Tolley's 1970 Charger

February 03, 2012

It's all in the details

Well, while I am waiting for my glass to arrive (should be not more than a couple of weeks now), I have been keeping busy assembling a collection of fairly "correct" appointments for my Charger's firewall. I got a great deal on a Mopar reproduction voltage regulator, I reconditioned an original type ballast resistor I had, I did the same with the starter solenoid, and restored my windshield washer nozzles and hoses (installed after this picture was taken) I located original type bolts for each and put them on for this picture.

Nothing too exciting, but still, some progress.

December 03, 2011

Fuel tank and lines are in!

Today, my son and I also put in the new Fuel tank, a new 3/8" sending unit (with 1/4" vapor return fitting) we will mate this to the new reproduction steel fuel lines and clips he and I installed earlier this week. (again new 3/8 feed with a 1/4 return)

Here's the tank with pads, sending unit, and new fuel fill seal installed.

And here it is all tightened down in its permanent home!

More to come.

Front Bumper Parts ready

Well, I had a chance to get a few things done today.

Finished sand blasting the metal parts that surround the grille, then got them primed, and painted. Now when I get time, I can reassemble the grill, bumper etc, and install them!

Here they are after being primed, and painted...

Looking forward to finishing the front!

November 26, 2011

Hit a snag!

Well, it happens to everyone from time to time, now it is my turn (again)...

After cleaning my various windows really well this weekend, I realized that I am in dire need of replacement glass. My door glass, and rear window especially are scratched beyond belief! I guess all those years driving it, I never noticed (or cared)? Heck back then if my car had glass I thought I was "good to go!"

What that means is the glass installation will not happen right away, the newly chromed vent window frames and such will have to stay packed away, and the re-assembly of my interior will be on hold too. This is because I need to have the side glass all in and adjusted prior to putting the door panels on, and the rear door panels have to be on prior to the installation of the rear seat.

... Oh well, something else to save up for. I'll have to find other things to do on my Charger for a while. That should not be too hard!

November 08, 2011

Headlight door motor ready

Now that I am getting closer to installing my grille, I blasted, restored, and rebuilt my headlight door motor. The gear, and internal plastic parts are all new from The Headlight Motor Man (Great stuff by the way). I appears to work very well!

Hopefully soon I'll have my refurbished motor back in its natural environment!

November 02, 2011

Re-Chromed Rear bumper - On!

Well, my son and I have found time to install the new wheel lip mouldings, and to re-assemble and install the re-chromed rear bumper.

I blasted the bumper brackets and hardware, shot them with self-etching primer, painted all satin black and put it together with new bumper bolts, and my brand new but several years old," Mopar or No Car" Charger script license plate frame I bought from Mopar Collector's Guide.

Here's a preview; my wife took a picture for me this afternoon while I was at work...

Stick around, more on the way!

October 28, 2011

Some progress

OK, things have been pretty quiet on my restoration for over a month, maybe closer to two. However, as my overtime pay has arrived and has now been put to work for me parts are starting to roll in.

Some folks have been asking, so I thought I's share the current status.
I will have pictures soon, especially when things start to go together, but, here is a list of what I have been able to acquire for my Charger...

Re-Chromed front bumper - got it!
Re-Chromed front bumperettes - got them!.
Re-Chromed rear bumper - got it!
Re-chromed rear bumperettes - got them!
Re-chromed vent window frames and smaller vent window parts (latches etc) - got them!
New bumper bolt kit - got it!
New shifter knob - got it!
New Wheel lip mouldings - got them!
New fuel tank - got it!
New 3/8 fuel line - got it!
New 1/4 fuel return line - got it!
New sending unit - got it!
New fuel line clip kit - got it!

Can't wait to get everything put on. That means I get to finish putting in the side glass, them complete the interior, I get to install bumpers and that means un-boxing my grille! I am getting excited!

Pictures coming "soon" (probably a bit at a time over the next 60 days or so) Please stay tuned!

August 23, 2011

Carpet, console, and front seats

Well, Finally getting some time to start putting a few more things together.

I got the tailight and dash wiring all in and connected. Using my little "jump-start" box, I was able to make all the lights tun on, which was fun and gratifying!

