'73 project • 2 • The Dodge Challenger Message Board

by **dave-r** » 10 Oct 2012 20:22

You polish those centre caps?

by **uk73andy** » 10 Oct 2012 21:04

I removed the paint (that was pretty much beyond saving) and then polished them up a little, yes. Not concours correct, but that's not what I'm aiming for! I also repainted the wheels themselves. It's a shame i don't have the outer rings, but maybe that would be a bit too shiny now the centre caps are polished.

by **Adrian Worman** » 11 Oct 2012 9:27

Check it......
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mopar+ ... ih=268#i=1

by **uk73andy** » 11 Jan 2013 13:18

Took a few new pics today in the sunshine!

by **uk73andy** » 01 Feb 2013 21:11

Went for a nice long drive today down some country lanes and some faster roads. Having installed new rear shocks and with a rebuilt starter motor, I'm now really happy with the handling and am confident it will start & run every time without problems. Very happy bunny. Now the oily bits are sorted, I need to start thinking more about paint, and figure out what to do about the sunroof and headlining....

by **Adrian Worman** » 02 Feb 2013 10:21

Are you having issues with them? That's what makes your car stand out :mrgreen:

by **uk73andy** » 07 Mar 2013 22:05

Been doing a few bits and pieces in the last few weeks:

Refreshed front grille is coming along nicely:

A little bit of rust was behind the rear bumper, nothing too major:

Rear bumper test fit:

After a bit of work (I intend to satin black the whole panel around the lights at a later stage:

Front bumper test fit (cheers for the bolts Ade!):

After today's work... more rust found!:

by **Adrian Worman** » 07 Mar 2013 23:03

Looks good Andy

Is the silver paint in the rear bumper recess left over from the soft bumper cushions that went behind the steel bumper? Or was that just on the front? I take it that was some attempt at 5mph mandatory impact legislation?
Only Pontiac could make that shit look good :wink:

by **uk73andy** » 07 Mar 2013 23:23

Adrian Worman wrote:Is the silver paint in the rear bumper recess left over from the soft bumper cushions that went behind the steel bumper? Or was that just on the front? I take it that was some attempt at 5mph mandatory impact legislation?

Sorry, not sure which bit of which pic you mean?!

by **Adrian Worman** » 08 Mar 2013 9:12

Ah I see it properly now Andy :wink:

The pic that shows you satin blacked the lower rear panel, behind the valance, and up into the rear qtr where the bumper wraps around it. I think its 3rd pic from the bottom.
Some 72 and as far as I was aware, all 73-74 cars had this grey/silver rubber cushion set behind the steel bumpers?

by **uk73andy** » 08 Mar 2013 9:19

Adrian Worman wrote:Ah I see it properly now Andy
The pic that shows you satin blacked the lower rear panel, behind the valance, and up into the rear qtr where the bumper wraps around it. I think its 3rd pic from the bottom.
Some 72 and as far as I was aware, all 73-74 cars had this grey/silver rubber cushion set behind the steel bumpers?

Ah OK, that's gloss black POR-15 paint, which may be reflecting the garage door directly behind it! It does have a kind of rectangular shape in the middle of the panel, with some holes similar to the ones used to screw the license plate to the valance, which might have originally have been for mounting such a rubber cushion? I did wonder what it was for...

by **uk73andy** » 02 May 2013 17:06

Been doing a lot of prepping, finally starting to do some spraying!

The bumpers I bought from Nigel (english68 on the MMA forum) are at last yellow!

The bolts I bought from Adrian are also painted to match

...just the rest of the car to paint now, then... :roll:

by **uk73andy** » 03 May 2013 18:16

A bit more painted today....

by **Adrian Worman** » 03 May 2013 22:34

Excellent work mate!! Its great watchin your car coming along Andy......just takes me back about 10 years when I first laid some fresh yellow on my own car :mrgreen:

by **uk73andy** » 04 May 2013 22:31

Slight setback - it seems my drivers side front fender is actually from a '70 - '71 Challenger, so the flanges are different, and it's a slightly different shape, so the replacement headlamp / grille surround (which I bought because there was damage on the other side of the old one!) doesn't fit . Upon closer inspection, it looks like the old one was 'modified' by cutting and filling (i.e. bodging). A bit of unplanned work is required, to shoehorn the thing into place, and even then I think it may not quite line up right...

Some pics I took when I disassembled the front end (wish I'd paid more attention!):

by **uk73andy** » 08 May 2013 13:48

Have thrown most of the bits back together for now (so I can at least drive it a bit!) and you can plainly see the problem with the drivers side front fender... a combination of the wrong year fender and a badly reconstructed headlight surround moulding (it's been repaired with filler at some point previously). More fettling required.

by **uk73andy** » 21 May 2013 15:50

Tha back end, before & after!

by **Adrian Worman** » 21 May 2013 16:59

Huge improvement

Do you like the lights ALL black or do you like em with a silver rim around the lens recess?
I'm torn between painting mine all black like yours or leavin em silver painted :idea:

by **uk73andy** » 21 May 2013 17:47

I think I prefer the headlights blacked out, I have yet to paint the rings black though! Also found one of my left hand headlight trim rings was actually a right hand one, so need to source a correctly-handed one....

by **Adrian Worman** » 21 May 2013 19:40

Got a couple of sets of those trim rings Andy, little pitted but they polish up nice cos there only pot metal :wink:

I got your address mate I'll post one out to ya :mrgreen:

by **uk73andy** » 21 May 2013 20:05

Adrian Worman wrote:Got a couple of sets of those trim rings Andy, little pitted but they polish up nice cos there only pot metal I got your address mate I'll post one out to ya

Wow, that would be really cool - thanks again! The condition can't be any worse than the ones I have, and they're only going to end up being painted!

by **uk73andy** » 25 May 2013 15:29

Sunroof, anyone?

by **dave-r** » 25 May 2013 18:08

You look every inch the Redneck. :lol:

by **uk73andy** » 25 May 2013 19:52

Why thankye son, I'm a-changin' mah name to Billy-Bob, y'all :s004:

by **dave-r** » 26 May 2013 21:05

Looks canny in the photos from Brooklands today.

by **drewcrane** » 27 Jun 2013 4:24

I have finally put down the block sanders to see what some else is doing, you have been hard at work, your car is stunning and it should get alot of looks over there , great project and cool colour