1974 Challenger Restomod

[Katfish]

Wow, you are knee deep into this,
Impressive work, keep the pics coming.

[Dmod1974]

Basically in real time now.  Sooo close to getting that 1/4 hung!  I did another mockup with the quarter and have more tweaking before I weld and/or glue it on.



Rust encapsulated the surface rusted areas.



Epoxy primed.





I used 2 part 3M heavy bodied epoxy seam sealer for the joints that won't be accessible after the quarter is hung.





Undercoated and sound deadening with Resto Rick's special mix.  I'm amazed at how fast this stuff cures!  It was setting up in my spray gun already as soon as the pot was empty.  It lays down real nice though.

[jimynick]

Jesus! For a guy who started by saying that you didn't know anything about bodywork, you're going to graduate magna cum laude when you're finished here, laddie! Great photos and they actually gave me a wee chill as I did pretty much what you're doing on my own '74, right down to the bonding/welding of the firewall/cowl. I changed the right rail and installed the inners and outer hinge panels as well. When I saw the first pics with Clecos in it, I knew you were no pilgrim and you're doing a hell of a great job and plowing through it! I wish sometimes that I'd converted my tin over to '70 style, but it is what it is and you're going to have a fabulous car when you're done. Make sure to trial fit your doors and deck lid before you finalize your welding in those areas. I used bond kits for a lot of the seam sealing and sealed every GD seam under the car as well, because we both know that wherever there's a spot for water to enter on these cars, that there's going to be rust- and that's a non-starter after going to all this work! Well done and roll on with the repairs and the great pics!! 

[Chryco Psycho]

 :rubeyes:Nice work 

[Dmod1974]

Jesus! For a guy who started by saying that you didn't know anything about bodywork, you're going to graduate magna cum laude when you're finished here, laddie! Great photos and they actually gave me a wee chill as I did pretty much what you're doing on my own '74, right down to the bonding/welding of the firewall/cowl. I changed the right rail and installed the inners and outer hinge panels as well. When I saw the first pics with Clecos in it, I knew you were no pilgrim and you're doing a hell of a great job and plowing through it! I wish sometimes that I'd converted my tin over to '70 style, but it is what it is and you're going to have a fabulous car when you're done. Make sure to trial fit your doors and deck lid before you finalize your welding in those areas. I used bond kits for a lot of the seam sealing and sealed every GD seam under the car as well, because we both know that wherever there's a spot for water to enter on these cars, that there's going to be rust- and that's a non-starter after going to all this work! Well done and roll on with the repairs and the great pics!! 

Thank you!!!  And I will most definitely be fitting everything before hanging that quarter.  I found out pretty fast that basically none of these parts just drop right in and fit, well, maybe the trunk pan was the exception.... It darn near fell into place perfectly.  Totally agree on the sealing part...  I'm using panel bond wherever it makes sense, and judicious amounts of SEM Copper weld through primer wherever I MIG.

Yeah, prior to this I have not done one ounce of body or paint work.  The thought always made me cringe.  But so does a $100K body shop bill!  I didn't even have any real welding experience prior to this.  Quick learner I guess...  I definitely made (and consequently had to correct) some mistakes early on.

[JpRngr]

Wow, doing a heluva job so far!!

[nsmall]

 . It may take all you have, but you are getting closer.  Way to be all in.

[Dmod1974]

I'm starting to mock up the new tail panel, and one of the things I've struggled with the most on this resto has been the fact that when I measure anything from side to side I tend to get pretty big differences.  I know tolerances were loose back in the day on these, but it often leaves me 2nd guessing myself since I rarely have a reference point I feel comfortable about relying on.

Could anybody take some measurements of the width and depth of the trunk opening?  I measured from gutter to gutter, at the alignment notch, and near the tail panel before the curve and came up with 51 7/8".  Measuring from decklid filler lip to tail panel lip I got 21" on the LH side and center with the OLD panel, and 21 3/8" on the RH side.  Obviously, that's a pretty significant amount of variation, and it's on the side I am pretty sure has never been hit too!  Diagonal is hard to measure with the curves.

The new panel is giving me similar measurements as well (21 1/8"), but also appears to be bowed in the center a bit too.  No big deal and I'm sure I can work it, but I need to know what is right.

Lastly, if anybody could confirm that the lock support panel is NOT centered in the trunk I'd appreciate it!  Mine is roughly an inch closer to the right hand side.  I am absolutely certain it is where it was originally (I lined it up perfectly with the spot weld cutter holes on the original tail panel, clamped it in, and welded it to the floor and nothing moved), but it just seems odd that they would do that.  I'm pretty sure my car was built on New Years' Day or July 5th, so would like to correct any misbuild issues now.

Just as an FYI, most of my frame measurements BEFORE repairs were anywhere from 1/4" to closer to 1/2" different from side to side.  Now they are more like 1/8" to 1/4".  Whatever happened when it got hit on the right rear side seems to have been isolated to damage in the quarter, wheelhouse, and tail panel corner at least. 

Thanks in advance!

[ClarkWGrizwald]

First off----DAMN!!!
GREAT JOB!
Thats a big ass can of worms you opened. But it looks like you are just getting shit done! Way to go!

Second- where are you exactly located? You can PM me if you prefer. I ask because I am in the NW burbs and i have a mint 74 cuda that's all original and rust free that you maybe able to use for some of your reference point measures. I know some things are diffeent on a cuda vs challenger but if you need a car....i got one you are welcome to measure off of. 

Keep up the great work!

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

[Dmod1974]

First off----DAMN!!!
GREAT JOB!
Thats a big ass can of worms you opened. But it looks like you are just getting shit done! Way to go!

Second- where are you exactly located? You can PM me if you prefer. I ask because I am in the NW burbs and i have a mint 74 cuda that's all original and rust free that you maybe able to use for some of your reference point measures. I know some things are diffeent on a cuda vs challenger but if you need a car....i got one you are welcome to measure off of. 

Keep up the great work!

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

I appreciate the offer!  I live near the Rt. 66 racetrack actually.  If I run across anything I know is the same between models that needs verification I'll definitely take you up on it!

[Cudakiller70]

Awesome work! Keep posting!

[Dmod1974]

ADD kicked in and I decided to strip the roof down to see how bad the rust was, and if I could repair it or needed to order a new skin.  Luckily, it is in great shape for a vinyl top car!!!



The drip rails are excellent too.



There are some pitted spots near both windows that will need repair though...  How hard and what approach should I take given the intricate bends and visibility of this spot?  Most of my patches are not visible, thank god.  I can't believe nobody makes patches for these rust prone spots.





The decklid filler has some damage, but I think it's plenty repairable and will be under the glass and sealant so I'm a lot less worried about repairing that.

I threw some epoxy primer on it (poorly) to keep it from rusting until I get ready to repair it.

[anlauto]

It's really coming along good !

[Dmod1974]

Also installed the LH subframe connector and rear torque box.  I'm planning on reinforcing the car as much as possible before I start on the right hand side since I'll be doing the inner and outer rockers.  The subframe connector took a LOT of grinding.  The rear torque box took surprisingly little.  The front one is next, and it looks like it'll take a lot of work to fit.  I epoxy and weld primed the insides of everything and plan on hitting them with Eastwood Internal Frame Coating when ready as well.  Luckily, the subframe connector has drain holes and positions right under a body plug, so I should be able to coat the entire length.








Finally got this thing on wheels and mobile for the first time in a year as well - tail panel is up next.

[jimynick]

Your last couple of posts the photos never loaded correctly it seems. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!