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CK5
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The Willomet Charger
- Thread starter AgDieseler
- Start date
A desecration to Mopar nuts everywhere, this is my protouring, LS-powered, 1970 Dodge Charger; built at my shop, Willomet Motor & Fabrication.
Nice. The AMD stuff I have used were quality pieces.
I’m learning that I should use it more often.
Seriously, these wheelhouses fit very well, and even have all the original contours and stamping marks to locate them onto the unibody. Really good value for money.
David
That's a lesson I need to learn as well.
One side roughly fit.
I still need to eliminate the outer hump, and the opposite side’s original inner wheelhouse should graft nicely.
David
I still need to eliminate the outer hump, and the opposite side’s original inner wheelhouse should graft nicely.
David
Where did you get those inner fenders/wheelwells from?
Both halves are from AMD. They’re expanding their line of mini-tubbed inners.
David
Other side. I’ve found that the best place to store new sheet metal is on the car.
It was really nice to see the same 3/8” gap show up here, too.
Now, I’ve got about two weeks before the truck’s engine arrives and I switch over to rehabbing big booty Judy, so I’m jamming all the hours I can on the car. Plus, it snowed this week. I don’t do cold.
David
It was really nice to see the same 3/8” gap show up here, too.
Now, I’ve got about two weeks before the truck’s engine arrives and I switch over to rehabbing big booty Judy, so I’m jamming all the hours I can on the car. Plus, it snowed this week. I don’t do cold.
David
I have been learning about this the other way around, the more I take my truck apart, the more space I need
There are some segments of this project I just can't see parceling out into small(ish) chunks. For me, that's the rear sheetmetal. You've pretty much have to have all of it to be able to get the rear end squared away. So, I ordered the rest of the rear sheetmetal - deck filler, tail panel, valence, - from AMD, plus a really neat carbon fiber decklid from Speedkore. I also got new door hinges and I'll hang the front fenders temporarily to set the body lines.
Lead times are all pushed out, so I probably don't get much of this really together until May, but it's all reserved and I'll just tinker on the odds and ends (plus my other hunk of junk) while I wait.
David
Lead times are all pushed out, so I probably don't get much of this really together until May, but it's all reserved and I'll just tinker on the odds and ends (plus my other hunk of junk) while I wait.
David
It's hard to build a car at the same time as an engine, especially when the latter is unplanned.
It's not terrible that the car was delayed. I finally got all the AMD sheetmetal in house in July, and that's quickly becoming the next set of steps to make sure the whole car comes together and looks right. There are a lot of body lines to get right. Before getting back on the car, there was the general mess from the engine build that I had to deal with, and I took the opportunity to do a bit of light reorg. First, no more loose or rando' hardware.
And, finally got this thing together. It was the whole reason for going down to Greg's. I made a happy accident, and swapped the outriggers so they would be out of the way of my feet while using it. That required some stability improvements in the form of ballast. An old big block crank does that job, nicely. Also, everything gets casters. These are the leveling kind so I don't end up chasing the english wheel around the shop.
Pull the car away from the wall, and we're back at it. The rear window channels and filler deck panel are the last vestiges of poorly executed rust repair and the resulting damage. They're all gone, now.
I really don't enjoy hours of grinding, but that's about the only way to get down through these stacked up mig tacks.
I'll pattern that corner, and it'll be as good as new.
At this point, I've exposed every surface of the car, interior and otherwise. Zero rust on the build back; no compromises.
As much as I enjoy the truck, this tickles a whole other part of my creative brain, and I sure did miss building it.
David
It's not terrible that the car was delayed. I finally got all the AMD sheetmetal in house in July, and that's quickly becoming the next set of steps to make sure the whole car comes together and looks right. There are a lot of body lines to get right. Before getting back on the car, there was the general mess from the engine build that I had to deal with, and I took the opportunity to do a bit of light reorg. First, no more loose or rando' hardware.
