73 Challenger, Calif. to NZ

[72cudamaan]

Looks great!!!!!

[Travis72]

Yeah looking great!  You are flying through the build!

Travis
72 Cuda

[tony 73]

Thanks for the support guys.
Made some great progress. Got all major panels on front. Looking like a real car now.
Merry Christmas to all.
Tony

[usraptr]

Looks great!    Won't be long now until you're finished! 

[tony 73]

Real close now. Been all go. Friend gave me a hand  to snug the front bumper in close, really pleased with result. Got grill and headlights in . Once I replaced all the bulbs on the car the electrics worked perfect.  Have got lots of little jobs done; dodge lettering on, sunvisors, glove box, hood latch, trunk rubber, wipers, washer bottle.
 Big step was drive down my steepish driveway, brakes worked fantastic. Have a 50 yard piece of road at end of drive , and I was able to get a taste of the engines power, , what have I done. Tire wear might be a issue. Speedo worked. Have been for 2 more drives.
 BIG TEST on wednesday. Take her in for the inspector to check out for road legal status. Fingers crossed, bound to be a couple of things to fix. Just found out I need to install a high stop brake light behind rear window, bummer.
 Next update wedn.

[HP_Cuda]

Hard to believe you started this back in May, she looks great!

Can you install the rear window brake light and deinstall it?

 

[tony 73]

I started this thread in May 2012, but I started the stripping of car and parts in Oct 2010.  Spent all of 2011 cleaning, body paneling and painting.
 Yes, once I get the car certified i may be  able to remove the high brake light.

[Jamiez]

Can you get one of those LED strips in red and just mount it on the package tray or does it have to be some big rectangular thing?

[tony 73]

Have just picked up one of those strips Jamiez, will mount it today. Will post a pic.
Still have work to do to get dash guages working, but this is not a needed to get car road legal. I put in couple of tempory after market gauges for water and oil.

[tony 73]

Bit slack on update.
 Spent tuesday checking nuts, bolts, joints, etc  , to get car in best shape for test next day.
Had an early start, 6am, as we had to load and transport before I started work at 7.30am.
Got a ring at 9.30 to say car ready at lunch. Hope this meant good news.
RESULT ; FAIL
Reasons ; TOO NOISEY ; poor condition flex brake hoses ; no air in gas shocks ; shoulder seatbelts poor condition ;
All fixable. Got small hotdog mufflers put in beside gas tank, brought and fitted new brake hoses, pumped air into shocks. Seatbelts bigger problem. Was not allowed to put in modern retrackables as lots of red tape. Best to find good originals. Friend with a 70 challenger said I could use his . We fitted these and an went and showed the testing guy. Was not sure as they were only 2 point harness. He then said I could fit new non-retrackabes to pass. Great news, fitting them today.
 Planning to trailer car out for its retest tomorrow and all things going well, DRIVING it home
 This last push to get car on the road has been an expensive one, but well worth it when I get to drive it.
 Had to get a wheel alignment for test, so as cars brake and suspension had passed , got it done on wedn. afternoon. Took guy 2.5 hrs. Never done a challenger before, but did a good job.

[tony 73]

Couple more photos

[Jamiez]

Looks great!  Best of lick to you this time through the test!   

Are you planning on putting on the upper chrome for the grill?  I noticed it's missing in the photos.

[tony 73]

Hi Jamiez,
 Upper chrome in poor condition. Plan to buy a new one, in the mean time I will use some body fill to get it smooth and then paint it black. Have seen couple done this way and it will be a good temporary fix. Took the headlight buckets out so they could adjust the beam levels.
 Feeling confident about retest.
 Still lots of small things to do to finish, but be nice to drive her the rest to summer.

[slsc98]

Tony, youda man!   Awesome job and even better photo-story line.

Thank you for sharing (no telling how much the photos are gonna help others like me, forever into future.

Wow . . . just, wow!

[tony 73]

Hi slsc98, thanks for the kind words. Everyone here on C-C has been so helpfull to me on this project, you only have to ask and the feedback arrives.
 Today was a great day , car passed with flying colors  . Got her new plates and first drive here we go. Stopped at first gas station, 5 gallons, and we are on our way. So nervous, but so excited. She ran great, about a 6 mile trip home. Went for 2nd small ride after dinner.
 Tomorrow bigger trip to see engine builder, about 40 mile, and let him have a drive.