1968 Charger R/T 440 - 4 Speed Rotisserie Restoration
Please rate my ride and let me know how I am doing as there are a lot of blood and sweat encompassed in this project.
This is a picture of my 1968 Charger R/T. When I first purchased this car it was totally stock and was powered by a 375 HP 440 Magnum which made 480 ft/lbs of torque at 3200 RPM and was was mated to a 4 speed transmission. The rear end was a Dana 60 with 3.54 gear ratio. This car was relatively quick and a pleasure to drive as you could beat it and it would not break. Trust me I was 17 and every stop sign was a race!!
I purchased this car in 1985, when I was 17, and kept it until 1996 when I built a house and needed funds to complete it. I used this car to pick both of my son's up from the hospital when they were born ( they are now 19 and 16). This car has a lot of sentimental value. The picture was taken by a friend of mine, my brother from another mother, the last day I had it before selling it to Jerry, a very good friend. Same old story. The plus side was I had this car and a Hemi Orange 1970 V code (440-6 Pack) 4 Speed Roadrunner Coupe and needed to make a decision on which car I would prefer to have when complete. I chose the Roadrunner which was a very wise (lucky) decision as I still own the car and 6 pack cars appear to be at a premium.
This car does require a complete restoration but it is an original and will be well worth the time and effort as it is 1 of 429 made with the 4 speed option in 1970.
You have to love that Hemi Orange!!
Anyway back to the saga. As luck would have it I had just finalized the sale of my home, in October of 2005, when I received a call from my friend Jerry and he was now in the throes of home renovations and the car was up for sale again. We had made a deal when I sold it that I would have first crack at it if this ever happened. I jumped at the opportunity as Jerry had been working on the car for a few years and had amassed a large collection of parts to restore the car as well as completed the largest part of the sheetmetal work.
I drove 450 miles to pick the car up August 14, 2006 and have it home now. I am in the middle of another home purchase and will have it in a garage by the first week of September.
This is the August 13th, 2005 loading the car on the trailer and gathering as many of the parts as possible for the first trip. The car presently has new rear frame rails,trunk floor, inner and outer rear wheel tubs, and half of the floorpan. I will have to replace the rest of the floorpan and both front inner fenders as well as do a little bit of work around the rear window opening. All in all not too bad. The Dana has already been rebuilt and the factory 3.54's were replaced with 4.10's as Jerry was planning on doing a bit of drag racing. I also purchased the engine he built for the car and it is a 440 stroked to 477 cubic inches thanks to the addition of a hemi race crank and assorted components. This combination is producing about 500 brake horsepower all with a .509 lift DC cam and ported 452 casting factory heads. It ran 11.43 in his 1969 Charger weighing 4000 lbs in street trim through factory exhaust manifolds with the addition of a set of slicks shifting at 5000 rpm. Unfortunately, this caused the K Member to fail and subsequently bent both front frame rails. Ouch!!!
Sorting parts to pack up for trip.
And more parts. Jerry had purchased every part, at the time, he could find new. I have new headliner, carpet set, all seat covers, bumblebee stripe, door panels, arm rests and arm rest chrome, wiring harness, all body gaskets and more that I do not even know yet as I have not unloaded all of the parts from the car as it is in storage until it moves to it's new home in 5 weeks. I also received a fiberglass hood with 6 pack hood scoop in addition to the factory hood. I will update the pics as I get into this restoration.
Page 1 Car history and pickup
Page 2 Suspension removal and install on rotisserie
Page 3 Floopan and front inner fender re and re
Page 4 Miscellaneous Rust Repair on bare shell
Page 5 Bodywork of bare shell
Page 6 Parts Room
Page 7 Sub Frame Connectors, Torque Boxes, Rear Spring Reinforce and Lower Control Arm Rein.
Page 8 Remove from Rotisserie
Page 9 New Garage
Page 10 Parts Restoration
