29 Mar 1999 I was at my local body shop picking up my Blazer after having some paint chips taken care off when I saw what was probably one of the sorriest looking Dodge Chargers I had ever seen parked in the lot. I enquired of the owner what the story was on the car. He explained he had taken it as a partial trade on some paint and body work he had done in hopes of fixing it up to sell it. Well the zoning guys had been jumping down his throat due to all of the other cars he had in his lot so he was looking to sell it for cheap. He explained that it had a bad distributor and the flat tire but other than that the guy he got it from said it ran great before he parked it for 5 years. Well at this time I knew I had to save this wretched car. I don't know why I was so drawn to it. Maybe it was because it was the last of a great line or maybe I just have a soft spot in my heart for lost causes, who knows. Well I asked how much and was told $600.00. I laughed and offered $400.00 he smiled and agreed (I should of low balled him for $200.00 and went from there Hindsight is 20/20) So I left a Down payment of $100.00 with the agreement that I would pay the rest when my Income tax return check came in.
15 April 1999 Bought a used tire to replace the front drivers side tire that the tow truck guys trashed. Realized that I did not have a bumper jack and there was no way a bottle jack was going to fit under the car. Luckily a neighbor let me borrow his floor jack. Got the tire changed out post haste.
16 April 1999 Started looking over the engine compartment checking things out. The guy I had bought the car from had said that the Distributor was bad. Upon investigation I found a burnt out coil wire. I spliced in a new section of wire and the car started up. Not bad for a car that had not run in five years.
17 April 1999 Found drivers side inner door panel and trim in trunk. Scrubbed on them for like 3 hours and they actually came out pretty clean. I have definitely decided that I am going to change the interior color to black. I can not see trying to maintain the white interior in a daily driver especially with my 3 year old son.
3 May 1999 Just got back from a TDY trip and made a run to the parts store. I think I got everything I need to go through and change out fluids and perform a decent tune up.
4 May 1999 Tried to install my new Edelbrock 14-inch crome air cleaner to replace the 6-inch air cleaner that came on the car. The Air cleaner would not fit. Hmmm Go figure my Edelbrock air cleaner would not fit my Edelbrock Carb. Apparently there is some kind of adapter I need. So moving on it only gets better. I pull out my new cap and rotor, upon looking at the rotor it is obvious that the center contact has been busted off! Oh yes it gets better the new PCV Valve was the wrong one. At this point it was starting to get dark so I decided to call it a night and decided to just get a fresh start tomorrow after a trip to the parts store.
6 May 1999 Well I ended up working late yesterday and the weather was pretty bad so I held of until today to get started. Well I went back to the parts store like twice before I finally got the right distributor cap but now I have everything I need. I changed the oil/oil filter at this point I must bring up the subject of P/O's my cars previous owner obviously loved to torque things down I swear I think he put the oil filter on with an impact hammer! More on torque to come. I also replaced the fuel filter. While I was under the car I went ahead and changed out the nasty old spark plugs with a set of accel plugs. Well I found the P/O utilized his more torque is better theory here as well. While removing the last plug on the driver?s side I managed to mangle my right hand ring finger against the starter. I think I woke the dead as Ah F**K went echoing through my neighborhood. I didn't really need a fingernail on that finger any ways. Well I finished up my quickie tune up and fired up the beast. Wow did it sound great! But I ran into a small quandary my oil pressure gauge that had worked before was giving me a zero PSI reading. I shut the motor off and since it was getting dark and a little chilly decided to call it a night.
10 May 1999 Posted on a couple of different Mopar Web boards some questions about how to trouble shoot my Oil Pressure problem. The general consensus was that I must have a bad sender or some other electrical problem. The lack of bad valve sounds was a good sign that I had some oil pressure. I decided to test the theory by pulling the Sender and firing up the car to check if I was getting oil flow to the top end. Was I ever! From the time it took me to start the car and get out of the drivers seat and up to the engine compartment and yank off the positive battery cable my engine had pumped out over a quart of oil out the sending unit port. Sounds like pretty good pressure to me! At this point I cleaned up the mess I had made in my driveway, reinstalled what I had determined was a bad sender and topped off the oil. I took the car for it's first minor test run in the neighborhood and it ran great. Tranny shifted beautifully and all systems with the exception of the exhaust are in great shape. I packed up the tools and called it a night
12 May 1999 Tonight I was just looking over the engine compartment again and low and behold what did I find? A loose grounding wire! I reattached the grounding wire and low and behold I had a functional oil pressure gauge again! Woohoo! I am glad I did not make it by the parts store tonight to pick up that new sender after all. Spent the rest of the night messing around with the drivers side door trying to figure out why the outside handle does not work.
