Floor... Again

The biggest difference of cleaning these floors this time around is that I can't see through them. I used the air hose to get the loose particles out and swept atleast three times. There were really only a couple spots that had the surface rust from the firefighters' hose down they gave Rusty. I went over the floor with a wire wheel attached to a drill. I applied Rust O Mort and am letting it sit.

I seeeee youuuuu

I decided to go into Marley yesterday and see exactly what I had. Practically searching eBay and Craigslist every available moment, I wanted to make sure I didn't buy something I had all ready had in my garage. I cleaned her out and found many goodies. I didn't take pictures of everything... Not even close actually. I went to the dash and seen a glimmer of hope as I reached in to pull the ignition with the key still in it! That was an awesome moment. Rusty's ignition was toast. Then I pulled the glove box to see the fuse box and all the wiring. Very nice to see in good condition.

I took a couple items in to clean. Heavy dust and dirt, but they cleaned up nice. My wife is excited to break more nails re-stitching the visors like before. Glad to see the left hand small dash pad there too. That is 30.00 alone on EBay right now. I think I might use the old original cracked steering wheel for now too until I find another for a decent price.

Dash clean-up

Surface rust removal. Pulled out a ton of melted wired. Metal prepped it, then applied some black paint. It was nice to see the face back to black. I did get under the dash too real good.

A long day of frustration

Dirty, filthy, frustrated, tired, and I'll just mention frustrated again for the sake of it. I usually don't mind doing all the work for the car. I enjoyed it when I first started four years ago, but today I hit "the wall". I didn't stop working though. I didn't quite get as far as I wanted to either. I started by finishing the trunk lid. Then I moved to the top of the hood. I metal prepped those and threw primer on there for now. Both pieces will need a little work to make smooth. There are little pin holes around the ends, but I expected that. It was a wind chill of -10 out during the day, and yes I was sanding outside. I told my grandma, which is kind enough to let the Charger stay indoors, that I wouldn't get the garage filthy with the sanding.

After the hood and trunk were done, I moved to the inside of the car. I let the wet vac do most of the work there. The frustrating part here came with the gas pedal and driver seat. One bolt on the driver's seat was stripped and I had to cut it off, which took longer than it should. The exhaust was in the way. The gas pedal bolts had to be removed so I could get the rest of the carpet out. Bolts to that were hidden behind the exhaust as well.

Dash- I really had to work to get that dash cluster out of the car. Wires were everywhere, and if there were any plastic around it melted around them into clumps. I was pulling and cursing all the way through. It's just frustrating seeing the car this way.

Inferior tools to Clean With.. Marley Parts

Another frustrating piece to this journey is we lost many of the great tools to help us along the way. I found this out quickly when it became time to blast and strip the paint down to bare metal... AGAIN. The air tank that I'm working with now is not up to par with what my dad had. This all equals out to a longer process, which stinks. I lost the big grinder as well, and I don't want to wait for all the replacements, which could be months, to get started.

The hood had mostly surface rust with a couple small rot holes that would be next to the cowl. Not a big deal, we can fix that. The trunk lid had the common pin holes near the end, and it was clear that the former body man just applied a small amount of filler there. We can work with that and fix that as well. The plan is to get these cleaned, metal prepped, with small etching primer and take it down to the shop for the good primer.

Parts parts

What came with the car? What can I use? Trust me, I inspected the WHOLE deal. I got 2 extra 69 doors, 2 extra 69 fenders, 69 complete grill, all emblems, interior pieces, ( kick panels, headliner bows, window trim, dome light and wiring), all glass I needed is there with extra back glass, the hood is in great shape, back trunk lid is very nice, and I needed a new roof. This car met many needs. I also needed the whole under dash wiring harness... it's there.

A 68 , with a lot of 69

"The 69 RT is over there". What? An RT? I quickly walked over and there she sat.. "Take whatever you need and can use". The first thing I saw I could use was the rear door top panels. I yanked the visor clips and tried to loosen the seat belts , but to no avail. Needless to say he hooked me up with practically 1/3 of the car.

Finally.... a Donor Car named Marley

The first thing after the shock of Rusty's flame job I tried to think of how I could save her. I needed to find a good donor car or better foundation to transfer Rusty's good parts over. Well, today was the day I found Marley... Rusty's long forgotten cousin. Ok, not exactly, but Marley is real. 1968 Dodge Charger. My wife, Brady, and me traveled to Darlington, PA to get her. More information and ALL the extra parts that came with her will be listed tomorrow.

Engine Mop Up

It is sometimes hard to walk into the garage to look at Rusty in this condition. But it's like seeing a loved-one at the hospital. You see the illness, but you act normal and carrying on being strong. Today I removed the battery and cleaned some of the trim that was nasty. While in the engine area I tried to scrub the valve covers and anything else I could reach. I could see a little sparkle under that soot.

And now we clean..

Where do you start when everything is toast? I decided to clean off the wheels first. I then packed them up and took them to my house. The next step was to lube up everything I could with WD-40 that would or might rust until I get to it. The exhaust pipes, shifter, engine pieces, door hardware...

I saved big money at Menards.. not really. I did purchase a couple drill sanders to start to work off that surface rust. I hate seeing that on the car. We worked the side, trunk, and the back tail for a few hours. it's not done, but it's better. I plan to get all the way around the car and dive into the interior shortly. My dad and I worked pretty hard on it tonight. It has to being somewhere..