'70 Challenger Body Work

Last week we got done. All we can do on our Mustang road race. We're simply out of parts. So we parked it

and grabbed today's project. This 70 challenger we lovingly named Overkill. You Mopar fans thought we parked it forever. Well, dust off your pedestal because today's all for you.

In 2002 7, Dodge Challengers were used in the motion picture. Too fast, too furious. Some were show cars,

others were stunt cars,

the stunt cars,

they drove them hard and most of them came back rough around the edges.

Year one supplied some of the parts for the challenges.

When the movie wrapped,

they ended up with one of them.

They sent it to us last year.

It needed a lot of TLC.

The bottom line, the car was tired,

so we had a lot of work to do.

Even Ian and Jessi from Xtreme 4x4 came over to help. The first thing was to strip the car,

the bumpers, the fenders, swords interior, the works,

everything had to be gone through

and then a parts list was made.

Then it was off the blast from the past to get stripped,

seeing it in bare metal was the only way to tell how much work we were in for once. The Challenger was back in the shop, we got started

versus small stuff. The rear window channel needed some new metal,

some fabrication took care of that.

All of our replacement panels came from good market.

The quarters were cut on the body line and the new ones were welded in place.

Next, we tackled the firewall and filled all the holes. The body panels were hung in place to see how they would line up.

We bolted in a K member from Red Top speed shop that would hold our 528

Hemings,

a

Kesler 5 ft and a Danish 60 from Curry complete the drive train,

air ride suspension all the way around because of the ride height. The floor was next.

It was completely cut out.

A section of the rear frame was repaired and frame connectors were added to stop the twist.

Since this car is gonna sit five inches from the ground.

We custom built our exhaust and made the floor fit because nothing can be lower than five inches. This low car is gonna have a lot of power. Each time it takes off, a

little extra body support is needed.

So we added braces in the fender wells and between the firewall and dash to tie it all together,

we stripped the challenger down in the body, then we had the floor trunk and not to mention the underneath of the car Rhino Line to keep it from rusting.

This will also insulate the car and cut down on the noise.

We sprayed the car with a fresh coat of primer to keep the exposed metal rust free until we were ready to finish the bodywork and slap a paint job on it

with all the panels back in place. The Challenger was right where we wanted it to be

low and mean, sitting just five inches off the deck. This thing is gonna cause a small earthquake when it's done.

Well, there it is. It's finally done. Well, kinda

although this is really close to what we have in mind, the thing that's gonna get this one to look like this one is body work. A lot of body work and that's probably why it sat out there for so long after that, we're going to blow it apart for the third time. Pain it, so we've got one last chance to get it right and it starts with the doors.

The top is really close to where it needs to be,

but the middle of the door needs to be kicked in a bit.

It's the door mounts, not the hinge that lets you push the door in and out,

that brought it in quite a bit,

but the gap's too wide and way too tight at the rear.

This is where the hinge mount comes into play.

How's that

work

that gave us the gap we wanted

and the body lines match up really well,

but the gap up front is not even and not as flush as we want. It

must be a fender issue.

I think we'll stop here.

Those body lines are dead on.

We're not so lucky on the other side,

the door fit great,

but the mounting holes on the fender

need expansion.

Don't just make a bigger hole know where you need the extra movement

with the doors in the back half of the fenders looking good. This is where you tie it all together. We left the front of the fenders loose till we see how the hood fits.

We'll pull it forward first,

then make sure the backer lines with defenders, then finish it off up front.

It's really not hard to align your panels. All you need is some simple hand tools and some time. So if you've got a sagging door or a sloppy fender or a hood that won't fit, now, you've got no excuse.

Now, if your panels are bent,

you'll need a slide hammer

and a little finesse

to pull out dense, big or small, a stud gun at your next purchase.

They come with a small slide hammer

and again, finesse is required.

Now, the stud gun is about 15 years old and it's a lot easier on the metal in the way. They used to pull a dent back in the day. They would just drill a hole, put a slide hammer on it and pull it out.

The holes took too long to fill and they claimed it helped hold on to 10 pounds of mud.

Space out your welds. So you don't warp your panel.

It looks like the original repair wasn't that good. After all,

they didn't pull it out far enough for us.

Never rush a body guy. Because if you do your paint job might look like the ocean. Now, after the break, we're gonna pre ft the rest of the front end to make sure everything is the way we want it.

We're back and we're knee deep in the body work and overkill. Most of the dents are gone and the panels are pretty much aligned. But to finish the front off, we got to put some parts on

the original balance will align the bottom of the fenders. This grill is original too

and you have no choice here,

no one's re popping them. So get out your checkbook and have it refurbished.

Next is the front bumper.

It's in good shape,

but we're still gonna send it out. Brer.

A

real common problem is this gap.

You wanna make sure it's equal on both sides. Our bump is adjustable, forwards and backwards and side to side. Most are not. That's why you wanna pre ft everything. It's all in the details,

everything lined up better than we expected. A few minor adjustments is all we needed

when defenders were reskin

we didn't weld them up all the way now that their tweak will make them permanent.

It's time to weld up some more holes who needs an antenna.

Our stud gun makes the perfect handle

and if you set them flushing up, they smooth out real nice.

