My 68 R/T build

[68CarlRT]

I bought my Charger for my 18th birthday for $500. Towed it home because the driveshaft was in the trunk and the brakes were questionable. My parents were not pleased at all. But they were proud parents after I got the car running and rebuilt the brakes. My Dad and I would argue when we worked on ANY car together, but with the Charger we started to work together 
I know now that the previous owners removed all the R/T parts,  Engine, Trans and 8 3/4 diff. Fender tag was also not there, I did not learn about the importance until years later. I also think they swapped the black  interior to green. But the serial number is XS29L8B3XXXX0. So it is an R/T. the SO number I found on the rad cradle I removed and trunk sill have the same number B8XAxxxxx.
I have only had Red oxide primer for paint but the original color was the spring color charger red. It has all the chrome for the vinyl top, but I don't know if it was black or white.
So since it is not a numbers matching car. I decided to build a Bengal charger tribute. So it will be orange, with black top, and black r/t stripes.
Back around 1990 I found a 1970 440 HP with 727 for $75.00 in a scrap yard.
My Dad and I rebuilt that motor and removed the 400 that was in the car when I bought it. The motor was in great shape, back then I could not get 10 over pistons so we had to go 30 over. Rebuilt the stock heads. The motor only had less than 5000 miles on it before the car was stolen.
Here are some more pictures of my parents backyard in the early 90s

The last picture is from 2011 when I finally finished building my garage.

[Dans 68]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

Dan

[303 Mopar]

Great story, can't wait to watch this one come back together!

[68RT440]

Very cool. You don't see many Bengal builds, original or tributes. I'll be checking in...

[JB400]

Popcorn for everyone

[cdr]

You said car was stolen? you got it back ?

[68CarlRT]

Yes, I got the car back, I did not take the offer from the insurance, since it did not cover the cost of the cragar s/s ,radial t/a 's  and the rebuilt 440 that were installed. At the time I was looking for another car to put the 440 in but did not find one. I let my brother use the wheels, to install on his superbee, which he did the lost control of the car one night and damaged half the set. That is the car beside the Charger in the backyard. So now I am left with one 15x7 and 15x8 unilug Cragars.
Hope to add more pictures as soon as I get them resized.

[68CarlRT]

This is a pic from 2012 while my car was waiting at a frame shop to verify the frame was not bent.
I wanted to make sure it was straight before I started

[68CarlRT]

Once I got the car back from the frame shop and everything was within specs.  Bodywork on the Charger was something I always wanted to do but was always afraid to cut out metal.
I taped out where I wanted to cut then there was no turning back.

[68CarlRT]

This outer wheel well was in not to bad of shape the rear of the outerlip was gone but the front was ok. I made some patches for the back. Which was a good lesson on creating a patch and welding it in. Then I spent way to many hours fix that wheel lip

[68CarlRT]

And here is my grandson/helper.
I can't believe this was 5 years ago
He was 4 when this was taken.
Last weekend he changed the summer tires to winter on his grandma 's 2017 elantra. We will post a video of that on his youtube channel soon.

[VegasCharger]

And here is my grandson/helper.....Last weekend he changed the summer tires to winter on his grandma 's 2017 elantra.

[Mopar Nut]

 

Glad to hear you got it back.

[68CarlRT]

Thanks. Mopar Nut I consider my self lucky.
Here are some more pics of the passenger fender install.
This was my first time I replaced mostly full rear quarter panel
Only took almost 2 years. But since I only get to work on the car from October to May and usually only weekends.

[tan top]

hello & welcome      , thanks for sharing your story ,  & your charger pictures & stuff , keep them coming 

[69rtse4spd]

 , ditto on the Pict's. & welcome.

[68CarlRT]

Off topic, I apologize here is the video my 9 year old grandson changing a tire on his grandmother elantra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Ho1F_8n6A&feature=youtu.be

Ok off to resize some more pictures.

[68CarlRT]

Here is the driver side taped and ready to cut
and then it is off.
A month later the replacement panel coleco d on. Gotta love those colecos.
The last picture is the box the fenders came in.
I was so happy to regain the space that box took up. 

[68CarlRT]

When I got the fender cut out there was a pile of broken glass. So much that I had to patch.
This outer wheel well was worse then the passenger side so I bought a replacement and welded that in.
And lastly my helper.

[nchrome]

l too had to do the same thing as you get the quarter off and find more to do only difference is at one time mine was hit and was not repaired properly But l got her back together and waiting for a little warmer weather to apply a skim coat to the weld and smooth out then try to get the corners rite

[Kern Dog]

Thanks for those pictures. I just used them to show the Wife why my rear tires rub.....The strange design of the outer wheel tub! It does not follow the path of the quarter panel, instead it goes up at an angle before it turns vertical.