With the wiring in I was able to proceed with completing the installation of sound deadener on the floor pan, and move on to the carpet. With help from my buddies at the 70 Charger Registry forum, the carpet install went pretty smoothly.

Here's the carpet in, with the console in position.

Before installing the driver's side front seat, I installed the steering column and steering wheel, since having the seat out made rolling around on the floor of the Charger much easier.

Steering column, and wheel are in and connected. Front seats are in! I have not sat in my Charger since 2004, happy days!

The rear seat is waiting until all my side glass is in, which is waiting on rechroming my vent window frame parts (hopefully in October) Once all the glass is in, and is adjusted correctly, then the door panels will go on, and the rear seat will go in.

July 26, 2011

Dash installation

After completing the restoration and assembly of the dash, it was time to install it in my Charger. The dash pad was new from PG Classics, as was the radio bezel. The radio knobs are mint originals. I repainted the other dash bezels by hand. Everything was screwed together and ready to go.

I rolled the car outside to give us plenty of room to work. My wife took the overhead shots from the garage roof!

This is me with my son (taller) and my nephew, working together to mount the dash in the car. The dash is large and relatively heavy, and you certainly don't want to scratch anything, so having some extra hands is a really good idea. My nephew had wanted to be a part of this part of the project, so we chose an evening when he was over to make use of his willing assistance.

Mission accomplished!

July 23, 2011

Dash and trim progress

Finally had a moment to upload some photos of some recent progress.

First, my son and I have been working in our "extra" time to finish the dash assembly, here are some pictures.

First, dash overall. new PG Classics dash pad, new PG Classics radio bezel purchased from Mopar Ed, gauges and heater controls restored with Performance Car Graphics kit, everything else was restored and hand painted by me.

A close-up of the instrument panel area

Side view

Next, emboldened by Murray's success on his tail light panel, I tried to restore my own. I started over three times before I ended up with the look I was after. Found the "chrome" paint I liked best, painted the black first, then masked off all but the shiny strip with super detail 3m 1/2" wide precision tape.

The 500 emblem I restored, the Charger emblem is new from AMD via Mopar Ed.

Here are some over all pics for effect.

More to come. Stay tuned

June 11, 2011

Fuel cap Father's Day!

A lot of things have been coming together for my Charger lately.In addition to the smoking deal on an NOS antenna base mentioned in the previous post, my order from Mopar Ed came in this week, which consisted of my new PG Classics dash pad, radio bezel, and a pair of nicer quarter windows, a set of '70 AM radio knobs.

Today while we were down in Mopar Ed's office picking up my parts, my wife and kids announced that Ed had a Father's Day surprise for me, and that she and my kids had all chipped in to buy it for me. Then Ed handed me a box containing this (which I promptly installed when I got home)

All I can do is thank Jesus for such a wonderful week, and a wonderful family!

Now I have all the needed pieces, and as soon as I get time, I can complete the assembly of my dash and get it in.

The beautiful fuel cap assembly pictured above attaches through the quarter panel and associated gaskets into the fuel filler tube, so it was necessary to refurbish the filler tube and install the trunk gasket for it at the same time as I installed the fuel cap.

June 10, 2011

Filling in holes

Recently my family and I attended the Fremont Mopar Alley Mopar Rally car show, and I met a really nice guy and his wife who own a beautiful '69 Charger. While talking with them, I found out that they had some leftovers from restoring their car. One of those items was a NOS antenna base, nut, and bezel. He made me an extremely good deal, so I purchased it. My son, my nephew and I installed it in the car and routed the antenna coax. It looks really good, just like it's supposed to, and gives a finished look to the fender.

My friend and regular parts supplier, Mopar Ed, gave me an excellent deal on a pair of used quarter windows that were in considerably better shape than my originals. My son and I had previously installed all the hardware, so it was a simple matter for my nephew Jordan and I to install and adjust the windows themselves. It sure is fun, seeing some of the big holes start to be filled on my Charger.

June 03, 2011

A long-awaited day

A bit more progress to report. A long awaited day.

My son and I installed the new matte black tail-stripe from Performance Car Graphics.

Weather was iffy, so we just pulled it out enough to photograph the stripe work.