So far, we've showed you how to align panels, pull dents and fill holes big and small. But another thing you can run into

protrusions,

even though this top is going to be vinyl. It's still,

it needs to be smooth,

jumping up and down on it leaves creases and simply shows your lack of schooling.

So with a dolly underneath

and some banging on top, you can flatten it out.

Different hammers do different things. If the flathead doesn't do it,

the pick will

same with the dollies. There are different carriages for just about any part of the car.

A carefully used file can show you the highs and lows in the metal.

There's still a lot of hammering, but you get the point. Once we get done with that, we're gonna do the mud work. We're not gonna show you that because it takes days to finish. Well, it's just boring TV. But later on in the show, I got one more tidbit of metal work to show you.

Like I said earlier, today's show is for you Mo Park fans. So here's one of my personal favorites.

The Barracuda.

This week's muscle car flashback, the 73 C

A 340

1973 was the next to the last year that the Plymouth Barracuda would be in production.

Since 1970 sales numbers slowly began to decrease

the Plymouth Duster and Dodge Demon were cheaper and easier to insure for younger drivers.

Plus they offer the same performance options as the Barracuda and the challenger

at a lower cost.

If you went to a local Plymouth dealership in 73 more than likely you were given this brochure.

The

Cota's marketing image was now that of a sporty family car. A far cry from the aggressive coa

ads of 1970

that didn't matter. It was still a coa

same mean lines, same interior, same tough look.

The days of the big block 4 44 46 pack and 426 hemi

had come and gone for the Barracuda.

There were only two small blocks in 73

a 318 and a 340

the 318 and the 341 powerhouses like the big blocks.

But the 346 pack already had some history from Trans Am racing.

It's fun. The A Ar Ka

model back in 1970.

So with a little modification, it wasn't hard to make a stand 344 barrel a street contender.

If you ask Lee Suttles about his 73 cooter, he'll tell you it's definitely a muscle car.

It's not just me. It's downright nasty.

I got into cars from my father. He's had various cars over the years. His first car was a Mopar, a 64 Fury

and he's always had the bug and I got the bug from him and we've always kept, tried to keep some kind of old car around

and this is what I've ended up with. This is kind of my dream car.

I'm attracted to the Kutas really. Because of some of my friends growing up, I got to ride to high school in the 71

kota.

I always had a Mopar

fever,

a motorcycle dealer in Georgia had the car for sale. And after seeing it, he knew it was the one with a scotch

over 64,000 original miles matching numbers. It was a done deal. This cooter came with a full rally package, factory red paint sporting dual black body side tape stripes, dual rally mirrors, quad round tail lights and intimidating performance hood magnum 500 wheels, black interior with rally gauges

and a vicious front end letting you know that this fast fish means business

under the hood, a 344 barrel with a 727 torque flight automatic transmission.

This one's got a little bit more than factory horsepower.

Chrysler rated the 344 barrel 240 horses.

But you can hear this one for yourself. It's past the 241.

I really tried to build it the way that I thought uh somebody could build it back then I put off 68 to 71

cam and Pistons and all the set up for something that somebody could have gotten in 73

and kind of felt like somebody would have hopped it up with a little bit older, faster part. So that's the way we built it. He wanted the car to have that seventies hopped up look. So he added some beefy rear tires, adjusted the torsion bars to drop the front and raise the rear.

You'd have to be blind to miss this thing coming down the street.

Well, almost blind. There's always going to be some hazards when driving a classic on public roads.

But that doesn't bother Lee. He'd rather have his car in the street

than sitting in a garage. That's just what he does.

If you're ever down south,

you might get to see this muscle car doing what it does. Best. Tearing up the road.

1974 was the last year for the Barracuda.

They only made 12,000 of them

and you can still find one if you look hard enough. Like the old saying goes catch a coa

if you can.

Now, today's show has been all about the final metal work on our project here and it's gone really easy because we've already reskin the fenders and partially reskin the quarter panels, but the doors, nobody re pops them. So we had to save them.

Usually you have two options. You could buy a new door, but you still have to transfer your window mechanisms and electronics to it

or you can reskin it, it's faster and it's easier because you get to keep your old door intact and I've got just enough time to show you how to do it.

The factory uses a lip on the skins to mount them to the body of the door.

You'll never pry it off in one piece. So your best bet, grind the edge to separate them.

This is only about 18 gauge steel. So be careful. It's not going to take much.

If you choose to leave the panels or glass in place, be sure to protect them from sparks.

There are some tack welds on top of the frame.

Thanks

and the spot welds holding on the remaining lips will need a little convincing.

Now you can correct any damage to the body of the door,

clean it up on both sides

and spray on some well through primer for extra insurance.

Now, there are two ways to finish this thing off

just like it's been done since the first Ford, hit a tree with a hammer and a dolly

or take advantage of some modern technology like this pneumatic doors. Skinner Matco just came out with

a

few tags to keep it there

and some seal to make it last.

There you go. You just skin the door and in half the time it took to repair that one. Not to mention the difference in mud work. We're out of time. Everything that we did here today you could do at home in your garage and being at most body shops can charge up to $100 an hour. You got a choice, sit on your couch, watch cartoons and write a fat check or get out and do it yourself later.