Charger

[1967 'cuda]

From this angle the modifications to the intake and blower are almost invisible.

Another shot of the engine with the new front cover, alternator, distributor, and oil pan.

New side view shot of the motor with the new extras on it.

This is a 'before' picture of the headlights on the Charger. We purchased a set of halogens to replace these at the Wahoo swap meet.

The rear of the new lights were too large to fit into the headlight buckets. I had to enlarge the opening in the buckets by about 1/4" diameter. The headlight rings were also too small in diameter and I had to split the rings to make them fit over the new lights. The molded tangs that were on the new lens housings were too large to fit into the recesses in the buckets, so I ground them down.

New fenders from AMD. - They're not aligned yet but transferred the small parts from the originals and hung them.

For Christmas I picked up some tool boxes for Spence.

I white-washed the walls to try to make the inside of the shop a little brighter. While I was at it I re-organized the tools and parts.

Winter just never seemed to end and it really slowed production down on the car. It doesn't look that much different now than it did six months ago.

Another picture of the re-organized shop.

 

[moparisbest]

View attachment images.jpg like this one

 

[1967 'cuda]

rayer: love the 68 charger , subscribed was wondering do they sale a off set dizzy for bb mopar for this reason ?

I'm sure that's one of the biggest reasons for them. WE thought about buying an offset distributor, but we had a hard time finding a supplier for a low deck motor. The one place we did find, the cost was astronomical.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The engines are now moved out of the way of work on the car. We're still waiting for another blower idler pulley bracket from BDS. - Don't want to attempt to set up alternator or power steering brackets until we've got the supercharger belt set up.

This photo is of the notch made in the frame on the passenger side. This is where the new front leaf spring hanger will be welded in.

IT ROLLS!!!!! - With the rear end re-attached the Charger is finally on all fours again.

The decision was made to weld all new seams solid in the flooring. The reasoning behind it was to make the car as solid as possible to help withstand the torque produced by the coming blown 512 stroker motor.

- just a partial list of things yet to be purchased...

We got a rear seat core from Zimmerman out of Rising City. It will still have to have it's frame modified to mate with the new widened wheel wells before going to the upholstery shop.

In this photo you can see the passenger side's front spring hanger welded in place.

Once the widened wheel wells have had their welds ground down and a sealing coat of POR-15 applied, it will be hard to tell from inside the trunk that they've been modified.

Either we're good or really lucky. The tires seem to be perfectly centered in the widened wheel wells. New Keystones clear the new disc brakes. After the long winter, progress is finally starting to show again.

After coming home from 4 years in the Army, one of the first things Spence did was start working on the Charger again. We stripped off the upholstery and padding from the rear seat we'd gotten so that we could modify the frames to fit against the newly widened wheel tubs.

 

[1967 'cuda]

In addition to having to cut and re-weld the frames, we had to descale all of the rust off of them

Here the frames are after being modified and coating them with paint. The next stop for them will be the upholstery shop.

The housing for the heater core/air conditioning has finally been removed from the interior. The decision to eliminate the air conditioning meant those components needed to be taken out of this housing.

Tucked up behind the air conditioner was another mouse hotel. This should be the last remnants of the Oklahoma mouse housing project.

Of course, there were openings through the firewall that accommodated the air conditioner. We'll have to weld and fill these.

In this pic, the holes have been welded. A little body filler and you'll never know they were there.

We scored another piece from Zimmerman (from Rising City). This should be the correct 4-speed transmission crossmember. It was entirely covered with rust, but after 40 minutes with the wire wheel and some black paint, it looks good as new.

Fiberglass mat is cut into strips that will be used to seal every weld seam in the car. The factories used a caulk-like seam sealer that would harden after a few years. By layering the POR-15 anti-rust paint with this fiberglass we should have a permanent seal.

Working on the seams inside the trunk, first the welds are scoured with degreaser and then a metal prep is applied to give the POR-15 good adhesion.

Once the welded areas are prepped, a coat of POR-15 is applied followed by a strip of fiberglass and then another coat of the POR-15.

 

[1967 'cuda]

After studying the new idler bracket we realized that we needed to make the hole in the hood bigger.

We welded 5/16 brake line around the perimeter of the hole and boxed the inner hood skin to the outer shell.

It still needs some glazing putty and to be block sanded, but this is the hood roughed in.

The covering for the wiring looms that are located beneath the carpeting next to the sill plates were both rusted out and had to be re-fabricated.

Here you can see the before and after photos of the wire covers.

The sill plates are really nasty. Even after polishing, they're still far from pristine.

It's hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

The ceiling gets treated to some sound deadening insulation. This is a lightweight foam filled style that won't end up sagging over time.

