Author Topic: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !  (Read 30060 times)

Offline hemiken

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #120 on: January 28, 2008 - 09:41:00 AM »
Hey Farouk,

You may have to start a new post asking the question if they do at all excist or not ?

But let me know if you come across any Barracuda bits at all and if you find another convertible switch in your travels aswell please.

Kenny. :2thumbs:
1970 Barracuda   (O^--^===|===^--^O)
1971 Barracuda   (O O {]{]{]|[}[}[} O O)
1970 Challenger  (O O [======R/T=] O O)
1971 Challenger  (O O ===== ===== O O)
I pay homage to the best Mopars ever built.




Offline wally426ci

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #121 on: January 28, 2008 - 10:19:40 AM »
Sounds good Farouk,
my PM was frustrating b/c everytime i hit send it would give me a "page not found" error, so i assumed nothing went through. what i meant about the Qtr chrome was that all of the repros i find have a small body line that follows the contour of the edges. basically, if you look at the chrome straight on as if it were mounted, you would notice that the outer most edge is raised about an 1/8" above the rest. the ones my car came with had no lines, almost like Cuda chrome but still rounded.

hard to describe.  :dunno:
{OOI====I====IOO}
      '71 Challenger
      [O[]=====[]O]
      '68 D100

Offline Challenger_7

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #122 on: January 28, 2008 - 10:38:15 AM »
On progress report, 3 minor parts attended to last night. The first 2 were the mirror and the moulding which fits on top of it. It has the same pattern as the plastic pillar post mouldings but is made of steel. See close up photo after painting it.
The old one was dressed up in red vinyl, with some rust on the inside. I stripped it completely out of its old paint and repainted it with the correct off white color (imported in Mopar paint spray cans). Then cleaned the mirror parts and painted them but not the mirror (rubber) case nor its plastic soft rubber base. A thorough wash and clean up then sprayed them with a rejuvinating spray that works fantastically well on even faded plastics, except mine were not faded.
The last item was a label for the switches, but I will need to make a separate post researching this one for the colors as I have seen a few variations.
See photo of the first attempt.
Will report again tomorrow after a quick visit to the body shop.
Kenny, Yes, I will need to make a separate post on the speedo and will include the colors of the wordings that go on the switches panel.
Farouk
71 Chally Conv 383 Magnum Manual - Hurst
71 Chally Auto 383 Magnum R/T 100% Orig
71 Chally Auto 400
70 Chally Auto small block
72 Charger SE Manual - Hurst
73 Plymouth Satellite "Sebring Plus" 100% Orig
Others: http://www.cardomain.com/id/Challenger_7

Offline Challenger_7

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #123 on: January 28, 2008 - 10:50:33 AM »
Wally, understood...I think. Will take photos and post tomorrow.
Whilst on the subject, there is a craftsman in the neighbouring country, Syria, that does much stuff like copying from Aluminum into Stainless steel.
I am wondering if it is a good idea to replace these chromes as well as the front ones by SS stuff ??
I know theyt would be at a huge saving, but the best part is that if they get scratched, just remove and buff and they are new again. If you guys encourage me, I will ask him for a trial on one of those pieces and a price. What do you think, or should I stick to original (or original looking) stuff ?
Just thinking aloud.
71 Chally Conv 383 Magnum Manual - Hurst
71 Chally Auto 383 Magnum R/T 100% Orig
71 Chally Auto 400
70 Chally Auto small block
72 Charger SE Manual - Hurst
73 Plymouth Satellite "Sebring Plus" 100% Orig
Others: http://www.cardomain.com/id/Challenger_7

Offline wally426ci

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #124 on: January 28, 2008 - 11:22:50 AM »
sounds like a cool idea!!

 :2thumbs:
{OOI====I====IOO}
      '71 Challenger
      [O[]=====[]O]
      '68 D100

Offline JS27N0B

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #125 on: January 28, 2008 - 09:43:28 PM »
Don't forget that that NOS speedo you show there is for a 1972-74 rallye cluster. The trip reset is in the speedo face rather than in the cluster beside it.
1970 Challenger R/T Convertible 383/auto 1 of 516 *now sold after owning for 18yrs
2007 Chrysler Aspen Limited AWD
2013 Tige' RZR 343hp
2016 PCP Challenger SRT Hellcat


Offline Goehner

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #126 on: January 29, 2008 - 10:44:37 PM »
I am late to the game, but sorry about your car. As you can see, I dig Plum and white. Perfect combo...  Can't wait to see the finished product.
392 Edition on order
08 Mega Cab 3500 SRW 6.7 CTD, 2" Leveling kit, 33" Mickey Thompson MTZ
05 Durango Limited, Yea, it's got a HEMI!!

