`70 FK5 A66 Resurection

[DetMatt1]

This will be a long term thread, possibly many years. I bought this car from a Craigslist add a year and a half ago here in the Detroit area. It was being used as a parts car and was sitting in a backlot of a body shop for 4 or 5 years before I saved it. Evidently it sat under a row of pines for 25 years before that. What it does have going for it is its original engine and automatic transmission, as well as a mint Broadcast sheet and a fender tag still in place that was rusted so badly that it was only suprisingly legible from the bottom. So this is a JH vincode 340 performance package 1970 Challenger that was originally burnt orange inside and out with a black vinyl top and rump stripe. Ralley hood, 15" ralleys, console, buckets, tinted glass, power steering, standard dash with a clock, exhaust tips, 3.23 sure grip, etc.. Production number for the automatic A66 cars is 3,771 and I wish it were a 4 spd, but nonetheless this will be one kool car when restored!
Some of you may know I am currently restoring a `68 Road Runner, the "JUNKYARD DOG", over on B-bodies. I will not be digging in to this car much until that one is done, allthough I am gathering parts as I find them.
Here is what she looked like when I answered the ad. Brace yourself!!

 

[DetMatt1]

Most of the interior was missing along with the hood and trunklid and the top yoke of the radiator core support. The guy that owned it also didn't include the rear end and the front spindle/hub/drum assemblies, which were removed after the previous pics were taken. I had a couple of weeks to come up with the parts to make it a roller again before I actually went and picked it up. Loaded onto the trailer with a fork lift, got it home, installed the replacement suspension parts while on the trailer so I could roll it off in my driveway. Luck would have it that the doors had been stored inside the car for a lot of those years and are in pretty good shape as far as rust is concerned. The 15" ralleys were long gone as well and at this point the engine was siezed, but I was VERY happy with the deal I got on it. More soon.

 

[DetMatt1]

I spent a little time dismanteling it and cleaning it up to see what I actually had and just how badly rotted it is. 974 radiator was still with it and in really nice shape and it was amazing to see so little missing in the engine compartment. It was missing the air cleaner, the exhaust manifolds, windshield wiper motor and the master cylinder.

 

[burntorange70]

You got your work cut out for you. I just love this car. Wish I would of had the money to buy it from you when you had it up for sale. She would of looked nice sitting next to my FK5 Dart. Cant wait to see it come together for you. Good luck.

 

[burdar]

It doesn't look like it has the cowl blackout like the 1970's had. Was it repainted or did the factory miss the blackout?

It looks like a lot of work but they make replacement metal for all the rusted areas that I saw in your pics. That will be a really nice looking car when done. Good luck with the project.

Incase your not aware of it...there is a big thread on Moparts about the A66 cars. If you're planning on going back to stock with it, you can find some good info in that thread.

Could you order burnt orange interior with exterior colors other than burnt orange? I don't know if I've seen one. A black car with burnt orangle interior would really look good.

 

[R/T4speedconv]

It doesn't look like it has the cowl blackout like the 1970's had. Was it repainted or did the factory miss the blackout?

They all did not get the black out-some did some did not. I never did figure out why. Maybe R/T did and JH did not?

 

[DetMatt1]

It doesn't look like it has the cowl blackout like the 1970's had. Was it repainted or did the factory miss the blackout?

It looks like a lot of work but they make replacement metal for all the rusted areas that I saw in your pics. That will be a really nice looking car when done. Good luck with the project.

Incase your not aware of it...there is a big thread on Moparts about the A66 cars. If you're planning on going back to stock with it, you can find some good info in that thread.

Could you order burnt orange interior with exterior colors other than burnt orange? I don't know if I've seen one. A black car with burnt orangle interior would really look good.

Thanks Burnt, not saying it's not still for sale...
This is an early car, which may have something to do with the lack of blackout, the car still wears it's original paint. It also had R/T badges on it when I got it that looked very much like they were factory installed, or maybe dealer?. Heard some rumors about that happening on some of the A66 cars. This was also before they started with the crumple zone hoods and before the rear swaybar became standard. Also would have had the unusual 340 Four Barrel stickers for hood callouts, which I still havent seen in person yet.
I've posted on that A66 thread on Moparts and you're right, there is some great info on it by some very knowledgeable guys.
You could get the Burnt orange interior with other paint colors, I've seen black and just recently saw Gomango, both very kool.