The floor is also covered with insulation. This style is jute backed and foil covered.

We were lucky to have a friend Greg Fiala that has a '68 Plymouth Fury parts car that we've been able to rob some small pieces from for the Charger. We volunteered to clean up the alternator of his '70 Camaro project car. This is the before picture.

 

[1967 'cuda]

- Hope G. Fiala is happy with the results of the polish job on his alternator. It took close to 8 hours to get it into this shape from what it was. We cleaned out a mud wasp nest from the inside, repaired one broken wire to the armature, cleaned out some of the inner corrosion, and inspected the brushes before re-assembling.

No, it's not snowing in our shop. This small hand-held sandblaster is ideal for removing the last traces of paint from the vent grill on the Charger.

We picked our seats back up from the upholstery shop this last weekend and did a quick install to see how we liked them. We had issues with some wrinkles in the back seat and with the black inserts not being straight. The upholsterer assured us she will correct any problems.

We had R/T emblems embroidered on the front seats. Overall we are happy with the interior so far. - But the rear seats will still have to be fixed.

We hung the dash back in last weekend. White steering column/wheel look good with this interior.

The dash pad cover came in black but will probably be dyed yet to give it a darker appearance.

We decided to insulate the inside of the trunk to make sure the car will be as quiet as possible (except for engine sounds).

Another shot of the trunk being insulated.

We got the rear seat back from the upholstery shop today. She fixed the issues we had with wrinkles and straightened and re-aligned the black inserts.

We also had the shop change the color of the piping from black to white. - Looks much better this way.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The new coil and coil bracket arrived this week.

 

[1967 'cuda]

We ordered the largest volume mechanical fuel pump we could find. It's supposed to pump 120 gph and should be enough to keep both carbs full.

Reproduction battery tray assembly made by AMD. Test fit perfect.

High torque MSD mini starter arrived this week also.

I gave the blower intake a quick re-polish and sprayed some clear enamel on it this time to keep it from tarnishing. These old Weiand 383/400 supercharger intakes are super rare and hard to find. The blower studs and gaskets also arrived this week.

The decision was made to make the car's suspension as tight as possible with all new components. (ball joints, bushings etc...)

Red polyurethane was chosen to add a bit more detail to the suspension while improving the ride over the stock rubber components.

A Wilwood clutch master cylinder arrived. We still haven't ordered the hydraulic throw out bearing.

Remote billet aluminum reservoir was an extra $80. It should look nice in the engine bay but I think it was overpriced.

New chrome power steering pump should look good installed.

The blower studs are red anodized aluminum with 12 point hardened steel nuts. We're new to this supercharger stuff so we weren't originally aware we were supposed to run aluminum studs. Apparently they're meant to break off in the event of a blower explosion. - Sounds spooky...

 

[1967 'cuda]

People reading this thread might get a bit confused by the timeline and some of the captions. I had begun taking photos of the project in an effort to to keep my son (who was stationed in Iraq) up to date on what was going on with his car. He is pictured in some of the photos when he was back. It was my way of keeping in touch with him while he was away.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Edelbrock aluminum heads arrived today! We got a fantastic cyber-Monday deal on them through Streetside Auto. Only 3 days since ordered and they're here already.

We had debated whether to go with heads from 440 SOURCE or to go with the Edelbrocks. Although 440 SOURCE has a good reputation for unbeatable prices and good support, their heads are machined overseas and there are some concerns about QC. The price break we got on cyber-Monday made the decision to go with the US machined Edelbrocks easier to make.

We still need to decide on which rocker arms to order. Harland Sharp has excellent aluminum ones, but we want as close to 1000 hp out of this motor as we can get. No engine is "bullet-proof" but for strength I think we'll go with chromemoly steel. We're looking at some from COMP CAMS.

We decided to go with the chromemoly rocker arms from Comp Cams. They seem to be the strongest adjustables on the market and although we're not planning on mega-RPM, we are still concerned about breaking parts on an engine we're trying to tweak close to 1000 horsepower out of.

The factory 8-track player was no longer in the Charger when we purchased it and it really wouldn't be our first choice for the Charger's sound system. We opted for this touch screen CD/DVD unit from JVC. - Customizable background images, iPod input and several other options. It should look good in the dash.

When we purchased the 4 wheel disc brake conversion from "RIGHT STUFF DETAILING" it included a new master cylinder. Unfortunately our old brake booster was in poor shape and needed replacing. It took several months to find a replacement. Although it was a rebuilt unit, it was severely pitted from rust which we had to fill with primer and glazing compound. After experimenting with greys, silvers and black we tried this gold finish.

