My 71 Challenger RT Project

[ambitions2]

First welcome to the site.  This website is absolutely ridiculous, people here are great and very helpful. Second, no worries with the project, many people have been in your shoes (the first restoration project and newbie) and came out  better than they ever expected.

Do you own the dolly?  The reason I ask is because if the welds are solid, I think it would be much easier to take the whole car home on the dolly and then take your time on seperating it.  However I am assuming the dolly is not your, so with that being said this is I would probably go the avenue of obtaining a few pieces of stock and fabricating 4 legs with rolling wheels to bolt to the car.  You can find great examples of guys doing this in this forum topic.  If you have any questions let me know, I put a set together and I love them.  The car is on them right now and can be moved throughout the garage incredibly easy.  My garage is at the bottom of downhill driveway (that is somewhat rocky) and I was able to push the whole car up by myself and onto a trailer with no problem. 

Good luck with everything and welcome to CC.com 

[Bluemonster71RT]

 I didn't own the dolly but I do now.  I wanted to take it home on the dolly but I have nightmares of the car falling off the flat bed on the trip home. I thought of being better safe than sorry.  Unless there would be a better reason to leave it on?

[Bluemonster71RT]

Be nice to see some photo's of the entire car - or is my computer?

Hummm pics are there. However I can't see them on the pc at work.

[femtnmax]

I didn't own the dolly but I do now.  I wanted to take it home on the dolly but I have nightmares of the car falling off the flat bed on the trip home. I thought of being better safe than sorry.  Unless there would be a better reason to leave it on?

For some reason my opinion would be to get that D*mn dolly off before you move the car.  I'm sure your 1000 miles away or I'd stop over and help.   Your whole mindset will change when you have your car back home where it belongs.  Hang in there.
I had to reduce the size of my posting pics to 600x400 so they would load easier.

[femtnmax]

You probably thought of this already.    Raise the car up with pieces of 4x4 stacked like lincoln logs, with hydraulic jack on top... just like they do lifting houses.  Then get some car ramps or such to put under the wheels so they have some of the vehicle weight on them.
Then cut thru the vertical pieces of the dolly with a sawsall, cut at an angle so the blade doesn't bind when the pieces move.  With all 4 legs cut off, trim the remaining legs flush with the horizontal piece of the dolly that is still attached to the car.  Leave the horizontal pieces of the dolly attached to the car until you get it home, then you can take your time carefully removing it.  Just an idea.

[Bluemonster71RT]

Well I got most of my suspension on this week after finding and waiting for parts.  I still need some bolts but I belive I can get it on the ground this comming week and hopefully home by the weekend and the real work can start.

[thenuke1]

Hey man welcome i cant say anygood things that most of the guys in this thread have already said but yeah this place kicks ass... i have a similar story about my car ... it was my dads car and i also took it over

check it out if you get a chance
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=48864.msg498111#msg498111


about you ride ... dont swet it everything will work out... i just recently restored my 71 chally so im still fresh on what we did ...if i can help in any way ill let you know when you bring up a question or situation

[the_engineers]

Well I got most of my suspension on this week after finding and waiting for parts.  I still need some bolts but I belive I can get it on the ground this comming week and hopefully home by the weekend and the real work can start.

I have an extra set of the K-Frame braces that the sway bar bolts to.  I also have bags and bags of bolts for suspension, etc.

Cover the shipping and they're yours.  PM me if you're interested.

[thenuke1]

I have an extra set of the K-Frame braces that the sway bar bolts to.  I also have bags and bags of bolts for suspension, etc.

Cover the shipping and they're yours.  PM me if you're interested.

see what im talking about man ?

i wish i had found this site when i started my resto process but i found it when i was about 95% done with my ride and it was drive-able

we did hit a few snags here and there and these guys would have been very helpfull

[Bluemonster71RT]

So far I only need the rear shock bolts that hold the shocks to the body.  I thought I had them but what I had wasn't them. I have One large coffe can with bolts in it (not alot) that I look in when I need something.  So far it helped once. But those bolts must be for something.

[Bluemonster71RT]

I ordered e-brake cables and the rear shock bolts on May 27 and came home from work today and the box was here.  Bout time. Car = home soon I can smell it

Oh I also found out that with the rear in, if I bolt the wheels up they will be only a inch or 2 off the ground so getting the dolly out from under it wont be as bad as I though it would be.  Still gonna make me nervous.

[Bluemonster71RT]

I tried to get the car on the ground today but fell short with how the ebake cable set up goes. I'll need working ebakes for saftey reasons.  Also the kit I bought seems to be short a few parts.  So another weekend of almost.  I did manage to get some more things done but the car still looks the same so no new pics.  Next day to try will be Tuesday provided I get to see how the ebake cable set up looks.

[Bluemonster71RT]

Wooo Hoooo! I got it on the ground!  Thank God that I didn't flatbed it a second time as the welds on the rear of the dolly were broken. Now I am gonna have some pepole look at it who said they would paint it for prices that are in my budget but I don't see it possible.  But I will attempt to paint it myself if I don't like how or what they come up with.

[Bluemonster71RT]

Ok, The car is in my garage at home now! .  Now the real work can begin.  But I need help with a game plan. First some I'll give you some info.
The people that looked at my car for paint said 2 things. 1. take all the primer off and start over because its been on to long and because the car has been in a machine shop it is most likely contaminated. or 2. Sand most of it down and re-do a high build primer and start from there.  What would you do?

Now as far as that goes I'm sanding in either step so should I get the dura block kit from eastwood and just have at it with some 180 grit or something else? Some tips are really needed here as I have never done any major body work.

Also where and what type tape,papper,sand paper and other stuff of should I buy?

Man it's weird to be so happy and so stressing at the same time.

[Bluemonster71RT]

  prior to making massive errors.