1971 Challenger Rebuild

[Bstoker87]

Bought this car in December 2021 as a roller that needed alot. Car is supposed to head to the body shop first week of August so i started backyard blasting to see if the seller was honest lol.

Already have both new front fenders, new front and rear valances, VFN T/A style hood on order, new trunk lid and after yesterday a rear deck filler panel i wasn't expecting and a passenger rear 1/4 patch i was expecting.

 

[Bstoker87]

Driver 1/4 came put solid with the normal dents, the passenger showed a supprise in front of the wheel with the big slab of body filler. From the inside the metal appers to be there and not in horrible condition but has some 1/8 holes that look like someone pulled a dent, we are planning a rear patch panel on this side but the body guy is confident he can save the rest easily.

 

[moparlee]

Overall not too bad. How's the firewall, floor pans and frame rails?

 

[Bstoker87]

Overall not too bad. How's the firewall, floor pans and frame rails?

All those areas from what i can tell are solid.

Driver front inner fender to radiator support has some damage from a accident but intact and hopefully can be fixed without replacing.

Inner fender to cowl area on both sides have some issues but all of the E-bodies looked at had some so not sure how concerning that is as is not rusted.

 

[moparlee]

All those areas from what i can tell are solid.

Driver front inner fender to radiator support has some damage from a accident but intact and hopefully can be fixed without replacing.

Inner fender to cowl area on both sides have some issues but all of the E-bodies looked at had some so not sure how concerning that is as is not rusted.

 

[moparlee]

If the inner fenders look like they are "rippled" it could be from a front collision. There is a frame rail measurement document out there somewhere that you should probably check out. I have one if I can track it down.

 

[Bstoker87]

If the inner fenders look like they are "rippled" it could be from a front collision. There is a frame rail measurement document out there somewhere that you should probably check out. I have one if I can track it down.

It's just the driver side, it looks like someone tried pulling it and hammered at the same time, hopefully once i blast the engine bay and get some pictures to my guy I'll have a better idea what he is thinking.

 

[Bstoker87]

Here is the car when i got it, sold the R/T hood.

 

[Bstoker87]

TKX, bellhousing and AMD manual trans floor section ordered along with the new leaf springs and shocks.

Should be a fun July trying to get the suspension swapped and test fitting the engine/trans in the car, trying to get the floor section in before it goes to body.

 

[Bstoker87]

Parts started showing up for the manual swap.

 

[Bstoker87]

Leaf springs and new shackles installed, had to order some engine mount brackets so i can test fit the manual swap but decided to get the conversion started with the rough cut and fit of the tunnel.

 

[Bstoker87]

Test fit the 440 short block with Lakewood bellhousing, still waiting on some other parts to put the TKX in.

Also pulled some old Super Steel shocks off the old girl.

 

[Bstoker87]

Another fun time getting the reproduction pedals put in along with starting to test fit the clutch master

Some zip ties and tape made it a 1 parson job lol.

 

[rklein71]

Looks familiar!

 

[Bstoker87]

SST TKX in place!

 

[rklein71]

Hope to do the same trans in my 71.

 

[Bstoker87]

After final trim i decided to play in the 100 degree temp today with my welder, grinder, body hammers and seam sealer.

Also got the hydraulic master fully mounted and the throw all figured out at 5.5:1 which leaves me about 1/8 for fine tuning if needed.

 

[Bstoker87]

Waiting on the body shop to call so just been at a stand still.

I ended up finding a set of as cast Indy 440-1 cylinder heads and got them in a trade.

 

[Bstoker87]

Had to push it out to work on another car, still waiting on the body shop to call.

 

[ChallengerGary]

Any updates? What transmission is that?