The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Before I started stripping the underside for New Undercoating, I noticed this. The rear valance is glued on! The right side was held on with 3 hardware store fasteners but the drivers side is glued on and hangs 2 inches below the trunk panel. I am having my bud Jim bring his welder over and I ordered a new OEM original Chrysler Rear valance fastener kit from Mr. G's. God I love body work

But don't you just love all the weird little shit that you find when you go through a car thats had another life

Yeah, It's kinda neat. It was in a wreck, hit from behind. So far it looks pretty solid. Now if I can just get this valance hung so it doesnt fall off 1/2 way thru Kansas

Since you've got the bumper off anyway....You should lose the bumper fillers and push the bumper in next to the body. Just cut the rear brackets, overlap and reweld in the new possition. Then you can take off that triangular lisence plate bracket.

burdar wrote:Since you've got the bumper off anyway....You should lose the bumper fillers and push the bumper in next to the body. Just cut the rear brackets, overlap and reweld in the new possition. Then you can take off that triangular lisence plate bracket.

Thanks for the tip Burdar! I think I understand what you are saying. Those rectangular steel 'tabs' that are in the pic. Remove those?

Here is a pic of the bumper. It looks the same as my 70.

My 70 (I really appreciate the help)

The only difference is the jacking slots, mine sits out and proud a bit so I'm gonna get both front and rear bumpers much closer to the body. Your 70 is just bloody lovely mate, I can stare at it all day

Thanks for the kind words Adrian. I thinks it's going to work out fine, I might need to weld a tab to the drivers side quarter to attach the valance to. When I get the hardware kit I'll post a pic And thanks to Dave for updating the correct year.

I removed the fuel tank, I couldnt remove the Valance because it's welded on! The body caulk I discovered around the drivers side is welded, and the center 'tab' is also welded. I think after cutting the valance off it will be ruined, at least the mounting tab will be. I'll sacrifice the valance to maintain the attachment point on the 1/4 on that side. Gotta start doing a little cutting/welding on it.

Pretty nice underneath

So a new 1970 fuel tank with 3/8 pickup and return line,,minus the ECS junk and new stainless straps,(since I ruined the old ones taking them off) I want stainless anyways and a new Valance with new hardware for both components should be the 'plan' gotta start cutting/stripping/priming/welding--in that order I hope!

I think I understand what you are saying. Those rectangular steel 'tabs' that are in the pic. Remove those?

Sorry, I accually looked at your picture wrong. The bumper fillers are already removed. It looked like they were still on there in one of your pictures.

The only thing I would do now is remove the lisence plate spacer bracket. 70-72's didn't use those. They only used them in 73-74 because with the bumper out farther from the body, the plate light didn't eluminate that area good enough anymore. That spacer bracket pushed the plate out from the valence enough so it could be lit by the light on the bumper.

Oh, OK thanks Burdar! I managed to remove the valance but had to cut the flange off the drivers side. I will order a new Valance from Mancini Racing after I prime the underside and install/weld in the aftermarket stuff.

A pic of the drivers side 1/4 flange to the Valance Panel. You can see the weldment.

Thats a strange place to have a part of the flange missing, was there some tin worm in there then, cos otherwise looks real straight does'nt it?

The flange is actually there, they just welded it to the 1/4. I am thinking it wasnt drilled and they didnt have the correct fasteners, so they used hardware store fasteners on one side where it was already drilled, then got stupid, and welded the 2 flanges together redneck style where there wasnt any holes.

The quarter was replaced on driver side? they must have lost the fasteners and yep Ed they did the redneck/hillbilly job,just to get it out the door.............

drewcrane wrote:The quarter was replaced on driver side? they must have lost the fasteners and yep Ed they did the redneck/hillbilly job,just to get it out the door.............

Yes, they replaced the driver's side 1/4 panel, did a decent job, if you open the drivers side door you can see where they plug welded the new panel flange in. But, this is a VERY solid car, I was just a little pee'd off because I need to get a new valance panel and the 2 brackets at a cost of 350.00 for the new sheetmetal from Mancini Racing plus 35.00 for the valance fastener kit from mr. G's. I A $2 drill bit would have saved me over 400.00 bucks.!! I still need to save up over 4,000 for the new RS Keisler 5 -Speed. It's gonna be very 'close' to try and get this thing together for 2012! I love a challenge(r)!

I thought I would post a recent pic of what I have accomplished so far. I stripped off all the old undercoating at the rear. Getting ready to install the torque boxes, I have my buds Hobart MIG welder.

#2

Nice Keep at

Looking good, Eddie!

Eddie, are you finding all good metal the more you strip it? Those pics remind me of my own shell 23 years ago, looks in identical cond and your coin top work mate

Adrian Worman wrote:Eddie, are you finding all good metal the more you strip it? Those pics remind me of my own shell 23 years ago, looks in identical cond and your coin top work mate

Yes, the metal is very nice. Just some surface rust at the rear but nothing serious.

Prepped the trunk floor and the underside for the 3M undercoating thats going on after all the welding is done. Had to re-weld the rear shock bracket,,one side was just 'hanging' there.

#2

#3 I used Rust Bullet

#4 I gotta wait an hour or 'No Tack' until the 2nd coat goes on which according to RB is mandatory. The fumes are making feel YOUNG again!

Don't know 'bout you Edd but I can't wait fer anything