SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Stevearino]

Thank you again for the thumbs up guys. They are appreciated.

[DPL]

Just went through this thread and wow, very cool.  What a project, well done!!!!

[Stevearino]

Just went through this thread and wow, very cool.  What a project, well done!!!!

Thank you. I got a long way to go. I hope I don't loose momentum.

[djcarguy]

I found a hot rod universal kit that might work for the wipers. I uses a cable and gear similar to what Mike suggested with the rack and pinion set up and Mike you are right about people saying you don't need wipers on something like this. Only one problem. This will definitely not be a trailer queen. I'm gonna drive this thing a lot.

DJ , the single wiper might be the way to go as the center mounting point for the other wiper is what is bottoming out on the under dash AC unit.
Definitely puts a stick in my spokes.

Well i was rereading an looking at pixs on p 13. i meant smaller wiper motor like street rods with 1 blade each ,not just 1 wiper. but maybe 2 seperate motors an blades  put any where they fit? hows the build going??? dj

[Stevearino]

I found a hot rod universal kit that might work for the wipers. I uses a cable and gear similar to what Mike suggested with the rack and pinion set up and Mike you are right about people saying you don't need wipers on something like this. Only one problem. This will definitely not be a trailer queen. I'm gonna drive this thing a lot.

DJ , the single wiper might be the way to go as the center mounting point for the other wiper is what is bottoming out on the under dash AC unit.
Definitely puts a stick in my spokes.

Actually the wipers is what I have been sorting out. I haven't posted any pics because there has been a lot of trial and error getting it worked out and I am not there yet. Stay tuned.
Well i was rereading an looking at pixs on p 13. i meant smaller wiper motor like street rods with 1 blade each ,not just 1 wiper. but maybe 2 seperate motors an blades  put any where they fit? hows the build going??? dj

[Stevearino]

I haven't posted in a while not because I haven't been working on the car but because I have been dealing with some real challenges. After doing a lot of chopping and cutting, installing and unintalling I got the 06 wiper set up to work. I attached some wood mock up wipers to check out the sweep. This is a link to a video I posted on my facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=681675091845393&set=vb.100000087251193&type=3&theater  The clacking sound in the video is of some areas that needed further clearance. I have since clearanced them and they run quiet now. I am not out of the woods yet though. This is a hot wire set up. I don't yet know if there is a rest mode that will draw the wipers down too far. I may still have some work to do with the length of the pivot arms. I hope not because I am really up against everything right now.

[tsmithae]

Very nice, goes to show you what can be done when you set your mind to it! 

[Stevearino]

Very nice, goes to show you what can be done when you set your mind to it! 

Speaking of that how is your project coming along?

[tsmithae]

Unfortunately not nearly as quick as I want (knee injury has been limiting me drastically).  BUT, I have all pieces mocked up on the rear half of that car and everything lines up, I must have done something wrong!  I have a link to a thread I keep in my signature if you get bored, haha.

[Stevearino]

Before I could see if the wiper assembly from the donor car would work in the space I now had at the base of the windshield I had to first remove the actuating arms and cut the mount bar so that the centers of the pivot posts lined up with the 68 wiper locations. I had to cut a good amount off of the upper steering wheel stabilization mount and modify it to attach lower in the sub cowl. I then had to make sheet metal closures around the mount and small clearance wells with drain ports for any water reaching the sub cowl area. All of this had to be done to see if I would end up with enough room to install some heavily modified actuating arms. Since I have a lot of items that I need to bench test I made a small box that is just out of frame in the last picture that houses a 12 volt battery wired to two studs that I can easily attach alligator clips to . The positive is hooked to a switch so that I can bump the power to the motor quickly as I knew the swing arms would probably hit a bunch of stuff before I got them to clear.
Since the length of the actuating arms play into the sweep of the wiper blades I made up some wooden mock up blades to see if the swing was in the neighborhood. Some fine tuning will no doubt be necessary but I am satisfied enough to move on to the defroster and heating duct work.

