My 1970 Charger 500 is almost done

[darbgnik]

Well, now that the weather is getting nicer up north here finally, I've turned my attention back to the charger. Not too much to report, but I was digging around the garage and noticed a set of dual electric fans I had new in the box laying on the shelf. Couldn't remember for the life of me why I had them, but I pulled them out of the box to inspect. Surprisingly, the tape measure said they fit the 26" rad in the Charger perfectly! And since I went EFI last year, the Sniper has a high and low fan output already, which basically sealed the deal.

From the decision to switch to electric fans, things spiraled out of control a little.... When I measured the rad, I noticed it was wet in a few places, so... new aluminum "stock looking" radiator got ordered. Since the fans only get triggered by the EFI, and I still needed to mount relay, it gave me the idea to put the headlights on relays straight off of the battery at the same time, as well as finally install a relay so the switched power to the EFI actually gets clean power, instead of powering directly off each side of the ballast resistor.. So that's a total of 5 relays, two negative triggered off of switched power, two positive triggered off of constant power, and one triggered off both sides of the ballast resistor. Some amazon digging produced a 6 position relay/fuse box, that looked the right size, that came complete with all the terminals. Perfect. But now I need to order relays and a Molex crimper.....

It's still a work in progress, but here's how it sits so far. Relay box pinned and wired, ready to be tied into the car. I honestly think it looks at home there. I have no intention of hiding it away, and it's a perfectly serviceable location.

[Dino]

Very nice!

[garner7555]

You will be very happy with all of those upgrades.   Dependability is my #1 goal, because that makes me that much more likely to jump in it and drive it!   Looking good 

[darbgnik]

Well, as with everything I do with this car, I take one step forward, one step back. Better than two steps back I suppose.....

I fabbed up some brackets out of aluminum stock to attach to the aluminum radiator, I sanded and painted them then attached the fans with them. I was sure proud of them too..... till they didn't fit.  Turns out, those funny shapes in the fan shroud attachment plates were there for a reason. In the second pic you can see the shape of the factory tabs above my brackets, I had to cut and shape my brackets on the driver's side to clear the battery brace. On the passenger side, I had to cut the bracket short, and fab a rabbit ear out of 1.5" wide 1/8" steel stock. Then welded a top lock nut onto the metal piece, to use as a clamp, basically sandwiching the remaining flange of the lower radiator between the rabbit ear, and the bottom fans mount, which I had to turn downwards till the rad was in place, then clocked it into position, and clamped it with the ear. (No pics of this, as I got excited when my second attempt worked!)

In the second last pic, you can see a brand new shiny 5/16 compression fitting on the tranny cooler line, damn thing was frozen on, and was twisting the line out of shape. A few spins of a tubing cutter and that problem was over, with a straight enough tube, to join onto..... Good enough for now, as I think a Silver sport A41 is in this cars future.

Last pic is the relay box, all wired into the car. Two relays for the fans, high and low, kicked by the EFI. Tested and worked flawless. The two relays for the high and low beams are out, as now I need to change the headlight motor relay, as the relays interfere with it's operation. The last relay, and most surprising benefit, was the switched power for the EFI itself, triggered off both sides of the ballast resistor with a diode. The Sniper controller was always a little glitchy, but now with a clean power source, it has been flawless in it's operation, that was a win!

I also feel pretty good about the fan feeds, as they're only 3 feet from the battery. I also have the power feed to the battery upgraded, as well as inside the car, so electrically, the battery is similar to the alternator. No ammeter function anymore.

[TexasStroker]

Nice work!

[tan top]

 

[darbgnik]

Thanks guys! Like everything else I put my hands on, I'll be chasing little leaks for the next few drives. Haha. But it works great. Still haven used the high fan yet, but should be good.

[Kern Dog]

How do you like that alternator? Is that  Denso high output?

[darbgnik]

How do you like that alternator? Is that  Denso high output?

IIRC its a 90A Nippodenso from a 1990-ish 318 Ram? I liked it a lot, when I first installed it. Got 14 volts at idle.... That being said, yesterdays test drive of the new cooling upgrades revealed 12.5 volts at idle(without the fans on, no change when they were) and jumps of up to as high as 18 volts when I hit the accelerator, then a settle back of 14.4 after letting off. So I have a Mopar electronic regulator on it's way from Amazon. From the reading I've done, it's the one to buy. We shall see, and I'll report back. I'm guessing the new alternator and increased loads were too much for the original regulator that's been on the firewall since I purchased the car.

I did notice that the V grooves in the new alternator are not as deep as the grooves in all the other pulleys, but it does work.

Pretty sure this is the one I bought, looks just like it, at least:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3468045&cc=1084777

[Kern Dog]

Thank you. Mine works fine but I'm going to be adding an all electric aftermarket A/C kit and I was concerned about the charging rate of the classic style. I'll stick with the stock one unless it can't keep up. It should....They did in 1970, right? I don't have a ghetto blasting stereo or any other non stock electrical demands.

[darbgnik]

Thank you. Mine works fine but I'm going to be adding an all electric aftermarket A/C kit and I was concerned about the charging rate of the classic style. I'll stick with the stock one unless it can't keep up. It should....They did in 1970, right? I don't have a ghetto blasting stereo or any other non stock electrical demands.

All electric? As in non belt driven compressor??

[ACUDANUT]

Sorry, maybe a dumb question, but are fans blowing towards the radiator or block. 

[darbgnik]

Sorry, maybe a dumb question, but are fans blowing towards the radiator or block. 