Tail stripe, passenger side:

Deck lid with tail stripe:

Tail stripe, driver's side close-up

Tail stripe, driver's side looking backward

I had to re-order a driver's side section, when I put it on at first I messed up badly. The other two pieces went on fine (tried different method) PCG will sell individual parts. So when it arrived, we put it on slowly and gradually, and it went fine. Looks even better in person, if I do say so myself.

Tolley

June 02, 2011

Headliner complete

A bit more tweaking and time have helped my headliner a lot. I have the rest of the seat belt retainers, the visors changed to black (used to be tan) and installed, the mirror that a fellow Charger owner hooked me up with restored and installed.

I am really pleased with the way the headliner is looking now. I learned a lot, and praise Jesus for the patience and His nudge in the right direction when I wasn't sure what to do.

Here are some pictures.

Sun visors and mirror:

Sun visors:

Headliner looking better:

Headliner sail panel area, driver's side:

Headliner sail panel area, passenger side:

May 15, 2011

Decals

One of the steps I have been very excited to be able to perform was purchasing and installing the various authentic reproduction decals that go around the car. I purchased most of the decals from Performance Car Graphics, and I have to say the quality and service were outstanding. I ordered my reproduction VIN decal from ECS Automotive Concepts, and my dealings with them could not have been better. They were fantastic and fast. I also purchased from Performance Car Graphics a matte black tail stripe and air cleaner decal, which have not yet been installed.

Headlight door motor decal

Antifreeze decal

Emissions decal

Tire inflation decal

VIN decal

Jack instructions

Headliner installation!

After reading everything I could find on the subject for months, thinking, and praying about it, I decided to attempt to install my own headliner. I'm sure my upholstery guy would have done a fantastic job for not too much money, but I really wanted to try it to see what it was all about. My son and I worked on this for three nights, and so far I am happy with the results. The headliner is in, the accessories are going on, I have worked the majority of the wrinkles out, and everything I read says it will only get better with time (and some attention from a steam tool of some kind).

The following pictures are taken in order over the course of those three days.

May 07, 2011

Heater box rebuilt and installed

One of the things that needed to happen inside the car before the dash and some other things could go in was that I needed to thoroughly go through my heater box and get it installed. I ordered a complete seal and gasket kit from Restorations By Rick, and it was excellent. Everything fit perfectly, and the instructions left very little to the imagination. My son and I stripped all the parts, sanded, painted, replaced the heater core with a new one, and replaced all the seals using the kit. Once this was complete, we reinstalled the heater box and driver's side vent assembly, which we had also cleaned and detailed. Although we repainted all the metal parts, you may notice that the original Mopar part number stamp is still visible on the front panel. Since that spot was in good shape, I covered it with clear tape, used a razor knife to outline it, and then repainted the front panel. When I pulled the tape off, the effect was pretty good.

heater box rebuilt, front

heater box rebuilt, rear

driver's vent installed

heater box, installed

April 15, 2011

Some progress to report

I have not had a lot of time to work on my Charger lately. I've been working on a lot of other things instead. But I have had a few moments now and then to get a few fun things done on the Charger. I installed my new reproduction fender-to-bumper seals; I installed a new PG Classics driver's side remote mirror (which seems very nice); and I blasted and detailed my wiper motor and voltage regulator bracket and got them painted and installed.

Fender gasket, driver's side:

Fender gasket, passenger side:

Mirror:

Firewall with details:

February 21, 2011

Trim and detail work

Work has been continuing full-speed on my Charger. The sorts of detail work that make up the phase I'm in right now require a large number of hours for a relatively small difference on the car, but I realize that attention to these details will add up to a terrific final product. The most time-consuming part of the project in this phase was straightening, sanding, and polishing the stainless steel trim that surrounds the border of the vinyl top. The materials I had read online gave tips for smoothing out dents, then sanding the pieces with progressively finer grits of sandpaper, and then buffing the pieces, all prior to installation. I am still learning, but so far I am happy with the results.

I have also been polishing the plastic lenses and have been able to now install a number of them. The firewall is also coming together nicely, with the brake pedal assembly and wiper pivots rebuilt and detailed. Next should be the heater box.

This morning my wife asked me to push the car outside the garage so that she could take a fresh round of pictures. Here are some shots that show what I've been doing lately on the Charger.

