RATTY 1970 Dodge Charger tear down! | What is the plan? 

Option #1. I would start at the rear and replace the rear frame rails first. Then tackle the Torsion Bar Cross member.

Go option 1. Thanks for the video, really enjoyed it!

The car deserves to be restored and should be I’m sure if you asked for the help lots of people would volunteer to help you

Sweet combo! First off don't swap it out. It deserves to see the road again as an original 70's cruiser. Hacking it all apart and potentially leaving it midway because life got and will get in the way, instead choose your battles for the short term. Main objective is to get it running and enjoying it now. Do the work that's few weeks out at most for now. 1. Get the engine running. 2. Hack the unsafe areas first like torsion bar cross member, and front floors since there sort of next to each other. Pop the driver seat back in and start driving it. The other (long list) of stuff we'll have that talk in 6 months. So keeping it realistic to what your current load with school and work is key for now. Oh btw lets not forget that it ain't cheap to work on Chargers. I got a 70 Burnt orange GTX with white interior. That color is so sweet in the sun

BRO!! Nice find. If it were me, i'd restore it just like you're doing with your duster. Those bad boys are hard to find (unless you want to drop 40k or more). Build it out buddy, dont hack it apart, you'll thank yourself later, no matter how long it takes..

I’m sure you feel overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of you, but from my observation as a person that has watched all your videos and constantly keeping up with your duster; and now charger, this is car is no match for you 😉 you got this bro and can’t wait to see how you tackle this BEAST! Btw I am restoring a 1970 Duster and 23 so I’m totally in love with your content!

Do the first option instead of doing the chassis it will be awesome

You might want to reconsider getting rid of the engine. If you can take it to a machine shop and have them check if the block is still good, it’s a 383. Definitely worth a full deck and blueprint/balance rebuild if the block is still good. Makes the car worth a lot more if you keep the original engine. Now, of course if the block is not salvageable then yes you can go with a new engine. Or maybe not “new”…… it would be your chance to put in a 440 :-) All of the factory frame rail components for 1960-76 Chrysler A-bodies are available as sections. You can cut off the rotted out parts and weld in brand new sections. I highly suggest you take that route over a NASCAR chassis.

Check out the Auto metal direct installation center. Or there is US car tool and they have a program called body in white. This car will need some major metal work. Definitely a cool find, and definitely worth bringing back.

Build it like you stole it. I will admit it is one hell of a project to take on, take your time.

In my decades of working on my own and helping friends my rule of thumb has become - let the market decide for me. Meaning, I have learned to make choices based on availability a lot of the time. Like in the early 2000s was helping someone who was thinking of building a throwback to Nascar with his 64 Galaxie including a competition frame. At the last minute a car popped up that had a front end accident where his car had rear frame cancer. Some serious cutting and welding later we put together a nice original-ish frame. Still made to look like a throwback but it was a lot cheaper than a brand new comp frame.

I think you should start small with rust repair so the car doesn't fold in half, remove the tank and rear axle and work your way forward

If the seat frames and springs are good on the seats you can reupholster them. you can get the kit that are the same as factory that go right over the seat like a seat cover they are pricey but they are factory 1970 charger seats

This would have been a pretty sweet car when it was new even though it lacks in the "big" engine market, it is still way more car than my 70 Charger Jezebel started out as, as far as factory fresh. Mine was just a 318 2 barrel, and another neat fact is this car was built only a week before mine was built. The NASCAR chasis is always super sweet and I know it is all the rage at the moment, but with the prices and values of Chargers constantly sky rocketing, I wouldn't cut this car up to place it on a chasis, I would attempt to keep it intact as a Charger, and if you cut it, make sure it can be returned back to it original state. I got faith that whatever you do with it, it will be cool regardless.

You should watch some of caseys customs videos, he body swaps a bunch of cars, you could drop the charger body on a different chassis like a late charger/ challenger or anything else that'll match up somewhat close.

I had three 70 Chargers. It was hard to find replacement front fenders. Finally found fiberglass ones. A hood that isnt junk could be a challenge as well. Keep the seats as they are one year only as well.

Subscribed from Sally's Speed Shop, Starting from the beginning of the Charger Build.

There's no rush. Get it done right, and you won't be disappointed. Best of luck.

Auto metal direct should sponsor this project.

I mounted a vice to about 6 foot of railway sleeper. It's heavy enough to stop the vice moving about and you can chuck it in the trunk of a car to take it with you. Handy for jobs like flaring brake pipes out in the boonies.

Also after you would finish the charger build make a street legal nascar and drop a body on it that would be another cool build idea

Cool, the car was built 15 minutes away from me. The old Chrysler plant in Fenton, MO.

Way cool man, Ty for breaking down the numbers. I dig it!

Option one or three would be my favorite or maybe a combination of one and three. Either way it looks like a great project.

