Mopar Muscle Association UK

I have completely missed this thread.

Great work and love the OCD parts layed out picture

Your pictures and write up are great and really injoy the read.

Keep up the great work and updates coming




Nice color anti roll bar

autofetish wrote:
Great work and love the OCD parts layed out picture

Your pictures and write up are great and really injoy the read.

Keep up the great work and updates coming

CHeers Buddy.... We're not doing anything like some of you guys on here with major rust and rebuilds, and sometimes I wonder whether its worth posting as I'm sure we've all seen enough rusty repairs to know what its about.... However I am also doing a complete shell restoration on a 69 Camaro (which I will post on here when I get time) and I don't want to go through that all again with the Challenger hence keeping all the jobs small and manageable.......

Well, here are a few more pictures of all the little rust repairs and jobs done in February....

Both rear arches are quite a mess. In the end I plucked up courage and a screwdriver and poked away until we were left with this. I was going to purchase rear quarter repair panels but as this is a rolling restoration I decided to cut and weld in very small pieces of metal. Painstaking work but very satisfying to know that 97% of the wing is still original... !



Then once the rear arch metalwork was nearly finished attention turned to the rear lower offside front wing. After a another good poke we had a lovely hole which I started to cut out with an air tool.......the lower front corner of the door also needs looking at which we'll come back to. ONE thing at a time...



As the rear end bodywork was complete with the wing edges re-profiled and the boot lid trim holes all filled we were keen to get some paint sprayed on. After much debate about whether the panel should be matt, satin or gloss black the decision was to go for gloss..... this is not a good picture to judge which is correct and we'll have to wait to see what it looks like in the outside light when its all assembled with the lights in place, etc. The grey primered wing and boot edges will be body colour. A new rear valance panel is on its way from the USA with exhaust cut outs as the old panel was really too badly dented to salvage it.



Back to the offside front wing and we removed the old aerial base (the aerial was busted anyway) and we removed the badges as well and all the holes will be filled smooth. Did Challengers come with a V-8 badge on the wing as I don't recall seeing them in other pics? I thought they were after market items but the nuts on the back are the same as the nuts on the Challenger script.



Here is the rear wheel arch after a day of welding in metal and then a couple of days spent filling and rubbing down to get the profile back. It wouldn't be economic for a body shop to do this but with a little more work to finish this off its only cost us pennies for the metal and filler....



The front indicator lights have been stripped down and I wanted to see if we could polish up and salvage the front lenses. Both appeared to have been painted for some reason as per the one on the right in this photo? After some application of weak cellulose thinners the paint came off and the one on the left is the end result. With a bit more cleaning and buffing it will be OK for re-using rather than $140 plus shipping & VAT for a new pair? Anyone got a new pair they want to sell though?

And to bring us up to date I had a good poke at the lower rear on the nearside front wing and had a slightly larger hole than on the offside wing. Again the bare minimum was cut out and a patch panel made and seam welded into place. The cill trim hole was also welded up and the whole area is now getting a skim of filler to Bananarama! off.....

When I removed the inner plastic splash panel there was a large amount of 'compost' caught at the bottom between the wing and the inner strengthening rib, which is clearly the usual reason why the wing rots out here. Poked it all out with a piece of wire and blew it out with the airline. This is a an easy area for a bit of future routine maintenance by removing the splash panel, cleaning it and treating it with anti rust stuff like Waxoyl. All the bubbling paint around the wheel arch lip has also been removed now and the bare metal treated with Kurust and etch primed ready for paint.



Rusty area cut out and cleaned up with the inner metalwork treated with Kurust



New patch panel held in place with magnetic welding clamps ready for seam welding all round and then it was finally ground smooth and a thin skim of seam sealer applied before finishing of with a skim of filler. The rear cavity and repair area will also be sprayed with a waxoyl product to keep future rust attack at bay for a while.





