Sunday, September 30, 2012

Charger's Floors Are In

I finally got to work on the Charger again, it's been a month and it's been driving me crazy, while the car its self has just been driving me around. Several things I learned from welding, is that one, it's ridiculously hot. It's also ridiculously difficult. My hats off to the people that can do it, can do it well, and can do it so it looks easy. It's not something I want to do again, not without a ton of practice first. Also I was in less than perfect conditions using after market parts which don't fit as perfectly as the originals, add this all together and what you have is a long day of annoying frustrating work! (with burns)
At one point right after welding, my dad set his hand down and then started to yell and scream that he touched a spark. As I chuckled at his pain and thought, "only you dad!" I set my hand down on the part that was just welded. Needless to say I said a lot more than he did, and as he laughed I knew that I was now forever part of my Charger, because putting your hand in molten steel will do that to a guy.

Once we had the new floor pans tack welded into place we used body putty to fill in all the gaps and surround the outside of the new floor. Using  that stuff isn't hard, in fact it's kinda fun, almost like playing with finger paint and clay at the same time. It dries really fast and if you aren't quick enough, you're just plain out of luck. You can see in the picture the rocker panel on this side is rusted pretty good, luckily not the whole way through, I'll be sanding that down and filling it in with body filler next. Just one of the small things I am able to do on my own without paying someone else to do it.

I got to drive the Charger back, it made the 11 miles just fine after it got warmed up. I also did my first peel out! It was an accident for the most part. At the stop sign at the intersection right before my dad's house I had come to a complete stop. I decided I was just going to jump on the gas and the tires squealed as I peeled out. My dad told me I left rubber. (He was driving behind me in his truck and got to see it up close.) Let those tire marks be a signal to all those who see it, that there are more of those to come in the near future. In fact, since I'll be getting new rims and tires and won't need the ones I have now, I may just do enough burn outs to ruin them!

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