Black interiors are nice looking if you keep them clean. Black shows every spec of dirt, dust or grass & leaves. It can also be rather claustrophobic over time. Charcoal gray might be a better choice for carpet and lower part of door panels. On the stainless trim, I think there was a stainless piece between the front & rear wheel well openings on the rocker panels. The better a job you can do on restoring this one the more it will be worth if you ever decide to sell it. The OEM color looks like a copper metallic finish - nice (at least it is not the awful light green metallic). I agree with MoparandCrue - do what it takes to get to the stage where you can drive it safely and then take the rest of it in stages.

I say work with what you got. I can't wait to see more. One thing it would have been cool to see a time laps of you cleaning out the car.

Ooffftttaa! That car is in rough shape! I can't wait to see you bring it back to life. Best of luck from Melbourne Australia 👍

Option 1 definitely man keep it as original as you can man and get her on the road then later on fully restore it 👌🏼love the vids

Love it. Congrats on your find. Long road ahead. Do it justice. ❤️❤️❤️

Hey man I was glad to see that there was an updated video on your charger here. I am definitely going to enjoy watching this series. keep it up man, this charger is going to be great!! 😎👍🏻👍🏻

Have the duster to drive while you are working through this. Option 1 seems the coolest path.

Can’t wait to see it young man.

So heads up they do make a full frame for chargers now that cuts most of the old out which you would have to do anyway but you can find them online. They come with the full list of directions which I hear is super simple to follow.

I don't know about using a nascar chassis, but I would definitely take the body off the frame and try to find a good charger frame to put it back on.

Good on ya kid. Looking forward to seeing the build.

Let's go always ready to watc

Round key is glove box & Trunk Teeth up

Just ask Shawn (Schweaty’s Speed Shop) how having NASCAR-specific parts hampered his ability to finish Power Tour this year. It’s cool, no doubt, but he’s slowly replacing many of those parts with off-the-shelf parts.

Rust bucket resto's has a great series on restoring one of these. He has a lot of information on almost every little detail on the build

Console! Not council! Good luck with this cool ride!

Great project. With frame so bad that is where I would focus first. Deciding on what to do then start on body after you decide on frame direction

If it was me I would do the front cross member first and the floors and trunk floor and rear frame rails. Find a good 383 and a 727. Then go from there

Keep it up, going follow this build dude !!👌👍✌️😎

Keep up with your videos and content, get your subscribers to keep going up and let that RU-vid money flow! It’s awesome you got a shop to work out of and that charger project is going to be a fun one to watch! Option 1 in my opinion but option 3 is very appealing as well. Love the duster videos. Keep grinding and good things will happen.

No wayy thats pure you tube content. Gold Trunk and glove box. Key

Really before going back on the road, the Rust NEEDS fixed, to be Safe and pass inspection, ( here with that Rust it would NEVER pass Warrant of Fitness )

Love ya passion and ya go get it attitudes mate 👍🏼

I just watched rustbucket finish his rotted 68, same shape as yours, all new metal from AMD, It`s a beauty now. You have everything you need to stay original, AMD has the rest, but the new sheet metal is not cheap these day, I think quarters were $850 each, floor pan, front and rear, trunk pan, you know the routine. These cars fetch $100k these days and you have one, fyi, I sold that roadrunner 23 years ago, thus the $4,000. I had a 383 road runner engine, it had 906 heads and a 4bbl, it made 325 hp. That wasn`t much for a 4000lb car, ditch the 383.

Dude, seriously Get Mark Worman to restore it. It would be a really heartwarming episode on Graveyard Carz.

I had a 1970 road runner with burnt orange interior, original white car, it was an original air grabber car that still worked after new vac lines, 383, yeah, life got in the way and I redid the body and paint, never fully finished the interior, got a divorce and the car had to go, only got $4,000 for it, it still makes me sick to this day, it was a very solid car.

It's a charger and they'll never drop in price atleast so i would make it a runner and mostly original sheetmetalwise. Just a nice driver and not nescessarily a restore.

I'd say just start patching and see where it goes.. it will come together with some work but get it back to original and have a super iconic muscle car only some ppl can only dream off.. These things fetch pretty high dollars in value..

I love the Nascar chassis idea, but have the same reservations with the cage and proportions. I wonder if you could find a similar wheelbase car or truck frame and start with that - like drop the body onto a Dakota chassis or something….

At least you got it in covered storage now with a concrete floor.

That body is literally 50% gone... You've got your work cut out for you, Cam!

Nice find!! Build it your way!

Going to be exciting for sure. I would recommend tearing it all apart and getting it blasted, that is the only way you would know the condition of the car underneath. But then you would lose the cool patina. Either way, get that underneath with the frame rails and the floors solid before you go any further. Gotta have a good foundation to build upon. It looks like all my cars, lol Definitely a good project. I like the stickers on the toolbox, lol.

at the end of the day its your car, follow your heart and do what is you wish. If i had to give you an option id say fix it and keep it original. They are only original once, and if you look at a value stand point, it will far be worth more fixed and brought back to original.

