Restoration of an origonal owner 73 Challenger Rallye

[burdar]

The master is an older reman from NAPA.  Fluid leaks out the front when you step on the brake.  All the new masters I've seen have the squared off end at the front which is wrong.  As a last resort, I could put a light film of RTV on the sealing surface.  That would stop the leak for sure.

I might be getting some help this weekend with getting the hood back on(without scratching paint) and installing the side glass.  Once that's done I can install the interior panels.

[burdar]

I worked on the car most of the day yesterday.  Tim(the painter) came over to help me.  We installed the hood first.  He made aligning it look easy.  The back of the hood was higher then the fenders when it was closed so we used RestoRick's adjusting trick.  It worked perfectly.  The hood is now perfectly even with the fenders.

We then turned our attention to the side glass.  It's a good thing Tim was there because the PS needed a lot of work.  There was an issue with the top of the quarter panels(where it bends back down inside the 1/4 glass opening) hitting the quarter glass.  He had to remove some metal with a cutoff wheel in order to be able to bend that section of the quarter panel away from the glass.  We didn't have to use the cutoff wheel on the DS but it still needed a little work.  The side glass is in and all adjusted.  Now I need to call up some glass shops and get estimates on installing the front and rear glass.

Next thing I need to do is remove the vinyl top trim and drill some holes next to the existing trim clip pins.  The new clips are very flexable and don't hold the trim tight to the car.  Tim gave me some of the bolt-on clips to use instead.  Once the trim is back on, I can install the rear interior panels.

[peterro]

Sounds like it's coming along nicely. When are we going to see some current pictures. BTW, what is the hood alignment trick? I'm close to putting my hood back on. Aligning it really has never been my forte.

[burdar]

Here's the link to RestoRick's website.  We loosened the back hinge bolts and lifted the hood.  That made the hinges rotate which dropped the back of the hood down.
http://www.restorick.com/tech/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10

There aren't any updated pics right now.  I messed up a few things that I need to take care of before I can take some good pics.  I ruined the chrome on the front bumper guards when I tightened them down.  I guess I tightened them too much and the chrome cracked.  I sent those off to be replated again.  Once those are back I can install the front bumper.  Since I don't have a nice shop to work in I got paint overspray over the whole car while spraying some small parts.  I need to buy a clay bar and clean up the paint.

I also need to go pick up another wheel.  One of mine has some deep scratches in one of the spokes.  Once the new wheel is painted I can have the last two tires mounted up.  Then once the glass and seats are in, I can set the ride height and have the alignment done.  I'm trying to get the car done enough to take to a Mopar show in October.  The seats won't be recovered until sometime this winter but I'm really itching to drive this thing. 

[ChallengerHK]

I'm really itching to drive this thing.

I hope somebody gets video 

[burdar]

I put the PS door panel on tonight.  Everything went OK except for installing the new lock lever.  I think I remember someone else having issues with them too.  The lever doesn't slide down far enough to get the retaining bolt started.  I'll have to grind some material out of the groove so the lever will slide down a little farther.   

[Topcat]

.

 He had to remove some metal with a cutoff wheel in order to be able to bend that section of the quarter panel away from the glass.  We didn't have to use the cutoff wheel on the DS but it still needed a little work.  The side glass is in and all adjusted. 

Now I need to call up some glass shops and get estimates on installing the front and rear glass.

Don't understand why you needed to grind. Unless something wasn't aligned right.

Putting in glass is really easy. That's something you could do yourself.
Recently mine installed and did it in less than an hour with trim installed.

[burdar]

Something isn't quite right with the quarters in that area but everything fits so I'm not going to worry about it.  I test fit the rear interior trim last night and it fits up against the glass just fine so I should be OK.

Today I bought some 3M Adhesive remover and worked on cleaning up all the excess vinyl top glue in the window channels.  That stuff works great.  The glue just comes right off.  The guy who installed the vinyl top didn't know where to trim it at the base of the A-pillars.  He left it long.  Once it was trimmed in the correct places, there was a lot of excess glue.  That's all cleaned up now.

I also bought a clay bar to remove the paint overspray.  I've never used one before so I didn't know what to expect.  I tried it out on a small section and was amazed!  The overspray came right off with only a few passes of the clay.  I think I can have the whole top of the car done in an hour.  I was worried about getting the overspray off but it looks like it will be an easy job.

[wally426ci]

Ive used the clay bar once and it was amazing. Good work!

[Challenger6pak]

I put the PS door panel on tonight.  Everything went OK except for installing the new lock lever.  I think I remember someone else having issues with them too.  The lever doesn't slide down far enough to get the retaining bolt started.  I'll have to grind some material out of the groove so the lever will slide down a little farther.

I have used a large screwdriver to widen the slot.  Just don't pry too much.  The closes up when the lever is tightened down in the car. 

[burdar]

The slot was wide enough.  It just wasn't deep enough.  It wouldn't slide down as far as the original one did so the bolt wouldn't start in the threads.  30 seconds with a dremel tool is all it took.   

[hooD]

I also bought a clay bar to remove the paint overspray.  I've never used one before so I didn't know what to expect.  I tried it out on a small section and was amazed!  The overspray came right off with only a few passes of the clay.  I think I can have the whole top of the car done in an hour.  I was worried about getting the overspray off but it looks like it will be an easy job.

a clay bar works miracles with paint.  You can not beat the smooooothness of the surface once you clay and wax.  I've been using clay bars for over 20 years.  Great stuff that is kept too secretive.

[GranCuda1970]

More info on this clay bar if you  please! I want to know more about it! 

[burdar]

I bought the cheapest one I could find.  It was from Meguiars.  At $30 it wasn't cheap but the others that were available were $50.  The bar is about the size of a pack of playing cards.  You use 1/3 of the bar at a time.  I used some Meguiars Quick Detailer as the lubricant and sprayed it on the paint and onto the bar itself.  You don't have to use any force...the bar does the work.  After a few passes, you can really feel the difference.  When one side of the clay is dirty, you just kneed it to expose a clean section.


The bar will remove paint overspray, tree sap, dried bugs, water spots exc...  You need to wash the car first to remove as much of the contamination as you can to begin with.

[GranCuda1970]

I love Meguire's products.