RamZCharger's 68 6.4 Hemi Restomod

[RamZCharger]

Welcome to the restomodding thread of my 68 Charger – "Vader".  A restored modified build in every sense.

I love b-bodies, but in particular the 68 Charger.  Big, bad, and loud; and possibly the best looking muscle car ever.  It has the coke bottle curves, the rear kick up spoiler, dual circular taillights, full-length hidden headlight grille, dual scallops on the doors and hood, and of course the flying buttress semi-fastback we all love.  But I digress.

My build is 4 years old and I am finally seeing the light at the end.  I am the architect and have had good fortune with my builders, various delays notwithstanding.  There have certainly been missteps and significant learnings, and I hope to be able to help out the next guy with what has worked for me, or perhaps what not to do.

The build:

Chrysler got it right, those guys went to college.  So very minor aesthetic changes with entirely new internals.  Everything has been upgraded, replaced, massaged, etc.  The 10,000 foot view is a 6.4 L 392 Hemi from Modern Muscle, TTI exhaust, TKO 600 5-speed from Keisler, Strange Dana 60, mildly modified Hotchkis suspension, XV chassis stiffening . . .

There are lots of great threads on metal work, and although I am a huge customer of AMD, I am going to focus on areas of my build that are a little more unique.  However feel free to ask questions on any part of the build as I hope to pay it forward.

In the beginning there was a 383 4 barrel Charger that strived to be more . . .

[RamZCharger]

Engine:

[RamZCharger]

Sides and back:

[mightywing7]

Love the 68's too.....Best of luck to you!! 

Keep the pics coming. 

[SovereignZuul]

Good luck, I will read eagerly!  Thumbs up to the restomod, can't wait to see you install some newer equipment.

P.S. I like the name Vader.

[RamZCharger]

The body was in pretty poor shape.  Factory undercoating saved the floors, and the roof, hood, and trunk were solid.  I knew there was bondo and other prior-owner items to address but the extent still surprised me.  Thank goodness for AMD – both front fenders, both doors, both quarters, trunk floor, rear valance, grille support, and lots of trim.  Now I have a solid car, er shell of a car.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

I agree on all fronts!

[RamZCharger]

For chassis stiffening I went with all the XV components, subframe connectors, inner fender braces, and the radiator support.  I also purchased their radiator – more on that in a later post.  I am very pleased with how it all came out.  The subframe connectors look factory and I would venture a guess that to the less familiar eye it would be assumed original.  As with anything they are not a perfect fit, a decent amount of trimming was required, but overall I am satisfied.  For the radiator support install my builder trimmed the lower edge of the original brace so from an appearance perspective straight on it would look factory – at first glance you wouldn't notice the extra beef.

[RamZCharger]

For the undercoat I chose Raptor bed liner coating on top of epoxy primer.  It has a slight texture but not too much like the very thick bed liners available.  For this application the intent was to have a good blend of function and looks.  Bring on the road debris.

[RamZCharger]

I am sticking with my stock K-member.  The original plan was to go with 6.1 power, but due to limited quantity, delays, and other items – as described in this thread's title I now am the proud owner of a Gen III 6.4 hemi.  This comes into play later with some of my choices.  Also my suspension of choice is the Hotchkis stuff, and they have designed with a stock k-member in mind.  Any rate, the k-member was reinforced at the seams, boxed, and skid plate added.

[RamZCharger]

My grille looked to be in OK shape.  The grille support was toast, I think replaced at some point in its life from a junk yard, so another purchase from AMD was required.  No major broken items, but once apart very apparent this thing is extremely warped.  To straighten it was clamped to a straight edge and a little heat added.  Cracks were addressed with epoxy.  I elected not to black out, but had the fins painted silver.  The trick . . . a silver paint pen with the tip cut flat.  Trim and emblems were also replaced.  The last picture of the grille is a big leap ahead and preview of where this build is going.

[RamZCharger]

More . . .