New 4-core aluminum radiator arrived today. Hopeful that this will keep the stroker running cool.

The radiator came with a pair of electric fans. - Like most of our purchases this was an eBay find.

Although it's difficult to see in this photo, we bought new 5-point camlock racing harnesses for the car. - Needless to say, the original seat belts had to be replaced.

We're considering switching our 'Mopar Performance' valve covers to 'Mickey Thompson's instead. It all started when we came across pictures of rare Mickey Thompson valve cover breathers.

 

[1967 'cuda]

This is a pic of our current Mopar Performance valve covers with R/T emblems on them.

This is a pic of those hard to find Mickey Thompson breathers.

Although this pic is not of valve covers that fit our engine, it does show how the Mickey Thompson valve covers look with the M/T breathers attached.

Another shot of the M/T breathers on M/T valve covers.

The B&M launch control solenoid arrived today.

When we decided to delete the windshield washer reservoir from the engine compartment, we also decided to make sure that all dash controls were functional. So we ordered this latching push button switch from Australia to replace the momentary contact washer switch. This will control the Line-Loc.

We did end up purchasing a used pair of M/T valve covers off of eBay. They were primered and had to be stripped, sanded and buffed out. Here you can see the one of them way they came and the other after polishing. We also purchased 4 billet aluminum push in breathers and a pair of those rare M/T finned breathers.

Finally got around to taking the dremel tool to the M/T valve covers. It seems a shame to start cutting on these freshly re-polished covers but we have to in order to attach those rare M/T breathers.

Hard to believe they'll be better looking when they're done.

One side has been finish ground and has the M/T breather in place. Next - doing a little experimentation with emblems. Still haven't decided which emblems we might want to use. Or if we want to use any at all. Also pictured here are our new 10.5mm spark plug wires from Taylor. - And the spark plug wire looms. Because the looms weren't made for such a large diameter wire, I had to drill/hone the clamps out to work.

 

[sireland67]

Your build is looking great, when is the estimated completion time frame?

 

[1967 'cuda]

It's hard to say. We keep getting side tracked with other projects. Since my son finished with the service, we've bought the '70 Roadrunner that we've been working on. We had to go through the clutch, installed a new stereo, converted to fuel injection, repaired brakes, etc...

Since the start of the Charger project I had to do body repair on his '68 Chevelle that someone ran into.

This last year I bought an AAR Cuda clone that needed work. It ran like crap and had other issues. I replaced the carb, installed a COMP cam kit, installed an MSD billet distributor, a REV-N-NATOR ignition box, put on brand new 15" rallye wheels and tires, rewired the car, replaced the starter, replaced the door, trunk, and ignition locks, replaced the door strikers and door springs, and then went through and fixed every loose screw throughout because it had tons of rattles. There were other things on it I fixed as well. I really liked that car, but I sold it after someone made me an offer on it I couldn't refuse.

I've also been working on my '67 Barracuda. This last year I stripped it down, replaced the rear quarters, installed a fiberglass front, added disc brakes, reupholstered the interior, added an MSD ignition & distributor, put in an aluminum radiator, changed K-members, installed a new stereo, tach, tires, wheels, etc... I'm getting ready to switch out the 904 to a 727 and install a Dana 60 that I had narrowed for it.

And then there's the black '69 Chevelle that I'm fixing up for my fiancee.

And I've got my '79 Lil Red Express tying up the shop right now. - Doing a full resto on it too.

And of course there's still the '72 Duster that I need to get race ready this year. - It should run in the high 9s to low 10s.

Too many irons in the fire.

I doubt I'll ever get to the funnycar.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Unreal.And subscribed. Just ,Bad ***. Love the fact,you didn't quit.

When we first saw the Charger in Oklahoma it was being stored in a shed with the ceiling falling down. We literally had to scoop garbage out of and off of the car just to see it. No wonder the guy hadn't had pictures of it. I thought that $6000 was an insane price for it and advised my son against buying. But we didn't have enough time (while he was on leave) to search for another R/T. I let the decision up to him. Although I cussed a lot while working on it (every time I found a new problem) I have been enjoying the build.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Nice Charger project going on! The '68 Chevelle SS clone looked nice too.

The '68 Chevelle is up for sale now. My son's got it in Des Moines.

 

[OldmanRick]

This is a great thread!!! And thank you so much Spencer for serving us here in the great old USA. Dad, congrats on raising such a fine young man, and keeping the passion alive with all your projects. :thumbrig:

 

[1967 'cuda]

I have always liked the '68 best of all the Chargers. Great job and progress. You should have a tv program on your restoration.