[orange383]

Great to see your grandson getting involved but you need to invest in a decent full face sheild for him. If a disc was to shatter it could cause serious harm.
Also an old disc and incorrect storage can make a disc more prone to breaking up!

[68CarlRT]

Good advice on the face shield. Picked one up yesterday.

I thought I had more pictures of the valance and those frustrating corner caps. But oh well

The passenger side corner was trashed , so I left the driver side on for reference to line up the valance.
The year one fenders really did not line up with the corner caps. There is a lot of good info and pics in this forum for dealing with the corners.
And the last picture of the valance and corners tacked in.
The trunk floor was still solid but the extensions where rusted beyond repair. So I replaced both of those.

Those pictures span from 2013 to 2017 wow does time fly.
But starting to get close to recent pictures 

[68CarlRT]

Wow I can't believe how time flies. It has been since November I have updated. It has been extremely cold here though. Two weeks ago a week of -30C last week -20C and hopefully this week some -10C to -20C, and Snow running out of places to pile the stuff. 
My neighbor who had is 65 Barracuda in my garage for several years, Was blowing snow with the 10hp snowblower and it decided it had enough and threw a rod into the side of the block making a large hole. He found another 10 hp Tecumseh for $140 Cdn and it bolt right in.
While watching some tv one sunday night I hear a funning noise from the laundry room. Rush investigate and the heating element has started sparking. Turned it off unplugged it and went searching for manuals. I was lucky to find a manual, and a online parts store with videos on how to replace the element. So the grandson and I, well mostly Dawson slowly dismantled the dryer while watching the video and sure enough the element was in several pieces. Ordered an new element $107 Cdn wait 3 days for it to be delivered. Then Dawson put the dryer back together, tested it.
Back in Jan 2018 I started on the deck lid. The only rust was on the rear lip, So instead of buying and AMD replacement I am attempting to repair. If I mess it up too much I can always buy the AMD lid.
You can also see in some pictures that my neighbor wanted to do some body work and paint his Jeep. One day I may have the full garage to work on the Charger.

[68CarlRT]

More pictures of the Decklid. The repair turned out very good. I have to keep reminding myself I am building a weekend driver not a 100 point showcar, 
Next post the Jeep has been painted and moved.

[68CarlRT]

Finally I have a full garage for my car for the first time 
We stripped the 3 layers of paint that was on the car. I rubbed the bare metal down with vinegar/water mixture, so it looks rusty but when you rub it down with a stainless steel pad and more  vinegar/water the metal comes out pristine.
For the first time in 20 years Dawson and I put the front fenders on.
Then summer came and worked slowed

[68CarlRT]

In Sept 2018 another neighbor need some garage space, the roof of his garage had natural skylights, and racoons started to make a home. I did not mind has work is no existent on the charger in the summer. We opened the door and there was a 1968 road runner.  The RR has not seen light in 20 yrs.
So we pushed it out of his garage and into mine. Boy was it dirty and smelly. Pushed it out one day and gave it a good cleaning.
The RR original came with a 383 4spd but now has a 440 /727.
Repaired his garage roof over the next month and pushed the RR back in.
It was kind of cool having a pair of 68's in the garage for awhile.

Wow that was a lot of posting and resizing pictures today.
Off to the garage now to work on the dents on the front of the hood.

[JB400]

Thanks for sharing

[darbgnik]

Seems to be moving along nicely now!

[68CarlRT]

It was nice to see the fenders installed. I am getting closer to posting more recent pictures spent 8 hours on the front of my hood. Might have to separate the inner structure to fully get the dent /bend out.

[wingcarenvy]

Thanks for posting! I love 68's and I really like the story behind yours. I bet it feels really good to have held onto it for all these years....and do what you've wanted to do all along.

[orange383]

Great thread. The RR looked pretty decent.

[68CarlRT]

Thanks for posting! I love 68's and I really like the story behind yours. I bet it feels really good to have held onto it for all these years....and do what you've wanted to do all along.

I have many offers for the charger over the years. But I just could not part with it. As I would never be able to afford another one.

[68CarlRT]

Great thread. The RR looked pretty decent.

I found out the RR was involved in a garage fire many years ago, and there was some heat damage to the headliner and on the passenger side. It needs a new starter, but the headers that are installed require the motor to be lifted to accomplish that. So, he would like to refresh the motor, and the 727 needs to be rebuilt.
I keep teasing him that when the Charger is finished the RR is next 

[68CarlRT]

I finally tried to fit the front valance , bumper and grill on the car. I found out the order of installation is important. We put the valance on first, and discovered that to try and get it up to the bottom of the rad cradle to mount required gentle persuasion. I could not get the bumper lined up at all. The Grill fit too tight on the drivers side and a huge gap on the passengers side. It was exciting to see the grill on. I knew there was some damage on the passenger front fender, I had the front fenders repaired  by students at the body shop at the college I work at. That is why they are grey primer, The front shape looked all wrong so, I started grinding off lots of putty.

