SRT-8 Daytona Clone

[Lighthorseman]

Simply amazing.     Gawd...to have a mere fraction of that talent... 

I love this build.   

[Stevearino]

It's ALIVE!!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100492440437375&set=p.10100492440437375&type=2&theater

Would have had more footage but my wife's phone had too many kitty pictures. Maybe if it doesn't rain tomorrow.

[Charger-Bodie]

Very cool.

[Baldwinvette77]

Mind sharing the kitty pictures? :3

[cdr]

 

[Stevearino]

Mind sharing the kitty pictures? :3

I am not up to resizing over 1,000 pictures.

[Baldwinvette77]

Mind sharing the kitty pictures? :3

I am not up to resizing over 1,000 pictures.

shame... 

But atleast the cars moves, must be awesome driving a lx charger that looks like a 69 

[JB400]

Glad to see it moves.   What's the wife think of the project?   

[Stevearino]

Glad to see it moves.   What's the wife think of the project?   

I am pretty much a hermit so I think she likes the idea that when it's done we might just be leaving the house together more often in it. She's got a little bit of waiting to do She is not really into cars but she supports my idiotic ideas regardless.

[dyslexic teddybear]

she supports my idiotic ideas regardless.

That's the definition of a keeper.


Good to see it move.

Even unfinished, quality work shows. Any idea where you will go with rim design? Modern 20s and offsets seem to eliminate the deep dish of the as raced versions, curious as to your thinking. Overall diameter and width look really good as it is.........

[Stevearino]

The choice of wheels is overwhelming. But in all the wheels I looked at nothing struck me until a guy at work said try Discount Tire. So I went to their web site and the have a couple of dozen choices and I think I have found exactly what will work for me. The problem with the car is that the hubs are really wide because new wheels mount with a prominent face. getting something that looks old school without widening the body is near impossible. These wheels do a little visual trick that seems to work. Instead of the center sticking out like a dome the spokes cut inward. At the very end of the spokes they cut back to allow for a dished effect. Also seems like most wheels are more than 5 spokes which is definitely not old school. I ordered these with 20 x 9's  on Friday. Can't wait to see them.

[dyslexic teddybear]

Interesting choice.

[eagerly waiting for pics of tire/rims mounted]

[Indygenerallee]

Steve, I don't know about those wheels.... I would have personally went with something like this wheel.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-inch-gunmetal-BG-Rod-Works-Old-School-wheels-Dodge-Challenger-Charger-5x115-/291012965232?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Wheels&hash=item43c1b97370&vxp=mtr

[Stevearino]

Steve, I don't know about those wheels.... I would have personally went with something like this wheel.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-inch-gunmetal-BG-Rod-Works-Old-School-wheels-Dodge-Challenger-Charger-5x115-/291012965232?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Wheels&hash=item43c1b97370&vxp=mtr

I like them because they kind of remind me of Keystones which were my favorites back in the day.

[cdr]

HERE is your wheel in chrome, i can see what you are talking about how it gives it a dished look.

[Stevearino]

Charles, Mine are going to be machine faced aluminum with the black surround.

[Mike DC]

Stevearino - question about the rocker panels on the '68 car:  Did you ever take a measurement of the width between the lower pinch weld flanges?  At the bottom/underside of the stock rockers/quarters?  

I'm curious what numbers you got there.  I'm about to redo the rockers on a '69 Charger and currently doing some measuring.  I keep getting some fraction over 57" inches between the lower flanges, not any nice round numbers like the 62" spacing between the upper flanges.  

Even by measuring the point where the lower rocker flanges weld to the tranny crossmember, I'm still not getting anything that seems natural.  You'd expect that spot to be forced to match the correct original dimension regardless of how far off the rocker pieces might be elsewhere.

[tnthull]

I just checked on this myself. I came up with 57" to 57 1/16

[Stevearino]

Stevearino - question about the rocker panels on the '68 car:  Did you ever take a measurement of the width between the lower pinch weld flanges?  At the bottom/underside of the stock rockers/quarters? 

