And So It Begins......The RESTORATION. (update)

[charge69]

Well, we rolled the Old Girl out of the garage, loaded it on the trailer, took it to and parked it in the garage where the total restoration will now begin! Going to get the various supplies to get started tonight such as notebooks, baggies, markers etc. and we will begin the teardown tomorrow!  Going to go slow and document with pics and notes every move we make including every screw, nut, bolt and fastener as we tear her down. It will take some time to do this but, it is the only way to do this car as it is so close to factory-original as it sits right now.

Once it is apart and on the rotisserie we will determine if it needs to be dipped or blasted and that will be done. My helper will use his metal-working skills to cut, fit , refabricate or whatever is necessary on the body to make it "right" again and then we will paint it wih acrylic enamel as the factory did and slowly bring it back to life looking as much like it did the day it rolled out of the Hamtramck plant on 3/14/1969 as we possibly can!

Been waiting for this day for a long time and the anticipation and nerves are starting just thinking about it! I will keep you guys posted as much as I can, but I will be very busy for a while!  It is gonna look awesome! 

Yes, it is the one in my avatar!  1969 Charger R/T  NOM  426HEMI , 727auto , 3.23 8 3/4 suregrip ,  R6 Red with White Vinyl Top, White interior, White R/T Stripe !!!!!!!!  XS29J9B will live again!!!!!!!

WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!        Carl

[69bronzeT5]

Going to go slow and document with pics and notes every move we make including every screw, nut, bolt and fastener as we tear her down.

Excellent idea. I did the same thing when I tore down my '69. Makes it MUCH easier to put back together. GOOD LUCK!

[68isgr8]

Carl,
I know you've been anticipating this for a long time and I'm happy for you!    She's gonna turn out awesome buddy! 

[charge69]

Hey Lizzy, was going to email you and tell you but you saw the post!   Yeah , I am pretty excited!  After all, it's only money!

[CHARGER_FAN]

That's awesome! Good luck with what will promise to be cool restoration adventures ahead.

[69bronzeT5]

what will promise to be cool restoration adventures ahead.

Either that or bad rust surprises like I found . Although, your car looks pretty good Carl. Make sure to post LOTS of pics

[Fitz73Chrgr]

Cool! Can't wait to follow this thread!  Good luck!   

[NOT Just 6T9 CHGR]

Great news Carl!   Awesome color combo as well.  cant wait to see her "done"

[694spdRT]

Good luck on the resto and make sure to keep us posted on your progress.

Great color combo.....oh the Hemi ain't bad either. 

[charge69]

The Charger does have a few rust issues, mainly in the back of the car! The person I bought it from long ago used it as a daily driver, work car, fishing car, grocery getter for about 6 years and never garaged it!  Overall, it is in surprisingly good shape considering it's life before I got it.  Been garaged ever since I got it and it has stood up pretty well.  Troy Hawkes has seen and photographed the car and can attest to it's originality and the rust.  It is a project well worth doing and will be a fine example of Mother MOPAR's stable.

I will try to keep the pics coming!

[xs29j8Bullitt]

I am looking forward to following your project!  Best of luck... learn from my mistakes (avoid Goodmark).

Bring on the pictures! 

Allen

[69_500]

Your going to restore it now? I definately hope that you take thousands of photo's of the car during the tear down process. They are only origional once, and its very very hard to duplicate what they had on them leaving the factory. Heck I tend to take way more photo's of other people's cars than i do of my own anyways. I know I wouldn't do very good at detailing my own car in photo's. Now if it was someone else's, I'd cover it from top to bottom.

[tan top]

 good luck with the resto Carl  would love to see some pictures 

[skip68]

    Right on.  Make sure you don't forget to take pictures at every stage and step or day. 

[charge69]

Well, no work today as we spent all day getting and putting together a commercial grade blast cabinet and parts washer for his shop. His blast cabinet was an old one that was not commercial grade and he did not have a parts washer bin so we took care of that! When we get thru with mine we will be working on a full restoration of a 1970 440/6bbl shaker hood Cuda he has! It will also get the rotisserie restoration as has a 1969 Roadrunner he just finished for his wife!

I got my books for detailing all expenditures and daily work, the baggies for the parts, and my Sony camera for the pictures as we go. Naturally, the tear down will be slow and fully documented in the book and with pictures on a daily basis!  I will share pics as we go along. Hope it will be interesting. My friend wants to do it as a No. 1 car but, realistically, I will be happy with a strong No. 2 car.  It would not be a No.1 car for long anyway as I fully intend to drive it! Because of this, I will be making the motor a little more modern with an improved ignition system and , probably a solid roller cam.  He has a Comp Cams solid roller in his Roadrunner and it is awesome! That motor is a 451 stroker (400 block) with stage Vl MOPAR heads, 11 to 1 forged JE pistons and numerous other goodies that make it a great running and fast (mid 11"s at 117mph) Roadrunner.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and I will keep the Board informed.

Carl

[69_500]

So you intend on driving the car quite a bit after the restoration is done? I think that a roller cam would be a good idea if you intend on driving the car quite a bit. If you need someone to come down and run that camera for ya, I'm free most weekends. JK Texas is a bit far for a weekend jaunt.

[charge69]

Well, I wouldn't say I will drive it "quite a bit", but it will be driven and the roller cam in my friend's car has a great loping idle and plenty of torque and power yet semms to be plenty streetable I think his has .550" lift and 244 degrees duration on both the exh. and intake at .050 set up at 106 degrees with 110 degrees lobe separation.  Fairly mild cam but has great low end power.

Something similar, maybe a little hotter would be nice in the 426!

Edited to add: someone to run the camera would be nice but they better be ready to turn a wrench too!

[69_500]

Oh I'd turn a wrench too, but I prefer being behind the lens of camera's. Love taking photo's and video's of cars.

[charge69]

I sincerely hope that, one day, you have the opportunity to photograph my car! I will be retiring about the time the car is done and it might make the trip to a national event.

[69_500]

If not I tend to get around to various shows. Sooner or later odds are I'll be in the same show location as the car once its done.


Side note though, you might wanna tap me on the shoulder and make sure I take a few pics of it though. Because if there is a Daytona or a 500 around, I am liable to spend the entire weekend crawling over under those cars.