Mopar Muscle Association UK

we finally got our hands on a 68 charger (one of them dream cars you think you'll never own) see it advertise on the net fresh import and went straight to have a look , had a good look round and impressed with the solid floors and frame rails front and back, usual bumps and dint's ,lower rear quarters 383 engine unknown quantity, after a bit of haggling left a deposit and arranged for it to be delivered.
after another look round it ,it then sat in the corner of the yard covered up for the next 18 months why'll we finished the 71 satellite sebring plus

satellite finished and sold nearly straight away. the charger was straight in the work shop and another look round , now for the decision on what to do
full rebuild or just running gear and engine . started taking a few bits of here and there and before you know it we are into the full strip down

Its moved on a bit since them pics Rob

now for that dreaded list that just keeps getting bigger and bigger the more we take of, and the deeper we get into gutting the car (what have we done) will this list ever end . now for hours on the net pricing things up . got a deal with Jeff at 521 restorations to supply panels ,bumpers ,and even buy in a 4 disc power brake conversion kit . the car was drum power brakes originally . this first big (enormous) box was shipped through Ron Fenton
cheers Ron and delivered to the door .the only problem was the box could have been 3 times bigger by the time it arrived as the list we needed was still growing

back to stripping the car , found a broad cast sheet under the passenger side front seat ,one of the bolts had gone through it that held the seat down
can't get over how good the floors are after looking at the rear quarters and the nasty surprise under the back window trim .

front window frame looked bad at first but after a good clean with the wire brush just a couple of pin holes in the top corner, easy repair with a bit of lead
well on the way stripping back to bare metal waiting for the rotisserie jig , second best bit of kit we have got ,makes it so much easier to clean the under side and cut out the quarters and weld in the new repair panels ,grind back and lead fill just a tiny bit of filler required to finish off

new rear bottom valance and corners, under sealed and painted

Fantastic work!!

Nice work

Top Job

body work was getting a bit tedious so had a weekend off and started striping the 383 engine that came with the car ,got both heads off and oh sh*t water damage in 3 of the bore , turned it upside down and got the pan off and oh sh*t again there is a lot of sparkly bit in the pan. on closer inspection one of the mains had been pulled round and was actually piggy backing the other half of the bearing , hat-trick, 3 for 3 oh sh*t well that's that
forget this engine . luckily we had another 383 that came out of a car we has scraped . dragged it out of the shed and put it on the engine stand , strip down number 2 , heads of and BALLS this one is worse than the first one , it was left to freeze at some time and the block is scrap ,not just one crack but two. a light tap with a hammer and two big holes . now that's how to put us both in a bad mood
start ringing round about replacement number 3 after a few week got our hands on a 440 with 6 pack carb setup , and we had at least heard this one running. a good clean down and a lick of paint and it look like a different engine

back to body work and tackling that back window , cut out the deck filler and the inside lower window frame , under the deck filler someone had butchered the brace to get that CB Arial in so extra work filling that, lower window frame and deck filler fit nice with not much hassle . test fit the window

the rear quarters in place, lead filled and with a thin coat of filler

time to start getting some blue base coat paint on the car . the following weekend get the inside and engine bay top coat and clear coated

why'll I've been doing the body work dads been getting his mate Ian at ultimate finishes in Lincoln to blast and powder coat the running gear. we don't have a heated garage and the weather is starting to turn cold and i'm having problems with the paint reacting because the thinners isn't evaporating quick enough
asking round getting prices for a paint job . WOW any one would think we asked them to strip back to metal and start again . been given a contact just over the road from ultimate finishes , a chap called Mark . dads been to see him and seen some of his work , he came to ours and had a look round asked lots of questions, and if we finish the prep work he will spray the car for us at a very good price