Author Topic: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 (Read 2770 times)

Ornamental · « **on:** May 13, 2014 - 10:10:42 AM »

So there I was, sitting peacefully and minding my own business at work, when a colleague saw this 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T for sale.
He thought I should buy it, but I was quite happy with my 1972 Rallye. But then again, if one want's to modify a car, it's a lot easier to have a 1970 model and older in Norway.
So I contacted the seller, one thing led to another, and because I was far out at sea at work, I couldn't come and inspect it.
Now, a certain mr widing'cuda have been bugging me for years that I should have a big block, and preferrably a 1970 model.
So when I asked him if he could please do me a favor, and travel to Bod� in the north (1177km/731mi from his home) to look at this car for me, he was very happy to do so, even when he knew it would mean he would then have a smaller engine than me and so would have to be on the recieving end of the little engine jokes for a change if I bought this car. That's a friend!

The inspection passed widing'cudas critical eyes, so I bought it.
I was going to pick up the car up north after coming home from work, but in the meantime the seller had bought a trailer for his truck, and was coming down to Oslo to pick it up, and since he was coming down anyway, he offered to bring the car with him. Luckily, widing'cuda happended to have the keys for my garage, so when I came home, this was waiting for me in the garage:

This is what's under that fibreglass hood:

Now, while I loved the engine bay, the interior wasn't quite to my taste:

So I have had the original instrument cluster restored by Autoinstruments which did a very fine job.
The instrument cluster haven't been installed yet.
The dash will be restored next winter. I have a new harness for it, but I won't pull the dash until I have the heaterbox ready to go in.
Mr Heaterbox in Canada are currently testing the box they restored for me, along with the controls for it. Very, very close to being ready to ship now. :-)
As for seats, I've decided on Recaro Expert L, using seat tracks from PG Classics. Probably have to fabricate a bracket between the two, but it should be allright.

Also, the old carpet will be torn out, and the floor inspected for rust, repaired if necessary, and treated with RustBullet or something similar.
New carpet and sound insulation already ready.

The shifter is crap, but it'll stay for now. First priority is to get the car running again.
Yes, running again. The previous owner had used a generic Painless Wiring kit, which I didn't like. So I'm replacing pretty much all the wiring in the car.

Also, the electric fuel pump is installed behind the backrest of the rear seat, which is an excellent location if you want the pump to be loud.
I don't, so a custom fuel tank with a built in pump is first thing on the list after the car is roadworthy again.

And there's some Plum Crazy lurking in the trunk, it looks like it was the original colour, so the long term plan is that this Challenger will be Plum Crazy again.

The hood will at some point be replaced by a TA hood on hinges.

But first things first, wiring and interior.

jimynick · « **Reply #1 on:** May 13, 2014 - 10:48:04 PM »

Wow! Christmas in May! Man, that IS a friend to do all that and have it in your garage when you got home. And, that's a nasty looking beast! I love it. Good luck with the restoration to your taste and please give us some pics as you go!

Ornamental · « **Reply #2 on:** May 18, 2014 - 09:43:37 AM »

Thank you Jimynick!

Forgot to add, the car was bought last year, didn't get around to post about it until now.
Due to poor weather when I put it in winter storage, I didn't get to properly drive it until I took it out of winter storage in late March.
I'm happy to report it pulls like a freight train.

Among the first things to be done was to remove the film and text on the rear window.

Then the reverse light lens were replaced with a original unpainted lens.
I can see the attraction in a continuously red line for the tail lights, but I prefer a bit more original look for the tail lights.

The kevlar look film has been removed, and it took some paint with it when it was removed.

The tail pipes are part of the muffler, and will stay on a while longer. I will put the TTi tail pipes on my 1972 Challenger on it later, when I replace the muffler.
But for now, it works, and doesn't need to be replaced for any other reason than the aesthetical.

The tail light harness has been installed.
The headlight harness has been put in, but not plugged in anywhere. The sealed beam headlights will be replaced with halogen headlights, and the parking lights and side markers wiring were cut and crimped to fit the

Painless

wiring. "Painless", my a... A PITA is what it is.
Anyway, new parking lights and side markers needs to be installed.

The dashboard has been pulled out, and the instrument cluster have been installed.
The old gauge bezel housing was cracked, so I went with a repro from Year One.
This repro needed some adjustment to fit...

You can see where I had to trim off some plastic, to clear the lense. The leg in the upper left corner on the picture were also too long, and had to be trimmed down.

But in the end, it came together.

I decided to have four holes for the switches, so I can install a switch for a rear defogger later.

dutch · « **Reply #3 on:** May 18, 2014 - 11:10:02 AM »

Great score Arne

good luck building

Ornamental · « **Reply #4 on:** May 19, 2014 - 06:59:13 PM »

Thank you Bart!
I'm going to need some luck with this one.

This is what's left of the heaterbox.
Not much to restore on, so it'll most likely be scrapped, unless the single piece that's left somewhat whole can be useful to someone.

After removing the heaterbox, the grim reality of rust and holes welded shut appeared. I had been hoping for something simpler, only involving bondo and mesh.
I've also been hoping that Christina Hendricks would come round and suggest something naughty.
Clearly, just hoping things haven't worked out very well as normal, so I can see myself spending some time here with a steel brush, and then recreating the holes for the heater and AC.

If only the holes weren't welded shut, but closed like this instead...

Surely, this can't be stock?

It doesn't appear well on this picture, but what I try to show here is that the rear piece of the floor isn't welded to the front piece at all.
Plenty of room to put a finger tip in the gap.
At first, I thought this was a poorly done floor repair, but now I wonder if it could've been like this from the factory?

Ornamental · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2014 - 06:25:55 PM »

The old front parking light housings turned out to be two right side housings, not so good when the car got only one right side, but also a left side.
They've been replaced with Goodmark reproductions, and the lenses and light bulb has been replaced with units from Illumin8s.

The restored heaterbox from Mr. Heaterbox arrived on time, ready for pick-up on Tuesday.
When I came to pick it up, I started to worry a little when the guy from the freight company went to get a forklift to pick it up.

See, my daily driver is a old BMW 3-series coupe, which has many fine qualities, but cargo space isn't one of them.

However, where there's a will, there's a way. I opened the box, put all the insulation in the trunk, then the heaterbox, put some insulation behind it, and then dismantled the crate, broke it into small pieces, and put it behind the heaterbox.

Then I put a blanket on top of the plywood, and some styrofoam in a garbage bag behind it all to finish it off.
I always keep a multitool in my cars, and having a fleece blanket too has been helpful several times.

Anyways, this is what the heater box looks like.

I'm well impressed by the quality of the work all the way, not only the restoration itself, but also the packaging.
Solid crate, loads of insulation all the way, and wrapped up good too.
Kudos to Mr. Heaterbox!

This afternoon, I've been covering up the door sides, rear, windows, and headliner in plastic, getting ready to go wild with the steel brushes and remove the rust in the floor tomorrow.

ToxicWolf · « **Reply #6 on:** May 29, 2014 - 08:20:59 PM »

Great car. A lot of work but it will be well worth it when you're done.

Author Topic: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 (Read 2770 times)

Ornamental

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440

jimynick

Re: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440

Ornamental

Re: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440

dutch

Re: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440

Ornamental

Re: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440

Ornamental

Re: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440

ToxicWolf

Re: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440