[NewParOwner]

Hey guys (and ladies), been a little while since I've asked anything but here it goes.

I have 3 project cars awaiting their new image. The sheet metal is in good shape for the most part. Some minor-med sanding and few rust areas though not all the way through nowhere.

Some light body work and some new trim in some locations is the majority of the things needed to get the car back into the "driving" atmosphere.

I'm going to make alot of mods..... performance and body alterations.

Should I go ahead with this track of just having fun with it for now or should I nof? Would this be more of fesible to just go ahead and park it and just get it started with the restore?

Just trying not to put a bandaid on an open wound car.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your responses.
NewParOwner

 

[dana44]

What is the car and what are the mods you intend to do? From there it would be easier to help you decide what you want to do.

 

[NewParOwner]

#1: 1970 Ford F100 (my wifes)
#2: 1971 Mustang Mach 1 (my sons)
#3 1973 Dodge Charger (MINE)

The truck is going to be "mostly" stock. The chasis and inner sheet metal is pretty rough with rust (as to be expected)
The Mustang....I can't honestly say what all he has in store for it.
BUT......My Charger, The idea is......(key word at this point "idea").....possibly upgrade the engine from a 400 to 440 (not known if the 400 is any good yet), new muscle hood, upgrade the suspension & braking system, leaving the vinyl top off and making it just a hard top.
Those are the high points. I'm thinking just park mine and going to the frame with it. I believe it will benefit this particular project. Not really looking for the "original" look at all. just going to make a nice cruiser and hotrod.

 

[dana44]

Charger is a good one. I would actually keep the 400 over the 440, only thing wrong with the 400 was a lack of compression. Shorter stroke and larger bore than the 440, a stroker kit in a 400 fixes that without a problem if cubic inches is what you want, otherwise a 9:1 400 will outdo a stock 440 in most cases, and is a little tougher overall (in my opinion) and a little bit lighter overall (around 75-80 lbs off the nose if memory serves me right). Still your call, but complete teardown design is pretty decent for this B body, front suspension and front K member/frame rails are on rubber biscuits and shortens the car up dramatically when working on the body/on a rotisserie. Poly bushings and larger diameter torsion bars really help the handling of these cars, I love the improvement of the cornering in my '68 Charger after I poly bushed and increased the torsion bars to 1.14 inch diameter.

As far as the truck goes, sandblast and epoxy prime first, trucks are pretty easy because they come apart in design by bed, cab, front clip, and frame, so a portion at a time can be done, the rest left out of the way. You can buy each and every piece of sheetmetal for them, and there are tons of parts in yards, lots of years cover the supply.

The Mach 1 will cost you more to do anything to than the Charger so keep that in mind when deciding what to do with her. You will find no difficulty finding parts again, but be prepared to pay for a majority of them, including used parts for sale, it's that Mach and Mustang that does it, but is it a numbers matching and what running gear does she have, some of the combinations can be worth quite a bit of money so mods may not be worth it for value retention.