[Stevearino]

To start with on the HVAC ducts I installed the dash wiring harness and the dash face to see what I had in the way of room to work with. With that done I cut the parts of the stock duct work off that interface with the dash outlets. I capped them off and made some brackets to hold them in place on the dash sub frame. There are a total of 4 heat outlets. Two in the middle of the dash and two on either end of the dash. There are also two outlets that connect with the defroster that mount to the dash top left and right. I decided to start with the four forward facing outlets as they require the most room.

[Baldwinvette77]

Holy crap, already working on windshield wipers? at this rate you'll be done in a couple of weeks 

[Stevearino]

Holy crap, already working on windshield wipers? at this rate you'll be done in a couple of weeks 

The real reason I am working in the dash/cowl area is I want to get the vin plate back on the car so that I can call DMV and have an inspector out to start the 6 month process of getting the final operational title..............and I want to drive it up and down my driveway like an idiot.

[cdr]

and I want to drive it up and down my driveway like an idiot.


awesome steve,,,,thats what i do. 

[moparstuart]

Holy crap, already working on windshield wipers? at this rate you'll be done in a couple of weeks 

The real reason I am working in the dash/cowl area is I want to get the vin plate back on the car so that I can call DMV and have an inspector out to start the 6 month process of getting the final operational title..............and I want to drive it up and down my driveway like an idiot.

just sit in it and go vroom vroom vroom 

[tsmithae]

Yet again, VERY impressive!  At least you guys can sit in it and goo vroom.  I have to stand in mine and pretend I'm a Flinstone! 

[Stevearino]

Holy crap, already working on windshield wipers? at this rate you'll be done in a couple of weeks 

The real reason I am working in the dash/cowl area is I want to get the vin plate back on the car so that I can call DMV and have an inspector out to start the 6 month process of getting the final operational title..............and I want to drive it up and down my driveway like an idiot.

just sit in it and go vroom vroom vroom 

Once again Stu you have given me wise advice.

[moparstuart]

Holy crap, already working on windshield wipers? at this rate you'll be done in a couple of weeks 

The real reason I am working in the dash/cowl area is I want to get the vin plate back on the car so that I can call DMV and have an inspector out to start the 6 month process of getting the final operational title..............and I want to drive it up and down my driveway like an idiot.

just sit in it and go vroom vroom vroom 

Once again Stu you have given me wise advice.

ok maybe you can do a Rain Man ( Only Slow on the driveway ) 

[Stevearino]

Holy crap, already working on windshield wipers? at this rate you'll be done in a couple of weeks 

The real reason I am working in the dash/cowl area is I want to get the vin plate back on the car so that I can call DMV and have an inspector out to start the 6 month process of getting the final operational title..............and I want to drive it up and down my driveway like an idiot.

just sit in it and go vroom vroom vroom 

Once again Stu you have given me wise advice.

ok maybe you can do a Rain Man ( Only Slow on the driveway ) 

I'm an excellent driver, yeah.

[Stevearino]

Once I installed the modified HVAC ducts I had to fabricate some ducting to bring the defroster air back to the base of the windshield bed. It was a simple angled box with a top flange and some deflectors welded in to hopefully spread the air across the base of the glass. No engineering here just good old fashioned guess work. The only problem with guessing and committing is the possibilty that the air flow will not be correct to do the job or worse will set up some weird whistling noise. Oh well.

[Stevearino]

These are some pictures of how I slid it into place between the windshield bed and the other ducting and the last pic is of the piece welded up.

[69_Charger_RT]

Wow it's coming along great 

[Baldwinvette77]

that is some badass ducting 

[moparstuart]

master of metal 

[dyslexic teddybear]

master of metal 

Understatement.


I have some experience fabing heavier, 1/4" and thicker.......and that seems really easy compared to thinner stuff.


From my limited marshal arts background.......above "master" is "grand master".


While "Grand master of metal" does sound a bit hokey, this type of work deserves the title.