70 Challenger mod and freshen.

[autoshopguy]

I can't call it a restoration but it will be an ongoing project.  Most of the work will be done by high school students that only get about 5 hours a week in the shop (rest is classroom) so progress will likely be on the slow side but I'm hoping to have it up and running for a road trip by June.

Big plans as of now.

Convert drum fronts to disc/install new poly bushings/.960 t-bars.
Install cam and R/T heads on a 318 magnum.
Rebuild 46RE trans
Wire up 96 ram electronics(cruise and a/c included)
get all the chassis electrical working
get subframe connectors installed.
swap 7 1/4 rear end for 8 3/4(if time)

Not planning on much body work at this point just make it run and drive well.

The car




Drums still on drivers side

Disks going back on passenger side


front floor

318 magnum being torn down for heads and cam

Heads

Drivers side as of today.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Are you the shop teacher?

It looks like you have a solid car to start with, so that's a plus.   

[MOPAR FANATIC]

  COOL car,like mike said,looks like a very solid car.brings back memories when i was 17-18 yrs old and had auto shop class in school.took my '70 charger in to do a oil change.i drain the oil and change filterlower the car and start dumping in new oil, and i'll never forget this,the shop teacher standing there as i'm puttimg new oil in and has a big grin on his face and after i put in the fifth quart of oil i notice the whole floor around the  car has brand new oil spewing  a big puddle.   

shop teacher was laughing his butt off and to this day never ever did that again...................

  FORGOT TO PUT THE DRAIN PLUG BACK IN. 

Cool story for your student's 

[jnjdragracing]

I am new to the challengers but I did not think they had fronts shocks, I know my 70 rt challenger uses torsion bars but from your pics I swear I see shocks. What am I missing, just trying to learn.

Thanks,

John

[DoNotChallengeHer]

Yes,they have torsion bars and front shocks . 

[brads70]

Great project! Looks pretty solid!

[autoshopguy]

Yes I am the shop teacher.  The kids like working on it because it's a cool car and I would never have time to work on it at this point so it's a win win.  The scary part is I tend to pay the least attention (have the least fear they will screw something up) to the students that are the challenger.

I was in the shop Saturday working on paper work (the worst part of any job) when I got sidetracked by what to do with the rust on the roof.  I started sanding on the bad spots to see how bad they where and things escalated rather quickly. 


It ended up bare metal and is now in an etching primer.  I am not in a place where I can afford to do a full restoration right now so it's going to get what I consider a crappy paint job that will hopefully keep it looking okay and prevent any further rust for a few years.  This was the pit of the bodywork iceberg.

[autoshopguy]

Yesterday was a snow day.  I started cleaning up the passenger quarter panel and started finding a lot of collision damage that was not properly repaired years ago.  That mixed with the amount of rust on the panel......

so much for not doing any body work right now.

Full quarters would have been better but this is a lot better than before. 


I'll need to finish welding it on and hopefully talk one of my friends into leading up the seams instead of modern filler.

[autoshopguy]

Well lots of views and no comments so I must not be to far off on the project.

Students have the front suspension completely torn down now, I have been keeping my hands right out anything mechanical (unless help is needed) as this is a mechanical shop class and I'm trying my hardest not to take away work the students can do.  They have already done quite a bit and the first part casualty came today in the form of destroyed threads on the strut rod(didn't remove the roll pin) so I'm looking for a stock replacement one now. 


and the RR quarter is nearly ready for a little lead (I know a few people that can still do this lost art) then final smoothing


and since there hasn't been a distance shot since the fenders came off.

[CUDA JAS]

Well lots of views and no comments so I must not be to far off on the project.

Students have the front suspension completely torn down now, I have been keeping my hands right out anything mechanical (unless help is needed) as this is a mechanical shop class and I'm trying my hardest not to take away work the students can do.  They have already done quite a bit and the first part casualty came today in the form of destroyed threads on the strut rod(didn't remove the roll pin) so I'm looking for a stock replacement one now. 


and the RR quarter is nearly ready for a little lead (I know a few people that can still do this lost art) then final smoothing


and since there hasn't been a distance shot since the fenders came off.

The is a pair of strut rods for sale on Moparts right now.

Looks like a good price.

I can PM the guy and ask him to hold thme for you if you like.

Jason

[autoshopguy]

Thanks CUDA JAS. Luckily the machine shop had a die big enough to repair the threads on the strut rod and the damage was out beyond where it tightens to. 

With breaks, snow days and special events we really haven't spent a ton of time in the shop lately.  Body work is still making progress but pretty slow at this point. 

DS suspension getting close


Dash out(found some rust in windshield channel)


and the engine is nearly ready to pull.

[autoshopguy]

Slow but still making progress. 
Front end done (other than alignment) and back on its wheels.


Engine will come out next. 

[autoshopguy]

It's been a while since this has been updated.  Not a ton of progress but it's moving steady.  Definitely won't be ready for Wordward this year maybe by next year it will be.

Engine out


Computer mounted and wiring started(still in scary stage right now)




and 1/4 pretty close to done

[autoshopguy]

Left 1/4 done and primed.

Ended up with a 360 magnum ported R/T heads, comp cam, M1 intake and hooker super comp headers.  Should be around 400HP with a good tune.  So much for good gas mileage cruiser.




Trans cross-member in paper form metal parts are going to be cnc plasma cut soon. 


Engine in, hopefully the last mock up.  It's set back a 1/2" to give better access to the speed sensor on the 46RE trans.  Planning to start it this time and get the wiring cleaned up. 

[rUNCHARGER]

Neat car. Don't paint it until you make sure the gas filler neck fit's correctly in that quarter skin.

Sheldon