That key is for the trunk and glove box. Doors unlock with the ignition key

I’ve got a lot of videos to catch up on. I’m about to dive into mine. I’m looking for pointers and any nuggets I can get. It’s also fun to just to see other people progress on their projects. 😃👍

👍

My vote is restore. It’s gonna be a lot of work but it’ll be a great ride. Waiting to see about the engine though. That might be a game changer

You have this Charger yes seems over whemming take your time restore great learning do the job right the first time be proud of your work ask questions push forward it’s all worth it

Good Man! Thumbz up.

Not a Mopar guy but the trim packages were just plain charger, then charger se, then charger 500 which has a lot of optional equipment in 1970 and the R/T which was the sportiest trim package but it is interesting that your charger 500 has the console and the rally pack guage cluster.

Take a look at Rust Bucket Resto’s on RU-vid. He just replaced almost every piece of sheet metal and frame rails on a 1968 charger. He shows every step required to replace everything on that car and got his parts from AMD as well

I’d say fix it, chargers are hard to find and worth a lot, also expensive to fix tho

Restore or resto-mod it, but keep the look sympathetic to original. Looking forward to seeing how you move forward with it whatever you choose to do.

My 1970 500 came with a 318 lol I was like huh🗿

Good luck, I was told I couldn't work out of my storage unit here in Michigan😒

The 70 models used the badge 500 on some models to make them seem more impressive as the 69 and a half 500s were impressive.

If it was me I'd fix the structural sheet metal which on a uniform car is almost all of it go pull a running 318 or 360 magnum and put in it and the seat redone and a basic painless chassis harness but that just me I'm cheap

Option 1 man. Patch her up and drive it.

Have you considered doing a 4x4 Charger? Drop it on an old ram chassis or something and you have a kick ass ride.

Think about it.... Belt molding..... Waist high... Molding used to protect the side of the car from parking lot door dings. And that Charger deservers a proper restoration... Not hacked up and put on another chassis. All the rot you're seeing is common to B Bodies

Awesome BTW THAT ROUND KEY IS THE TRUNK / CONSOLE ONLY KEY THE HEXAGON KEY PENSTAR LOOK KEY IS ONLY FOR DOOR & IGNITION I CAN ASSIST IF U NEED I OWN A 70 CHARGER 500 GOOD JOB YOUR PARENTS DESERVE PRAISE

You should get it running with the og engine and put a 4 barrel on it and headers and stuff ike that and then fix the bad rust and drive it!

Fuerzas que tu si puedes contancia y esfuerzo

Option 1 - Greets from Austria (got a 72 Charger)

Holy crap dude you got your work cut out for you! Be interesting to see which way you go. 👍☮️🇺🇲

That car definitely has some serious rust, but its not beyond saveable. I'd say repair the factory sheet metal and have it as a ratty cruiser and make it pretty while driving it.

The key goes to trunk glove box and center console

You should ask dylan mccool the fender code

Love you buddy!❣

Chrysler starts building the next year car in September so that car is a early 1970 because the 1970 production would of started in September of 1969

Dude love the videos I think fix all the rust but keep it ratty looking almost like how general Mayham is but get it running and maybe put a cage in but keep it as something that looks nice because no rust but you can go flying down a dirt road and not worry about rock chipping the paint

Sheet metal 🔥🔥

Just keep it original that would alot of content as well

Pretty sure I drank one of those awful sodas back in the early ‘80’s. They were even worse tasting than you could imagine!😳

I like option 1 but you're going to need to sell a LOT of stickers and shirts to fund it! 😂 I am assuming you watch Chris Birdsong's stuff. Also check out Rust Bucket Restos as he is rebuilding a 68 or 69 Charger from the ground up. It was probably as rough as this one is. He does a good job of showing and explaining the process.

get you a doner b body car something not really desirable then cut rails and other bits you need for it i would be the most time consuming option but the cheapest one your going to need a frame jig to fix it or just do a chassis swap like you were taking about.

Just do a regular restoration. First, take every part off it. Then do all the rust repair. Its more extensive than I have seen.

I see a OG hub cap in the pile of interior I wonder if you have all four of them. That be cool if you did have all four OG hub caps because you don't see nobody running the OG caps anymore and I think they are awesome. So is that a 500 model or just a standard 70 Charger?

Sucks for the hood damage

Save up for a rebody. 👨‍🔧

The sheet metal to repair that car is going to cost you a minimum of 4000.00 dollars...

Is there a dynacorn re-body or they only make challengers?

12:22 Counsle = Console (con-sole)

The first option.

Sorry to hear about the hood 🫣