Project Charger. Larry Lyles

      PHOTO 15: Finally the fenders can come off the car. Removing a few bolts along the apron inside the engine compartment, plus a few more up front and a couple at the bottom of the fender, allows this fender to lift up and come off the Charger.

      After I’ve roughed out the panel, I can switch to a smaller hammer and dolly to work on the smaller dents. The areas that concern me most are around the parking lamps. The lamps are set into oval-shaped openings, and I must precisely reform the gaps between the lamps and the openings. I take my time when repairing areas like this. Each of the lamps may need to be test fitted several times before the openings are right. Also, notice that the oval openings have rolled edges to give a smooth transition from sheet metal to plastic lamp. These rolled edges must be carefully rebuilt for the repair to be correct.

      Test fitting the repaired valance is a simple matter of using a pair of Vise Grip welding pliers to hold the panel into place at the front of the car. In photo 10, I am using the welding pliers to hold the valance panel to the fenders. I accomplish some final fitting after clamping the panel into place.

      Remove Hood

      You may notice I haven’t said anything about removing the hood yet. On this car, the hood hinges are mounted to the unibody structure, not to the fenders themselves. On most other types of vehicles, the hood has to be removed before the fenders are, because the hinges are mounted directly to the fenders. So let’s talk about removing the hood.

      First on the agenda is to remove any rubber seal strips, gaskets, moldings, and latch assemblies mounted to the hood. Again, I use the door trim tool, which works wonders when removing rubber seal strips. The only things out of the ordinary on the Charger are the right- and left-turn lamp indicators mounted in the hood. I remove these along with the wiring, before removing the hood.

      I know this sounds backward, but I unbolt the hinges from the car, not from the hood. This allows the hood to remain propped in place until I lift it free of the car. Separating the hood from the hinges leaves the hood unstable and free to slide around.

      Remove Fenders

      The fender attachment bolts are inside the engine compartment along the length of the fenders, where they overlap the inner fender structure; underneath the fenders at the rear; and at the front, where the fenders attach to the core support. The Charger does not have a fender apron per se, so only a couple of bolts are inside the wheel well compartment.

      If you haven’t already disconnected the headlamp wiring connectors, disconnect them now because the headlamp mounting panels come off the car as a part of each fender. I remove the fenders by first lifting the rear corner high enough to clear the mounting studs. Then I slide the front of the fender straight out to the side to clear the core support.

      Remove Door

      With the fenders and hood removed from the car, you will quickly see how convenient it is to reach the door hinge bolts. Again, four hands are better than two. With a friend holding the door, I remove the bolts from the door side of the hinges. Warning! The doors still weigh a lot, even though they are only shells.

      While I’m here, I also remove the lower door hinges—but not before I remove the door hinge springs. The hinge springs are “S”-type springs so they need to be tapped off the hinge using a hammer. On the driver’s side, I gently drive the spring upward with a hammer until it pops free of the hinge. On the passenger side, I drive the spring downward until it pops free. Notice the shape of the spring in photo 19. The top of the spring is rounded, while the bottom of the spring is squared off. The placement of the squared end of the spring determines the direction in which the spring should be tapped to remove it from the hinge. The squared end is always the tapped end.