Charger Modification List - the car is simply GREAT!

[NYCMille]

Hey Guys -

Over the past 2 years I have been doing some significant modifications to the Charger. Well this Friday we did some further mods and the I figured I would post the modifications that have been made since I feel that the car is now a very well rounded street performer that can hold it's own and or surpass many a modern day street in handling, accelleration, comfort and braking. The reason I am posting this is that I have done A LOT of research into the parts that have gone into this car and I can safely say it is simply a WONDERFUL car to drive and I am hoping that it may help some others build a great car. Some people may or may not agree with what I have done, but again, I feel for me, that this is great package for a 68-70 Charger and may benefit others who are building their dream car.

For those who like all #'s matching, stock parts cars.... turn away now.

Engine:
· 440 with ported 906 heads bored 0.030 over
· Forged Pistons
· Stainless Valves
· .475 lift cam
· Dual plane Edelbrock Performer 440 Intake.
· 850cfm Holley double pumper carb
· MSD 6AL ignition with MOPAR performance distributor and Blaster II coil
· Harden Valve seats
· Ceramic coated Hedman headers with full 3" aluminized flowmaster exhaust
· Toyota/Bosch 218X alternator
· High volume Fuel pump
· Flex-a-lite pusher aux. pusher fan

Drivetrain:
· 727 torqueflite Transmission.  Has a reverse manual valve body through a Cheetah SCS shifter
· 8 ¾" Suregrip rear with 3.55 gears
· Moser Alloy Axles with sealed bearings
· Gear Vendors Over/Underdrive Unit w/ final 2.76 ratio (one of the best mods - car totally streetable and can easily cruise a 80mph all day long)

Suspension:
· Energy Suspension bushings installed front to rear
· All ball joints and tie rods replaced
· MagnumForce Racing fully adjustable tubular upper control arms (cures the castor/camber issue assoc. with a lowered car)
· Hotchkis 1 3/8" front swaybar
· Mopar Performance oversized front .960 torsion bars.  Lowered to be just above bump stops.
· Mopar Performance 1" pre-lowered Hemi rear leaf springs; 1" block lowering kit for a total of 2" in the rear
· Edelbrock IAS performer shocks (100 times better than the KYB Gas Adjust I was running previously)

Brakes:
· BAER Brakes Track System up front w/ 13.5"  discs and PBR dual piston calipers (basically Corvette C4 calipers) on A-body spindles
· BAER Brakes Touring System in rear w/ 11"  discs and PBR single pistion calipers w/ functional parking brake.
· Hydroboost hydraulic braking booster from HydraTech - replaces stock power booster and uses hydraulic pressure from power steering pump to acuate the pistons in the calipers - a MUST HAVE mod for those with aftermarket brakes and and engines making minimal vacuum.

Interior:
· Corbeau GTS II racing reclineable seats
· Center Armrest with dual cup holders and storage compartment  www.classicsconsoles.com
· Custom dash with Auto Meter Ultra-lite gauges.
· Crow 3" 4-point belts for front and lap belts for rear
· Alpine stereo with I-pod integrated hook-up

Wheels and Tires:
· Boyd Coddington Rally II billet wheels 17x9s up front 18x10s in rear
· Dunlop SP9000 tires 255/45/17 Front - 285/40/18 Rear

[Arthu®]

Impressive list, I really love your car. But you forgot one important thing to include. A picture.

Arthur

[Blown70]

YES,  I LOVE THE LOOK OF THAT CAR

Tom

[69Chrgr]

Truly Awesome list. I will use your list as my guide to put mine back together, albeit only a few minor differences regarding our cars. I have a 69. How well do you like the GV and how hard was it to install? I will probable print your list out and place on my tool box in the shop. I need pic's really bad!! Gotta see this bad boy and show my wife.

[NYCMille]

Sorry here is a pic

[69Chrgr]

Why the Toyota/Bosch Alternator?

[69Chrgr]

Holy Moly!! I need more pic's please!

[volk68]

NYC...I would love to see pics of the undercarriage and suspension work.  Also, with the GV, did you have to modify the driveshaft tunnel?  Also, I am curious how you rank your charger in handling/performance at this point...do you feel it handles/performs like a modern car?  If so, what would you draw comparisons to?

I have always envisioned building my car similar to yours for driveability and all around performance...unfortunately, my budget never seems to cooperate

[RT DAVE]

I love your car.  When I re-do mine, I want to do something similar as far as making the car perform well in all areas as opposed to just straight line blasts.  The only major deviations I would like to do is put a supercharged 6.1 and a five speed in mine.   I guess that's a pretty major deviation, but the whole spirit of making the thing perform on all levels is what I'd like to do.   I doubt it will ever happen, but you can't blame me for dreaming...