13 May 1999 Spent a couple of hours pricing a new exhaust system. The Charger currently has the stock exhaust manifolds and a trashed single exhaust system (lots of holes). I think I have decided on Hedman Headers (HTC Coated) and either Flow Master big block mufflers or the Hooker Max Flow mufflers. I called a local exhaust shop that specializes in performance systems and they quoted me a price of like $375.00 to install my headers and mufflers as well as bend me up a 2 1/2 inch full dual exhaust system with cross overs. So with the price of the headers and mufflers I would be sitting at right around $650.00. Or I can order one of Hookers exhaust kits and a Hooker cross over for under $200.00 and install it myself and save around $175.00. I just have to decide if the extra $175.00 is worth the royal pain it is going to be to remove the old system and get the new in.
1 June 1999 Well I just got back from a 2-week road trip and was more than ready to get back to work on the Charger. Right now I am in kind of a holding pattern waiting on some cash so I can tear into some of the major repairs needed. So tonight I finished the job the PO started on removing the air conditioning. The pump was not with the car when I got it and since I do not see returning the AC to functional use anytime soon I went ahead and pulled the lines condenser and canister out. I stored all of the pieces encase at a later date I do decide to try and get the AC working. Spent about two hours working on the car tonight.
17 June 1999 The POR 15 I ordered came in today and my new Headmen Headers should be ready to pick up at Pep Boys tomorrow. So it looks like I will be getting back to work on the Charger this weekend. I am going to go ahead and try and get the headers in and start some of the bodywork. I figure I will see just how well this POR 15 stuff works. I think I will start with the passenger side door. Once I get it done I will post a picture for all to see. Well it's late and I am planning on getting up early to get started on the car but, I will post again soon.
1-5 July 1999 Well I went on a weeklong camping trip with my family and have just now got the opportunity to get back to work on the Charger. Over the long weekend I jumped into the bodywork on the passenger side. I repaired the rusted out drivers side door and rocker panel and have made a pretty good start on the passenger side quarter panel. At first I had planned on replacing the whole quarter, but once I tried out the POR-15 I bought and saw how well it worked I decided to just make my repairs with lots of fiberglass and Bondo. Yes, I know this is not the best way to make repairs but this car will be a driver and the money I save on the body work will go towards the parts and machine work I will need to stroke my 400 out to a 451. You can see some of the in progress pictures in the photo album.
9 July 1999 I have put a temporary hold on the bodywork (ran out of resin and Bondo) and started on the exhaust upgrade. Oh what a pain and the ass! I could never imagine how much fun it was going to be trying to get the old exhaust off and the manifolds out. It only took me 3 1/2 hours to get the drivers side manifold off. The biggest pain was trying to get the exhaust off of the manifold! So I am off to buy some more hacksaw blades! Since I am ditching the old single exhaust I will just cut the passenger side portions off right below the manifold and see if this eases my struggles. Hopefully tonight I will get to the point of actually attempting to install the new headers.
10 July 1999 Well after the absolute hell of pulling of the exhaust manifolds and old exhaust I didn't think it could get any worse...Well I was wrong! Installing headers on a B-body big block car was an absolute royal pain in the ass! It took me 2 day's to get them installed and the driver?s side header went on and off about 10 times before I got it right. At this point I ran into the problem that my Tranny linkage will not hook up! Well I found out that my set of headers came without the instruction or all of the hardware. Well Headman shipped out the parts with no problems I was rather happy when they arrived but, after reading the instruction I ended up sticking with my initial plan of ditching the column shift and just getting a floor mounted after market shifter with cable linkage. Well since the headers were in and I didn't have time to get the rest of the exhaust in and it was 10 at night I figured I had to at least fire the car up once with the open headers. And let me tell you that it sounded DAMN good! It also drew every gear head within a mile of my house to my driveway to check out the project. Needless to say I also received a few turn that damn thing off's from some of my neighbors *L*.
14 July 1999 Well tonight I went an attended my first meeting at the Southern Colorado Mopars Club . The Club is fantastic! There were a ton of people their with a nice selection of Ma Mopars finest in the parking lot. By the end of the evening I had signed up for a year?s membership and walked out with a plethora of information. I received a lead on a wrecking yard that may have some of the parts I need for the Charger and plan on checking it out this weekend. Wish me luck.
