The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Well, it has been a while since I've been around. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone remembers seeing this post the first time around....
I went and finished flight school down in Corpus Christi, TX and Daisy had to stay in Florida. It neither practical nor a good environment for a resto. Everything I owned rusted down there in Corpus, so it was probably for the better. Needless to say, not much got done on her other than putting the 318 back together. Now that I'm settled at my air station, a couple friends and I loaded her up and moved her an hour down the road to where I now live. I've got half the seats recovered (a little tricky, but not hard, in case anyone was wondering) and I've finally started to buff out the paint.
Here is Daisy in her new home.

This is one of the sections I started buffing out with my new polishing system. Got it from Eastwood. This is after just the first step. Doesn't look bad...

...until I take a better shot of the paint runs that I never could quite get rid of... (hey, it was my first paint job. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

Does anyone else's interior look like this right now?

So that's the latest. In the next few weeks I'm going to finish out the paint, pop the trim back in, throw my brand new carpet in the car and find some seat tracks for the front seats. Then it'll be time to tackle the windows (if I can remember how I ever got them out, maybe I'll be able to figure out how to get them back in.....).

Oh, and here's a shot of one of my re-covered front seats. Sort of a before and after.

And another picture of paint on its way to shininess.

blackmagic73 wrote:Does anyone else's interior look like this right now?

Not now. But not very long ago.

Keep at it fella. It's looking very good so far.

What wheels are on there now? Are those real turbines or ...?

fal308 wrote:What wheels are on there now? Are those real turbines or ...?

Those are brand spankin' new American Racing Vector SE's. 15x7 front, 15x8.5 rear.

That'a an exceptional effort you have put in to that car - man was there some rust in it! Looked like it lived by the sea for a while. I think you have shamed many of us into working harder now. Took me best part of a week to sand, prime, fill ( x 5) the front guard and half the rear quarter and you did the whole car in 2 nights! Looks like you are handy with a welder too. can't wait to see it in colour.

So I've got a little more work done recently, mostly on the interior. I was hoping to get the dash back in this weekend, but some wiring harness issues held me up. In any case, the inside is starting to look a little more hospitable.


Got a place to sit, finally. Still working on getting some seat tracks for the fronts. Leaves lots of room in there for.... never mind.

This part is still conspicuously empty, though. One of my buddies very helpfully hinted that the gas tank goes in the back of the car.... Don't know what I'd do without friends...

That's it for now. By next weekend I hope to have the dash in, maybe have a headliner and package shelf, and a steering column (got one of those fancy Ididit tilt columns. The old one wasn't worth trying to fix up).
Progress has been made, though. Hopefully the old girl will be on the road in time for the weather to cool off.

And I think I'm going to give the center console another coat of paint. It looks a little mismatched compared to the glove box lid...

Goldenblack440 wrote:That'a an exceptional effort you have put in to that car - man was there some rust in it! Looked like it lived by the sea for a while. I think you have shamed many of us into working harder now. Took me best part of a week to sand, prime, fill ( x 5) the front guard and half the rear quarter and you did the whole car in 2 nights! Looks like you are handy with a welder too. can't wait to see it in colour.

It actually lived somewhere in Louisiana for an indeterminate period of time. Given it had a '74/'75 Louisiana plate on it when I got it, it's probably been sitting there since then. (Sort of sad to think it was only on the road for 2 years, if that's actually the case. Got 66K miles, though, so well driven). Granted, these pictures sort of compress the time table. It took almost a month off and on of sanding, filling, sanding, filling, to get it even as good as it is (which isn't great). Don't know how those guys on those crazy TV shows where they restore a car in a week do it...

From what I've pieced together from working on the car, it looks like it took a mild hit on the drivers side, enough to dent the door and the rear quarter. It never got repainted after some of the body work was done on the door, and I'm guessing that it's been sitting since that repair was started. After that it seems it was a bit of a parts donor. Motor and transmission disappeared (the ones I have are from a '72 Cuda, or so I was told), vinyl top vanished, various interior parts (ie most of the plastic trim pieces and the rear quarter window regulators, though strangely not the windows themselves) went missing, and the drivers side front brake caliper as well (though I think that was because someone botched a rebuild of the wheel bearing. One of the bearing surfaces wasn't pressed in all the way, making the disc not line up with the caliper, so I'm guessing they just gave up on getting it back together). Needless to say, she's been through a lot, but soon enough she'll see the road again.

Didn't realize it had been 2 years since I last posted about my '73...
Anyway, after picking at it for a year or so, I finally got myself in gear and wrapped up a few last tasks. About a month ago I took it out for its first drive under its own power...and found the power steering was beyond toast and the transmission was puking up ATF like a 3 year old with the flu. Had a local transmission shop rebuild it and she's been on the road ever since. I've got some photos I need to dig up and post, so standby for those.
Had a few electrical gremlins along the way. I've ended up replacing just about every bit of wiring on the car. If you have one that's been sitting forever, I'd recommend just ditching the old harnesses and getting new ones. It is far less frustrating that way, and the hundreds of dollars they cost are well worth it. Had a bad voltage regulator as well, she was only giving me 12V. Checked my connections, had the alternator and battery tested so I spent the whopping $15 for a new one and now I get good volts.
My oil pressure worries me a little, but reading around about 318's it seems it isn't atypical. Once it's warmed up I get about 35-40 at around 2000 or so (don't have a tach yet, so I'm playing by ear), around 15 psi at idle in park or neutral, and 5-10 at idle in gear. The pressure in gear is the one that concerns me, and I'm contemplating swapping out the oil pump since I have a spare sitting around, but from what I can tell, that's on the low end of normal. Any input out there?
Anyway, I've got over 100 miles on it in the last couple weeks and I've been using it as a daily driver of sorts. Definitely worth the work!
Stay tuned for some photos (though don't hold your breath, might be later in the week before I can get to that).

Nice post up some pix glad you are driving it and enjoying it , that is what it is all about

I spent a good couple of years doing nothing on my 72, in fact more than once, still got back on it when the time was right
Keep em coming please

Low pressure at idle could be wear in the oil pump or the engine bearings/crank. Or both of course.

dave-r wrote:Low pressure at idle could be wear in the oil pump or the engine bearings/crank. Or both of course.

My suspect is the oil pump. The engine has all new bearings in it. The oil pump I ended up using was not brand new, but checked out upon inspection. My quandary is that I just got the darn thing to stop leaking fluids, so the last thing I really want to do right now is pull the oil pan and fight that battle again unless I really have to. Right now I'm leaning towards just going ahead and replacing it, though...
My plan is to drive the car home for Thanksgiving, which is an 1800 mile round trip, so I'm working out all the kinks right now (and putting together a very comprehensive spare/repair kit...).