some day. I have never restored a car to this extent before. At the beginning of this thread I had no clue what polygraphite bushings, Lizard Skin sound deadener, Hotchkis springs, torque boxes or frame rail connectors were. Now they are all installed on my car with all your help. I'm hanging the trunk lid, hood, grille, doors and fenders to see how they all line up then taking them off to Lizard skin them and get read for paint. Oh, I almost forgot, don't use newspaper for masking paper.
Thank you all for your help!!
Bill (Vermont)

 

[moparleo]

Good job Bill. I would also paint the underside of the hood white. Now is a good time to put in a couple of underhood lights. A life saver if you breakdown where there is no light. A cheap find at any bone yard. Most later model vehicles have them. Oh, and why the air shocks ?

 

[Bill]

I will look for some under hood lights. Great idea!
Just took hood out of storage. Will single stage that color of car.
Both my Challengers came with air shocks. I just threw them on because I had them laying around ($0.00). Will get some nice KYB's after it's on the road.

Q. Little rubber pieces at end of bumpers seem to be more of a pain than they are worth. I see a lot of Challengers without them. Is there any drawbacks to not putting them back on?

Q. Heavy metal piece behind the bumper. are they needed? Seems like a lot of extra weight. Any drawbacks to not having them?

Q. Hood does not go down all the way by itself near the windshield. Need new springs maybe? Grease the hinges?

Thank you very much for your input. This FEBO is great.

Bill

 

[moparleo]

Little bumpers? You mean the round rubbers on the top of the bolt used to adjust how far down the hood goes when you close the hood and will give slightly so no rattling noises ? That one?

The bar behind the bumper is to reinforce the bumper incase you hit something or want to use a jack to raise the car.

 

[Bill]

Little bumpers? You mean the round rubbers on the top of the bolt used to adjust how far down the hood goes when you close the hood and will give slightly so no rattling noises ? That one?

The bar behind the bumper is to reinforce the bumper incase you hit something or want to use a jack to raise the car.

 

[rbbruno3]

coming along nicely Bill , keep it going.

 

[moparleo]

Ok Those are called bumper fillers. They fill the gap between the bumper and fender to giving you a more finished look and giving a space in case of a minor front end bump so the bumper will not damage the fender.

 

[Bill]

Ok Those are called bumper fillers. They fill the gap between the bumper and fender to giving you a more finished look and giving a space in case of a minor front end bump so the bumper will not damage the fender.

Thanks again Leo! I will use them if I can get them to fit correctly.

New rear brake parts.

 

[Bill]

Dubbin on the weekends. Washed, degreased, scuffed, epoxy primed and lizard skinned the inside of the fenders. New fenders came with the car when I purchased it last summer. Also getting drivers side door ready to be lizard skinned.