I'm curious what numbers you got there.  I'm about to redo the rockers on a '69 Charger and currently doing some measuring.  I keep getting some57 fraction over 57" inches between the lower flanges, not any nice round numbers like the 62" spacing between the upper flanges.   

Even by measuring the point where the lower rocker flanges weld to the tranny crossmember, I'm still not getting anything that seems natural.  You'd expect that spot to be forced to match the correct original dimension regardless of how far off the rocker pieces might be elsewhere.

I got 57" as an average. I think that is the intended number but because of the nature of sheet metal stamping variations you are going to get some fudge factor.

[Mike DC]

          
Yeah I think you guys are right, probably intended to be 57".  

I wonder what the dimension of a nice original tranny crossmember is right there.  


Correction: it's 56.5".    I measured it more accurately.  Taken from a 1969 car, built in October '68 at the Hamtramck assembly plant.

[Stevearino]

Well since last week I have been spinning my wheels a little and not in a good way. It took me about 5 hours last Saturday to track down why the shifter was locking me out. At first I assumed it was something electrical not releasing the shifter like perhaps the car wanted the doors on an closed or something like that. So I hooked up all of the door harnesses and latches and nothing. The shifter unit is a plastic affair which has a cable that runs to the transmission and a cable that runs to the ignition switch. I decided to try to open the assembly up to at least try to understand it. Inside I found two lock out cams. One (pink)  was attached to the cable leading to the ignition switch. This prevents the shifter from being moved to the right to the gear select alley when the key is in the off position. A mechanical neutral safety switch. When the key is on the cable goes slack and the cam is suppose to move out of the way and allow the shifter into the alley. The green cam was actuated by a solenoid and allows the shifter down the alley to the various shift positions. Assuming there was something wrong with the solenoid I isolated it an powered it up and it was fine.
I was stumped until I realized that there was nothing to draw the pink cam back when the cable went slack. It is hard to know when something is missing if you have never seen it before. It turns out there was a tang broken off of it that corresponds to one across from it on the housing. I got a return spring and riveted it to the cam and that seemed to be the trick.

All of this was in pursuit of getting the car running under it's own power so that I could finish getting my North Carolina title. The inspector who had been here a year ago told me that the car did not need to be done. Just get it running under it's own power then give a call for another inspection. I got the car running. I called. He had been reassigned. I got a new guy out. He looked it over and said he would go back and do some paperwork and I would have my title in a couple of weeks.......About 20 minutes later he calls and his boss said "That's the old rule. Now the car must be road worthy. Doors,glass, headlights, blinkers ,ect."      Massive waste of time.

So the previous Friday I had ordered my wheels and  tires .Tuesday I get a call my wheels are in but the guy said they were a little damaged in shipping. Did I want to come in and look at them and they might sell me them at a discount..... Well two of them looked like they had been dropped from a roof on to concrete. The front rims had a 3 inch flat spot. Bottom line I can't believe they would even try to sell me those at any price and they are ordering me another set.   

How was your week.

[Stevearino]

To get my mind back in the game I decided to re build my quarter window rollers and regulator and figure out how it works.  I had hoped to modify the existing power window module from the 06 to operate these windows but after seeing the tricks that this set up is designed to do I am going to have to rethink it a bit.  The mechanism is really clever in that when it rolls down it has to first retract the glass backwards and then when it pulls it down it rotates the front down faster than the rear in order to accommodate the wheel tub. To all of you veterans of restorations out there I know I am no revealing anything new but I just thought it was pretty spiffy the way it works. Unfortunately for my situation the 06 mechanism is a simple up/down unit that runs on a cabling system. I am not sure the motor is heavy duty enough to engage this old mechanism.

[cdr]

here ya go

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151389160708302

[JB400]

Sad to hear about the title and the wheels   Better luck next week? 



However, I do thank you for posting completed pix of the window regulators.  Mine are in pieces

[Stevearino]

Thanks for the link CDR. Problem solved