Offline JS27N0B

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #127 on: January 29, 2008 - 11:03:16 PM »
I am late to the game, but sorry about your car. As you can see, I dig Plum and white. Perfect combo...  Can't wait to see the finished product.

Out of curiosity what is the Scheduled production date of your car? Just wondering how far apart our cars were built.
1970 Challenger R/T Convertible 383/auto 1 of 516 *now sold after owning for 18yrs
2007 Chrysler Aspen Limited AWD
2013 Tige' RZR 343hp
2016 PCP Challenger SRT Hellcat


Offline Goehner

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #128 on: January 30, 2008 - 04:14:32 PM »
Not completely sure, I haven't had much time to dig into it. Door tag says 10-1969
392 Edition on order
08 Mega Cab 3500 SRW 6.7 CTD, 2" Leveling kit, 33" Mickey Thompson MTZ
05 Durango Limited, Yea, it's got a HEMI!!

Offline JS27N0B

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #129 on: January 31, 2008 - 12:10:09 AM »
Not completely sure, I haven't had much time to dig into it. Door tag says 10-1969

Mine too. SPD of Oct 15th.
1970 Challenger R/T Convertible 383/auto 1 of 516 *now sold after owning for 18yrs
2007 Chrysler Aspen Limited AWD
2013 Tige' RZR 343hp
2016 PCP Challenger SRT Hellcat


Offline Challenger_7

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #130 on: February 08, 2008 - 03:28:55 PM »
Hi friends. Sorry about the disappearing act, the DeSoto has been taking some of my time, but now reporting again.
But first, welcome to the field apederso2 and thanks for your support. Lovely car there too buddy. I am thrilled at seeing both your car and that of JS27NOB next to each other. Just makes me even more excited at the sight. One thing though, my interior would be more creamy than your whites.
OK, body work still doing more stripping, no major hurdles. Only the rear fenders' lip or whatever you call the round part above the wheels, has been seriously repaired. Tomorrow I am visiting someone who has a car he is stripping. If all works, I will pick both rear fenders and the inner skins too.
I started on restoring the A/C - heater unit and need some advice here before I go too far. Is there someone selling a set of internal joints/gaskets etc for the unit. Mine has some cracks on one of the sides, and if I cannot find a good one here, it is easy to rpair with fiber glass.
If you see the last pic of my open unit, there seems to be a rubber sheet covering the whole of the area before getting to the heater core. And when I removed the heater core, there was a soft rubber gasket on one side only of its ends. Should there be one on both sides? Anyone with experience here and some photos will be of help.
On the issue of NOS I will still visit the supplier and I told him to bring everything Mopar related out for me to see and photograph, and will tell you about it in case anyone is interested.
Cheers
71 Chally Conv 383 Magnum Manual - Hurst
71 Chally Auto 383 Magnum R/T 100% Orig
71 Chally Auto 400
70 Chally Auto small block
72 Charger SE Manual - Hurst
73 Plymouth Satellite "Sebring Plus" 100% Orig
Others: http://www.cardomain.com/id/Challenger_7

Offline troutstreamnm

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #131 on: February 08, 2008 - 11:43:04 PM »
Hi Challenger_7,
My heater box was the same way.  I did not find any replacement gaskets for the heater/ac box.  The heater core only had a gasket on the one side.  I just decided to reuse the old gaskets and run permatex gasket maker over the old gaskets to get a seal.  It's not the best approach, but with no replacements, I had no choice.  It should work fine.  He's a pic of my heater core exposed.
08 SRT-8 Challenger
71 GA4 Challenger
70 FK5 Charger 500

Offline farmboy70

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #132 on: February 09, 2008 - 08:11:18 AM »
Here is a web-site for the heater box gaskets. They also make the very best gaskets for just about everything on Mopars.http://www.detroitmuscletechnologies.com/
Dave

Offline Topcat

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #133 on: February 09, 2008 - 09:30:35 AM »
After any crack repairs, you can get this

http://www.restorationfullcircle.com/product.html

Its about the closest I've seen to the heater box color.
But I wouldn't get it unless the repar is visible once its mounted.
Mike, Fremont, CA.


Offline troutstreamnm

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Re: 71 Convertible Ground-Up Restoration - The journey begins !
« Reply #134 on: February 09, 2008 - 10:10:07 AM »
Oh great...NOW you tell me!  :pullinghair: LOL....guess I learned a lesson and should have asked here first.  I've got the site bookmarked for next time.  :thumbsup:
08 SRT-8 Challenger
71 GA4 Challenger
70 FK5 Charger 500