73 Challenger Painted 12-31-11

[brads70]

Looks great! You must be dieing to hurry and get it all together now!

[burdar]

Are you going to apply the silver paint to the front lip of the grill and the valance opening?

[71340RT]

Are you going to apply the silver paint to the front lip of the grill and the valance opening?

  I had not decided but it will look better painted silver. Thanks for the picture.

[71340RT]

I have not made much progress this week but I did get the tail lights and front park lamp assemblies ready to install. I painted the inner tail light area next to the lenses argent silver and cleaned up the front park lamps and painted the light plug silver. They came out really good and the park lamps are really in good shape with the car coming from California. Sure makes a difference for sure.

[71340RT]

I put the exhaust on from the resonators back today. I bought the complete factory style exhaust from Dales Cuda Shop except the stainless steel tips. The head pipes and resonators fit very good but the over the axle pipes to the mufflers had to be cut as the pipes were to long on both ends. It turned out looking good and I'm going to fire it up Tuesday and find out how it sounds as it was loud with the head pipes and resonators only. Here are a couple of pictures of the back end.

[71340RT]

Got the dash pad out and put the AC vents in and was ready to install. I had forgot to put the defroster duct in and had to install it before the dash pad. I got my new windshield bought and hope to get it and the back glass installed soon. Here are a couple of pictures of the dash pad installed.

[NCtrueconservative]

I love to see people getting work done when I struggle so much  Looks great 

[dutch]

wow... you`re going fast     it looks great 

[peterro]

Hey, I need to install the exact same rear valance that you have on yours. The issue is that I have a 70 and don't have the same mount points. The bolts to the quarter panels is no problem, I'd just like to know how yours attaches in the center and what is the proper hardware to attach it with. Can you give a few more details?

Thanks.

[ShelbyDogg]

Hey, I need to install the exact same rear valance that you have on yours. The issue is that I have a 70 and don't have the same mount points. The bolts to the quarter panels is no problem, I'd just like to know how yours attaches in the center and what is the proper hardware to attach it with. Can you give a few more details?

The valance attaches at the center with the 2 bolt holes in the bracket. Just drill 2 holes to match them.  For a '70, make sure that you remove the license plate extension before you paint it. 

[peterro]

Are the bolt holes attached with a nut/bolt combination or is there a threaded something that gets installed?

I would have removed the bracket before it was painted but I'm already there now and I don't want to damage it. I've seen another 70 with the bracket and it looked fine. If the light not hitting the plate bothers me enough, I'll probably remove it at a later time.

[71340RT]

I forgot to take my license plate bracket off but drilled the spot welds out yesterday with a spot weld cutter and touched it up with paint as it will not show once the plate is on the Challenger. The center bracket has to have a nut attached to the bolts on the inside. I put my bumper and lower guards on today and it fits pretty good. Here are a couple of pictures and the license plate bracket has been removed.

[peterro]

Excellent, that's a great idea. I'll give that a go.

Thanks

[71340RT]

I finished bolting the rear bumper and valance in place and fits pretty good for both quarter panels being replaced. I got to the front of the Challenger and put the header panel on and will try to get the headlamp assemblies, grille, and lower valance installed this weekend. Here are a few pictures.

[71340RT]

It was a cool day so I decided to work on the grille, AC heater control, and the radio and heater control face plate. I cleaned up the AC heater control and painted the lettering white and the outer edge silver. It tuned out good and this is the 2nd one I have did. I paint the silver on the outer edge of the grille and go the lower valance insert ready to paint. I painted the the radio face plate and AC heater face plate with wrinkle finish paint and paint the outline of the AC vent. I did a test fit of the lower valance and after I put the bumper on I will bolt the valance on for good. It was a good day and I hope the side glass install goes as good. Here are some pictures of the progress.