The fires that are to the north and southwest have kept all of us inside for the most of the last month. It’s been pretty hard on everyone from here to Colorado. Mark, the ModelSpace admin., is in the same boat, inundated with smoke daily. Our air qualities have been running from 200 to 700 daily. At least we have modelling to make the days go by. Onto the final stage of the Fast and Furious Dodge Charger!

****Admin note; As of yesterday at 9am Pacific, Steve and his wife were ordered to evacuate their home in South Lake Tahoe, due to the Caldor Fire. It has burned 191,607 acres as of 12 noon on Aug 31, with a paltry 16% containment. 22,000 residents have been evacuated…****

Pack 24, Stages 106-110

Stage 106, Assembling the fuel tank

Press fit the fuel sensor, 106C, onto the upper panel, 106B. Secure the tank top and sensor to the tank, 106A, with AP screws from underneath. Mount the fuel tank assembly to the trunk floor panel with AP screws. Attach the tank hoses to the tank and trunk floor. Now connect the trunk floor panel assembly to the car body with Lp screws.I secured the front Four screws and checked the fit of the filler hose. It fits, tighten the screws and add more. Onto fixing the body to the chassis. This was the most time consuming part of the entire build. I ended up having to, after several tries, Padding up the rear end of the car, making sure the tail light wires and connector were not going to be pinched between the chassis and the body. I stood the car up on the back end and pressed the chassis down until the front of the chassis fit into the front clip of the body correctly. If you have a problem with getting the chassis to fit on the body, it will be the fit between The arch at the back of the interior floor and the wheel well covers. The interior arch goes over the wheel well. It was quite a challenge to solve all the fit problems to get the chassis to fit to the body properly. Stick at it, solve one fit issue at a time, it will all work.. There are alot of connection points for the screws. Follow the build guide carefully, 106.6 thru 106.10 to get the body secured properly. The next fit challenge is the front finish clip (the one we built at the very beginning of the build. Might have been Stage 3, it includes the lights, grill, front trim and turn signals. I have to apologize, between the fires, smoke and prepping for evacuation, I have lost the photos for the assembly of the fuel tank. Onto the front end of the build.

Stage 107 ,The front section of the chassis

Again, find the front end that was assembled so long ago. Mine is still wrapped and looks great. Mount the cross member, 107E and secure to the front lower panel with CM screws. Onto the mounting brackets. Build the left side first. It didn’t show real well, but the parts are marked L and R. Assemble the left side with an FM screw, Leave this screw slightly loose. Mount the assembly to the front with FM screws then tighten the screw holding the two parts together. Do the same for the right side. Make up the lights as shown and hold the wire in place with the provided tape, 107F. Make up the connector and attach the assembly to the front clip as shown. Secure the front clip to the chassis as shown with FM screws. Check the fit with the front fenders on top. The top of the fender and the chrome trim around the front assembly should be flush. If not, make the adjustments at the chassis to body connections. Secure the front clip to the lower front panel, 3J with CM screws. Flip the entire assembly over and add the OP screws to the engine housing panel, 97I.


Stage 108, Front left wheel well

Assemble parts 108B and D as shown, secure with the two parts with AP screws. Note: In the next step,108C is shown mounted on the backside of 108B. It needs to be mounted on the front of the assembly as shown in the photos. Mount the assembly into the wheel well as shown with AM screws..Make sure the light wires are not pinched underneath or at the front of the assembly. Secure the assembly with AP screws into 108C which positions under the part 81A. The rear of the wheel well, 108A, mounts in the rear of the wheel well. And will line up with the chassis when in the right position. Secure with CP screws.

Stage 109, Right front wheel well

Seems to me that this pack is possibly the most involved of all the packs to date. Makes the finish of the build a lot more rewarding. Then starts the serious polishing of the entire car. I’ve been polishing body parts all along, now that all the body parts are on. The polishing will be more uniform. I’m really looking forward to the end results. I’m posting photos of the results of the polishing so far, the powder coat is really tough, however, results are starting to show. It sounds like we may be doing a polishing tutorial for powder coat finishes. Let Mark know if anyone is interested. Onto the right wheel well. It builds up the same, no wires to worry about on this side. Check out the build photos. Again, the build guide shows part 109C mounted behind 109B. Make the adjustment and onto the last stage of the build. Oh, mount the wheel.

Stage 110, The struts

Install the struts as shown with AM screws. Mount the over pressure valve on the upper right side of the supercharger (see build photos). Put the antenna together and mount. If you chose to lock the hood down, put the lock rings on. I chose to leave them off to show the engine. Either way, time for the blower hat. The build is done!

I’d first like to thank Mark for letting me do this build. I hope all that complete the build will have had as much enjoyment as I have. Thanx for joining Mark and I, hope to build with you again.

Stay well, stay safe, talk to ya later.

Steve