Gutting out the seats

As the weather got a little below 70 degrees early last week, we had to postpone some filler work on that front fender. So in the mean time I gutted out the interior so that I can sandblast and brush the ceiling. The driver’s side panel will have to be all replaced after the seats come out, but the passenger side was solid after the front hole. The black interior will eventually become a saddle tan or some variation of tan. The interior pieces have a home in my parents’ basement in the meantime. I will clean up what chrome I can before shipping the rest out to be re-chromed.

Replacing the Battery Tray

As you can see the old battery tray was nasty. I bought a new tray from Sherman Parts for 15.00 to fill that necessary need. We will wait to put the tray on there until we correct the hole where the old tray was.

Replacing the Passenger Front Panel

The first major alteration of the body cosmetically was the front panel patch. As you can see from the photo it had a hole in the side of it which was not repairable. We cut the bad piece off and replaced it with a new patch panel from Sherman Parts. It was a perfect fit with the body lines matching up. We tack welded it on there until my brother, Daniel could weld it straight across. He also attached it to the frame underneath. After grinding down the access weld we applied some liquid metal body filler to smooth the surface out and blend it together.

The next big alternation will be the back ¼ panel. I’m waiting for some funds to clear from eBay to pay for this piece, which runs about 199.00 from Sherman Parts.

More sanding down of the body

The next step we took this past week or two more sanding. I completed what needs to be sanded down on the car. The orange that you still see are places that can't be fixed with simple filler or little sheet metal, so we aren't bothering with sanding that part down, because it will have to be replaced. We are replacing the front fender patch by the wheel and then working our way back to the 1/4 panels, which will be fun... I don't know if you can tell by the pictures but the passenger side fender looks to have been in a collision. It had bondo caked in the dents. My dad and I pulled out the fender and rounded it back off. It appears whoever had the car before didn't even try to pull the dent out but just fill it. The next thing for this fender besides the patch replacement will be to apply liquid metal to make the fender smooth with curves again.

The passenger door is in good shape and won't need much work. We are almost cosmetically done with the body back to the doors. I know what you might be thinking, "Where are the door handles?" And No we are not welding the doors shut, although we do like the slick look of the car without the handles. We will leave them off and install an electric kit and with a push of a button the door(s) will open. We had seen this custom job on an old Ford Roadster and liked the idea.
The inside of the engine well is sandblasted as we are going to apply black paint to protect from rusting and then we're ready to drop an engine in there. Well that is when we get an engine.

Small parts of the frame have been blasted around the grille. Sandblasting is something that I will be working on for a while with Rusty. The grille is my favorite part of the car. I will be repainting it flat black while cleaning all of the chrome around the area. The middle part of the chrome (the I piece) will be installed later. The one that is on the car now is dented and torn. I would run right out to get another one but they are around $150. It is something that can wait for now. I'll post new grille pictures once I complete a little more.

The Hood

Here are some updates on what we have been doing with the Charger. You'll see some pictures of the new hood that was bought on eBay for 25.00. It saved me hundreds of dollars to buy this one even though it had a few dents in the front. Good clean hoods like the one I bought go for as much as 400.00, but the catch was that I had to go and pick it up. We had to go to Ohio to pick it up. The seller would not ship the item, which is why it was 25.00. The other hoods that go for hundreds of dollars are hoods that people are willing to ship. With gas and food the hood cost me around 70.00, which is still really good. We filled the dent with liquid steel and smoothed her out. The hood was a lucky find. As you can see from the old hood that came on 'Rusty' it was really rotted out.

Old Hood

New Hood