I don't know about that. This build is pretty disorganized. I tend to jump from one facet of it to another based on what parts we have. Our shop is an old one room schoolhouse which is why there are some blackboards on the walls. I'm sure there are folks out there that are shaking their heads at how crudely we've done some things. We've got some nice vehicles but none are show winners. We build everything to be a driver.

There are some build threads on FABO that astound me. The workmanship and attention to detail some of you folks have is incredible.

We're more in the category of shade tree mechanics. - Guys who, if we were smarter, would say no to some of these projects and focus on life outside of the garage. I guess I shouldn't have spent so much time reading CARtoons when I was growing up.

 

[1967 'cuda]

This is a great thread!!! And thank you so much Spencer for serving us here in the great old USA. Dad, congrats on raising such a fine young man, and keeping the passion alive with all your projects. :thumbrig:

Thanks Rick, but I'm afraid it goes beyond passion to more of an addiction. LOL

 

[OldmanRick]

Good luck with the Chevelle's also. I owned 3 between 75' & 81'. A 69' SS396, a 72' SS 402, and a 72' SS 350. Not real popular on this site, but they were great deals for me, and really good cars from that era that I enjoyed.

 

[Abodybomber]

Good luck with the Chevelle's also. I owned 3 between 75' & 81'. A 69' SS396, a 72' SS 402, and a 72' SS 350. Not real popular on this site, but they were great deals for me, and really good cars from that era that I enjoyed.

Not to take away, from the thread. Had a 68,and a70 ,pair of El Camino's .Learned so much,from proper help. Amazing time,in my life.

 

[OldmanRick]

Not to take away, from the thread. Had a 68,and a70 ,pair of El Camino's .Learned so much,from proper help. Amazing time,in my life.

Me too. I lived/grew up in a real Mopar neighborhood as a teen. I loved them then...and still love them now. The available cars that came my way were from all the manufacturers and I grabbed the best deals I could find. I'm glad I got to experience muscle cars from all the cars that were available back then, to own, or at least work on. I know you have a soft spot for Ford FE's and my time around them was informative and really cool. I understand the Mopar or No car sentiment with some, but I wouldn't be who I am today without all the experience I gained from the muscle car era in general.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Not to take away, from the thread. Had a 68,and a70 ,pair of El Camino's .Learned so much,from proper help. Amazing time,in my life.

I've never actually been a 'Mopar or no Car' person. Don't get me wrong, I love my Mopars. - And I genuinely would tend to choose a Chrysler product over others. But I owned a '69 & a '70 Camaro. One of the first vehicles I ever drove was a '67 El Camino. And the 283 on the engine stand is for a T-Bucket. I'd love to have an early fastback 'Stang someday.

But I've got a special place in my heart for Mopars. The company that was willing to get a little more 'nuts' than the rest. - The winged cars, the high optic colors, pistol-gripped 4-speeds, etc, etc... and of course, the Hemi. Someone had to be a little crazy to name a car Roadrunner and then put a 'beep' 'beep' horn in it. I think the American automotive world would have been damn near boring through the sixties and seventies if it weren't for the impact Dodge and Plymouth made.



In my mind, this picture embodies what it feels like to me to drive a Mopar!
View attachment 1714700631

 

[67 prostreet gt]

That looks just like my first car though it was black and that one is finished I never finished mine sold it for a Abody

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[1967 'cuda]

When the idler pulley bracket finally showed up from BDS, we took the supercharger to Mark Kinser in Iowa to have everything freshened up on it. The Weiand snout had to be re-machined to accept the idler bracket so we had him do that too.

I polished the runners and combustion cambers on the Edelbrock heads. The camera we used to take the pictures didn't work very well, but this is a before picture of one of the combustion cambers.

And this is a picture of it afterwards.

The head ports were a very close match with our intake and headers. It didn't take much grinding to make a perfect match. I was surprised though how rough the port passages were. It took several hours to make them smooth. I remember hearing years ago that guys would smooth the ports until they could pull nylon stockings through them without snagging. If that's a good test, ours would pass now.

The 400 block had very little cylinder wear. I deburred the oil galley and started smoothing all of the inside surfaces of the block. I don't know if this would count as stress relieving it or not.

Eventually all of those layers of paint that we had experimented with were going to have to come back off. Decided to try dressing up the outside of the block as well. Any rough castings were removed.

When we're done, the machine shop should be pretty happy. They'll have very little garbage to cook off when they hot tank.

These aluminum shocks from QA1 are supposed to be the ultimate in adjustability for standard mount replacements. They're dual adjustable. The bottom of each has 2 knobs. One to control the valving of compression. - And the other to control the valving of extension. I hope they work because they were close to $250 a pop/$1000 a set.