No such thing as a dumb question. They are puller fans. They are sealed to the rad and pull cool air through the rad towards the engine. Pullers are supposed to work much better than a pusher mounted on the front of the rad.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Looks great! Nice and clean   

[darbgnik]

Thank you. Mine works fine but I'm going to be adding an all electric aftermarket A/C kit and I was concerned about the charging rate of the classic style. I'll stick with the stock one unless it can't keep up. It should....They did in 1970, right? I don't have a ghetto blasting stereo or any other non stock electrical demands.

So I just installed the new Mopar P4529794 vintage looking electronic voltage regulator, and that cured up my voltage issue. A steady 14.4-14.6 at 950 RPM idle and at higher RPM. It is worth noting however that with the idle turned down to 800 RPM, the idle voltage is right at 13. A trade I'm willing to make for that nice low lumpy idle. 

Upon inspection, the existing regulator that came with the car, was one of those chrome jobbies, they just it painted black. Link to the one I bought below:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00EE59HZQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[darbgnik]

I just completed the headlight relay upgrade. I previously had the high and low beams on relays, in the new relay box I built and installed. But, with the relays in the circuit instead of the lights themselves, the low beams would come on and the door motor would snap open, as soon as the key was turned on, without the lights being switched on.

Turns out, that the factory headlight motor relay, doesn't have it's own ground, and grounded through the headlights, according to a member on here. So tonight I installed a modern relay(with a ground wire) in place of the existing relay, and it now all works. Doors open and close, high and low beams work, through the relays, just using the factory wiring as a switching circuit. Bright lights at night for the win!  

[darbgnik]

Well, decided to use Summits new free shipping to Canada deal to order a set of Wheel Vintiques 15 by 10 Chrysler reproduction steelie wheels for the rear of the car.

I know the fitment and backspacing depends on the car, but it looks like the 5.5" backspacing on the 15 by 10 inch wheels fits on my car.

Hopefully I can manage to get a set of tires spooned on in these trying times. I have a set of 28x12R15 Mickey Thompson S/R rears and 26x10R15 fronts waiting. Hope it fits like it looks to.

[kent]

Looks like it's going to be close eh?

[darbgnik]

Looks like it's going to be close eh?

It fits! Almost looks like overkill. By the way, Intimid8 finally pushed me over the edge to grab 15 by 10 rear wheels, with the pics and specs on his car.
I'll have to wait for the next nice day to pull it out of the garage for better pics, as well as test the fronts for rubbing, but it looks like they're all good.

[tan top]

 

[CDN72SE]

Looking good. 

[kent]

She's full!   

[VegasCharger]

Love me some steelies!!!

[darbgnik]

Another update. I finally got around to installing the old Right Stuff Detailing front disc brake setup, I bought over 10 years ago. Suffice it to say, I have learned a few things in the intervening years, and would do things differently today. Like buy the works from Cass at Dr. Diff, for starters.

Anyways, I hodgepodged it all together from multiple sources over the years to include:
Right Stuff 11" disc brake kit(as mentioned)
MBM Bendix style dual diaphragm booster from Pirate Jack
Centric 130.63055 Master cylinder from Rock Auto
Dr Diff repro proportioning valve(looks same as drum/drum distribution valve
All new Right Stuff brake lines from Dr Diff
Braided stainless front and rear flex lines from Dr Diff.
New wheel cylinders from Dr Diff.
QA1 Upper control arms
Moog tie rod ends with sleeves, camber bolts, and lower ball joints from Rock Auto(while I'm there)

These days, I know that all can be had from Dr Diff, and in 11.75" instead of11", and better quality, but whatever...

I will say the Right Stuff brake lines are OK. Not great, but OK. The bends aren't as sharp as the originals, nor are they 100% accurate. They do work though......
The Right Stuff knuckles, rotors, and hardware are also OK. The bearings are made in Asia. The slotted washer and castle nut provided in the kit to hold the rotor don't fit as well as the 50 year old parts on the car...... The slotted washer was a little too large, preventing the dust cover from staying on. And the castle nut was too thin for the ridges to actually capture the cotter pin. So I used the old slotted washer, nut and captive cover. The splash guards required filing to fit, which was easy.

The QA1 control arms went in easy, as well as the ball joints and tie rods, but one camber bolt eccentric needed some filing for it to fit itself on the bolt.

The worst of it was the booster mounting. Described in the next post.

I will also say I made a lucky discovery: I fully removed the bleeder screws in both new wheel cylinders in preparation for a little gravity bleeding, when I noticed in one of them, the inner hole didn't line up with the center bore hole. That probably would have took me a long time to figure out by myself why it wasn't working, if I didn't fully remove them. These were made in USA cylinder too..... These were also made of un-drillium as well! I tried to drill the hole out to the center bore with jobber bits and cobalt bits, and no dice. I ended up taking it over to a friends shop who has a big drill press and carbide bits, as it was after hours when I figured this out. After running around under the car for a while chasing down leaks, I think I'm ready for a maiden voyage, if it ever stops raining.

[darbgnik]

The worst of it was the booster mounting. I had read that if your car has power brakes, the linkage and stiffener plate can be reused, which I did, however the stiffener plate required a lot more work than I had been told. I knew that you had to open up the hole where the linkage goes through, as the repro has a larger bore. What I didn't know, was that the mounting studs on the new booster didn't match the older booster: width wise they were the same, but top to bottom, the new booster mounting studs were at least 1/2" closer together(I can't remember exactly). This required drilling new upper mounting holes in the stiffener plate and firewall, as well as elongating the lower elongated holes higher, as well as many attempts at the linkage hole......... this was the worst part of the whole operation. I did it with the stiffener plate still in the car, with a drill and a die grinder, so all the layers of metal would be done at once.

Shown in red in the pic is what I ended up doing.