Tazet's 69 Dodge Charger.

[madron]

ye its stamfordspeedshop in dagenham essex

[XL-erate]

Here's a link to Torqueflite transmission identification, sorry couldn't get it here sooner:

http://www.carcraft.com/newlook/crc_act/116_0302_trans/index.html

[tazet]

Thanks XL for that. Must remember to take this laptop with me to work one day when it's quiet.

Been doing a bit more digging today in the filler on the left side of the car. By the looks of things it was as bad as the right side, all rippled and dented and instead of just skimming the side they built it up with filler. Over a centimetre in some places. We've found somewhere that sells complete rear quarters at a reasonable price. Think that's the route we are going to have to take as whoever did some of the work on this car just filled instead of repairing and the areas that have been fixed have been done badly. The firewall in the engine bay is twisted so we are on the lookout for a B bodied car that's a write-off from the rear so we can have the complete front end, (not wings). I have been told to contact a guy called Duncan Watts and he is on the MMA site so a while back I sent him a PM which he never replied to. I've now emailed him so waiting to see if he replies to that one. I hope he does as he has been recommended by several people, even if it says sorry I can't help. Anyway here are photos of the filler.
 

[tazet]

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[tazet]

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[texon]

did they have part shares in P38 

[shabby]

my god they loved there filler lol 

[Manky Monkey]

The right hand wing, which we thought was the rough one, is actually more or less all steel. The left hand side is up to an inch thick in filler in places. Taz used a power file & put it nose first against the wing & it just disappeared into the filler. Must be several hundred quid's worth on the car. It's cost us 6 grand for the rolling shell & boxes full of bits to rebuild it with. Hopefully Taz's Beemer will sell for 10. Assuming 90 percent of the parts are in the boxes & useable, that means she's got 4 grand to play with to sort out the body. So we're thinking we might as well just buy new wings, & trade the doors in against re-conditioned ones. We can buy every panel except the door pillar, (maybe that's why the Dooks of Hazzards' doors were welded up!), so will need to pay someone to jig the car up & rebuild that so that the panels all fit afterwards.
Tomorrow, (our day off), we're going to visit a few restoration & American car workshops & try & get a few rough quotes. Best so far is around 1,200 quid, which probably equates to about 4 days work. Sounds a lot but it's a major structural part of the car & worth doing properly.

[VALLEYSBOY]

1200 aint that bad a price for jig work, most garages rent there jigs and they aint cheap plus the space the car/jig take up in the workshop plus id say the charger will prolly be on it for a week as the adjustments made to the jig are taken in sml bits at a time, and obviously use someone who knows what there talking about/qualified, just my tupence from when i worked with them yrs ago

[Manky Monkey]

There's actually a reputable restoration company right here in our village. I can't remember the name though -the resto company, not the village. They had a Charger in recently. Valley Gas Speed Shop, who built the chassis for my Pop project, have also got a Charger in for rust repairs at the moment.

[tazet]

Well we've had a stroke of luck. Yesterday I stumbled accross a Dodge site in Belgium and the guy has the bulk head we need. The whole section, that's the bit between driver and engine. The inner fenders we can buy but that bit is only available from dead cars. I've had various email conversations with him and he will bring the part to the Mopar Nats at Santa Pod at the end of July. He also sent me a link and told me to email the part numbers of the bits I need and he will price everything up for me and hopefully bring that with him too. I contacted John from JPC restorations in Cranleigh, (local to us), and he is coming over tomorrow morning to see the car. They have a jig at their place and are much more equipped to do the work properly. He will let me know what other bits I need to get to do the work and hopefully give me a rough quote for doing it. I know it's not going to be cheap but this bit I have to get done properly as it's part of the main structure of the car.
The rear quarters are available as a complete skin to fix them so that will be easier than beating out the dents and trying to fix the very bad mending that was done previously. Hopefully Marcus can give me a few tips and be my mentor for that work.
The engine is still in bits but I don't know where to start and I don't even know if all the bits are there. I've looked in books and on the internet but what I really need is someone who knows what they are looking at to help me sort it all out and give me a shopping list so I can get started on that.
Most bits can be bought to get this car on the road. It's the sorting out of what needs replacing and what we can get away with for now that's the hard bit. A lot of the stuff doesn't need to be done yet as it's not in the MoT test so those things will wait till after it's on the road. We keep saying this isn't going to be a concourse quality job, so as long as it's tidy & mechanically sound we'll be happy.

[BikerGran]

You seem to be going great guns with this Tazet - making a lot of progress already cos it's all the planning and organising that takes the most time!

[Mr_G]

I agree, I was unaware that you had so much to do, replacing the whole front sounds like a mojor task. Good luck and keep up the good work.

[tazet]

Thanks Bobbi and Zippy
I've spent so many hours going through magazines writing down all the web sites I may need then trawling through the list to see who sells what. Not to mention the sites and links that XL-erate sends me and the ebay links from various members on this site. I'm grateful to them all for their help and going through links on other sites. The hardest bit is finding the parts once we've figured out what is needed. If we give the work to John then while the car is away that will be the time to start on the engine and try and get it ready for when the car returns. I've just been speaking to Dave2lanes and hopefully he will come over sometime in his Charger so we can use that as a live template as it's the best 3D book we'll get and he will help with the engine. Or at least say what's good and what's not. Although his car is a 68 and the engine's a 440 they are very very similar.

[BikerGran]

The engine is still in bits but I don't know where to start and I don't even know if all the bits are there. I've looked in books and on the internet but what I really need is someone who knows what they are looking at to help me sort it all out and give me a shopping list so I can get started on that.

Maybe you could do with something like this:

55-71 Shop Service Repair Manual for Chrysler Plymouth and Dodge All Models by Glenn's for all models including Fury Coronet Barracuda Charger Dart Valiant New Yorker Imperial Newport Monaco Belvedere Road Runner Super Bee NewYorker and more...  (63_Glen)  $44.95

Found on Books4Cars.com