And then finally went back to tackle the bubbling paint on the offside door front lower corner. The corner was actually in very good condition. The paint had bubbled due to half a dozen pin holes in the door skin, but the same principle of cutting out as little as possible and welding in a small patch panel was used. Again a small skim of filler is now needed to finish this off and some internal waxoyl sprayed in should do the job.

That's nice work, keep it up
..........and yes we do want to see it no matter how easy a repair it is

raven68 wrote:After much debate about whether the panel should be matt, satin or gloss black the decision was to go for gloss.....

It would have been a slightly satin matt.

Did Challengers come with a V-8 badge on the wing as I don't recall seeing them in other pics? I thought they were after market items but the nuts on the back are the same as the nuts on the Challenger script.

Base Challengers fitted with a V8 got those badges. They are original.

The front indicator lights have been stripped down and I wanted to see if we could polish up and salvage the front lenses. Both appeared to have been painted for some reason as per the one on the right in this photo? After some application of weak cellulose thinners the paint came off and the one on the left is the end result.

Yes they came from the factory painted silver all over except for the face of the lens.

Great stuff Raven.
Good idea to tackle the small problem areas before they become major.

looks good

yes i have new lenses,

Great work! Im doing most of this as well so the more pics and info the better. Great photos and description.... Im using that Krust stuff and waxoil spray as well. The krust stuff is brilliant for stabilizing existing surface rust ready for waxoil etc. I use i on any old metal regardles of condition as a bit of insurance.

Loving this build and please dont stop posting up your work...fantastic car!!

Cheers Steve

Thanks guys.... and thanks Dave for the answers to our questions over what was original.

Not going to get up the garage this weekend so wont be any more posts. Also waiting on Ron Fentons container which is now delayed to get our new rear valance panel.

Well, Rons (STS Imports) container arrived and I collected the new rear valance and a few other parts yesterday. So, day off today in the garage and the rear valance was modified by filling in the cut outs for the over riders that are not going back on the car. A pattern was made and transferred on to the old valance panel so at least the infill pieces had roughly the right shape....





Got the infill pieces lightly tacked into place



And then bolted the valance back on the car to ensure it was securely held in the right place before it was tack welded all the way round. After this the valance was removed and then seam welded, ground smooth, seam sealed on the reverse and a skim of filler applied..........



LAST area to be tackled is the nearside rear arch. Again like the offside rear arch it was riddled with porous pinholed rusty areas which were all poked out, cut out, filled with new metal being welded in place and gradually rebuilding the arch again. This wouldn't be economic for a bodyshop to do it this way as I have probably spent the best part of two Fridays welding up this arch ! Pics aren't as clear as I would like, but hopefully you get the idea anyway !

This was the start of poking out the rusty bits - it got worse as the entire wheel arch lip ended up like swiss cheese...



AND after all the new metal was welded back in the arch was at least taking shape again

Well it took flipping ages to get that nearside rear arch all welded up and finished with a skim of filler. Its not as perfect as I would like but I guess its better than the rusty bubbles that were there...

So since the last post all we have been doing it filling, rubbing down, primer coats, rubbing down, paint coats, rubbing down and all that boring monotonous stuff.

Got the paint from Avon Autocolours but could only get it in basecoat and clearcoat and couldn't wait to the lid off the tin and get it on the car. The paint match was spot on after it dried............



So the only parts of the car not painted so far are the roof and the bonnet but everything else has had two or three basecoats and one clearcoat and that will do for the moment. Remember this exercise was only to spruce her up for the summer.... So, its now back on its wheels and ready to go...

We'll get some more pics to post this weekend



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Wow ..... That's looking the mutts !

Well done. Great work

Love it....exactly how to keep your car on the road and get the work done

I love doing all the filling and sanding etc....very satisfying,

I have only recently started painting and used some rattlecans of matched basecoat and some good quality clearcoat on my Fury. Goes on flat, laquer looks satin but when the wet sanding starts and buffing, wow!!! cant wait to see your new paint when its all done....great colour!!!

Worth putting the paint code on here for the benefit of future restos??

Cheers Steve