[NYCMille]

69Chrgr - The bosch alternator is (I believe) and 80 amp unit and is internally regulated and is much lighter and smaller.  Bracket was obtained through AR Engineering.

volk68/Blown70 - I don't have many pics of the undercarriage, but I can take some an post them up for you. The adjustable upper control arms are great, but a BITCH to get right and they drive the alignment guys nuts - they have to be adjusted before they are installed but magnumforce racing was pretty spot on with their recommendation as to how many turns out I needed to go. The GearVendor unit is AWESOME - best mod. I have made to date, can't say enough good stuff about it. We had to modify the cross member a little bit and widen the trans tunnel a hair as well as get a new driveshaft made up since the unit replaces the tailshaft on the 727. When we first installed the unit the we were getting a lot of vibration due to the angle of driveshaft vs the unit being off by about 2" - we then widened the tunnel a little bit, leveled everything out and the vibration went away - no issues since then.

Since the car has a reverse manual VB in it, I still have to shift, but it's actually a riot doing so at speed. Plant you foot to the floor and the GV unit acts a gear splitter which is actuated by the bright switch on the floor. Think of the bright switch as a clutch as you'll ge the picture - fools the tranny into thinking it is a real 6-speed  - which it kind of is I suppose.

As far as handling - Remember the Charger is 18' long and 4000lbs, so it will never handle like a Mini - however this car is ROCK stable at high speed and by that I mean 120+. I would compare the handling and braking to that of a new Mustang GT or previous generation Camaro - I say this because I have run a bunch a them through some seriously twisty stuff and they all say that have to work very hard to stay up with me. A VERY fair handling comparision would probably be my Charger to a say a 1996 Impala SS or Mercury Merauder with the Charger being on the FAR upside of both cars.

[PocketThunder]

 

whats the running total so far if you dont mind saying?   

[69Chrgr]

When you say widen the tunnel, how are you widening it? Sorry about the bombardment questions, however I think your car just sets the standard towards a lot of us here regarding all levels of performance. It's quite a coincidence that I was speaking to Cope transmissions as they recommended exactly your transmission setup and then I come back to the sight and there yours is! Must be a divine message.

[volk68]

69Chrgr - The bosch alternator is (I believe) and 80 amp unit and is internally regulated and is much lighter and smaller.  Bracket was obtained through AR Engineering.

volk68/Blown70 - I don't have many pics of the undercarriage, but I can take some an post them up for you. The adjustable upper control arms are great, but a BITCH to get right and they drive the alignment guys nuts - they have to be adjusted before they are installed but magnumforce racing was pretty spot on with their recommendation as to how many turns out I needed to go. The GearVendor unit is AWESOME - best mod. I have made to date, can't say enough good stuff about it. We had to modify the cross member a little bit and widen the trans tunnel a hair as well as get a new driveshaft made up since the unit replaces the tailshaft on the 727. When we first installed the unit the we were getting a lot of vibration due to the angle of driveshaft vs the unit being off by about 2" - we then widened the tunnel a little bit, leveled everything out and the vibration went away - no issues since then.

Since the car has a reverse manual VB in it, I still have to shift, but it's actually a riot doing so at speed. Plant you foot to the floor and the GV unit acts a gear splitter which is actuated by the bright switch on the floor. Think of the bright switch as a clutch as you'll ge the picture - fools the tranny into thinking it is a real 6-speed  - which it kind of is I suppose.

As far as handling - Remember the Charger is 18' long and 4000lbs, so it will never handle like a Mini - however this car is ROCK stable at high speed and by that I mean 120+. I would compare the handling and braking to that of a new Mustang GT or previous generation Camaro - I say this because I have run a bunch a them through some seriously twisty stuff and they all say that have to work very hard to stay up with me. A VERY fair handling comparision would probably be my Charger to a say a 1996 Impala SS or Mercury Merauder with the Charger being on the FAR upside of both cars.

That's pretty much what I was expecting you to say   I think the only thing I didn't see mentioned on your car that I would add would be a weighted steering box.  I also would like to extract more power from my 440, which at my altitude, has me researching all kinds of forced induction.  Now, if only I could get my Mopar budget expanded a little 

[NYCMille]

69Chrgr  - we widened the tunnel using a hydraulic jack press - you can find them in body shops. The problem is not the actual width of the GV unit but the speedo housing on the left hand side of it, you need clearance for that. Were are you located - I'm in NY/Long Island, you more than welcome to come and we'll go for a ride

Cheers - Mike

[is_it_EVER_done?]

NYC:,

Good job! You certainly earned the right to be proud. Post more pics please.

[69Chrgr]

That's darn nice of you NYC, however I live South of Dallas, Texas. But I really appreciate the invite.
Was the hydraulic press called an Enerpac?

[Neal_J]

I'm sporting wood.  Nice ride!

