Sublime Lime 70 Challenger R/T SE

[Dodgey]

And I'm just now seeing the bolt in the bottom of the inner cowl. I wonder where that came from ...

 

[Dodgey]

It's been a while since I've posted anything, for all those sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for the next instalment I sincerely apologise

Work has continued, just at a snails place. I've been slowly sandblasting the underside and the engine bay, and discovered some undesirables on the roof ... I'm now just about ready to start welding floor pans back in and fixing all the little spot rust holes etc that I've come across.

A question for the brains trust though, now that I've got the paint off the engine bay I haven't found anything that resembles the VIN number on either the cowl over the windscreen wiper mechanism or on the front radiator support. The windscreen wiper cowl I can understand as there's been rust repairs pretty much exactly where I expected to see the VIN stamp. But I cant see any number on the radiator support where I would ahve expected it to be based on the various reference materials.

There is no evidence to suggest it's been replaced at all. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Chryco Psycho]

The vin stamp on the rad support could be facing the rad .

 

[340challconvert]

Very Very impressive welding and fabricating work!

 

[Dodgey]

The vin stamp on the rad support could be facing the rad .

I've been over every inch of the top radiator support, the only stamping is on the passenger side, what I assume to be the support stamp number - "OD 35 1".

All the spot welds appear to be original to my eye, so I'm still stumped as to the front partial VIN. Is it possible it was missed on the assembly line?

Pics of the bare metal radiator support if anyone can enlighten me. The underside of it has no markings on it what so ever.

 

[Dodgey]

I've just about finished all the repairs to the floor pans, wheel wells, trunk floor etc. I've got one more week of holidays to finish tidying things up and paint the underside. The front floor pans didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but they are a huge improvement on what was there before.

I know it's not factory, but I don't like the undercoat with incidental overspray on the underside. I'll be painting the whole of the underside with body colour Raptor paint. Not sure what it's called in the USA, but down here it's a tough, textured paint that is typically used on bed liners and 4WD's. Should provide good protection from stone chips and be hard wearing.

There's still a lot of metal work to do on the roof, around the windshield and the airbox/firewall. But i need to get her back on her wheels to be able to move her out of the shed. So I'll finish the underside, take her out of the rotisserie and go from there.

 

[Dodgey]

A little more progress today. Etch primed ready for undercoating.

 

[Dodgey]

Got the underside painted today. The Raptor paint didn't come out as textured as I thought. Still happy with how it's come out. It should be pretty durable as well.

Tomorrow, I'll get to the engine bay - body colour inside and I'll satin black the outside (front of rad cross member and the outside of both engine bay fenders).

Slowly getting closer to being able to put her back on her wheels.

 

[moparlee]

Nice work! You are making some good progress

 

[Dodgey]

Engine bay painted (aside from the firewall - still some minor things (rust holes) to sort out there).

Outside is satin black, with body colour on all the interior surfaces.

 

[Dodgey]

Making slow progress, I've welded a frame in so that I can start sorting out the rust on the A pillars and the roof. Still a long way to go.

 

[340challconvert]

Looking GOOD!

 

[Katfish]

Nice!
Keep at it, like seeing the progress

 

[Dodgey]

Well, I had a suspicion it was going to need some work once I took the roof skin off, I certainly wasn't disappointed! Had hoped it wasn't going to be quite this bad, but little by little and it'll get there.

I'm going to have to sand blast all the bits that I've uncovered, replacement pieces for what I can get (which is not many) and a whole lot of fab work ahead ... Once I've done either side, I'll have to do the same with the rear quarters - take them off to sort out what will almost certainly continue down each side.

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[Dodgey]

Sand blasted and 2 pac primed the inside of the front drivers side section of the roof structure. I'll progressively work my way around the roof from front to back. Next weekends job is putting the drivers side A-pillar back together, then I'll do the same on the passenger side - remove, sandblast and repair.

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[Dodgey]

Has something changed with the way that you are meant ot post photos? I'm doing it the same as I have previously, but now it only posts the links not the pics in the post??

 

[terrywalker]

I know I'm late to the party on this but it's really impressive the way you are tackling this project. Great job. I see that there were no photos posted ( or I missed them) of the upper radiator support VIN stamping. Here's a couple of mine. You were looking in the right area. Strange for sure.
Terry W.

 

[Dodgey]

I know I'm late to the party on this but it's really impressive the way you are tackling this project. Great job. I see that there were no photos posted ( or I missed them) of the upper radiator support VIN stamping. Here's a couple of mine. You were looking in the right area. Strange for sure.
Terry W.

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Thanks Terry! Really appreciate the feedback and thanks for the pics of the radiator support. Weird how mine doesn’t have any and no visible signs that it’s been replaced.

 

[Dodgey]

A little more progress this weekend. I've got the bottom LHS of the plenum chamber repaired. A little bit of a frankenstein effort, but I've had to replace the entire left hand corner from the steering column out. Many pieces of welded together. At least I'm getting practice on my TIG welding. It's no longer terrible .

Etch primed, ran out of time to 2 k primer this afternoon. Hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow afternoon.

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[Dodgey]

Drivers side a-pillar done. Now onto the passenger side. Sadly this side is a lot worse than the drivers side on the upper roof frame rear of the a-pillar.