February 06, 2011

Vinyl Top

One of the things I have really been looking forward to is getting my new Legendary black vinyl top installed on the Charger. I contacted a local businessman, George Sgambellone, owner and operator of Mariposa Auto Trim, about installing my top. He was willing to come to my house and put the top on, showing me step-by-step how he was doing everything. The top looks outstanding, took only a few hours, and his rates were EXTREMELY reasonable. I have decided to place an image of his business card here in this post in case any people in my area need this sort of work done. I highly recommend George.

Here are a progression of pictures from the vinyl top installation. The first image shows George and myself working together. The next set are of the top after it was installed and the car was still outside. Then a couple detail shots after the car was safely back in the garage. I was very happy to finally be able to install the new Charger logos that my wife and kids got me for Christmas, and the new check moldings. As soon as I have the rest of the stainless trim polished, I will install that, hopefully over the next few weeks.

I did also install all of the windshield molding clips for the windshield and rear window.

January 23, 2011

Front valance and blackening

Didn't have much time this week to work on the car until today, but my son and I did reinstall the front valance and mask everything off, carefully, to black out the area behind the grill and bumper. Also, I wanted to see what my new parking light lenses would look like installed, so we put those together and installed them with new hardware in the valance. I think it all came out well and looks really cool.

January 17, 2011

Reassembly begins

It is wonderful to finally be at the reassembly stage. Boxes, envelopes, containers of new and restored parts, will now be freed from their captivity to adorn my Charger.

The very first part I installed on my newly repainted Charger was the passenger side fender emblem, the symbol of Mopar, the pentastar.

Next I installed my new reproduction outside door handles, to encourage people to not put their hands all over the paint when they want to open the door and look inside. They sure look nice to me.

Here's a shot under the hood, with new weatherstripping, bumpers, and hood insulation, with new clips.

With help from my brother-in-law, son, and nephew, we jacked up the assembled K-member and bolted the front suspension in. I installed the .96-inch torsion bars with new seals and clips, and began to assemble the brakes. These are 11.75-inch Cordoba brakes, and will do the job very nicely, I'm sure. The rotors are used, but have been turned. All other parts, including bearings, seals, calipers, and hardware are all new.

After installing the front suspension, my son and nephew were itching to put something else on the car, so I let them install the new body plugs.

I really appreciated the use of Mopar Ed's dollies for the front end of my car, and wanted to free them up to return to him as soon as possible. The most fun way to do that was to get the car sitting on its tires again. I remounted my old BFGs on the newly painted rims, and installed them with new chrome lug nuts. At some future time, I will install the stainless steel red-line dog-dish hubcaps, to see if I like that look as much as I think I will. I really like the look of the car sitting on its tires. To me it looks more like a car than a "project" this way. I think this combination looks really sharp, and is the look I have been hoping to achieve.

Reassembly begins

It is wonderful to finally be at the reassembly stage. Boxes, envelopes, containers of new and restored parts, will now be freed from their captivity to adorn my Charger.

The very first part I installed on my newly repainted Charger was the passenger side fender emblem, the symbol of Mopar, the pentastar.

Next I installed my new reproduction outside door handles, to encourage people to not put their hands all over the paint when they want to open the door and look inside. They sure look nice to me.

Here's a shot under the hood, with new weatherstripping, bumpers, and hood insulation, with new clips.

After installing the front suspension, my son and nephew were itching to put something else on the car, so I let them install the new body plugs.

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February 03, 2012

It's all in the details

December 03, 2011

Fuel tank and lines are in!

Front Bumper Parts ready

November 26, 2011

Hit a snag!

November 08, 2011

Headlight door motor ready

November 02, 2011

Re-Chromed Rear bumper - On!

October 28, 2011

Some progress

August 23, 2011

Carpet, console, and front seats

July 26, 2011

Dash installation

July 23, 2011

Dash and trim progress

June 11, 2011

Fuel cap Father's Day!

June 10, 2011

Filling in holes

June 03, 2011

A long-awaited day

June 02, 2011

Headliner complete

May 15, 2011

Decals

Headliner installation!

May 07, 2011

Heater box rebuilt and installed

April 15, 2011

Some progress to report

February 21, 2011

Trim and detail work

February 06, 2011

Vinyl Top

January 23, 2011

Front valance and blackening

January 17, 2011

Reassembly begins

Reassembly begins