'73 Challenger Rallye Restoration

[moparleo]

Not a novice any more !

 

[ramenth]

I spent a lot of time trying multiple times to figure out how to change the title with no results. It all started out with an undercoat question. Thanks for the compliment. Keep in mind I am very novice at restoring a car. I sell plumbing and heating equipment for a living.

Let me see if I can help on this: click on the "edit post" icon and then "go advance" in your original post in the thread. That should bring up the title bar at the top that will allow you to change the title.

If not, come up with something you like and I'll see if I can do it on my end.

EDIT - Nevermind, Bill, I see you figured it out.

 

[Bill]

You da man Robert!! Thanks

Let me see if I can help on this: click on the "edit post" icon and then "go advance" in your original post in the thread. That should bring up the title bar at the top that will allow you to change the title.

If not, come up with something you like and I'll see if I can do it on my end.

EDIT - Nevermind, Bill, I see you figured it out.

 

[ramenth]

You da man Robert!! Thanks

You're welcome.

 

[Bill]

Trying to decide on what to do with my gauges. They look to be in very good condition. Very clean with no rust at all. Clock adjustment cable does not work. I put 12V to the clock and it does not work (pretty typical I guess). Not sure about anything else on it. A few of the rebuild guys will let you ship it to them then give you a free estimate on what it will take to get everything working or totaly rebuild it 100% back to factory. One estimate I got via an email converstation was $1,800 "worst case" / "soup to nuts" restoration. I like the idea of a Classic Dash but it seems like a sin when the car came with a Rallye dash.

 

[moparleo]

Here are a few good ones Bill http://www.autoinstruments.com/services.htm and http://www.redlinegaugeworks.com/default.asp

 

[Bill]

100 Years today.
https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motor...s-founded-on-this-date-in-1914-131822017.html

 

[Mkid70]

71 Ply,
Is your car an automatic or a 4speed. I have been searching for photos of the 4 speed tunnel above and below. Thanks

 

[Bill]

I think I have decided to go with an aftermarket "Classic dash" style gauge cluster to replace my current Rallye gauges (Of course keeping the original Rallye gauges with the car for possible future restoration). I was wondering if anyone had a "Classic dash" style gauge cluster for sale.
http://www.classicdash.com/shopping/image.php?type=W&id=3674

Also thinking about doing the same with the black vinyl front bucket seats. Thinking about a pair of comfortable more modern seats.

I'm building the car to be a true (comfortable) "driver".

 

[71Plym]

71 Ply,
Is your car an automatic or a 4speed. I have been searching for photos of the 4 speed tunnel above and below. Thanks

automatic

 

[Avalanche]

I think your original dash looks much better than the classicdash you posted.

 

[Bill]

I think your original dash looks much better than the classicdash you posted.

Thanks for the input!
The Rallye cluster does look to be in pretty good shape. I have no idea what works and what does not work. Looks like they never got wet which is unusual with the car living it's life in the rust belt of New England. I may just throw them in and worry about what to do later.
I purchased a couple of electric, heated, black, bucket leather Cadillac seats today at a junk yard for cheap money. The cool part about them is the shoulder seat belt is part of the seat. The headrest even has an electric motor in it for adjustment. We will see how they fit when I go to pick them up this weekend. If they don't I'll make some nice office chairs out of them.
Fun stuff!!!! Car should be ready for paint in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to get to a point to start putting things back on the car after it's been painted.

 

[R4Sedan]

Bill, I just looked through your Resto. She's looking good keep up the good work.

 

[Bill]

Bill, I just looked through your Resto. She's looking good keep up the good work.

Hey thanks!! I'm having a blast! Hope it's all worth it in the end. If not, I had fun trying.

 

[Tbone416]

cool car looks good. I have a 72 challenger can't wait to see your done!!!!

 

[Bill]

I just dropped the Cadillac seats in the Challenger and preliminary it looks like they will fit nicely! Plenty of room and they are a nice low profile. Lots of gears and motors. The seats have an airbag in the side. What do I need to do to keep it dormant? What deploys an airbag. Does it want to see voltage or a short of some sort??? Computer signal? I just don't want the thing going off.

Thanks for the input!
The Rallye cluster does look to be in pretty good shape. I have no idea what works and what does not work. Looks like they never got wet which is unusual with the car living it's life in the rust belt of New England. I may just throw them in and worry about what to do later.
I purchased a couple of electric, heated, black, bucket leather Cadillac seats today at a junk yard for cheap money. The cool part about them is the shoulder seat belt is part of the seat. The headrest even has an electric motor in it for adjustment. We will see how they fit when I go to pick them up this weekend. If they don't I'll make some nice office chairs out of them.
Fun stuff!!!! Car should be ready for paint in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to get to a point to start putting things back on the car after it's been painted.

 

[moparleo]

Bill, some airbags work off of a capacitor that stores energy to activate the airbags. Depending on the year of the SRS system , that time will vary from 90 seconds to over an hour. Your airbag should be fine as long as you don't reenergize it. Personally I wouldn't trust it, but that is just me.
I would remove it if possible without damaging the upholstery.

 

[Bill]

Bill, some airbags work off of a capacitor that stores energy to activate the airbags. Depending on the year of the SRS system , that time will vary from 90 seconds to over an hour. Your airbag should be fine as long as you don't reenergize it. Personally I wouldn't trust it, but that is just me.
I would remove it if possible without damaging the upholstery.

Thanks Leo.
I did a little research and the memory chip for the driver adjustment on the drivers side may cause an issue. There is a "wicked" (wicked is a New England term) amount of wires under the seat. They are very nice low profile seats. Only about 1-1/2" wider than the original Challenger seats. I threw them in the car and it looks like they will fit nicely (I hope). I have plenty of head and leg room. They came out of a 4 door car so for someone getting in the back seat will take time to get the seat forward. I'm finding that these seats are popular for hot rods because of the integrated lap / shoulder seat belt and their sporty design. I would like to be able to git rid of the air bags without wrecking anything or having them blow up in my face. I will dig into them later but for now I'm focusing on paint right. Should have only a couple more hours of prep for paint then start to build paint booth.
Fun stuff!!1

 

[Avalanche]

Seats look good, are you going to upolster rear seats in leather to match?

 

[Bill]

Paint, paint, paint... Focusing on paint. Goal is to get car together for now. I think I will just keep the rear seats original for now. I still hope to get these seats to work. The wiring is going to be fun to figure out. Lots of motors, switches, control wires and load wires going to a lot of relays. I like figuring out stuff like that. I'm guessing they weigh about 75 lbs each.
Gotta stay focused on paint for now. I have two little low spots to work on. One on the trunk and one on the roof that just don't want to go away. I used shaker can filler/primer on those two little low areas and it takes days to dry in this humidity. The stuff is horrible to work with and clogs on sandpaper in a heartbeat. Very frustrating... Had to walk away from it all tonight to regroup and figure out what to do about it. I think I just need to wait a few days for it to dry, sand it down and spray some good stuff on those areas. As far as the rest of the car, I wet sanded with 400 and it's ready for sealer once I get my paint booth built unless someone else can advise different. I may go over 1 more time with 400 wet sand to make sure I have all of the 220 scratch marks out. It's "wicked" smooth right now.

Seats look good, are you going to upolster rear seats in leather to match?