71 Challenger Resto

[scoose]

Last time I posted was nearly 2 years ago. Busy is a good word to describe how things have been and the project had to take a back burner as well. We have been back into the swing of things lately and have made a lot of progress.

The car is painted and on the ground, the hotchkiss suspension is in, motor and tranny are in, the seats are being restored and the gauges are about to go out.

Seems like we are down to the nitty gritty pieces now and have had some trial and error opportunities since this is a resto-mod not an OEM resto. We will be doing a lot of work this week so I will get some more current pics up then but I have vid and a pic to share from this past year.

We are hoping ( this time ) to be done for some of the lat spring car shows and some summer car shows. Duqoin Il and Columbus Oh are the targets. Time ( and money) will tell the tale.

 

[DetMatt1]

That looks fantastic!

 

[rbbruno3]

Looking good

 

[moparlee]

That will be a very nice looking 71!

 

[scoose]

Some progress today. We are going to have to fab a drop plate for the 12 3/4 air cleaner. Seems to be a pretty uncommon size especially for drop plates. Decided to replace the water pump housing with an aluminum one from Summit. The fittings for the heater hoses in the original are frozen in and we are going for a bit different look. Picked it up today and will be putting it on Wednesday. Have to cut the sparky wires to length and get them into looms. Got a set of pulleys from March, they should be on Wednesday too.

Tonight, I'm rebuilding the heater box. MAN it's amazing the things that get inside of there after a few years!! YECH!!

Fuel lines and brake lines on Friday and interior and glass in a couple weeks.

It's STARTING to come together

 

[midnitedeputy]

I almost went with that color !!!!! Looks awesome.

 

[scoose]

Thanks!! It's the original color, honestly if it wasn't numbers matchning it would have been plumb crazy.

 

[scoose]

Today we are swapping out the water pump housing. The heater hose nipples on the original are frozen into the housing and we were swapping them for 90s. Power steering pump and hoses go in today.

Swapping out the rear wheel studs as well. When I put the wheels and tires on to check fitment the studs on the rear fell WAY short of acceptable.

Waiting on the gasket and clip set for the heater box still. When it finally comes I can get that puppy installed as well.

 

[71Plym]

I went with a K&N air filter assembly with 1 3/4" drop base to get the needed clearance under my stock Cuda hood.
I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold. Still snug under the hood.
I think a Challenger hood may have a bit more clearance.
K&N X-Stream Airflow Assemblies 66-3040

 

[scoose]

I went with a K&N air filter assembly with 1 3/4" drop base to get the needed clearance under my stock Cuda hood.
I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold. Still snug under the hood.
I think a Challenger hood may have a bit more clearance.
K&N X-Stream Airflow Assemblies 66-3040

View attachment 34823

That xstream looks nice. When I get the hood on I'm gonna look real hard at the clearance and go from there. The MP air cleaner really fits my theme but we will have to fab a drop plate. If it needs to drop more than an 1 1/4" it won't work. Since it's only a 12 3/4 cleaner there won't be enough room around the carb to go lower.