71 dodge charger project 383 Factory Air

chapel40 · June 06, 2017, 07:13:12 AM

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 · June 06, 2017, 07:32:56 AM

Front end pic

Bad B-rad · June 06, 2017, 07:39:23 AM

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

71_Charger_R/T · June 06, 2017, 08:48:05 AM

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 · June 06, 2017, 11:28:41 AM

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 · June 06, 2017, 11:38:45 AM

more pics

chapel40 · June 06, 2017, 11:39:46 AM

another pic

chapel40 · June 06, 2017, 11:46:52 AM

engine

chapel40 · June 06, 2017, 11:48:53 AM

trunk

71_Charger_R/T · June 06, 2017, 04:11:20 PM

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 · June 06, 2017, 06:20:09 PM

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 · June 06, 2017, 06:39:10 PM

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 · June 07, 2017, 12:31:40 PM

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

XH29N0G · June 07, 2017, 12:40:03 PM

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 · June 10, 2017, 11:02:31 AM

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 · June 11, 2017, 11:52:32 AM

Quote from: chapel40 on June 10, 2017, 11:02:31 AM
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 · June 11, 2017, 10:59:47 PM

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 · June 12, 2017, 06:27:37 AM

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 · July 05, 2017, 01:02:26 AM

Engine and transmission removed.

CDN72SE · July 06, 2017, 01:37:17 PM

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

chapel40 · July 07, 2017, 12:19:47 AM

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 · July 08, 2017, 09:23:02 AM

Quote from: ralley72 on June 06, 2017, 06:39:10 PM
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 · July 11, 2017, 07:57:16 PM

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 · July 13, 2017, 12:48:18 AM

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 · July 13, 2017, 04:26:30 AM

Quote from: chapel40 on July 11, 2017, 07:57:16 PM
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 ?

chapel40 · July 13, 2017, 11:27:03 AM

$2250 for the rotating assy

ACUDANUT · July 13, 2017, 02:05:08 PM

Should be a fast car with over 500 HP. The machine shop work could get expensive.

chapel40 · August 03, 2017, 11:07:40 AM

Local shop said they could bore and prep the block for $400-$500

chapel40 · August 03, 2017, 11:11:22 AM

My friend came over to help take the engine apart and dropped a piston on his foot while wearing flip flops lol. Guess we will have to wear something with a little more protection. Piston was okay though. Haha

chapel40 · August 28, 2017, 01:31:18 AM

Cant seem to make a lot of time to work on it. I think I will work on just getting it ready to drive and have some fun with it. May just let a shop do some body work on it once its on the road and take it a little at a time.It actually looks cool the way it is. Rat Rod I guess..... Maybe when I can work one job instead of two I can put more time in it.

Kern Dog · August 28, 2017, 04:23:23 AM

Quote from: chapel40 on July 07, 2017, 12:19:47 AM
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.

Safety is for wimps. Real men have scars and stories.

jwells1993 · August 28, 2017, 06:41:25 PM

any clue what color orange that is??? looks like a nice little project good luck and have fun

chapel40 · September 04, 2017, 09:57:49 PM

EV2 code orange

chapel40 · December 27, 2017, 09:57:32 PM

400 is at the machine shop getting the 440 source 512 stroker rotating assy installed. Getting excited but still a lot of work on the body and drivetrain.

chapel40 · January 12, 2018, 02:55:11 PM

New 440 source 512 pics. rotating assy. installed!!

chapel40 · January 12, 2018, 02:56:07 PM

More 512 pics

chapel40 · January 12, 2018, 03:02:30 PM

Garage is kind of a mess!!!

moparstuart · January 12, 2018, 03:12:27 PM

Quote from: chapel40 on January 12, 2018, 03:02:30 PM
Garage is kind of a mess!!!

Hell thats spotless compared to mine

darbgnik · January 12, 2018, 04:12:22 PM

Looks exciting. Did you have the machine shop assemble the rotating assembly?

chapel40 · November 20, 2018, 02:41:20 AM

I had a local shop put it together. I have not been on here in a while!!

chapel40 · November 20, 2018, 03:02:42 AM

Sent the car to a local restoration shop called Road Hog LLC Here in Houma, La. for metal work and paint. Here it is right before sent.

chapel40 · November 20, 2018, 03:07:59 AM

More Pics

chapel40 · November 20, 2018, 03:15:39 AM

Biggest problem I had with the body was the upper air cowl rust under the windshield bottom trim, some behind the kick panels and front floor for about a foot. Then the usual around the front and back of the wheels. Otherwise the car is excellent, even the rest of the cowl. They do not make it of course.

CDN72SE · March 17, 2019, 10:19:28 AM

Any updates for us?

chapel40 · May 30, 2019, 04:16:05 AM

Here is a current pic

Hard Charger · June 05, 2019, 02:42:30 PM

chapel40 · August 07, 2019, 12:04:13 AM

Not a lot of activity on this site. Maybe because its a 71?

JB400 · August 07, 2019, 12:08:19 AM

No issue at all with 71's. Most people post in the mornings while sipping the morning cup

Metal work looks pretty good

chargervert · August 07, 2019, 08:50:07 AM

You are making a lot of progress! I have a 71 Charger R / T that is a rolling shell,that I was going to build from the ground up,but I just picked up another 71 Charger R / T from Arizona, that needs no metal work at all. I am going to sell the rolling shell. It's a 440 Magnum, 4 speed, Dana car with the Ramcharger hood. There are quite a few people who are into the third generation Chargers on here. Second generation Chargers are my first love,but third generation Chargers have grown on me, and I currently have 5 of them.

ACUDANUT · August 07, 2019, 10:49:24 AM

5 3rd gen Chargers. WOW.

chargervert · August 07, 2019, 01:14:31 PM

I have three 71 Charger R / T s,a 71 383 Charger SE, and a 73 Charger. I have the 71 SE sold,and I am going to sell the rolling shell of the 71 Charger R / T. I am also selling my 70 Charger R / T 440 Sixpack car too. Too many projects, not enough time left to get them done.

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71 dodge charger project 383 Factory Air