New Member - Old Challenger

[asm74]

Hi, Ive been lurking for a while and decided it was time to participate.  Love what i've read so far, and the cars!   
I've just come into posession of a 1973 challenger that runs but is in need of some serious TLC before its safe enough, and pretty enough to start cruising.  I want to start to restore this car, not as a powerhouse, but as a semi-daily driver, thats really nice to look at.   

Never having restored a car that needed work in so many areas, my question is where should I begin?  Is there a preferred order in which to do things on a restore?  For example, should I do rear-end, transmission, suspension, brakes, engine, body and paint, interior?
 
Ill post pics as soon as i figure out how to, but for now, heres the state of things.
Theres a little rust around the rear quarter window, spots on the roof.  The trunk pan is, well, painful at best.  The 318 runs fine, sounds excellent, belches carbon out the pipes on cold start. Has a 4bbl holley on it, that could use a cleaning.  The transmission seems okay.  The A/C doesn't work, probably needs a recharge, and the electrical looked at.  The interior has all the right parts, but alot of the plastic on the console  and dash is scuffed and grubby looking. The body is straight as an arrow, except for a shallow plate-sized dent on the front passenger side.  The front bumper is warped in that area too.  Also, I was considering replacing the $500 sheet metal fenders with cheaper and lighter fiberglass, is this adviseable?

Thanks!

[RusTy/SE]

  Welcome asm74. Sounds like you have the outline of the plan in the right order to me. Ask any questions along the way - a lot of folks on the board have been through the process; many others are still at some point of a resto. This is a great place and we're all willing to help. Looking forward to the pics!!

Russ

[Street_Challenged73]

Welcome to the site, asm74.  It sounds like you have a nice car to start with.  Can't wait to see some photos.

[Carlwalski]

Welcome aboard! :-)

[Rev-It-Up]

Welcome to the board ASM!!  The resto thing is really simple...you just have to do three things in this order...

1.  Tear the car completely apart.
2.  Have all body and paint completed on car.
3.  Put entire car back together!

Walla, new car!!

In all seriousness, we just finished a 5 year restoration on our car and basicaly that's what we did.  I guess you just need to decide how far you want to go...but I'll warn you, once you start you'll find a hundred other things to do... and since this part is turning out so nice, then that part has to be just as nice, which means you have to remove the entire "whatever" to do it.  It really never ends, so you might as well just tear the whole thing apart and start from there.

We'll be here to answer any questions you might have.  Glad to have you!

[4Cruizn]

I agree with our administrator!  lol  Are you planning on painting the car??  I would consider a media blasting to help things more along quickly!!  Pics would be cool too!! 

[Super Blue 72]

Welcome, asm74!  This is a great place and lots of nice people with great advice!

Are you looking to do a full restoration or just want to make the car presentable and driveable?

Do you have any pics?
 
 

[Johnny Cuda]

asm, I found with my resto you can actually get alot of things done while working or getting work done on others. My biggest piece of advice is to shop around, ask lot's of questions, and when it comes to getting that paint job don't cut corners. Find the most reputable, trustworthy, and proffessional shop you can find. You'll pay a premium price but the outcome is well worth it.
 

[Hemi Challenger]

Welcome to the site ASM 74and    w/ Rev  or the New Administrator, and once you start take your time, look around and get the most out of your Buck and you do it your way the first time so you don't have to go back  and do it again later it is going to take you awhile but it worth it in the end  Hope to see Pic   soon  Most people here love to see Pic

[asm74]

Here she is folks!
We started the teardown this weekend. notice the original color of the car was bright blue metallic and had a blue interior.  I think were going to go for a dark silver metallic exterior and a grey/black interior.  Thanks for the advice so far guys!  I have no idea what a good price for media blasting and painting would be, are there any base numbers that I should start with?  We would like to start by trying some of the body work ourselves (sand, cut, bondo, sand, prime). 

[pink panther]

Wlecome aboard ASM,
Ouch! easy on the bondo.  There have been several post on media blasting, so someone can definitealy give you the price for that, but it is well worth it bto see exactley what you have to start with.  Good paint job $3,000 - $ 5,000

[asm74]

Thanks.  The rust is really not that bad, the worst of it is right behind the passenger quarter window, where its blistered through the paint and flaking off.  Most of the rust in the pix is surface stuff that should come out pretty easily.  I'd like to know how far I can go with fiberglass, and what the real drawbacks are, for example will fiberglass fenders hold up to all the weight of the a/c system?

We are not going to go for a strict restore of this car.  We want to get something that looks really good, has modern conveniences (a/c, power everything, cd changer, amps) and gets acceptable fuel mileage.  Like I said, the engine runs fine, needs some cleanup for sure.  Since this is going to be my wifes ride(I have a 67 camaro), shes dictating the build. 

Heres a question, is there a V6 engine that can be fitted into this car? 

I thought it was silly at first, but then I thought, there are V6's making 295 HP, more than enough for our purposes (considering theres a 150HP 318 powering the thing now).  Heres a pic of the 32K mile 318:

[Johnny Cuda]

asm, you kind of lost me there with the V6 thingy. I'm sure you probably got your reasons but I think any respectable Cuda or Challenger needs a V8. Sorry if I've offended anyone here with that statement but I kinda cringe when I think about putting a V6 in an E-Body on purpose.

[RedLine]

off to a great start!  nice starting point.   dont forget to buy 5 boxes of glad freezer bags and a bunch of sharpies.  bag and tag everything.  take lots of pics as you go.

[GoMango]

Welcome asm74! Looks like you've got a nice project! Keep us up to date on the progress