Restoration of an origonal owner 73 Challenger Rallye

[brads70]

    and another one comes to life! 

[burdar]

I hear you got yours running too.  Congrats!!!

I put the stock wheels on the back last night and wasn't really sure about the look.  I drove the car to the shop and stood back and looked it over.  The WSW tires were the right choise.  I think it looks awsome.  Of coarse I forgot to bring my camera.  I was planning on taking some pics of it up on the lift.

[burdar]

The windshield and back glass were installed on Monday.  I got a new windshield from Dave at Roseville.  It's an AMD piece and fit nicely.  The first one that was shipped arrived shattered.  It's a good thing I had it shipped to work so I could inspect it. 

I put about 10 miles on the car yesterday.  I picked up my son from daycare in it.  He was pretty excited for his first ride.  Dad was along for the ride too.  We drove it around town for awhile before taking it out on the highway.  I got it up to 60mph and everything felt fine.  It didn't pull and seemed stable.  I've only got 28psi of air in the tires which is the factory spec.(I think)  I'm going to try bumping it up to 32psi and see how it acts.  There's an air leak at the front of the PS door glass.  I'll have to take a look at it.  It's WAY better then it was back when I was driving it in highschool.  The console is making some really annoying rattles too.  I had to space it up off the brackets for it to fit properly.  I might have to add some insulation between the console and the spacers.

I stopped in to the shop that did the alignment and let them know the steering wheel was off a little.  They don't have time to get it back in this week.  It looks like the trim rings will have to stay off for a little while longer.   

There's a show on Saturday about 50 miles away.  I'd like to go but I'm a little nervous.  I guess I'll have to take it on a longer trip at some point.  Might as well be on Saturday.  It's only supposed to be a high of 50 on Saturday.  It looks like I'll get a chance to test the heater core.

[brads70]

Sounds great! We need some new pictures to drool over! 
That's pretty cool your son likes the car so much! I have 3 sons and they all love driving around in it. They especially like being dropped off or picked up from school in it. They like the attention too! 

[GranCuda1970]

Sounds great! We need some new pictures to drool over! 

      

[burdar]

I'll take some pics this weekend.  The car looks completely different out in the open.  I really wish I'd remembered the camera last Friday.  I could have gotten some good pics.

Right now I've got the lower windshield trim wedged inplace with sealer behind it.  Hopefully this does the trick and it will be held tight to the glass.  I used rolled up bath towels and some small inflateable balls to hold it inplace overnight.

Here's what needs to get done this winter/spring:

undercoat wheelwells
restore jack mechanism
recover front/rear seats
re-adjust vinyl top trim(the seam doesn't line up with the seam in the window trim)
install K-member and starter plastic shields
restore original starter
a few other small odds and ends

 

[joelson6]

hey Darren, congrats! 


it's looking great!

[burdar]

Had a good day today.  I put 120 miles on the car and won a trophy.  Today was the second annual Mopar Max show at Cedar Falls Raceway.  I was nervous about the drive so I had dad follow me there.  About half way there, I heard a loud thunk and something smaked the bottom of the car.  I pulled over thinking a lug nut came off or something.  I didn't see anything so we just kept going.  Maybe I left a wrench under the hood somewhere. 

It was very cold and windy but I had a decent time.  I heard some nice comments and talked to a lot of people.  Most importantly, the car made it home safe and sound.

I made the right choice with the white stripe tires.  A friend of mine wasn't happy that I decided to put those on instead of the RWL's.  He took one look at the car and said, "I'm glad you didn't listen to me." 

 

[brads70]

Beautiful job! She looks great!

[peterro]

Looks great! 

It won't be long and you'll have some more miles and more confidence in the reliability. Next season is going to be a good one.

[71gogreen]

fantastic build ,the color is very classic.

[dutch]

looks like it rolled off the assembly line yesterday      congrats on finishing the job and thanks for sharing the process   

[GranCuda1970]

  She sure looks new again!! 

[Challenger6pak]

looks like it rolled off the assembly line yesterday      congrats on finishing the job and thanks for sharing the process   

Very nice.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

It's beautiful.  You did a great job!!!