SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Stevearino]

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.

Hardly. I know more than a few guys who fit that description and I know what they can do and it would make you sick. 20 years ago I tried to apprentice with a guy who only did aluminum restoration. Cobras and such. He was building a Cheetah body from scratch from photos. Gas welding the English wheeled panels together and paddling the aluminum together so you couldn't see a seem. Now that my friend is a metal master.  What I do is arts and crafts with tin. Big difference. Thanks for the compliment anyway.

[djcarguy]

   will the newer chally lites shine fully if part of the lite is blocked by the nose cone??  they do look great back in the nose. but wondering if u will have full lite or blacked out spots, i have no experiance with the new stuff.  wonder if maybee there is a smaller version an look alike lite that wood fully show the circle of lite bulb so too speak?

      when ya get to it will you show us the trunk area?? i dont recall in any of these body swaps ever seeing what and how the trunk area has too bee modifed,thanks. 
    coming along great and sure it will bee one real fun ride up an down the drive way,, hope its a long drive way,lol.

ANY plans an goal to take it to Talladega in 2014???       i hope to get to one of the big shows next year. think 7 is the most wing cars i have ever seen at a time ,many yrs ago. not very many wing cars out an about,out west..
      great an entertaining to follow your Daytona build.latter dj

[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.

Hardly. I know more than a few guys who fit that description and I know what they can do and it would make you sick. 20 years ago I tried to apprentice with a guy who only did aluminum restoration. Cobras and such. He was building a Cheetah body from scratch from photos. Gas welding the English wheeled panels together and paddling the aluminum together so you couldn't see a seem. Now that my friend is a metal master.  What I do is arts and crafts with tin. Big difference. Thanks for the compliment anyway.

Arts $ crafts.......hardly. Nope, you are waaaay above that. It's not just welding + fab......it's [can't think of a better word] vision to solve the fitment problems you are.

I do get what you mean, I've been around guys that just....sorta.....pointed a wrench at the motor and a part came off in their hands. Without much visible effort. Something that would take me an hour to do.

Still learning much from your build. Thanks.

[Stevearino]

   will the newer chally lites shine fully if part of the lite is blocked by the nose cone??  they do look great back in the nose. but wondering if u will have full lite or blacked out spots, i have no experiance with the new stuff.  wonder if maybee there is a smaller version an look alike lite that wood fully show the circle of lite bulb so too speak?

      when ya get to it will you show us the trunk area?? i dont recall in any of these body swaps ever seeing what and how the trunk area has too bee modifed,thanks. 
    coming along great and sure it will bee one real fun ride up an down the drive way,, hope its a long drive way,lol.

ANY plans an goal to take it to Talladega in 2014???       i hope to get to one of the big shows next year. think 7 is the most wing cars i have ever seen at a time ,many yrs ago. not very many wing cars out an about,out west..
      great an entertaining to follow your Daytona build.latter dj

Referring to the trunk I will be showing as much detail as you can stand on everything. Some might get annoyed at all of the details but it has been one of my pet peeves that before and after are not enough if you are considering a project like this and want to see how others have approached it. "During" is very important and is usually left out in most threads.I guess since I am not going to be doing this as a business I don't have a problem showing what I am doing. As to the lights we will just have to see. Obviously they won't be ideal for casting a proper beam to the side of the road but this is a custom car and there are bound to be more than a few things that are less than ideal.  I wish I could make Talladega but that is not reasonable with work and all. If I was on this thing full time maybe but I have a long way to go.

[dyslexic teddybear]

The "during" to me......is THE most important part. For those of us intending to do as much ourselves as we can..... it's by far, the most important part.

[Stevearino]

Well nothin sexy goin on here right now just slow tedious stuff. Here are some pictures for those who might be interested in how I am re routing the HVAC ducts from the main plenum under the dash.
The  first thing I had to do was to abbreviate the plastic outlets that go behind the dash outlets and mount them in such a way that they might be serviceable if need be in the future. Once I did that it was a game of connect the dots with some .021 steel. I used this light gauge because it is easier to manipulate small pieces. I laid down a paper pattern for the floor of the duct first then I cut the piece out of sheet metal adding 1/4" to the sides to bend up 90 degrees. That gives me something for the sides to go against. Next I cut out a paper pattern for the side and duplicated it adding 1/4" to the top to bend over 90 degrees to give the top of the duct something to rest on. After making the other side and tacking it in place I siliconed the inside edges and where it connects to the outlets before capping the top.

[Stevearino]

I then repeated the process for the side window defroster that mounts on the top right side of the dash. I started on the easy side to see how it would go with lots of room. Now the challenge is to repeat on the other side over the gauge cluster area. It's a little tight over there.