19 July 1999 Today I was chasing down a lead on a nearby wrecking yard that supposedly had a couple of 73 and 74 Chargers in the yard I will keep the location of the yard a secret for now until I pick up my parts! Well this yard had a set of perfect rear quarter panels! I mean no Bondo, no dents, nothing they are perfect! The best thing is the price $150.00 a piece! He also has a perfect set of tail lights for $50.00 each and get this.... Best of all a complete center console in beautiful shape for $20.00!!!!!!!!! I will be going back on the 26th of this month to pick up these parts and take a look for more good stuff! So needless to say this parts find has made me rethink the whole Bondo and fiberglass thing. It will now be affordable to properly repair the rear quarters. To make things even better after talking to the guy who I bought the car from (Robert of Roberts Auto Body Colorado Springs, CO) he told me that he would give me access to his shop to do all of the prep work on the new quarters and even allow me to remove the old quarters off the car to keep the cost down on the installation of the quarters. Things are looking good. I will keep you all posted as progress continues.
21 July 1999 I started pulling out all of the interior tonight. I got out the front buckets and pulled up all of the carpet. Funny thing, under the sound deadener I found an original ignition key with the Dodge tag that had the key code on it. This is the first time I have heard of anything like that being placed under the carpet. Has anyone else found something like that? If so let me know. The floorboards look ok; there is some surface rust and a couple of pinholes. This morning I called the good ole boys at POR-15 and ordered another 2 sets of their super starter kit. As soon as they come in I will be making the repairs and POR-15 the whole floor board area so that rust will not be an issue ever again. The reason for pulling out the carpet is to make the installation of the new console and B&M Megashifter go much smoother. I will be buying my new carpet from ACC sometime in the next month and since I have ripped out the interior I am going to go ahead and start cleaning it up and re-dying it black. I will have more to report soon so stay in touch.
22 July 1999 It was raining all last night, but this was not all that much of a deterrent. I went out for about 2 hours and wet sanded the rear deck lid. I was able to sand out the scratches and key dings in the paint and it is now ready to prime. You should have seen the looks I got from the neighbors as they drove by. I have a feeling some think I may not quite be right in the head.
23 July 1999 Primered the rear deck lid. Started doing some bodywork on the drivers side rocker panel and door.
24 July 1999 POR 15'd the floor pans in preparation for fitting of center console and B&M shifter.
2 August 1999 Just got back from a business trip to Charleston, SC. Installed the B&M shifter and center console with the help of Andy (a neighbor who has taken an interest in my project). Had to make some minor modifications to the console and fabricate some brackets but, It looks DAMN good.
3 August 1999 Installed my new KYB Gas shocks...In the rain...Found out the front shocks that were in the car were completely blown out. The KYB's definitely improved the stance of the car. By the time I was finished I looked like a drowned Rat.
6 August 1999 Finished up the bodywork on the driver?s side rocker panel and door. Got it all primered and looking good.
11 August 1999 Started pounding out the dents in the rear valance
13 August 1999 Well I am getting ready to depart for the next 3 weeks to Florida on another Business trip. Once again I have had a change of plans. After looking at my new rear quarter I realized that swapping them out is probably something I can do myself. Since I have full Quarter replacements I will be able to swap them using almost entirely spot welds just like the factory did. I will only have to stitch weld approximately a one-foot area. So when I get back from Florida I am going to buy a mini Arch welder with the spot weld and stitch weld attachments and swap the quarters myself. And as a bonus I get a welder for my own use in the future. So expect some big things to happen in the month of September and October. Until I return...MOPAR to Ya.
23 November 1999 Wow it has been way too long since I last updated my journal. As this year draws towards an end it seems that I have been travelling more and more lately. The little bit of extra time I have had has been dumped almost entirely on working on the Charger. Let me give you a quick update that will bring you up to where we are at today. As you know I have just about all of the interior ripped out of the car the only exception being the front buckets and center console. All of the other interior parts have been cleaned an completely re-dyed black. I currently have the pieces stored in my bedroom waiting for the day that I get the car in for paint. Just over the last 2 weeks I was able to get the new quarter panels installed. If you check out my photo area you will be able to see pictures of the process as it went on the drivers side. I have no pictures of the passenger side because I was running out of time in my race against the big snow storm that hit us on Monday. On the bright side I won that race and have both of the quarters installed. Around the first of the month I was forced into going through the joy of trying to get my car to pass emissions. I had some neighborhood asses turn my car in because it did not have current tags. So needless to say I went through a week of hell trying to get the car to pass the IM test. Well I was able to get a waiver and get my car registered for 5 years and I even picked up a set of the cool collectors plates. Well I think that about brings you all up to date on where I am at. Unless the weather turns and gets nice I will be forced to drive my car up to the airforce base to get any more of the bodywork done but that is something I am willing to do. I will try and work harder at keeping you all updated better in the future.