Peace,

Neal

[0X01B8]

Shoulda painted mine black...they look so evil - love it.  No side maker lamps?

[rare69]

i Will promise you there is not an all stock or nothing kind of guy on this web site that doesn't like that car! nicely done.

[Schuler]

Can't say I dislike anything you did. Very nice car. Thats kinda what I'm going for in the long rong with my car. Only thing I'm going to do differant is have the interior and exterior look completely stock (other than obvious wheels and brakes) Do you know what the smallest wheel you can fit with 13.5" rotors is? I bet that thing doesn't stop like a '68 charger anymore.

[Troy]

Do you know what the smallest wheel you can fit with 13.5" rotors is?

It depends on the calipers but most likely nothing smaller than a 17" wheel.

Some day I need to ride in that car NYCMille!

Troy

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Sounds like a real tight car.   Would definately like a ride in it someday as well!

[squeakfinder]

That settles it. I'm painting mine black. Absolutely fabulous. Is that bumblebee stripe one that can be bought off the shelf or was it custom made? It looks more like a burgundy than a red.

[NYCMille]

Thanks for compliments guys and let me know if there are any more questions.

rotsparts - the stripe on the back is actually paint, no decals here and a very dark blood red.

Schuler - I am running 17s up front and I JUST clear the calipers - anything smaller will NOT work.

0X01B8 - the side markers and drip rails have been shaved from the body - smooths the lines out (IMO)

69Chrgr - I am not sure if the unit is an Enerpac - but is does look similar to the Jaws of Life used by Fire Depts.

PocketThunder - the total so far.... let's just if I disclosed it here and my wife read this list... I would be divorced, or forced to buy her A LOT of shoes....

[moparsons]

Your car is one of my favorites! Simply awesome!!!

[hemi68charger]

Sorry here is a pic

Man, that's pretty sweet............. Guess with age I'm getting to appreciate the comfortable things in life.......... 

Troy

[Charger4404spd]

Thats simply BADA**  NYC!
Beautiful!

[Chris G.]

Looking good man!  Were all of these mods done after you bought the car? I thought the wheels and maybe the engine were done before you got it? Either way, it's a smoking ride.

ps- Staten Island All Mopar Show is coming up. Saturday, June 3rd at Angiuli Dodge. Hope you can make it. 

[SuBLimE 69]

Mike, whats your take on XV Motorsports new suspension ?  I am seriously considering buying the whole set up from front to back and then doing my brake upgrade.  I just can't decide which direction to go.

If I leave the suspension stock (more or less) I gotta spend the $$ somewhwere and those blowers are just hella sexy......

[NYCMille]

When I got the car the body and wheels were done, as was the motor... mostly - we've basically taken a great starting platform and improved every part of it. We've redone the suspension, transmission, rear-end, interior, cooling system, fuel system, ignition, carburation, stereo system, internal wiriring, headlights, brakes etc... etc... etc... I don't think there is a part on this car that I have not hit on in some way or another since I purchased the car.

Again, this was a good starting platform which was made into a GREAT CAR.

One reason that the motor (internally anyway) has been left alone is that I wanted to build a platform around it that can handle 650-750hp without ANYTHING breaking and still be fully functional street machine. That is why everything was done BEFORE the engine. The platform as WHOLE unit needs to be able to control the power before power is put into the car.

Sublime... I am just waiting to see what B-body XV Motorsports set-up is. If it is as good I as I THINK it will be I WILL purchase it for this car - hell, maybe if we purchase 2 full systems we'll get a discount no? That may be a winter project, we'll see what they come up with.

[Silver R/T]

very nicely done charger

[68MoparCharger]

Hey, Nice car.  Who did you get your custom dash from?  And what was the part number for your armrest?  Again, very nice car.    Thanks

[1fine69]

  VERY NICE CAR MAN!

[Bandit4142]

That is a beautiful Charger.   Your suspension setup is very close to what I had planned for mine, and I'm glad to say that after seeing the stance on your car, I'm definately doing it.  Well done.

[tan top]

WOW NYCMille ,thats one  awesome charger .  i bet it is like night & day, driving yours compared to a stock charger, i would be very intrested in more infomation  on your suspension & braking set up, and looking at any  pictures etc you might have please, as it sounds like a hot set up. 

[dkn1997]

Mike's car is truly awesome in person...nice job.

[CB]

Great car, looking wicked 
Maybe in time my 69 will have the same kinda  mods, if $$$ allows.

Congrats on the 68!

[NYCMille]

Thanks guys -

If anyone wants specifics on certain things and or problems I ran into PM me and I will answer any and all questions.

cheers - Mike

[Brock Samson]

how about an update?.. 

[Moparsky67]

Beautiful Chrager, WOW !   

Would love to see some custom dash photos & what size are your gauges ?

Thanks !