[Budnicks]

nice fab/metal work, looks great  

[Stevearino]

Here are some pictures of what I am doing in the outer sub cowl area to accommodate the modified wiper assembly and motor mount. The tray had to be pretty elaborate including a removable center section which would have to come out in order to remove the heater core inside the car. This will be sealed and riveted in. Both wells have 3/8" tubing welded into the bottoms sides to provide drainage should water get into this area. The only reason this had to be so complex is because the wiper motor and swing arms are one assembly designed to be serviced from the under hood area of the car. I wanted to keep it this way.

[Baldwinvette77]

whoa, the next owner is gonna have one hell of a time finding replacement parts  Awesome custom work 

[Stevearino]

I have been working on more of the pesky detail stuff over the last couple of weeks. I closed up the forward section of the sub cowl . I sealed all of the seams with T-21 Fusor epoxy. When I cut down the fire wall it left the fiberglass sound blanket with a ragged looking top edge so I had to fabricate a top cap for the air intake section and also for the area just above the brake booster and engine. Kind of just finishes that area up  and will keep water from soaking the back side of the fiberglass blanket.

[Stevearino]

 I made a couple of water run off gutters out of aluminum that will hopefully carry off the majority of water that gets by the cowl cover near the wiper studs.
In order to see how the cowl cover needs to be built I had to jump ahead and locate the hood and build the new rear section of it. Since the cowl will be a subduction type similar to a newer car I needed to establish the arc of the hood back.

[Old Moparz]

It took me a while, but I managed to get through every page of this thread. 

Very nice work & a great idea, Stevearino.   

I've got a '68 shell to transform into a Daytona but it'll remain a stock '68 chassis. If I tried what you did, a modern SRT/8, I'd have to use a ton of cardboard, plywood & caulk to make it fit.   

Can't wait to see it done.

[Stevearino]

I've got a '68 shell to transform into a Daytona but it'll remain a stock '68 chassis. If I tried what you did, a modern SRT/8, I'd have to use a ton of cardboard, plywood & caulk to make it fit.   

Can't wait to see it done.

Cardboard, Plywood and caulk are my best friends.

[Baldwinvette77]

it's all looking delicious.. no seriously i want to chew on it 

[Highbanked Hauler]

The "during" to me......is THE most important part. For those of us intending to do as much ourselves as we can..... it's by far, the most important part.

    I agree,details are what makes the job come out right..  With the extra length on the hood you will have to add that amount to the fenders won't you ?

[moparstuart]

I've got a '68 shell to transform into a Daytona but it'll remain a stock '68 chassis. If I tried what you did, a modern SRT/8, I'd have to use a ton of cardboard, plywood & caulk to make it fit.   

Can't wait to see it done.

Cardboard, Plywood and caulk are my best friends.

dont forget to throw in a little chicken wire and bondo too   

[moparstuart]

The "during" to me......is THE most important part. For those of us intending to do as much ourselves as we can..... it's by far, the most important part.

    I agree,details are what makes the job come out right..  With the extra length on the hood you will have to add that amount to the fenders won't you ?

very interesting

[BS27ROB]

The "during" to me......is THE most important part. For those of us intending to do as much ourselves as we can..... it's by far, the most important part.

    I agree,details are what makes the job come out right..  With the extra length on the hood you will have to add that amount to the fenders won't you ?

I wouldn't think he would have to. He is adding the length of a B body cowl panel to the hood.

[Stevearino]

The "during" to me......is THE most important part. For those of us intending to do as much ourselves as we can..... it's by far, the most important part.

     I agree,details are what makes the job come out right..  With the extra length on the hood you will have to add that amount to the fenders won't you ?

I wouldn't think he would have to. He is adding the length of a B body cowl panel to the hood.

The front fenders will have length added to them but it has nothing to do with the added length of the hood. The LX has a 3 inch longer wheel base than the second gen Charger. I made up 1" on the length by shifting the body forward a little and I will have to add some to the rear section of the front fenders  to shift the wheel holes forward. I will then sneak the nose back a little to get the proportions right. I have posted pictures here a few pages back of the whole body mocked up with all of these adjustments.

[Stevearino]

This is the body mock up pic.

[Hemi Runner]

Where on earth do you find the time to do all this???

[Stevearino]

Where on earth do you find the time to do all this???

I am pretty much a hermit.

[grdprx]

That looks damn sexy, I love it!   

[djcarguy]

   looking good ,seems to me it might bee easyer modifing the wheel opening an move fender back shortening the nose a few then custom adding to fender at dorr area?/?  may just my brain not wanting to deal with fender edge?

    it looked like you were saving the stock cowl top to reuse too ?   


     Very sure it will come out looking great with the work an skill you got going on soo far.page 13 mockup pixs are great ,have total faith an high hopes in ya awesun Daytona build..



    i priced some salvage 4 dr hemi chargers for a base, seems in oregon its hard too get a salvage hemi car and they want 6500 to 7 k for engine trans an harness with out the shell.  think it is above my pay grade for that convertion anyway. will focuss on my more stock mopars with smaller mod requirements. still liking your custom wing car. DJ