"Building My Dream" by 72 Chally

[72chally440]

"Building My Dream"

Here you will follow my 1972 Challenger build. I will be transforming a solid minimal rust numbers matching 318 car that was sitting in a garage since 1982 into a tire ripping 650+ HP 440 street/strip car. It was born in what I consider to be the ugliest color Ma Mopar ever offered on these cars; GY4 "Honeydew." Interior was Gold/Tan/Black/Brown. Supposedly the car sat a the dealership lot and did not sell, so they painted it Brown. Original owner later changed it to light yellow which is it's current color. My plan for this car, since it is not a highly collectible rare beast, is to make it into a car I can enjoy and have fun with. I have always loved B5 blue as it was on the 1970 Dodge Challenger I drove as a kid. I have decided to transform this car into a B5 blue with black interior. It will likely have a blacked out T/A style hood and black stripes of some type. The 318 /904 trans have already gone into a 72 charger which I sold to make room for this project. I already have a built 440, appropriately rebuilt 727 trans with 3000 stall converter and a Sure Grip diffy ready to install. They were originally intended for the Charger, but with no offense to B body lovers, I always wanted the Challenger. When this one came along I could not resist.

Here is what she looked like when she came home after 31 years in the garage. (The wheels and tires on it had to be changed because they were flat)


More to follow....

 

[72chally440]

Interior and dash coming out:


Found a build sheet in rear seat back springs. Another under the driver side rear carpet.

Dash illumination panel coming out. Need to know the wiring for reinstall

Instrument bezel coming out. See the ugly Honeydew in the background on the door.

More wiring. I was amazed at good condition after 40+years

Man that Black is gonna look good.

 

[burntorange70]

Sweet! Good luck with the build.

 

[moparleo]

If you don't already have one, get a the factory service manuals. An easier way to do the dash is to unplug the harnesses at the firewall and remove the dash complete. Only a few bolts holding the complete dash assembly to the firewall.

 

[72chally440]

Yep, wish I had done that. It is going back complete. I actually went by an article posted in another thread. http://www.forebodiesonly.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=30967
I didn't realize he just wanted to take the pad out..Live n Learn.

 

[tabithapalita]

If you can really mod this car, its got some serious potential. You will be happy with the results. Good luck!

 

[72chally440]

Some updates....still getting her stripped down for body shop.
Moparleo, you were absolutely correct much easier to remove dash the other way. Ordered the Factory Service Manual disc from ebay too. It helps for us first timers stripping things down.




Floors are in excellent shape

Here are the main rust issues :









Progress is great. Seems like everything I do creates more questions. I find myself searching FEBO, especially Tored's project. It is a great source and inspiration. I hope to do the same for someone else.

 

[Bill]

Pictures are worth 1,000,000 words aren't they? I'm building my dream car too and I often think of how different things would be if I did not have a resource like FEBO.

Some updates....still getting her stripped down for body shop.
Moparleo, you were absolutely correct much easier to remove dash the other way. Ordered the Factory Service Manual disc from ebay too. It helps for us first timers stripping things down.



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Floors are in excellent shape
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Here are the main rust issues :
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Progress is great. Seems like everything I do creates more questions. I find myself searching FEBO, especially Tored's project. It is a great source and inspiration. I hope to do the same for someone else.

 

[72chally440]

Finally got back to working on my project. Here she is in primer after Media Blasting. Being a California car it was in really good shape other than the usual lower quarter panel, deck filler panel & various other small rust areas. We did find one prior dent repair on driver side quarter just behind door that we could not see before stripping it. Gonna remove the old filler, weld the dent puller holes, and save the quarter panel. More pics coming soon as this project will start to move along now.

 

[burntorange70]

You made some nice progress so far. Looking good.

 

[72chally440]

Thanks. Here are a few more pics. Any suggestions on best way to deal with the pin holes in roof? Anyone had success welding them? Anyone with success cut and paste with section from Donor car? I'm novice at this and want to direct my body guy in the best direction. Thanks

 

[72chally440]

More Progress. Got seats back from upholstery. I love the blue thread to match the blue paint that will be on the car. Trying to stay close to original style, but with my own flair. Started converting tan interior to black. Had to buy a few interior plastics (original and metro pieces), but overall the originals stayed pretty good. Got to say the SEM paint is the best aerosol spray paint I have ever worked with. It is an amazing product. Found some Torque boxes on ebay. I figure I better have them with the monster motor. Look good, hope they fit well when I get the car back from metal work. Probably gonna do frame connectors. Like to hear opinions of bolt on vs the Weld on. Found some pieces to repair roof and quarter panels off of a donor car. I thought I took pics, but can't find them. Have all the Moog parts to rebuild front end (Will post pics when that part of the project begins.) Have the PST 1.03 Torsion Bars. Gonna order ESPO 1" Rear Leaf Springs Next week. That's all for now. Having a DUCKS Hockey Party to get ready for. GO DUCKS!

 

[Bill]

Stitching looks like a nice touch.

 

[74chlngrTT5.9]

X2 on the stitching color touch.
There is so many subtle touches that can be done while still being true to the cars heritage.

Hope to see car out in person some time from a fellow Socal member.

Mike.

 

[72chally440]

I'm trying. Never thought this could take so long. It feels good to see it gaining by large strides lately. Hopefully, she'll be on the road in the fall.

 

[72chally440]

Passenger Lower Quarter repair.

 

[js29]

your repair looks good, did you use a mig or a tig welder.

 

[72chally440]

Mig. The guy doing the work is a pro..

 

[72chally440]

Here are a few pics of recently completed repairs. Took a little work to line up the AMD Deck Panel, but it's looking good.

 

[72chally440]

A few more pics. The rusted panels have all been repaired now. Off to get primer on those areas, then we start the tedious job of getting everything straight. It is getting close, I can almost see that blue paint on there.