Mike's Red Charger 74SE restoration progress pics

[Charger74SE]

Hey Everyone,

Wanted to share with you some pics of my current resto project thats still in work. (Its the red one pictured in the Signature Block below). I started this project back in Nov 05 and I should have it ready for finish paint sometime late this fall.
I bought this car back in July 05 and found out that I was the fourth owner of this car after going through a pile of maintenance paperwork that previous owners had kept on the car. It has a 318 motor with 904 trans and an 8 1/4 rear axle with 271 gear. All the numbers match the broadcast sheet except for the hood and wheels. They were replaced by the original owner. I think it looks better that way.
When I first looked over the entire car I knew there was going to be some bodywork that would have to be redone because it had been previously repaired at a body shop a few years back and they did a poor job of it, but I never imagined that it would be that indepth.
I'm not a professional body mechanic. Just a retired Air Force and A&P mechanic with alot of skill in sheetmetal work. My specialty was in hydraulics and air refueling systems but I made it a point to learn sheetmetal work on the side. It has definitely payed off here.
Anyways, the same identical repairs had to be accomplished on both sides of the car so you might see a left side in one pic then it jumps to a right side pic. Most of the replacement sheetmetal comes from my parts car and some sheetmetal pieces had to be made.
For those of you who are thinking of doing their own resto work, these pics are just to give you some ideas to help you along with yours.

Enjoy the show,
Mike

The first set of before and after pics are from the bottom side of the right front fender mounting rail.

[Charger74SE]

Here are some before and afters of a cowl box repair.

[Charger74SE]

Here are some before and after pics of the left front rocker panel.  I had to fabricate the pieces for this one except for the front cover plate. Notice the lower fender mounting holes and the plate they welded on the front cover in the before pics.

[Charger74SE]

And some more.

[Charger74SE]

The finished product. The interior was painted and sealed before I closed it up.
The cover plate was salvaged off my parts car. Even has the part number stamped on it.

[Charger74SE]

Next project is of the right rear rocker panel. The body shop did a lower quarter skin patch repair on this but didn't bother to do anything with the rocker panel.

[Charger74SE]

This is how I fixed the problem. I painted the inside of this before it was sealed up.

[Charger74SE]

Now we move into the left rear wheelhouse.  The back of the outer half had pin holes through it which they sprayed tar over that and they RTV'd a repair strip over the inside area of the wheel opening.

[tan top]

       your doing some awesome fabrication stuff there Mike    intresting pictures  ........................ thanks for sharing them 

[Charger74SE]

And here's the fix that I did to it. Fortunately I had good wheelhousings on my parts car.

[Charger74SE]

And a few more from the right side. I had to make the patch that overlaps the inner wheel half to the outer section.

[Charger74SE]

Now we move on the trunk extension.  I don't know what went on here. 
 I was able to salvage some partial extension pieces off a wrecked 73 and stitched welded it back on.

[Charger74SE]

Last but not least is the rear quarter skin panel. Aftermarket panels are pretty good but they do need some tweeking to get them to fit right. Including a not so typical modification that makes it look like the OEM panel. I made this strip and added it to the bottom to close it up completely as the original. Nobody sells aftermarket panels with is on it. Lots of pics on this job.
I was surfing the net and found some pics of a Satellite that had its rear quarter skin replaced by a restoration body shop and so I decided to do it the same way using the backing strip method. It doesn't get any better in my opinion.

[Charger74SE]

And a few more. I'll show you the backing strip in the next set of pics.
Oh ya, there's my dog Red. He's a red 3 year old Lab Retriever that I picked up last week.

[evil1]

Very nice work   

[Charger74SE]

The backing strip and pics of the grind down afterwards. Notice that I left a gap between the upper body line portion and the skin panel. That was done to reduce warping during the welding process. The welds are spaced about 3/4" apart. All that left is to fill it with Metal to Metal filler then some finish body filler and its paint time.
Almost forgot. The inside of this panel was painted and partially re-undercoated before it was installed.
I found a near OEM spec replacement undercoat at (www.restorick.com) in the online store section. It matches up perfectly.
More pics of that to come later.

[69*F5*SE]

Wow, some great pics of some very nice work. Well done 

[superblu72]

  Man, I envy you. Wished I could get down and do work like that. That's Art in progress! Very informative thread by the way.

[Nacho-RT74]

you can't imagine how this pic helps on know HOW THE WATER DRAINS OUT OF THAT SECTION OF QUARTER!!!!

where you got those panels ? home made ? closer pics will be lot helpfull. please email me with these or any closer pic!!!



MAN... I would love to get room to make everything by myself!! I'm tired of those guys who still call BODYMAN down here, but all what I have is a rented parking place


how did you finally weld the outer skin on that area ?


 

[Charger1973]

Damn I wish I was that talented.  Want to do mine next?