My restoration

Day 1430 Saturday, July 24, 2004
Holy cow I've done it again. It's been almost 2 years AGAIN since I've put any updates in here. At least I've been working on the car. :)

We moved to a new house in December 2003, complete with a heated 28x30 foot garage, so I can actually work on the car without having to drive anywhere. What's new on the car since the last post? Lots! I'm half-way through the floor replacement, and the current job is welding in the new drivers frame rail that I cut from the parts car. Most of this work is definitely helped by the new air compressor - 60 gallon 4 horse motor. Sarah and I also bought a digital camera, so I can get the pictures loaded onto the website much faster than I could before.

Needless to say, the work is proceeding much faster on the car. Expect more updates from now on. That's a promise! ;)

Day 1430 Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Has it really been almost 2 years since I touched it last? Wow. That gives me a little more incentive to dig in until school starts again. I've been playing with parts for the Challenger for the past week or so and been cleaning up and painting what I could. So far I have the entire dash painted, cleaned up the plastic trim, and given the glove box door and ashtray and holder a few coats and sanding.

Day 766 Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Well, the parts Challenger is home and getting ready to "donate" itself to the 71 R/T. I ordered a spot weld drill from the Eastwood Company to get most of the floor and the rear seat area out. I'll get back to yall when it comes in and I figure out how it works. After that, I think I'll finally be able to start some work on the poor thing. I have exactly 18 weeks to get the car back together for her 30th birthday. Anybody want to make any bets? :)

Day 626 Wednesday, May 31, 2000
The Challenger will get a big boost sometime within the next month or so. I've bought that 70 Challenger shell from New Jersey. I'll be using to patch the bad floors in mine. Also frame rails, fenders, and whatever else I can use from it. Road trip!!

Day 620 Thursday, May 25, 2000
Well, here's the good news - I've been working on the Challenger again for the past 2 weeks straight now. I've also been getting the bugs out of my air compressor system, so work was sorta slow for a while.
Anyways, I've pulled the rotisserie-mounted Challenger back out to the center of the garage and put tarps up to catch the spent sand. Then I toodled off to my friendly-neighborhood Canadian Tire and picked up a halogen light stand - 1000 watts baby! WOooooo!! We're cooking now! So I've been sandblasting the undercarriage for the past 2 weeks now, figuring out which metal could stay, and what was doing a really good swiss cheese impression. It's basically what I figured, except I think I can save the passenger front floor (that's $150 there). I'm also negotiating the price of a body shell in New Jersey to repair the damaged floors & frame rails in my car.
At this rate, I might even have her close to being ready for her 30th birthday!

Day 444 Wednesday, December 1, 1999
I've been lax again... hmmm. Still no work done on the Challenger herself. But I have been blasting the rear diff & axle to bring the metal back to a nice smooth appearance. Also been experimenting with electrolytes & trying to pull rust easily from smaller parts. I'll figure out how this works a little later. For now I'm just tossing in old metal things I've found around the house. :) Don't want to destroy anything valuable from the Challenger.

Day 355 Friday, September 3, 1999
So what the hell have I been doing with the car since all of March? Well, honestly, not much. My Dad, brother and I custom-built a rotisserie, and that's what the car is sitting on right now. (You'll note this in the latest photos). The car is truly a shell now. Every nut & bolt that could come off has been taken off (and stored in a safe place until they're ready to go back on or be replaced with new ones) and categoried. I finally found a place here in Kingston that supplies body panels, so the instant I get a MIG welder I can start in on the re-skinning. Other than that, she's looking pretty naked & lonely. But rest assured, by this time next year I guarantee a new set of skirts & bloomers for the gal.

Day 190 Monday, March 22, 1999
And so it begins... I've got the car up on jacks now, and just finished up taking pictures of the underbody and suspension. The disassembly begins tomorrow, and doesn't end until she's ready for the road once more! HahaHahahAHaHA!!! :)
Oh, and I'm starting to throw more pics online - check em out!

Day 185 Wednesday, March 17, 1999
Wow, just passed the 6 month mark for having the car now... pictures are still being scanned and I'll have more of them up as I go along. Unfortunately, I lost a roll of film that contains most of the bodywork that I've done on the car. Drat! Oh well.. I'll be more careful where I leave my film now. Just finished up on the engine last night. Got it all blasted and clean, and coated in WD40 to keep x moisture off. Pulled a garbage bag out and it fits snugly over it. Almost too snugly, in fact. :) Plans for the rotisserie are shaping up and Dad and I should begin construction on it in the near future (right as soon as we get the metal and needed parts).

Day 172 Thursday, March 4, 1999
Still playing with the sandblaster, but most of the block is now done. What a difference! I've been given a number for a gentleman in the Gananoque area, but I can never get in touch with him. I'm convinced he's got parts that I need now. :) (with reference to that, check my parts wanted page, too!) I'm also going over plans for a rotisserie with my Dad. Hopefully we'll be able to put a good unit together and get lots of use out of it!

Day 153 Saturday, February 13, 1999
Engine fun! Got the dunk out and some scrub brushes and rags and took the engine block to the local car wash to get most of the grease and gunk out of the hard to reach places. Promptly brought it home and proceeded to sandblast the heck out of it with my new 30 lb sandblaster. These things are a hell of a lot of fun! :) And damn does the block look amazing now. You can almost eat off of it. Not that I would, but you get the idea.
I've decided that the hood and trunk are just too far gone to use reliably, so I've added them to my want list. I'm slowly figuring out what I need and don't need on the car. I've also got some of the electrical system setup in my room to find out what works and what doesn't. It looks pretty kewl, now if only there were a car attached to all those wires...

