Restoration of an origonal owner 73 Challenger Rallye

[Mopar Mitch]

Burdar... Very nice accomplishment.. a true "labor of love"!

[Supershovelhead]

Very impressive !

[burdar]

I had the car back in the shop on Friday.  The toe was reset and the steering wheel is now centered.  I've got an exhaust leak that is getting a little worse.  The shop manager used a stethoscope to find the leak.  It looks like the PS manifold is cracked down where the pipe attaches.  I've got a spare manifold.  I'm almost done with the jack assembly too.  The mechanism is painted and the mast is cleaned up.  It's going to the platers early next week.

 

[burdar]

Last night I worked on the exhaust tips.  They were very close to the valance.  The outside corner of the PS tip was accually making contact with the valance under some conditions.  I installed a 1/4" aluminum plate between the trunk floor and the rear hanger.  That dropped the tips down away from the valance and also made more of the tip visable.  It looks a lot better now. 

[burdar]

This is probably the last update until the spring.  The trunk area is just about done.  All I have to do yet is clean up some of the weatherstripping adhesive around the trunk seal and replace the trunk latch.(which was damaged at the bodyshop back in the 90's)

I just finished up the jack assembly and installed it.  It didn't need much work.  I spread the mechanism open enough to pull it off the mast.  I soaked it in EvapoRust which cleaned up the minor rust that was on it.  Then I resprayed it gray.  The rubber bumper and the internal parts had gray paint on them so I didn't have to disassemble it any further.  The mast was put in some PVC filled with acid.  The acid took the original zinc dichromate plating off and derusted the ends.  I took it in to a local plating company and had it replated.

[red74cuda]

What type of acid did you use to clean up the mast?

[burdar]

Muriatic acid mixed 50/50 with water.  DO NOT use it inside the garage.  Use it outside.  Once the part is clean, dump out the acid(into another container) and pour in water with a lot of baking soda in it.  That will neutralize the acid.  Then rince with clean water.  If that's all you do, the part will start rusting right away.  I found that if you soak, or rub down the part with a little EvapoRust, that keeps the part from rusting. 

After the mast came out of the baking soda water, I dipped some 0000 steel wool in EvapoRust and rubbed it down.  I rinced with clean water and used compressed air to dry it.  It sat inside my house for a week before going to the platers.  It never started to rust.

 

[red74cuda]

Great thanks! Your car looks amazing

[peterro]

Looks good. What grey paint did you use?

[burdar]

I couldn't find any of the colors that were recommended online.  I think I went to 3 or 4 places and no one had them.  Since I only had one jack to do, I wasn't going to spend the money on the Totally Auto paint.  I ended up taking the base to the hardware store and got the closest thing I could find.  When I got home, it turned out to be way too light.  I sprayed it with a clear coat and it darkened up.  It's fairly close but is a little too dark.....don't tell anyone. 

If you really want to know what paint it is, I can look tonight.  It's just some high zinc farm paint or something like that.  The cap looked nothing like the accual color that came out of the can.

[peterro]

thanks, don't worry about it. Since the clear coat darkened it up I may give that a shot. I haven't been able to find any real good gray paint at the normal big box stores (home depot etc). They're mostly silver of some sort.

I have some spray-can galvanization that is about the right color but is too light. Maybe the clear will get it pretty close.

[Jamiez]

Well after seeing those pictures, I realize how crappy my jack parts look.  One more project for the winter I guess

[Sd455]

I ordered tires a couple weeks ago.  They showed up on Thrusday.
 

I was worried that I would make the wrong choice.  RWL's look great and have a sporty look to them.  The WSW are rarely ever put back on and have more of a formal look.  I went with the WSW's since it's a 318 car and that's what it originally had.  After mounting them up I got worried.  They really looked bad.  After putting one of the trim rings up onto the wheel though they looked good.  The entire wheel being black just looks weird.  The trim rings really change the look.  The rings will be left off until after the alignment is done.  Once they are on, they aren't coming back off without a fight most likely.


I absolutely love the look of your car-well done on the restoration. Its inspired us to stay stock on our survivor 74 Rallye. Just wanted to ask where you got your tires and what size you ended up using...IMO you nailed it!!

Thanks

I also got the rear bumper assembly installed.  A Moparts member sent me some really nice bumper guards that he had in storage for years.  I still need to figure out what to do with the fronts since they're all pitted.
 

[burdar]

I absolutely love the look of your car-well done on the restoration. Its inspired us to stay stock on our survivor 74 Rallye. Just wanted to ask where you got your tires and what size you ended up using...IMO you nailed it!!

Thanks!

I went with the stock F70x14 Goodyear Polyglas tires.  They are made by Kelsey Tire Co.  You can buy them cheaper by going through one of their dealers.  I got mine from Rusty(Smallhurst) on this site.

I've got a little over 100 miles on the tires so far.  It was in the 40's when I took it on the first longer drive.  It rode very rough for awhile until there was some heat in the tires.  It got a little better but still rode rough.  Hopefully it will ride a little nicer in the spring/summer.  I did have 32psi in them instead of 28psi.(what the sticker says)  I also have poly bushings in the front end which might be part of it too.

I didn't notice that the car followed any cracks in the road.  Some people have said the bias ply tires do that.  The last time I drove the car I tried to drive it normally...I didn't baby it like I had before.  I didn't do anything crazy, just drove it like I do my daily driver.  Again, I didn't notice anything weird with the handling due to the bias ply tires.   

[burdar]

I had the car put away for the winter but didn't have much gas in the tank.  Since it was a nice day, I decided to drive up to the gas station, fill it up, and put in some fuel stabilizer.  I hadn't filled it past a half tank yet because I was afraid of a sending unit leak like some of you have reported.  So far it looks fine.

After I got home, I let it idle for awhile while I took a couple pics.  Then I backed it in the garage and hooked up a battery maintainer.