valiant charger;)

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Ok its not a holden but still an awesome car!
my wife and i bought this charger from a guy up @ beerwah about 2 years ago for $500! he had it sitting under a mango tree with grass up to its doors and not even a tarp over it as i result the car has rust in the rear 1/4 pannels, the boot floor needs replacing and rust has eaten away areas around the lower windscreen! so i called out a guy who does valiant restorations and he said i would be looking at $8000 just to get the body up to repaired and primed stage and that in his opinion it was not worth it! i asked him but is it still restoreable? and he said yes but it would cost ALOT to get someone else to do it! so the car has been sitting in my garage since i bought it doing nothing! then the other day when polishing my vs calais i sat in the garage looking at her and made the decision that if it ever was to see the road again it was going to have to be by my own hand so heres some pics of the old girl and some of the repairs i have done already!
by the way i had this thread already up in the projects section but was unfortunatly lost when the site crashed a while back but you get that

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

sorry heres some of the pics

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

heres some before and after shots of the roof

[Rhino Racing]

I am glad to see you started this thread again mate.
I am really looking forward to watching your progress.
Just stay commited and make sure it is not another well intentioned project started that never see the road again and becomes scrap along the way.
Too many cars end up sold off like this and just become spare parts in someone elses shed.
The good thing is these older cars are becoming worth more due to their "muscle car status" and although you may be over capitalising on it a bit now... it may be worth more in time if it is the right model etc.

In your previous thread ( the one lost during the great JC crash of 2007)you said your wife was all for the project and was the one that really encouraged you to do it. Good on her! You and i are both lucky to have partners that genuinely enjoy the same interests and supportive with projects like this! ( God bless their souls!)
Keep up the good work!
Keep us informed!

[bradcad]

Great to see people still doing up real cars.

I'm not sure why he said it wouldnt be worth it- I havent seen a genuine charger for sale in any sort of nic for under $20k. Most I've seen are chasing around $40k for an average condition original.

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

I am glad to see you started this thread again mate.
I am really looking forward to watching your progress.
Just stay commited and make sure it is not another well intentioned project started that never see the road again and becomes scrap along the way.
Too many cars end up sold off like this and just become spare parts in someone elses shed.
The good thing is these older cars are becoming worth more due to their "muscle car status" and although you may be over capitalising on it a bit now... it may be worth more in time if it is the right model etc.

In your previous thread ( the one lost during the great JC crash of 2007)you said your wife was all for the project and was the one that really encouraged you to do it. Good on her! You and i are both lucky to have partners that genuinely enjoy the same interests and supportive with projects like this! ( God bless their souls!)
Keep up the good work!
Keep us informed!

thanks mate i wont let my wife read this post she will get a swelled head but seriously yeah im definately blessed with a good wife and family! my 6yo son loves his cars (especially lightning mc queen) and my wife actually was the one who was first interested in getting a charger (i was into my holdens/fords) and once we drove out there and i did some research into chryslers back ground i was hooked i have been getting stuck into it again today, ive been stripping back the lower drivers side rear 1/4 panel (day off work) and there has been some significant damage (mainly dints all along the pannel) the bog on that one side was over a 1/2 inch thick!i think hes brushed it against some thing but the good news is i can fix ityeah i have been doing alot in one go but i just make up my mind and go for it! (even if i slack off my wife will boot me in the backside)Your also right there is alot of people that get stuck into it and dont follow through with the job and then get rid of what could of been a great street car but rest assured i will most definately not be in that category!!! actually ive been getting stuck into it too stop most of the rust from developing any further and because ive had the funds lately (for a change) and well ive been pretty bored well i will post up some pics tonight of the lower gaurd that ive finished and i will defineatly keep you all posted

Great to see people still doing up real cars.

I'm not sure why he said it wouldnt be worth it- I havent seen a genuine charger for sale in any sort of nic for under $20k. Most I've seen are chasing around $40k for an average condition original.

thats exactly what most people said on some of the charger forums that ive been to! the said even if it cost $8000 to get the body completely up to good nick they said you cant by a decent charger for close to that! so they said go for it

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

well got the rear 1/4 done today was a pretty big job but its all ready to now be fixed with the body filler and then primed will post some pics up tommorow (if i get around to it) its starting to look pretty good on the drivers side of the car now

[DND]

while you have it in parts take the steering box of and check the chassie behind it they rust out there I had a 78 modal I had to repair it and it would of be alot easyer to do

[kirks_vs]

nice work, cant wait to see the finished

[Rhino Racing]

I have been watching your thread with much delight!!!!
Well hopefully here is some inspiration for you!
Here is a pic of my charger.....
It has a 360 Cubic Inch V8 but was bored out to 426 Cubic Inch years ago.
All the wiring in the engine bay is totally hidden and the battery etc is in the boot making it look nice and neat.
It has some serious tyre fryin torque but it hardly gets driven at all now. It is treated with kit gloves these days since it was totally restored about 14 years ago.
Interior is sweet as and in very good nic.
It is only club registered nowadays and comes out once a month for a club run etc, or is used as the odd formal/ wedding car.
It was a big project at the time but it was worth every bit of blood sweat and tears that went into it, but it is all worthwhile cos it is a real treat to take it for a spin.
The best thing is it is appreciating in value now.
Keep up the good work champ!
It is all worth while!