[RamZCharger]

For my dash I wanted updated gauges but really struggled with the appearance and how to install.  As with the rest of this project, the theme is vintage looking with modern internals.  I want to see my odometer roll, not a digital view.  I also am not of fan of branding and didn't want logos screaming at me from the pilot's seat.  So after a ton of searching I came across New Vintage gauges, and went with their 1967 series muscle car inspired line.

There are a number of threads on fitting modern gauges in a stock type dash by widening the gauge holes, but it just didn't work for me.  After cutting up a spare dash, placing paper templates on a new dash, it became clear that this approach would require modifying the gauge bezels –and that's just something I did not want to do.  So the problem was tackled from behind the dash face, a custom bracket was made to hold everything in place, and my new gauges slipped right in behind the dash just like Chrysler intended.  I am extremely pleased with the result.

[RamZCharger]

More . . .

[JB400]

Looks good so far

                     

[RamZCharger]

At this point we are ready for final body and paint.  It was a chore finding a shop to paint my car as 2 fell through, one unexpectedly which caused delays of around 8 months.  After the car was delivered initial body work commenced right away but there was delay after delay.  I am happy with the final product, body gaps and the detail stuff was all properly addressed, so I am focusing on these parts and not all the obstacles.

The yellow filler is a product called Z-Chrome, a lightweight self-etching filler with adhesion properties for all metals.  It also acts as a rust defender and is guaranteed to prevent bleed through.

[RamZCharger]

More . . .

[RamZCharger]

Paint is PPG base and clear, Viper Black and Viper Red.  The stripe is under clear.  I was leaning towards silver and black and I still like that color combination, but the shop had a different make car with the black and red scheme and I was sold immediately.  Hindsight I cannot imagine a different color choice, this is what my car wanted to be all along.  Zero regrets.  The red pops and wants to leap off the car.  Pictures are before a final polish.  It has been buffed out once, but after assembly it will be polished a final time. 

[RamZCharger]

More . . .

[RamZCharger]

Finally made it to assembly, circa 12/2013.  This is where the fun really starts to happen as all the mechanicals and fabrication commence.  Stay tuned, more to come . . .

[68RT440]

Beautiful '68! Im redoing a black '68 as well, so its inspiring to see one turning out as nice as yours is...keep up the great work!!

[RamZCharger]

Over the years I have been collecting parts, tranny – check, gas tank – check, differential – check, engine . . . engine . . .  so here is the single biggest purchase.  More than the cost of the car actually, and essentially a plan B.  Plan A was a 6.1 hemi, there is lots of information on a 6.1 application.  But, due to delays and timing, and life, when it came to making this acquisition a 6.1 had become unobtainium.  I had a real sense of panic for a while, as all my pre-purchases were with a 6.1 in mind, and the 6.4 ecu had not been cracked.  Fortunately Modern Muscle got it done with a stellar 71 Challenger – a build for the Weathertech floor mat CEO.  I could not find any information on a 6.4 install for one of our b-bodies, and I was not looking to become a trailblazer, but I decided this was the best option for me.  Subsequently I learned of a 70 Charger going through this same install, and I am sure I could have benefited from knowing this beforehand, but as it stands for all intents and purposes we are figuring this all out on our own.  Thanks to Modern Muscle for hooking me up with . . .

[RamZCharger]

You will see that the oil pan is a Charlie’s pan, it has a center sump to clear my stock k-member.  The motor mounts are from TTI, and are of the biscuit style with isolators.  The ECU is designed for a manual transmission without variable displacement, but does still control the VVT.  The tuner is a Diablo Intune 1000.  The accessory package is stock, and includes AC, power steering, and an alternator.  The water neck is upgraded to billet in satin, I have an oil block off plate and will be relocating the oil filter for clearance, and the throttle body has been ported.  The headers are also from TTI, and from all the 6.1 installs if you run AC you will need to dimple a tube.  I expected the same for a 6.4 so I ordered the tubes raw.  But, the headers fit perfect, no dimples or mods necessary, so they will be sent out for jet-hot coating, more on that later .  . .

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Oh man does that look good!!

[1965gp]

Car is looking great!

I'm in love with the gauges