Dave Robsons Challenger R/T

Mick70RR · Post by **Mick70RR** » Wed Feb 06, 08 9:40 pm

Good answer. When I did mine I couldn't get enough caster on the driver's side so it ended up a compromise. Still it drives ok so I never bothered with the offset bushes I had planned to try.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Wed Feb 06, 08 9:49 pm

From what I can measure directly (i.e. the amount each front bush is out from max in) my car seems to have equal caster on both sides now I have set the camber exactly the same both sides (it was off before).

But if there is any difference from side to side i doubt I would be able to tell just driving it. The factory set each side differently anyway....

I think all the effort of getting the car truly level paid off though.

My garage floor has a side to side slope of 1.7 degrees you know......

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sat Feb 16, 08 4:36 pm

Had to get rid of the headliner and sound deadening because it was rotten. I have a new headliner from Sixpack Speedshop that arrived yesterday. It will probably be next weekend before I fit it though.

After treating with epoxy rust converter and a light spray of cavity wax it looks a lot better than it did before. It will never rust again which is the main thing.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Sat Feb 16, 08 5:20 pm

No rust perforations Dave? They're a bit prone to that especially under vinyl.

Anyway little by little, you're getting there!

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sat Feb 16, 08 7:42 pm

Matty took it down to bare metal on the top side when he did my bodywork. There was one place he had to patch but it was just above where the join with the quarter panel is? (See photos)

You have to remember that I had the car (plus roof under the vinyl) resprayed back in 1989 before it was shipped to the UK so it has been quite well protected since despite having to sit outside for years.

As I said. The inside was just very fine surface rust. Probably from condensation.
Wire brush in the drill took the thick of it off. I didn't want to take it down to clean bare metal though just in case I did go through anywhere. Plus rust converter works better if there is still oxide at the surface. As long as it is not loose oxide. The finish is totally inert and hard as a rock. I gave it a fine spray of wax just because i was waxing in the cavities anyway and i was thinking "belt and braces".

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Feb 17, 08 11:00 am

Dave,

By cavity wax do you mean wax oil? Or if not would wax oil do just as well?

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sun Feb 17, 08 5:29 pm

The rust converter is this stuff;
http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp? ... ubCatID=35

The cavity wax is probably the same as waxoil but is made by Dinitrol too;
http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp? ... ubCatID=35

The wax might be a mistake as it never sets completely so it might get messy when I put the headliner up. I would rather have peace of mind on the rust front though and the wax comes off easy with white spirit.

Cannonball · Post by **Cannonball** » Sun Feb 17, 08 6:20 pm

better wear your crash hat at the nats dave, hot sun that wax stuff will be drippin through the perforations in yer headliner,

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Feb 17, 08 6:29 pm

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Sun Feb 17, 08 8:09 pm

Cannonball wrote:better wear your crash hat at the nats dave, hot sun that wax stuff will be drippin through the perforations in yer headliner,

I actually did wonder about that.

Hence I just put a very thin coat on. Just in case.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Feb 18, 08 7:32 am

Really looking forward to seeing your car when done Dave. One tough loking chally and the attention to detail under the hood is just fab. Lots of nice 'trick' little one-off touches. Keep the pics coming

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Mon Feb 18, 08 8:50 am

Sorting out the best order to do things in is much harder than I thought.

The next job I feel is to fit the vinyl top and then the headliner. So I need to take the rear window out and trial fit the edge trim for the top so I can remind myself how it fits and see if I have all the fasteners.

I can see this is going to be a pig of a job. Just getting the creases out of the vinyl is going to be a pain.

I wonder if it will iron?

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Feb 18, 08 9:20 am

Dave, I have a book called 'Project Charger' which details the restoration of a 70 Charger. A vinyl roof is added. Apparently, the trick is to centre the vinyl up on the roof, apply half at a time, and use a hot air gun (not too close mind) to loosen up the vinyl and allow the creases to be wiped out. This was a sort of DIY resto, and the results were better than you could hope for. If I had a scanner I'd scan the page which has the details and photos of how he did it. He may have made it sound easy but I couldnt think of any aspects he may have forgiotten to tell the reader about.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Mon Feb 18, 08 9:22 am

That sounds like the article that someone posted a scan of on my message board a couple of years ago. I will look it up.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Feb 18, 08 9:31 am

Have to say, when I saw the vinyl laid out on the floor for marking up, I looked at the creases and thought 'eeewww, thats gonna be a bugger to smooth off'. Looked like the person who packed it had been chanllenged to fold it as many times as is humanly possible then leave it under a heavy weight for a month. The hot air gun trick did a fantastic job, getting all the creases out completely. Its just a case of easy does it I suppose, otherwise you'll end up melting the bejeezus out of it.