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

I have been watching your thread with much delight!!!!
Well hopefully here is some inspiration for you!
Here is a pic of my charger.....
It has a 360 Cubic Inch V8 but was bored out to 426 Cubic Inch years ago.
All the wiring in the engine bay is totally hidden and the battery etc is in the boot making it look nice and neat.
It has some serious tyre fryin torque but it hardly gets driven at all now. It is treated with kit gloves these days since it was totally restored about 14 years ago.
Interior is sweet as and in very good nic.
It is only club registered nowadays and comes out once a month for a club run etc, or is used as the odd formal/ wedding car.
It was a big project at the time but it was worth every bit of blood sweat and tears that went into it, but it is all worthwhile cos it is a real treat to take it for a spin.
The best thing is it is appreciating in value now.
Keep up the good work champ!
It is all worth while!

FTW!! i had been hopeing you would post up some pics of your charger!! i still rember looking at it from my old thread i would love to have a garage like that to work in to!! my garage is justa tandem setup and its hard to move around some times but i make do cheers also to everyone for the comments!! actually i have been crook for the last 2 days with tonsillitis i get it alot throughout the year and i will have to wait 2 years to get my tonsills removed but i have been looking foward to getting stuck back into her i have been hobbleing downstairs and looking at my progress and thinking of how good she will look when back on the road also Rhino Raceing that stroked 360 must sound awesomeactually the wife and i talked about whether to put the original 265 back in it or source an eight from somewhere, but we decided to stick with the 265 as its the original motor and box and when the chargers where running those motors they where the fastest accelerating production car (with the 265 motor and trip webbers) in australia for 27 years! they lost that crown to my knowledge to the hsv GTO! but i would of loved to have a 426 hemi sitting under the hood

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

while you have it in parts take the steering box of and check the chassie behind it they rust out there I had a 78 modal I had to repair it and it would of be alot easyer to do

yeah i heard it was common for the charger to get chassis cracks around the steering box (from the hey charger book) but PP&R does a complete chassis rail sleve repair kit to fix the problem but by the look of it the car has been fixed there before as i can see welding on the chassis rail near the steering box? so will have a good look when the engine bay is blasted and painted!

[=SKB=]

Chargers are farking sweet cars. Good luck with the restoration. My only tip would be don't stick RT badges on it. Oh and keep the 265.

[Rhino Racing]

Thanks for the comments mate.
All i can say is if it came out with a 265 definetly keep it in her. ( especially if it is the correct eng no.s etc)
I have had 2 other sweet chargers and they have been 265's one was a 3 speed and the other was a 4 speed. ( Dam i wish i never sold those cars!!!)
I have been looking for another charger for the last 12 months(factory 265) as my next project .
A mate of mine that has a monaro collection has picked up a genuine E38 for $6000 in exceptional condition. Stuck in a shed for the last 15 years....etc etc. He wont sell it to me... he knows what it is worth ( funny thing is he used to flame me for my Valiants etc ) But he is converted now.
So yer.... keep the 265... those things go like stink!!!

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Thanks for the comments mate.
All i can say is if it came out with a 265 definetly keep it in her. ( especially if it is the correct eng no.s etc)
I have had 2 other sweet chargers and they have been 265's one was a 3 speed and the other was a 4 speed. ( Dam i wish i never sold those cars!!!)
I have been looking for another charger for the last 12 months(factory 265) as my next project .
A mate of mine that has a monaro collection has picked up a genuine E38 for $6000 in exceptional condition. Stuck in a shed for the last 15 years....etc etc. He wont sell it to me... he knows what it is worth ( funny thing is he used to flame me for my Valiants etc ) But he is converted now.
So yer.... keep the 265... those things go like stink!!!

will do What your friend picked up an E38 for $6000!!:my: one just sold down in sydney at the shannons motor auctions for $150,000!!! (of course it was a fully restored and mechanicly correct e38) dont tell him that, just offer him like $20 or $30k then go for a nice cruise down to sydney

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Chargers are farking sweet cars. Good luck with the restoration. My only tip would be don't stick RT badges on it. Oh and keep the 265.

cheers mate dont worry no R/T badges will be going on her the only way the car would ever have R/T badges on her is if i wanted to make some good money off the car and do the car up as a vitamin C E49 R/T replica! but the car will be getting sprayed ford phantom purple and will probably have 2 black stipes running down the hood over the top and down the back! or maybe it wont have any stripes dunno yet but will definatly be getting done in phantom purple!

