73 Challenger takes off

[SDRT]

Ok here we go, just picked this up last week.  Here is what I brought home:
1973 Challenger
318 auto 727
8 3/4 rear no sure grip 
original A/C car  (looking for the pieces to put this back together)






Let the wife drive:  Once


Interior:

[SDRT]

As you can see I'm starting with little bit of a basket case, but I am working on it.

Replaced the wheel bearings:


Here I found lots of problems that I am trying to work out.  I'm going to order a replacement front end kit but I'm not sure who to go with.  Any opinions?  PST a good option?

Started to take apart the interior to get rid of that sweet custom look the previous owner gave it.  I need to get the paint off of all the chrome pieces from the interior (door locks, handles, ect...) Any suggestions? 





Had a set of police wheels from my dart project laying around so I painted one quick to see if it would look good.  What do you think?




O and a I hung a little wall art in the garage for motivation



More to come.

[GranCuda1970]

Not bad and the steelies and dishes look great!! Car does not look too bad at all and that fender can be worked!. 

[Jamiez]

Someone REALLY liked yellow

You should be able to pick up most of the door trim off eBay at decent prices..especially considering after you strip the paint off you might end up needing to re-chrome all those pieces. 

The wiring (those extra speaker for example) looks a little scary...but I see it had a map light which is neat.  Oh I assume that's the antenna in the back?  That's not the stock location so more wiring

With that "cover" on the dash pad, no way to tell if the original is cracked.  If it is, that's a bit on the expensive side to replace...just something to consider if you go the gut the car route.

Should be a fun project!

[brads70]

Welcome!   
The door handles, door lock handles and window cranks can easily be replaced with new or with swap meet finds. I like the cop car rims much better! The tail light panel could use some satin black or silver but that's just my tastes? Maybe a black stripe down the side? Just something to break up all that yellow?  Looks like you have some re wiring to do! 
Looks like a fun project! 
 

[SDRT]

Yeah once I started getting in to the car I could tell the wiring is going to be a nightmare.  He put a power antenna in the back and had the hole in fender filled when the car was painted.  I have looked under the dash mat, I'll take some pics soon.  The car still has all of the vents for A/C but the dash is cracked pretty bad.  I'm going to look for a dash mat that just covers the top of the dash for now. 

I am going to put a set of flat black stripes on the side, the hood and tailpanel.  Also looking for a duck tail. This should break up the yellow pretty good until I strip the car and re-paint it go green.  Right now I'm just trying to make a driver so I can enjoy it for a while.

[Jamiez]

A lot of people have purchased stripe kits from ChallengerGary.  You can find his thread here:  http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=48634.0

I know he does custom stuff as well.  Some black would definitely help break up all that yellow.  You thinking complete black out hood or the T shaped black out?

The duck tails are being reproduced so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding one.  I'm not sure if the later deck lids had the mounting structure for them or if it was only the early years.

[71340RT]

Great looking start for a challenger project.

[74challenger03]

nice car

[Street_Challenged73]

Congrats on the recent purchase of your '73 Chally!   As for stripping the paint off the chrome handles & whatnot throughout the dash, I would try either D.O.T. 4 brake fluid or possibly even some Castrol SuperClean (the purple stuff).  Although as already mentioned, if the underlying chrome isn't in that great of shape to begin with, those paint "strippers" will probably wreak havoc on it...I just know the stuff works well getting painted plastic parts clean without severely damaging the plastic or even Lexan if done properly.

Anyways, it looks like you'll certainly be busy with fixing it up here & there, but I like your plan of continuing to be able to use it while you gradually fix things up as needed.   Mine was a total basket-case when I picked it up, so I never had the opportunity to drive it before I gutted it down for the long rebuilding process.

[SDRT]

Got the parts stripped, as expected they are pretty toast.  I'm going to have to look for new ones.  Anyone have a grille surround? I took out the crazy bread tie wiring and fixed the brakes yesterday.  Also cleaned it out.  Here's some updated pics.

Custom bread ties



Pulled the dash mat.  Pretty big crack that i will deal with later.  I am looking for a smaller dash mat that doesn't go all the way down and cover the vents.  I just want something cloth right now.  the plastic ones look nice but I don't want to spend that kind of money on the dash just yet.



Pillar plastic was a little rough so I sanded it down and used some plastic paint to touch it up.



Interior pieces I will have to replace, and grille stuff




More to come....

[NCtrueconservative]

I too looked for a dash mat to cover my dash with "just for now" to run during the summer and look decent, until I could save up for a cap or dash pad this fall.  Every supplier was on back order, and was gonna take forever.  I just took some of that auto carpet roll (walmart) and made myself one.  Cut it to rough size, then laid it on there and traced around the pillars and front.  It doesn't come down below the vents.  Attached it with sticky velcro.  Looks as good as anything you're gonna buy and will for sure do for now. Enjoy that chally 

[SDRT]

Been working slowly the last couple weeks but got a few things done.  I de-greased the engine bay and found some alarming things.  I don't know if you can see it but in the motor picture the motor actually sits sideways and crooked.  I found out that the transmission mount wasn't even bolted to the car and both engine mounts were toast.  I replaced those and found that the headers were so smashed I couldn't believe that they flowed at all.  I also replaced the spark plugs and wires with G3's and MSD wires.  Heres a few pics of some of that progress.







Workin buddy


I also found a T/A duck tail in a pile of parts we had and am waiting on a bunch of parts from some members on here.  I took Jamiez's advice and ordered some stripes from ChallengerGary to break up some of the yellow.


More to come....

[jimynick]

You could try soaking the window cranks (metal portion only) in some acetone for a day and see if it doesn't peel that yellow off. Good luck; but dude, your girlfriend in the picture is a real dog. Sorry, I couldn't resist! 

[GranCuda1970]

Happy Mopar dog!!