[68CarlRT]

The Charger moves homes.
Some background info. My next door neighbor is restoring a 1976 TR6 the body is on a rotisserie  he build, in my garage beside the charger. So there was not much room to work on either car. But i get nothing accomplished over summer anyway. We decided it may be best to move the charger to his garage next door, and move the rolling frame for the TR6 into my garage.
Since he has a two post hoist, we can drop the motor, transmission, kframe all in one piece. I need to rebuild the trans anyway. Refresh anything that is needed on the front suspension. Also this should make it much easier to prepare the engine bay for paint.
Once the TR6 body and frame are married again we are going to turn my garage into a paint booth to paint the TR6, and with a lot of work the Charger.

Added some fresh gas into the tank. Squirted some down the carb, had my Grandson turn the key and.. Click. The battery i was trickle charging all week did not have enough to turn over the car  . Swapped with a marine battery that i am storing for my Son. Then the 440 cranked over and fired. Let the car warm up for a couple minutes and drove slowly out the garage. Hmm did I check brakes  Brake check before leaving garage Yep they worked.

As you can see there is some snow and ice in the back lane. Those Tornado G60-14 s have no grip on dry pavement never mind ice. So with trying not to spin the tires  we kept on slipping down that little hill. Out came the asorball and we laid a trail until some concrete appeared. Then carefully without spinning the tires we slowly crept up the approach into the garage.

[Bob]

Great thread.

[68CarlRT]

Transmission rebuilt kit, and motor gaskets arrived.
Now to finish getting the kframe with motor and transmission out.

[68CarlRT]

So after getting the Charger into my neighbors garage we lifted the car and let the motor stay on the pallet.

[Kern Dog]

I'd like to learn how to rebuild an automatic some day.
Good luck with the car. 

[68CarlRT]

Now, that the motor was out. I went searching youtube for 727 transmission rebuild videos. After watching many videos there were two that I used.
The first one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmYAL7i32fA
The second one  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzJhCBZ1wMY the second one is 19 parts but all are very short 3 -10 minutes.
The 727 is not from the car the stamped numbers indicate is was from a 68 383 2bbl. Oh well it will be sufficient for my build as the 440 is only going to be a very mild streetable motor.

I did not get many pictures of the disassembly but a couple with Dawson helping me rebuild the governor and he he also installed the one way sprag clutch. Which in the first video says this is how it looks all together but the second video Part 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7xWAdoQOI0 shows how to install.

We put the 727 all back together except for the valvevbody. I want to put in a Transgo Stage 1 shift kit but have not ordered it yet.
In the last picture you can see all transmission scatter on the pallet. It all went back together.

[68CarlRT]

I ordered the front disc brake kit from Dr Diff, I also the super front end kit from PST.
Now to get the K frame clean get all the bushings out.
I found out the K Frames is from a 70 as the part number painted on it was 3466479.
On to removing the Lower Control arm bushings. My first attempt was less than successful. I welded 3 different washers and broke the welds on all of them.
So I tried to fold the sides in and carefully slice the bushing. Everything I tried was failing so on the the next one.
Decided to try the other LCA. Cleaned up the top of the bushing welded a washer on the top, this time more heat and more wire. Success it pressed out just like all the youtube videos i watched.
After that success, why not try again. I was able to weld a washer to the spots I folded down and was able to press it out. Woohoo .

Next on to the Upper Control arms and the Upper Ball joint. Easy right you can see from the marks that someone installed these with a pipe wrench. I am not sure how as all the large pipe wrenches barely fit behind.  After soaking with Seafoam Deepcreep I went looking for a Bushing removal socket went to Piston Ring, Napa, Tool chest. No one had the 1 7/8" socket. I know I could get one on Amazon or Ebay but how many times am I going to use it, maybe 4 

I decided to make one out of scrap angle iron. Once I found a size that fit the flat sides I notched the open sided to round them around the ball joint. Once I was happy with the fit I welded it up. I had to trim the squarer sides to fit better into the UCA. The large pipe wrench fit much better and with more deepcreep and lots of heating both of the ball joints came out rather easily.

Now lets remove the UCA. Easy right the passenger side came of with out any issues. Off to the drivers side the front bolt slides out yippee will be pressing out bushings in 5 minutes. The rear bolt was siezed inside the bushing. 3 hours later after heating and more deepcreep and trying to hammer in the tightest place. I found some u channel that fit over the aduster bolt and was able to get a c clamp to help press it out. Whew.

