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This 69 Charger came from New Mexico recently, where it underwent some light rust repair in preperation for paint. Originally a 318 2bbl car with tan interior and gold exterior, it is now in gray primer with a flat black stripe, untill it gets painted. Factory equipped with power steering, manual drum brakes, buckets with headrests and intact air conditioning, runs and drives, brakes work, and with a little effort it could be a daily driver. 1 of 29,541 random 318 Chargers
Has had minor rust repair behind the rear wheels, needs a light patch in the center of the trunk floor and has a quarter sized hole in the lower drivers fender. Very straight appearing body panels that should make a repaint easy. Nice grille and tail lights,really a lot of useable pieces that are hard to find for a resto.
Upcoming improvements for this car include removing the 318 and 904 to blast and paint the engine compartment; installing a 440 and 727 while maintaing the factory a/c; complete repaint with rear stripe and no vinyl top; new black interior; TTI exhaust system, front disc brake upgrade with polygraphite suspension kit. Just about in that order too.
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First thing to do is pull the grille, period. Its a safety thing to protect the grille from being accidentally damaged. It has to come out anyway and at over $2000 a whack, its best to get it out first.
The engine and trans are pulled out as a unit after the radiator and condenser are removed. The car is lifted and the front suspension, torsion bars, brakes and K frame are removed. After that, the temporary caster wheels are installed for transporting. Then the rest of the engine compartment is stripped of all hoses, wiring and anything else that can be removed, leaving it bare and ready for blasting.
Engine is a stock low compression 76 440 with a thermoquad carb that came out of a Newport that was a driver. Steamed it off, changed the valvecover gaskets and mount it on a stationary run stand. We already know it runs, we just want to get the running, painted engine fitted with all the correct accessories it will need for the 69 Charger body. Its much easier to find and fit all the correct pullies and brackets while its sitting there in the open. Also gives us a chance to adjust timing and carb to run on the first start. Everything including the manifolds, transmission wires and distributor will be rigged up and assembled to the K frame after its blasted and painted. Do it all outside of the car instead of trying to wrestle it over freshly painted fenders.
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