71 dodge charger project 383 Factory Air

[chapel40]

Just starting this project, car has been sitting indoors for about 15 years. Runs but has a knock, bell housing cracked from hitting something, rear end leaking on rear brakes LH side, some rust on front floors- rear quarters down low-under battery box-cracked windshield-cracked dash-hideaways work but have some broken pieces. Could go on for quite a while but that gives you an idea.
  Going to make it a clean driver with working A/C and pep up the 383. Like the centerline wheels but they stick out a bit, the deep dish is cool so I need to figure out if I want to narrow the rear end to tuck them in a bit. If I get the correct rims they will not be deep. It has 60s on the back and 70s on the front I believe.
  Pulling the motor and transmission. work on them and the engine compartment and put them back in. Rear end as well, by then I will know how far I want to go with the sheetmetal before driving it.

What do you guys think about the paint job? I kind of like the 70-80s look and makes it very rememberable. Maybe for the state trooper too huh.

Don Chapel

[chapel40]

Front end pic

[Bad B-rad]

Very good looking car, love the fuzzy dice.
Good luck with it!

[71_Charger_R/T]

Welcome to the forum!
Not a fan of the paint, but, it's your car and you can do it the way YOU like it ......   The car looks like its in pretty decent shape! Those grilles would look much much better if you took some steel wool to them and got the black paint off the ribs. Those are the best looking grilles they ever put on the third gen. Chargers!  Looks to be an SE (special edition).
Post some more pics. We ALL like pictures!
You said "bell housing cracked"  Is it a four speed car or automatic?
Keep the pictures coming!

[chapel40]

Its a console slapstick automatic 727. Looks like someone ran it up on something and it pushed it up a bit and cracked in the middle about 2 inches. Im not going for the completely stock car. Matter of fact I just bought a set of hideaways that are not exactly like the ones it has, must be off of a 73 or 74. has more vertical braces. Hopefully when I clean the fuzzy dice they do not fall apart lol. I will get more pictures, its kind of a pain that they have to be resized for the forum.

[chapel40]

more pics

[chapel40]

another pic

[chapel40]

engine

[chapel40]

trunk

[71_Charger_R/T]

That would be a '72 grille if it has the 7 vertical braces in the open grille as opposed to 3 verticals on the '71.  For posting pictures, I've found it easier to use a photo host like "photobucket" or the likes. upload the photo to the host and post a link to the photo and it shows up full size without messing around.

[chapel40]

Pretty supprised, I use to have a 72 318 car and I could jump in there and work on the engine pretty easy. This 383 is massive and everything is a lot tighter. Still beats modern cars though.

[ralley72]

Love it. I would leave the paint as is, clean the black off the hideaways, make it mechanically sound and enjoy. Good to see another 3rd gen getting some attention. 

Mike

[CDN72SE]

Ditto, nice to see another 3rd gen. Welcome to the site and nice car.

[XH29N0G]

I think the paint is about as excellent as it could ever be.  I look forward to seeing it develop.

Have fun with the car.

[chapel40]

Engine about ready to pull, toying around with the idea of stroking the 383 and adding aluminum heads. The car is heavy so I want to make as much HP I can reasonably make without going crazy. Going to get the 383 block checked and machined, then will order the parts.

Has anyone here built a 496 stroker from a 383?

[ACUDANUT]

Engine about ready to pull, toying around with the idea of stroking the 383 and adding aluminum heads. The car is heavy so I want to make as much HP I can reasonably make without going crazy. Going to get the 383 block checked and machined, then will order the parts.

Has anyone here built a 496 stroker from a 383?

Depends on your wallet.  Does the 383 run good ?  If so leave it and get a better paint job.  
BTW what planet are you from. Your profile is blank.
You would be surprised, you might have a close neighbor here that can help you out.

[chapel40]

Engine knocks, that's why Im pulling it. I live in Bourg, La. next to Houma, about an hour southwest of New Orleans.

[71 SE3834V]

Welcome from a fellow '71 SE 383 factory ac owner with 18 options. My car was 95% complete when I bought it and now it only has a few pieces wrong or missing so if you have any questions about originality let me know.
I just finished up replacing the rear axle seals on my driver. You may have the same axle, 8.75" w/3.23 ratio.

[chapel40]

Engine and transmission removed.

[CDN72SE]

Wore the same footwear when I removed my engine, lol.

[chapel40]

Yeah a bunch of buddies gave me heck about it. We have to wear safety shoes at work. Of course that's the first thing they noticed.

Found a rod that was a diff brand than the others and a scorched area on the crank next to a rod. Looks kind of strange. Ill post pics once I get it where I can flip it over and see it well.

[EccentricMagpies]

Love it. I would leave the paint as is, clean the black off the hideaways, make it mechanically sound and enjoy. Good to see another 3rd gen getting some attention. 

Mike

I agree

[chapel40]

Well heck!!! Pulled the heads off and measured the bore size and it was huge!! Man this thing must be worn out!!

Got to looking at the block numbers and turns out it is a 400 block!! Wheww!!

440 Source has a 512 ci and a 500 ci stroker kit for it. The 500 CI has very short and light pistons and the oil ring is actually going over the wrist pin hole!! Is there a down side to this piston as far as longevity? It says it will rev like a motorcycle.

[chapel40]

Found some overheating on the crank and two rods. One bearing was pretty loose, you can see that the crank is funky and burned oil on rod and crank. The lighter color rod doesn't match the others. the others were marked for their location and one was replaced. It was the loose one.

[ACUDANUT]

Well heck!!! Pulled the heads off and measured the bore size and it was huge!! Man this thing must be worn out!!

Got to looking at the block numbers and turns out it is a 400 block!! Wheww!!

440 Source has a 512 ci and a 500 ci stroker kit for it. The 500 CI has very short and light pistons and the oil ring is actually going over the wrist pin hole!! Is there a down side to this piston as far as longevity? It says it will rev like a motorcycle.

Cool, how much ?