1972 Road Runner/GTX restoration

[nathan buckley]

Thanks for the tip (literally).. resonators are on the way!

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

Had to awaken the old girl form her winter time hibernation to get the Christmas lights down, tons of pressure from the kids to hang lights this year. Once more, struck by a particular perspective of these cars, It’s now been 40 years now since I first laid eyes on one, but is there a better looking front end, bumper/grille on four wheels?

[asuperdry]

Had to awaken the old girl form her winter time hibernation........................ is there a better looking front end, bumper/grille on four wheels?

Thanks for waking her up for a quick photo shoot, and I agree with you 100%, there is NO other better looking front end.

[junkman]

Very nice job on the resto,we have the same car it looks like ,i am not far from you by the looks of it ,i have a 72 u code with 6 pack i added , n96 with ga4 paint code i bought when in high school in 86 ,i painted the car vitamin c orange back in the late 80's ,next time i refinish the car i think i will go back to the original color ,when i was younger the orange was cool ,but the older i get the more i like the original poly colors

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

Thanks, Welcome to the Nest. Post some pics of your car when you can. Not far from me? Where abouts? This one started out EV2, friend in High school showed up one day with a brand new ’72 GA4 RR/GTX N96 4-speed-Dana, been hooked on them ever since.

[junkman]

I am over in port angeles ,there is actually 4 - 72's in town here mine is 440 a/t ,my neighbor has a 340 4 speed ,and there are 2 400 a/t cars ,the 400 cars are ga4 gunmetal grey also ,the 340 car is hemi orange ,another friend of mine has a 71 gtx in black ,it has been off the road since the early 80's at least ,i think it has super low miles like 30k or so ,i have not seen that one for a while ,mine is the only n96 air grabber car out of the bunch though ,not sure if want the pics cluttering up your build ,if so maybe a mod can move them to the right type of thread ,last time i painted it ,the half vinyl top was not available through year one ,i have not looked lately maybe they make them now some reason my images are cut in half ?

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

Looks very nice! Are you the original owner? 4 or 5 of these in Port Angeles you say, in the almost 10 years I’ve had mine, I‘ve run in to maybe 2 other ‘72s locally, was beginning to think mine may be the only “U”-code in the state. The half vinyl top mush be available somewhere, that self-described “Best in the World” Mopar only shop on TV, based in Springfield, Ore., put one on a ’72 Charger last year. IIRC, may have come from Legendary. This car had one too originally.
No worries about this thread, it has been idle for several years now, the build has been done almost 5 years. Love to see your car sometime, if you ever get over this way with it let me know. I’m in Shoreline, not too far from Edmonds. Do you show the car at all? Doug

[junkman]

when i was younger i used to go to shows ,lake sammamish spring round up ,i think bellevue college had a small show also back then ,there was another one also ,i can't remember back that far though ,i bought this car in 1986 ,was my second car ,first was a 68 barracuda 340,drove this through high school ,i have not had it out on a few years now ,dust collector in the shop ,i need to freshen it up some ,headliner split from sitting ,engine is not fresh like it was when put it in there ,getting corrosion from sitting ,i had a 4 speed in it when was younger ,put the stock at stuff back in about 15 years ago ,i am kind of getting the 4 speed bug again ,i have most of the parts to convert it over ,just no time for cars right now ,home stuff keeping me busy right now .there are more cars around ,they are just hidden in garages out of site ,i remember seeing a 72 green u-code with air grabber at a car lot when was younger in seattle area ,it may be tucked away somewhere in your area still

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

Finally, some decent mid-winter driving weather, time for a road test on some recent work and a picture update.

[71Beeper]

It's still one fine looking car there 72RoadRunnerGTX!

[rr6pak]

It's still one fine looking car there 72RoadRunnerGTX!

I agree. Same can be said to junkman as well

[beepbeepTyler]

She is one beautiful RR

[73'BIRD]

ah ok.. I also wanted to use plastic but this doesn't remove all the rusty spots.. it doesn't even remove the surface rust, surface rust keeps brown after plastic blasting! The guy here quit now, I think it was the only one in the country? He got sick from the Formaldehyd in the plastic he said... who knows... now I will see where I can blast that car, no way I am going to do this by hand! I wish it also would look like yours!

I hear hydro blasting is very good

[moparite]

There is all kinds of media available for blasting. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) may be a good choice. hydro blasting rusts the surface as soon as it dries. Both have their uses depending what part of the car you are doing.

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

I just replaced my 3” TTI exhaust system with a 2 ½” Accurate Exhaust H-pipe, hemi type mufflers, and resonators. Details to follow soon. For me, the 3” system was just too loud. So far the Accurate system fits very well, is very close to factory spec exhaust for these cars.