Msbaugh's 1970 Dodge Challenger Build

[Msbaugh440]

Well here's some pictures of the heater box I got from a member on this site. It was in pretty rough  shape, but I hooked the blower motor up to an old battery and it fired up just fine.

Bought a full rebuild kit online, and ended up having to order a repro half box section as the box I had was cracked and very brittle. After all new gaskets/seals and some extra sealing on the flanges for the box it's good to go! I definitely don't want warm air leaking down onto my legs, so I felt the A/C duct tape might help keep it nice and tight. Also had the heater core pressure tested by a local shop underwater to make sure it was free of leaks.

[Msbaugh440]

Let the disassembly begin!! Overall the interior took me about a week only working after my work day was over. Here is the interior mostly empty...

[Msbaugh440]

I have an un-finished basement in my house... so I thought it would be a good place to store the parts for the entire car until all of the body work is done. What you're seeing is the entire interior, wiring, front bumper, grill, rear valence, gas tank, steering column parts (plan to convert to power steering so I have a manual and power column both fully disassembled at the moment) and some other odds and ends that needed to be removed from the car. Still have quite a bit left to strip before I'm ready to determine if the car needs to be media blasted or not.

[Msbaugh440]

Got the 727 transmission and 440 out. Still planning on following through with the 4-speed conversion. If anyone on here needs a stout, freshly rebuilt 727 I'm going to be looking to sell it here pretty soon.

[JS29]

I am a little surprised your engine has iron heads, seeing all the aluminum accessorizes.   

[Msbaugh440]

No kidding... aluminum heads are in the plan though with the 440 rebuild. I bought the engine running with out any details at all on cam, overbore, etc. Before now, it's just been adding bolt ons to make it more street-able and to keep it on the road as a driver. Now that I'm taking it down completely, my plan is to start from scratch and build it the way I want it

[Msbaugh440]

I got a little over zealous trying to figure out what kind of shape the floor was in before finishing removing everything and took a grinder to the areas that looked bad. Looks like the front driver side and both the rear foot wells have rusted enough that they need to be replaced. Everywhere else is solid metal, but since I'm likely going to be overkilling this car, I decided I would just put full AMD floor panels in rather than section it out.

Plan of action is to cut out the two rear foot wells, followed by the whole front floor pan, replace the front floor pan, determine if the rear under-seat floor pan needs to be removed and replace that if so, then replace the rear foot wells, and then start working on the trunk floor. I am thinking that the bottom firewall flange where the floor meets up to the firewall will be in bad shape and need some attention. Not sure yet if I will regret replacing panels before deciding to fully media blast the car or not? 

[Msbaugh440]

Well I got some more work finished up this weekend. Got the floor hump removed, the two rear foot well panels, the door panels, quarter glass, and everything else in the engine bay except for a couple of rounded brake line connections to the distribution block. Got all the nasty stock seam sealer out with a wire wheel as well and located all of the front floor panel spot welds, center punched and started holes with a small pilot drill on each one of them. Should be ready to to start cutting out spot welds in the front this week.

[Msbaugh440]

I'm not extremely happy with my ability to cut out all these spot welds with the blair rotabroach spot weld cutter I purchased. There were a few cases where I drilled through the bottom panel I was planning on saving or mangled up the sheet metal trying to get the panels separated. I think I either had two much pressure or was spinning the cutter too fast or got tired after 40 spot welds, what can I say. I found that by adding a couple of washers in between the cutter and the pilot bit I'm far more successful in avoiding having the pilot bit drill through the the bottom panel. I think the spring pressure in the blair cutter is too much and causes the pilot to drill through before the spot weld is drilled out. Take a look at my sloppy work. I got into the rocker panel on the side spot welds 2 times and was not happy. I guess I'll have to weld them closed, but do not like that I cannot prime the backside of the weld.

[Msbaugh440]

One more question. Should I think a little bit more about how I have the car supported before I pull the front full floor pan out of the car? I will have the rear foot wells and the front floor pan out at the same time. Right now I have two jack stands under the rear axle and the front wheels on ramps. It's not perfectly level (about an inch higher in the back measured from the frame). I also put 4 more jacks under the frame closer to the middle of the car and one under the center of the trans cross member. They have taken a little bit of the weight off the suspension, but not much. Keep in mind that I also have subframe connectors

Should I be bracing the car differently than how I have it before cutting the front floor pan out? I wanted it a little higher than just sitting on the ground so I could get at the spot welds where the front floor panel meets the bottom of the firewall. That's going to be a tough seam to separate without mangling the firewall. Any tips on that too?

[JS29]

@Msbaugh440  They make a weld threw primer, copper works best. You only need it were the two seams go together. 3M is what i use. 

[JS29]

Use a stone grinding wheel os a cut off wheel and grind around the old welds. there is no point in taking the floor pan out in one piece. Cut it up in sections close to the seams. it will make splitting the seams easier. 

[Msbaugh440]

Progress... little by little

[Cuda Cody]

Keep up the good work.  Coming along nicely.   

[usraptor]

Very nice work.    I'm glad that I only had to replace a small section of the driver's floor pan.  However, the entire trunk floor was cut out and replaced.