Off to pressing out the bushings, what could go wrong.  Read the FSM. Watched some Youtube videos. So I found some 2" tubing it was kind of light tubing maybe an exhaust pipe but it was all I could find so I gave it try. Found a piece of threaded rod some nuts and washers. Well the passengers side came come out surprisingly easily. Then there was the Drivers side, well the front bushing came out but it buckled that exhaust tubing. Oh well dig a little deeper into the scrap metal buckets and found a thicker round pipe the right size. Ok I'm already to tackle the back bushing on the drivers side. Well it would not move at all. I even tried to press it out with a 12 ton press. It moved about a 1/4" but that was it.
Well lets cut a slice to help it. After cutting it is when I noticed that there was a sleeve on that one. WTF The FSM mentioned the sleeve for Coronet Police and Taxi applications. So I did not think it would be there. And it wasn't on any others.
I decided to use KSB rust seal for all the parts. https://www.kbs-coatings.com/kbs-three-step-system.html. After sandblasting the parts I could. k frame would not fit in the cabinet.

Now the reassembly.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Nice to see the little guy helping out. 

[BLK 68 R/T]

The k frame sure looks like a 68/69 style to me. It's drilled for the pre 70 sway bar. Also the lower control arms have the mounting point for the earlier bar as well.

[68CarlRT]

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=74
This website listed all the K Frames from 1964 to 1974 . The frame was drilled for the 68/69 swaybar.
I think the passenger side control arm also was modified from a 1970 +  swaybar mounting location to the 68/69 location as there looks like some welds were cut there and the torsion bar adjuster bolt was coarse thread, On the drivers side it was fine thread.

[Q5XX29]

Terrific thread! You're doing great, and your effort posting updates is enjoyed and appreciated. It's very fun to watch these progress.

[BLK 68 R/T]

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=74
This website listed all the K Frames from 1964 to 1974 . The frame was drilled for the 68/69 swaybar.
I think the passenger side control arm also was modified from a 1970 +  swaybar mounting location to the 68/69 location as there looks like some welds were cut there and the torsion bar adjuster bolt was coarse thread, On the drivers side it was fine thread.

Interesting. I would definitely look into getting the torsion bar adjuster corrected back to the original fine thread.

[68CarlRT]

Some new pictures. K frame going back together. Removed the rearend to clean up and make new brake lines.
Also test fitting new distribution block.

[68CarlRT]

While removing the gas pedal found the only significant rust.
So cut it out in small pieces and made patches.
Hmmm did not get a picture of the finished inside.

[68CarlRT]

The next up is cleaning up the engine bay since everything is out.
The transformation was amazing. This is the first time the car has color since i've owned it that is not red oxide primer.
This was my first time ever priming and painting with an spraygun.
There are some runs. But there a hard to see on the framerails.

[darbgnik]

Nice work. Great to see color on there!

[keepat]

Very cool!! Love the color! Looks like Viper T/A color??
Pat

[68CarlRT]

The paint I bought was ppg omni mbpx "omni plus 3.5 VOC acrylic urethane basecoat /m799 converter"  the code I gave them was 60326 .

[68CarlRT]

Wow have not posted since June
During the summer not much work on the charger happens but now that october is here hopefully more progress will happen.
When I rebuilt the motor with my dad in the 90s we painted the motor Chrysler Red, why I really do not know. I now wanted to repaint the motor the blue it should be but man was it hard to find.
First I was looking for the vht engine paint or Duplicolor but the only had hemi orange and not the blue I wanted. So I thought I would try amazon.ca and there was none available. But I did get a mopar part number P4120752AB. So I phoned a Chrysler dealership parts dept and I lucked out. There was 3 cans at one dealership in the city.
Took the pan off to add a windage tray and the motor looked nice a clean inside.

[68CarlRT]

Did some work over Christmas.
Undercoated the the patch for the drivers side floor. Made new brake lines and mocked up the booster and master cylinder.
Installed the wiper motor and battery tray. I know I know the battery tray is supposed to be body color, but I wanted it black.
Here are some recent pictures.

[68CarlRT]

Here is some updated pictures, getting ready to reinstall the motor and transmission finally.

[68CarlRT]

My helper, boy is he growing up quickly, installed the new disc brakes.

[TexasStroker]

Great project...glad you have your grandson involved!

[Canadian1968]

what disc kit is that.  Master Power ?

[68CarlRT]

The disc brake kit was purchased from DoctorDiff. It is the 10.95"  (stage 1) I added the stainless steel brake hoses and distribution block.