Day 138 Friday, January 29, 1999
Had fun in the past month and a bit. Figured out how the front suspension works: tore apart the passenger side front suspension to look around. All in all it's not that bad. The ball joints need replacing, as well as the shocks, but the brakes look good, and the steering components too. Spent the last couple of days getting the far end of the garage (nearest the house) all covered in plastic. Then moved the two cars (mine and Dad's 67 Dart) side by side so we can work on other cars if need be. Things should start picking up again in the next couple of weeks. I think I'll be working more hours at the store in the next little while so I can start buying car needs. That's about it - OH! Wait, speaking of needs, check out the side of this page for a link to stuff I'm looking for on the car.

Day 101 Thursday, December 24, 1998
I'm doing a great job of keeping things updated, aren't I? :) Sorry folks (all those who are actually getting to this page). News on the car front: not really a whole lot - I've barely had time to look at the car in the past month and a bit, but I have managed to start pulling apart the front suspension (with lots of pictures to remember where everything goes). I've also started doing some research on what my car has, and what it needs to be restored to be fully original. I think I'll definitely start working on a needs section, and once I figure out how to work it so other people can add to it, I'll open it to the public. Kewl, eh? Anyways, off to work...

Day 59 Thursday, November 12, 1998
Time to sit back and take stock of what I have, what needs repair, and what I need to get. Oh, and to clean my room. :)
I think I'll add in that parts section on the car now... I think it's about time I started building my network of contact people. Anyone know of any place around the east end of Lake Ontario that specializes in Mopar parts? If so, email me!

Day 58 Wednesday, November 11, 1998
A day to finish insulation! Woohoo! Took me a few hours, but the great majority of the walls in the garage (minus the door) are now done. Unfortunately, the roof still needs looking after. And a day with wind gusts up to 100 Km/hour isn't the greatest time to be playing with big wooden sails.. I mean, sheets of wood. :)
Got the rest of the dash out tonight. Much effort and swearing and pushing cats out of the way (they love to get into my work...). I'm almost to the point where the real work begins. The floorboards are starting to look like fun now, as well as the trunk. The only real parts left on the car is the suspension. That's it! And right as soon as I figure out how to make one of those "Easy-tilter" things, those are coming off as well.

Day 57 Tuesday, November 10, 1998
Best day of rain we've had in at least a month. And unfortunately, the garage still leaks, so I have to leave off working on the car tonight and cover her over with some plastic (water + bare metal = more work).

Day 56 Monday, November 9, 1998
Putting the final touches on the insulation around the garage. Had to leave the wall behind the stove until today, because it was still too hot to move last night.

Something to actually do with my restoration now: I'm starting to take apart the dash. Piece by piece. Tagged and bagged and carefully stored away until it's time to put it all back together (I hope I remember how it goes back together by then.. :) ).

Day 55 Sunday, November 8, 1998
Tonight I rejoice! My brother and I got the wood stove going in the garage, and I spent all today getting the frame and insulation in around the garage. It's already much warmer (thank god - Canadian winter's suck!). I can finally start spending quality time on the Challenger and hopefully be done all the body work in the next 2 or 3 months. After that, the engine is probably my next biggest task. Hard to believe time is going by so fast!

Day 54 Saturday, November 7, 1998
A hard day at work, and then home to work hard at the car? Nope, tonight was a guy's night out. Went to the local pool hall: The Raxx. Lots of hot waitresses, and as soon as I work up the courage, I'm gonna ask for this one's phone number. Her name's Shannon, but I've been told she has a rather large boyfriend... damn, eh? Oh, and I really sucked at pool tonight. I don't think I won a single game on my own. Normally I rock the first few games and start slumping after, but I REALLY sucked tonight!

Day 53 Friday, November 6, 1998
Another night of relaxation (hmm... a trend, perhaps?). Watching movies and eating pizza with the family. My sister, her boyfriend, and their baby were by, along with my brother's girlfriend. Watched Addam's Family Reunion (I wouldn't recommend this... I don't think it made it to the theatres) and Species II (I highly recommend this.. if yer a guy.. :) ).

Day 52 Thursday, November 5, 1998
Lack of insulation and overabundance of cold keep me from working on the car tonight. Never fear though, I see a day soon when I will be surrounded in heat, with the wood stove crackling merrily in the background.

Soon to come to this page: a want area for my beast. Other than that, I've more updating to do...

Day 51 Wednesday, November 4, 1998
A night of relaxation, and updating on the web page. I'll recap what I've done so far, and maybe throw a picture or two in...

The day after I brought it home we basically went through the car and pulled out whatever was loose and figured out where most of the work was going to be. The headliner was a loss, as well as the carpet. The rear seats might be savable, but the front buckets are too far gone. I can still use the basic frame (thank god!). Unfortunately, the floor and trunk are in bad condition (as are most cars that need restoring), and I'll need to replace both. All trim and plastic was taken out of the car and stowed away from harm.
In the past 51 days, my brother and I have managed to get the trunk lid (deck lid to you Yank's) down to bare metal, apply body filler to the rough spots and then prime it. The hood was also sanded down to bare metal, then ripped apart to get at some bad dings and rust areas, body filler applied and then the whole shebang was primed. It'll be put back together as soon as I'm satisfied with the appearance. The body is an ongoing project on the car, down to bare metal again, and then primed before any moisture can set in. We have yet to attack the underside of the car (anyone know of any plans/blueprints for any car tilters for cheap cash? Email me if you do.)
Aside from those, I've also been cleaning up and checking some of the "extra" parts that came off the car.

Well, that's about it for now. At the rate I'm going, it should take about a year to get her back on the road (I hope!).