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

i stuffed up big time with the charger today i was sanding back the other 1/4 panel today and thought i would try a sanding attachment that fits onto my 4 inch angle grinder to make the job quicker ( i have a panel beating book that says to use this kind of sanding pad) i usually use an orbital sander but anyway the damn thing has made some deep groves all over the 1/4 panel i didnt notice this untill after doing the whole damn panel (go figure) i dont know why its done this as i used p80 and p120 and i moved fairly quickly over the panel now i will have to run bog over the panel to mask the imperfections
will keep all updated and hopefully it will be right!

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

well after doing the final sand (with the orbital sander) im glad to say that most of the marks where not as bad as first thought (thank god) i didnt have to use any bog @ all and the primer has filled alot of the small imperfections the orbital sander has worked wonders yet again! it basicaly slowly buffed the marks out!. By the time the spray putty goes on and then the paint all should be good well also on the bright side i have learnt a valuable lesson today! its better to take your time with a slower machine than to try to speed things up and stuff things up i have also learnt you cant trust everything you read in a book & seeing as this is my first Real project car (full ground up restoration) im sure i will learn more things along the way

[Lost_Pete]

Great stuff. Keep us posted as you progress.

For some reason I see a few Chargers around the Castle Hill NSW area.

The old muscle cars still make you smile.

[greenfoam]

On large panels that you can wash easy paint stripper is your friend, apart from being even more toxic than paint dust :P

[defa]

get yourself a speed file. a mate of mine bought one cos we are painting his brother kingsy ute. they are great. i had never used one before. they save ya heaps of time..

and rhino racing. how sure are you that your 360 is bored to a 426. because with a stoker crank and bored 30 thou they only go out to 408. by the way.. very nice charger
i hope one day i get to do mine up.. aswell as my vh hardtop..

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Great stuff. Keep us posted as you progress.

For some reason I see a few Chargers around the Castle Hill NSW area.

The old muscle cars still make you smile.

its funny you say that as when i was doing up my vl a while back i was going to put a walkinshaw kit on it and me and the wife were debating which we see more of the chargers or a walkinshaw? and believe it or not we actaully seen more chargers around our area than walkys

On large panels that you can wash easy paint stripper is your friend, apart from being even more toxic than paint dust :P

i think its the paint dust thats made me crook over the last couple of days (thought i had tonsilitis) throats been all sore and lungs been feeling like im getting asthma i wear a rubber respirator but it dosent seem to work all to well! Actually its a bit of a worry as most of the paint in the 70s contained lead bit of a worry also can you wash the stripper of the bare metal with water?

get yourself a speed file. a mate of mine bought one cos we are painting his brother kingsy ute. they are great. i had never used one before. they save ya heaps of time..

and rhino racing. how sure are you that your 360 is bored to a 426. because with a stoker crank and bored 30 thou they only go out to 408. by the way.. very nice charger
i hope one day i get to do mine up.. aswell as my vh hardtop..

might sound dumb but whats a speed file?
i also have heard of other 360s being bought out to 426 and 440s? although im not sure if it could be done with the 318 fireball motors?

[greenfoam]

Yeah you can wash paint stripper off with water and give it a real nice clean with prepsol before you paint. But I like deoxidine to be on the metal before the paint too. after you clean the panel back to bare metal you mix some deoxidine with water as per instructions, rub it in with a rag or scouring sponge (wear chemical proof gloves ) and leave it sit a bit then before its dry you rub it off with some clean rags. If you get that right the dexodine will leave the panel coated with a crazy purple/blue ish coating of phosphorus and be not likely to rust anytime soon

[NickVR]

This project looks great mate. Although I love my Holdens I do like and respect the old school cars and can appreciate any amount of work gone into any car. By the looks of this you've put a fair bit of work into it already and with more to come too. Goodluck with it and keep us posted with progress pics.

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Yeah you can wash paint stripper off with water and give it a real nice clean with prepsol before you paint. But I like deoxidine to be on the metal before the paint too. after you clean the panel back to bare metal you mix some deoxidine with water as per instructions, rub it in with a rag or scouring sponge (wear chemical proof gloves ) and leave it sit a bit then before its dry you rub it off with some clean rags. If you get that right the dexodine will leave the panel coated with a crazy purple/blue ish coating of phosphorus and be not likely to rust anytime soon

yeah i use deoxidine on all the stripped panels the steel goes a colour like when a stainles steel exhuast has been heated and gets that blue look i should have some more pics of the car up ny tomorow night (hopefully)!