And, finally got this thing together. It was the whole reason for going down to Greg's. I made a happy accident, and swapped the outriggers so they would be out of the way of my feet while using it. That required some stability improvements in the form of ballast. An old big block crank does that job, nicely. Also, everything gets casters. These are the leveling kind so I don't end up chasing the english wheel around the shop.
Pull the car away from the wall, and we're back at it. The rear window channels and filler deck panel are the last vestiges of poorly executed rust repair and the resulting damage. They're all gone, now.
I really don't enjoy hours of grinding, but that's about the only way to get down through these stacked up mig tacks.
I'll pattern that corner, and it'll be as good as new.
At this point, I've exposed every surface of the car, interior and otherwise. Zero rust on the build back; no compromises.
As much as I enjoy the truck, this tickles a whole other part of my creative brain, and I sure did miss building it.
David
Glad to see you back at it on this one.
Small progress adds up.
Here’s a photo dump of some of the brackets that reconnect the rear unibody to the frame, window channel rust repair, and fine fitting the new rear deck panel.
David
Here’s a photo dump of some of the brackets that reconnect the rear unibody to the frame, window channel rust repair, and fine fitting the new rear deck panel.
David
I don't think you used enough clecos.
Looks good.
Looks good.
Really enjoying these updates on this, you are sparking my interest more and more to build my chevelle.
Another 100 pack came in today. I’m going to assemble as much as I can in clecos before making any commitments.
I recommend against cutting it apart. Make it run and drive. Attach all the bumper bolts. Put miles on it. A lot of them.
David
What you are doing is time consuming and tedious. Looks good.
I have over 200 clecos. Will get put to use on the 48 some day
I have over 200 clecos. Will get put to use on the 48 some day
I'm definitely in the honeymoon phase.
Flange time. I like the OEM look of these brackets all flanged out as if they were ready for a bunch of resistance welds, but with the smoothness of a custom part.
I finally got to use the english wheel from Greg, even if it was just to smooth out the bumps from forming these flanges to fit the inner fender.
The next pack of 100 clecos showed up just in time.
53A, 50% on, 25% background, 1Hz, lots of argon, and air quenching every 1-1.5".
Two hours of blending, making use of nearly every abrasive and file I have.
On to the other side. I like using a file to finely carve the radius on these corners. Sometimes the old ways are the best way.
Grabbing every spare hour I can find to work on this. Next up are the package tray to inner fender braces.
David
Nicely Done David!!! 
It almost seems stupid to say it out loud.... but there is NOTHING that can be substituted for actual hood time. No matter how many books you read, no matter how many really informative YouTube videos you watch.... ultimately, it all comes down to just committing yourself to the work and welding for hours and hours and hours. Only then can you get results like what you have here.
Yesterday, I spent probably 6 solid hours TIG welding... flat, vertical, fillets, outside corners huge gaps, tight fitups. Almost emptied a full 125CuFt tank of Argon in the process... but WOW!!! The amount of learning that happened was immense.
Truth be told, I could have MIG'ed the project together in about 30 minutes and been done but it was a great excuse to build hours on my TIG practice and by the end of the day I had some welds that I was truly proud of.
#FORWARD
-G
It almost seems stupid to say it out loud.... but there is NOTHING that can be substituted for actual hood time. No matter how many books you read, no matter how many really informative YouTube videos you watch.... ultimately, it all comes down to just committing yourself to the work and welding for hours and hours and hours. Only then can you get results like what you have here.
Yesterday, I spent probably 6 solid hours TIG welding... flat, vertical, fillets, outside corners huge gaps, tight fitups. Almost emptied a full 125CuFt tank of Argon in the process... but WOW!!! The amount of learning that happened was immense.
Truth be told, I could have MIG'ed the project together in about 30 minutes and been done but it was a great excuse to build hours on my TIG practice and by the end of the day I had some welds that I was truly proud of.
#FORWARD
-G
It takes a day like you had yesterday for that to really set in. Your progress in such a short period of time (since we were together that fateful day in February) has been really impressive. Looking back, I remember the first time I sat down and it just flowed out of me.
You're not far away. Keep grabbing every 30 minute slot you can to just lay down a bead.
David
