Challenger getting work at last - 7 year on update.

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Thu Feb 02, 12 10:04 pm

I thought you bought it from Rob Milward, Matt.
Mick

DaveBishop · Post by **DaveBishop** » Thu Feb 02, 12 10:36 pm

Mick I got it off Rob Milward in a deal with my old D100 rolling shell and then swapped it on for the Chevy engine

Post by **MattH** » Fri Feb 03, 12 9:23 am

I got it off Jon Marsh in 1994, it had been through a few hands since Rob Millward. It was yellow and owned by someone called Tom who started doing it up then gave up, Jon got it, took all the Rallye bits off for his Vanishing Point clone and I bought the remains as a complete car with MOT and ran it for a year, whilst collecting parts to restore it.
It came off the road in 95.

Post by **MattH** » Fri Feb 10, 12 9:11 am

Rear quarter passenger side is now all on, and tidied up.
So I decided to start on the roof yesterday.

Started unbolting the sunroof tray and found I had done alot more work on this than I thought, back in 2002.

Looking at the potential for things going wrong, and warping the roof filling up the hole, I have gone back on my previous plans, and I am now going to keep it.

THE SUNROOF STAYS

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Fri Feb 10, 12 9:14 am

This is great to see some progress being made Matt...I like the sunroof anyway, just what a race car needs!

ANTON · Post by **ANTON** » Fri Feb 10, 12 10:07 am

Matt if you want to get rid of the sunroof then the only way to put less heat in the roof is to braze the repair panel in.

autofetish · Post by **autofetish** » Fri Feb 10, 12 10:17 am

I also used a lump of copper held in a wet rag and held behined the weld when welding. This was more when i was learning but it takes all the heat out of the metal and may help. Great work we need loads of pictures

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Fri Feb 10, 12 11:37 am

Wow I have never seen one stripped down like that I am assuming it is a factory sunroof car?

Post by **MattH** » Fri Feb 10, 12 11:46 am

Drew, it is a Belgium market car, so the sunroof looks to have been dealer fitted or Belgium factory fitted when new. It has a chrome rocker switch on the centre console that operates the roof. It is a powered sliding steel roof, and had rotted badly. I have now rescued bits of the roof and welded them into a rust free sunroof tray from a mid 80s Rover.

Its a bit Heath Robinson, but with plenty of seam sealer should work and allow any water to drain through the drain tubes and not the drivers seat.

Tig Napier's purple race Challenger has the same type of roof, but his is kept shut as it is a race car. Also a Belgium car I believe

Anton and Autofetish ; - I thought long and hard about just filling the hole, and the associated concerns about heat. Discussed brazing and heat sinks at the club meet on Wednesday, and hence decided to keep what i have repaired with the minor distortion I currently have from my earlier repairs, rather than risk alot more mess from trying to weld or braze more metal in.
It also means I have made alot more progress today as the roof is now welded up and I have started seam sealing.

MrNorm · Post by **MrNorm** » Fri Feb 10, 12 11:51 am

Fantastic Matt, great to see your progress

Post by **MattH** » Fri Feb 10, 12 11:53 am

This picture shows the old original rotted sunroof tray in place in the car, and the below pic is the Rover tray being offered up and seeing where it will fit. This was 2002, before had a digital camera.

Post by **MattH** » Fri Feb 10, 12 11:56 am

I had to cut the old support tray out, as it was crimped into the roof like a doorskin. I alos modified and welded in new support brackets so the new sunroof bolts in and out as a unit. I am re-using the original cars sliding panel so from outside it will look the same, and inside will have a headliner, so all good.
This pic shows how the Rover tray has had the back of the old tray let in, and the aperture modified to make it the same size as the old one.

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Fri Feb 10, 12 11:57 am

Just for information, you can MIG weld without distortion if you are careful. When I cut the rear arches out on the Dart, it needed a lip welding around the whole circumference. What you do is a small tack, and then cool it straight away with compressed air till it's cool, then repeat. It's very slow work, but I ended up with no distortion at all and no filler was needed to straighten anything up. You need to do the same trick when grinding down a finished weld, you have to stop the heat building up.

Post by **MattH** » Fri Feb 10, 12 12:20 pm

Blue, your skills are far above mine, but with care like you say Mig can work. i did the rear quarter with MIG and its gone on quite well.

Good point about the grinder, not really thought of that but it is putting alot of heat in as well.

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Fri Feb 10, 12 2:49 pm

thanks for the info
looks like you have some work to do there,

but it is cool to see you keep the sunroof most people dont care for them as they do tend to leak but since it has been on the car for so long and most of the hardware is there,

good to see some ingenuity and use doner parts from other cars nothing wrong with that,

keep up the great work it will pay off in the end