Awakened.. First start after fire

Today, April 29, 2011-- months after I thought all was lost to the fire, we awakened Rusty... It cranked, and it fired.. The mean grumble of that 440 electrified every part of my body. Though brief, it's alive!!!! To be continued...

Dash paint..

While I'm waiting for the weekend, I'm able to accomplish little things such as spraying some interior pieces that need to be black, assemble the headlights, and specifically paint the dash today. Searching through threads and forums inbound an acceptable paint for the dash. I went with a rattle can; Rustoleum textured black, #7220. I'm not a pro, nor do I have a money pile to pull from.. I think the finish will be ok.

Fuel Cap.. Door Panel

Fuel cap before and after accent paint. I can't do anything about the pitting of chrome, and I'm not interested in rechrome for big time money right now. Maybe another time.

I had some vinyl paint on the shelf, so I decided to paint the back panels to match my interior.

Sunshine is great!! Heater Core

A perfect sunny day was a no-brainer to push Rusty outside. The last time the car was outside it was drowning in water from the firefighters hose...

I repainted the heater box, changed a couple hoses, and aquifer some new goodies. I also touched up some more of the engine orange and black brackets. My dad was all hands today as well and we got some of the little things done. We still need to hammer out the body dimples, but it still looks sweet in the sun; even if it's half a car right now.

Spark plug waste.. Dash removal

Started clean the wires, looked new with a simple swipe of a rag. I got all the way to the last one, and then I see a crack and burn from where it looks like it was sitting on the headers. Bummer!!

I was on my way to the gas tank when I detoured to the dash. I yanked it out... Well, I fought it out. It took some time, but I feel it was necessary. I media sprayed it and applied Rust O Mort. Primer came later. I'll build the whole dash before putting it back in the car.

Fender Tag Reunion

Exciting news.. for me anyway. The guy I bought Rusty from (and frequent reader on this blog) contacted me after he found the fender tag during a recent spring cleaning venture. After four years this thing pops up!! Love it. Thanks so much Mike!!!

Crud bucket seats

Oh the front bucket seats... When I walked up to the side of the garage after the fire the first thing I saw to tell me the extent of the damage was the bucket seats. Gone, all gone. That was the first hard punch in my gut. It sucked.

I knew how hard it was to find these the first time around. Time will still tell on the headrests though.

First I took them apart. The best word for the remaining foam would be "gooooooeeeeyyyy". Then I bead blasted them, sprayed Rust O Mort on them, let them sit over-night, then threw some paint on them. Why white? It's what I had in Rust Stop paint.

Today I used some all-purpose wire to establish the factory wiring over springs. Then came the foam. My son Luke wanted to be the first to test them. Have to wait for the covers. Need to save my pennies to get them!!

Restoring Charger Grill Emblem

First thing... I'm not a professional and yes it is my first emblem restoration. Is it show quality, nope... Is it more colorful? Yup... I believe I lost the Charger arrow in the fire. I can't seem to find it. So, I got this original emblem in the 68 Charger deal. The emblem was off a 69 R/T. If you read my older posts you already know that story... I was just going to keep this on the shelf, but I might as well use it... right?

I first gave the emblem a bath. Cleaned with a brush, dried well. I then used paint thinner to get off what I could. Then I began to shake the paint... vigorously!!! When I researched it, it said to get that paint mixed and thin as can be. I bought the five pack of brushes (1.99 at Kmart). I bought model paint, flat red and flat black. Why these colors? Cause I liked them when comparing others side by side.

The red wasn't too bad to get done. I simply dipped the brush and let it slide onto the surface. The idea is to let the paint fuse together.. no paint strokes needed.

The black edge called for the smallest, sharpest brush I had. This was a bit more nerve racking. Again, I let the paint fuse together. I did make a couple small errors.. See them? On the "R".. I will clean that tomorrow when dry. I couldn't get it today while wet, and I was afraid I would mess it ALL up! Can't wait to get this on the grill.

Engine Touch Up

Today I spent some time with Rusty and the engine compartment. I picked up some Hemi engine paint and a few paint brushes. It's not done, but better. I need to get craft brushes to paint the bolts black again.

I also took off the headlight containers I need to finish the grill. I cleaned and painted those. The ignition box and coil were getting a cleaning too. If only it would warm up we could start really tearing into the car.