1970 Dodge Challenger A66

[kawahonda]

* Removed existing fuel line. Installed new steel OE from classic industries. Pretty good line. Old line I cut apart. It looked "serviceable" but also is nice to have a clean one and "know" what's there.

* Added new trunk pan plugs. Dante's Mopart's trunk mat arrived. I was impressed by thickness and quality of fit. Photos are not final. I only had to trim a couple areas. Over time, it will flatten out and look really good, I think. Installed "correct' spare tire stem rod.

[kawahonda]

* Polished rear license plate light. I want to make sure I am pulled over at all times.

* Did a lot of polishing on rear bumper area. Will need to be rechromed.

* Sent driver's door hinges off to MoparLeo. Will need to get some good single stage paint for them when they come back. Any door hanging tips?

* Have a good coolant leak and have a good transmission leak to deal with next. Oh, and brakes. it's all here folks. Leaks and Brakes are next on the agenda. But even before that. I need to calibrate this Year One SS sender. I'm planning to fill the tank up with water while it's on the ground. I want to assure accuracy.

[Katfish]

Good progress, lense looks nice.
What did you use for polish?

[kawahonda]

I used car polish. I use wizards to polish. Car polish is just fine and dandy for plastics.

[7E-Bodies]

What a great and well preserved car!  I like these less sought after colors!

[kawahonda]

Cleaned and calibrated original sender. You may have seen my other thread, but I just wanted to post it here for documentation. Added new float. Waiting for filter sock to get here tomorrow.

You cans see before/after calibration photos. Calibrate by slightly bending the "tang" in the box. Rinse and repeat until it's perfect. Calibrated at 12.4-73ohms.

[kawahonda]

Filter sock removal. Check how much crud was near the sender entrance. Always remove the sock!

Underside of pan has been wire wheeled, rust/treated, epoxied, and undercoated. I'm hoping the pan will stay fresh and clean for a long time.

Reusing the filler tube seal on the tank. Please advise if you think it's a terrible idea. Installed new upper tank padding using 3M spray. AMD tank is all set to go. Phenomenal reproduction, by the way.

[kawahonda]

MoparLEO is wrapping up my driver door hinges. When they arrive this weekend, they will be blasted and primed. I will spray some Omni single-stage enamel on them and install my door back...I miss it!

I polished the rear bumper as much as possible. It will need to be re-chromed in the future. It's way more cost effective to buy a reproduction bumper though. I trust that AMD makes great bumpers?

I installed the passenger's seat belt retractor cover. The driver's side still needs the seat belt retractor dome that sits underneath carpet. All places I've came across will only sell the reproduction domes in pairs which suck! I just need one....

[kawahonda]

Sprayed the grille with WD40 (Charlie's advice). Wow! I love the darker argent look.

Used some steel wool to the Challenger grille script...turned it from black to shiny chrome!

Started cleaning the inner fenders/firewall area. Eventually, I'd like to replace the wiper washer hose with the correct black hose. I would also like to replace the heater core hoses with the correct black hose. Also want to add the correct spring clamps for everything. Don't think I'll pony up the price for actual Mopar repro hoses, but just some generic black hoses will improve the looks quite a darn bit.

I also ordered new wheels and tires...finally. 4x Legendary Wheel Magnum 500 15 x 7 w/ 4.25 backspacing alloys, and 4 x Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T 235 tires. In the future, I can add some authentic Rallyes if I find them, but for now, I have a nice set of lightweight period-correct wheels to use. Hell, I may even keep them on the car forever. The 14" date-coded Rallyes are going in the attic and will remain with the car.

Fuel tank is still out of the car. I decided to NOT run the original sender as it started to behave erratically during final testing. I was able to score an NOS fuel sending unit on eBay for a fraction more than the aftermarket one. Should arrive this week.

[kawahonda]

Tires got it. It's going to be a nice improvement in width over the current weaklings.

[kawahonda]

NOS sender came in (1991) and tested perfectly. Hooked back up the gas tank and finished connecting the fuel line to the sender. Had a hickup with the sender that you can read in another thread. Felt like I've became a sender expert now.  Car ran pretty sputtery (kinda like it did before). I only had a chance to take it around the block and idle it for about 7 minutes though. Glad that's done! Carb rebuild is probably next on the chopping block. Will play around with it some more tomorrow.

[kawahonda]

Raised left exhaust pipe by some "quick and dirty" techniques on an aftermarket hanger. Much better. I didn't fasten up the rear valiance yet, but you can see the work of about 2-3 hours of hand polishing in the rear area.

Before/After photo.

[kawahonda]

Got some flair in as well.

These floor mats are probably the best ones you can buy. NOT cheap. Perfect fit. I'll take more pics of them later once I get the door hung.

Yes, you're seeing Scat Pack key chains for my main keys and spare keys. Yep, all Chrysler recut keys.

[xx88man]

Nice work....I love your car!     

[340challconvert]

Your A66 Challenger is in really great shape.  Glad you were able to clean up the trunk floor and your driver cleanup process is making the car look even better.

I have an A66 convertible that I have owned since 1979 and finally took it out of storage to start working on it 3 years ago. My trunk was rusted badly by the exhaust hanger sections and I am in the process of replacing the trunk floor. With a clean up; your trunk came out great
I will follow your work as you progress.
NICE WORK!