 

[R/T4speedconv]

My R/T Challenger is about 89,500 earlier that this one and it does have the cowl black out. That said the paint (?) Mopar used was very easy to wash off with water and a rag-it did not stick well to the red under it. Look under the black plastic grill over the cab air intake to see if any black paint is there. R/T badges were added later by someone. VIN says it all-JH not JS. Also no rally gauges. Power bulge hood can be ordered on any Challenger (I have seen a 70 SE Challenger with a slant 6 and sun roof!). You do have about the best (yes in my opinion) engine/body set-up Mopar sold (340+6 is top) (please A-bodies are not as wide as the E-body but about the same wheel base) for handling with out the weight of the BB/Hemi up front. Great car to put back together. FYI you have the rubber faced bumperettes (rare) but most people do not know they are the same ones used on the Dart-just up side down (same part number). I have seen two or three other cars with the burnt orange interior-one was in a wreaking yard. Glad to see the dash pad cleaned up so well-that would be hard to get right now.

 

[AlleyoopMgv]

Cool car DetMatt1, you got your work cut out for ya, but I suppose you can buy almost anything for them now days. Good luck with your project, keep us posted.

 

[DetMatt1]

My R/T Challenger is about 89,500 earlier that this one and it does have the cowl black out. Glad to see the dash pad cleaned up so well-that would be hard to get right now.

When was yours built? Unfortunately the dashpad has cracks in it and will have to be replaced, but I don't see me actually needing one for a few years.

Thanks Alleyoop, I will keep posting on this thread. I find FBBO a great tool for photodocumenting a resto, why would FEBO be any different. These sites are also motivational for me, not that actually doing the work or attaining the finished product isn't, but it is nice to get things done and post the progress along with the others on the site that are doing the same thing.

 

[DetMatt1]

The doors ended up being in nice shape save for the crease in the drivers doorskin, they were stored inside the car for the last several years at least and have very little rust. I acquired a set of hinges and installed them on the car so they weren't taking up shop space and I could also start filling the car with parts that I have been accumulating. It actually started to look like a car again.

 

[R/T4speedconv]

Detmatt1-My Challenger was number 42X (choose a number between 420 to 429) off the line made in very early Aug 69. and have owned it since 79.

 

[DetMatt1]

The first part that I accumulated for it was a structural front clip which included front frame rails, torsion bar crossmember, the other panels still attached to it aren't in great shape but might be useable for patches. Also picked up a doner roof for it.

 

[R/T4speedconv]

Aug 2nd 1969 I think-I would have to dig up the broadcast sheet to check.
http://www.arts-attic.com/automobiles/70challenger/images/1970_Dodge_Challenger.jpg

 

[R/T4speedconv]

The first part that I accumulated for it was a structural front clip which included front frame rails, torsion bar crossmember, the other panels still attached to it aren't in great shape but might be useable for patches. Also picked up a doner roof for it.

Wow you have your work cut out for ya (pun) . I see that you Challenger had a vinyl top-back then often the cars that got the vinyl top had a wavy top to start with, and it was cheaper to put a vinyl top on and not to fix it.

I do wish that I bothered to learn welding/body work. I am good at electrics/details and mechanics and fair with the interior but I really envy the ones that can weld.

 

[DetMatt1]

I've known this for a while, but I didn't want to post about it until I had it completely apart. I needed to move the car out of my shop because of a big concrete countertop job that I recently started so I found one of my neighbors had an empty garage and was willing to let me keep it their for a couple of months. Before I moved it I wanted to pull the engine and trans for 2 reasons, first I didn't want anything leaking on there garage floor and I had been filling the cylinders with the concoction to try to free it up, so it was kind of a mess and second I really wanted to get the engine apart to see why it was stuck. I had recently pulled the heads to see if I could get to the bottom of it after which I did get it to turn over a little. I had found one of the cylinders was filled with a rusty, sludgy sediment, but couldn't really determine why, so out it had to come and on to an engine stand. I got it pulled apart without any issues except for the one stuck piston. None of the bearings were in that bad of shape and the other 7 cylinders showed signs of a crosshatch pattern from the last hone it had. It had been apart before which was a bit of a suprise, I thought that with only 60 some odd thousand on the odometer that it might never have been apart. Rod caps were all stamped and you know they didn't do that at the factory. Today I got the last piston out of the block along with the cam and I can now confidently say that there is nothing seriously wrong with the original engine and I am very relieved because that made the allready smokin' deal I got on this car that much better! I will take it to the machine shop to have it cleaned and checked, oiled and bagged for now.

 

[Russ]

That's great news!

 

[6PKRTSE]

Cool to see your gahering parts for it & progressing on the project. I am glad to see you decided to keep it also. My Challenger is also an A66 340 4 bbl car.

 

[ramenth]

Good news on the engine, bud. Even better that you're working at it. Some folks would have simply given up and found another.

 

[vegas70340]

I too have a 1970 FK5 340 4-speed

It is painted a black cherry color now but I am in the process of stripping it now.FK5 is in the future.Also has a black interior though it codes as an orange.Will stay with the black.The block is a 1968 340 thus not a matching numbers car.Might as well restomod it.I am going to go with 4WDB's and 17" Cragar 500's.
I will try to post pics soon.

See you at Mopars at the Strip BurntOrange70