Go Mango Boys Project Car

[Dakota]

Nice progress!  Like others have written, I'm looking forward to seeing more. 

[GoMangoBoys]

I knew that there was rot on the inner panel in front of the LH wheel opening, but when I went to repair it, I discovered that the rot went through the outer panel as well.  This is the point where I decided that I should have just replaced the entire panel.  Instead, however, I went ahead and fabricated a replacement for the lower portion of the outer panel as well as the inner panel.  I had to make the outer panel twice.  The first time wasn't really a failure so much as it was the piece I made in order to gain the experience to make it right.

[GoMangoBoys]

This is my 18 year old son welding a patch on the trunk.  The second 2 pictures are for a compare/contrast of the same boy at 11 years old welding on the frame of my 32 Plymouth.  The Iron Man helmet was a gift from Lincoln Electric for some work I did helping them with the Welding Merit Badge.  So far, I have taught more than 50 kids to weld by teaching the Welding Merit Badge.  My son actually works at a local welding shop running the CNC plasma table.

Also, note all the clean metal on the underside of the Challenger.  My boy has countless hours with the angle grinder and the wire wheel cleaning all the rust, dirt and undercoating off to prepare it for painting.

[GoMangoBoys]

Patched a spot under the rear seat on the passenger side.

[GoMangoBoys]

There was a large dented spot on the LH quarter panel.  We ground off all the bondo and found a bunch of holes where the dent was pulled out.  It was not done very well, so I pounded it out from the inside and welded over the holes.

[GoMangoBoys]

The area where the quarter panel meets the roof was pretty rusty on the LH side.  I was pretty nervous to tackle this spot, but it turned out to not bee too hard to fix.  I also found a rotted inner channel when I cut off the outer panel.

[GoMangoBoys]

Rust patch on the rear of the roof.  Normally, I butt weld to be flush but for this small spot, I put the patch panel inside and lap welded it.

[GoMangoBoys]

This is what it is to be young and flexible (and skinny)

[GoMangoBoys]

I have a good friend who is an expert in Muncie's.  He is helping us rebuild our A833 OD that I picked up at a swap meet.  I also had to get another friend to turn down the bearing retainer to fit my bell housing and to machine the holes for the shifter to bolt to the tail housing.

[GoMangoBoys]

Rear axle assembly needs some TLC.

[GoMangoBoys]

All the patching, welding and cleaning is done on the underside from the doors back.  We bought a sway bar, but the brackets that bolt to the subframe were rusted more than I was comfortable with.  We fabricated new brackets and welded them to the subframe.  I know they are supposed to be bolted, but we welded them instead.  We bought new Energy Suspension bushings and links to use.
I did about 90% of the painting but when my boy came home from school, I let him finish it up.  He should have had something covering his head, but it was a last minute thing for him to jump in and finish it.
I used a Nason 2K etching primer and the Ceramic Chassis Black 2K from Eastwood for the black paint.

As of this post, my build journal is now up to date.

[Shoooter]

This is a great thread. We are still looking for a father and sons project. this sure has lite a fire under my butt to find one before we are price out of the market. Keep the pictures comig

[Chryco Psycho]

This will be a cool ride 

[GoMangoBoys]

Got the rear portion of the car totally cleaned up and a coat of etching 2K primer on it.  Ready to keep moving toward the front now.

[anlauto]

Awesome progress