ChgrSteve67 Charger Rebuild

[ChgrSteve67]

Well it's been a while since I updated my progress on the ol' Charger and posted new pics.

The saga continues on trying to get a steel hood scoop for my Charger. After a Year and 9 months Harms auto still cannot tell me when mine will arrive.
Finally installed the fiberglass hood scoop I got from Kramer's a while back and installed the spoiler I got from A383Wing.
I did some re-enforcing of the hood by welding some steel mesh to the topside of the hood. Give it some strength and keep the debris out of the engine compartment.

My Dash finally came back from Dakota Digital but haven't installed it yet. I will probably wait until after I paint the car and dash.

The 5 speed ROCKS! What a difference.

I'm almost ready to start taking her apart for body work and paint. I will probably wait until September or October to get started.

Here are some pics.

-Steve

[ChgrSteve67]

More Pics

[ChgrSteve67]

Last set

[Ghoste]

Looking good Steve.  I'm interested to see what that dash looks like after it's in there.

[Brock Samson]

Thats comming along nicley! 
   
that MOPAR cut in the hood rocks! 

[HITMAN 149]

wow that digital dash looks awesome!!!! i bet it looks even cooler at night!!!!!!
i agree w/ brock...the mopar M hood cut out looks COOOOOL!!!!
nice work!! keep it up!!!!!!!!
thanks for sharing!!!!
-JOHN

[ChgrSteve67]

Well the next major phase phase has started.
Fuel Injection, digital dash install, paint removal, body work.

I got most of the interior out, waiting on a few tools to show up to help with the chrome removal.
Got the control module for the fuel injection mounted and the harness routed through the firewall. (That was lots of fun)
I still have to replace the sensors for the dash and connect the wires to it.
Haven't got to the fuel system yet and I'm not looking forward to it either.
Tried to install the new distributer but its 1/2 inch too long. Sending it back to the FI guys so they can ship me one that will work without requireing a adapter.
Will be a few weeks before she is ready to run but for now here are some pics.

Steve 

[ChgrSteve67]

Progress is slow but moving forward.

Gas lines are the biggest pain in the a$$.
Still have the main feed line to run from the rear of the Charger to the engine compartment.
Got the rear sway bar installed.
Had to cut out the exaust pipes after the mufflers to get the sway bar to fit. Will put them back in later.
Had quite the ordeal getting the temperature sensor for the Fuel Injection installed. Had to remove water pump housing and weld a nut to the plug that needed to be removed and put a 4 foot piece of pipe on it to get enought leverage to break it loose.
Still waiting for the distributor to come back. Fuel Injection guys could not come up with one that will fit my 383 so I ordered a RB 2 B adapter to make it work.

Here are a few more pics.

Steve (Dealing with one problem at a time)

[ChgrSteve67]

Few More

[moparstuart]

wow your inspiring   you keep at it

[ChgrSteve67]

Update.....

Got the distributor problem resolved.
Machine shop took 1/4 inch off of the bottom of the shaft and made me a 1/4 spacer for the top giving me the 1/2 inch I needed to make the distributor fit in the block.

Got everything else hooked up and had to make a new throttle cable bracket and bracket for the MAP sensor.

Saturday I declared "Fire in the Hole" and started it for the first time.
Timing the engine has been a pain in the a$$.
Original instructions said 6 deg, Chrysler says 12 deg now the FI guy is telling me 20 deg.
I think it may need to be more than that.

System idles well but bogs when in gear and trying to accelerate.
Its either timing or I have a vacuum leak (assuming the computer is programed correctly).

Today I finally got my notebook configured correctly to talk with the Fuel Injection ECM and got about 30 minutes and a short drive of data. Sent the data off to the FI guy to see what he thinks about it.

Got my digital dash all hooked up and calibrated, really cool.
Forgot to take pictures of it all. Next time.

I have some video of the Charger running but the files are 50 to 80 megs. Got to figure out a way to make them smaller.

Got a few more little problems to solve before taking the rest of the Charger apart for paint stripping.

Later
Steve

[dodge girl]

Steve, post the Pictures of your progress!! Soon! Doing great job!!

Dodge Girl       

[Ghoste]

Update.....

Got Saturday I declared "Fire in the Hole" and started it for the first time.
Later
Steve

Right on Steve!   

[ChgrSteve67]

I will try to take some more pictures of the detail work Saturday.

Talked with the fuel injection guy again and I probably have a vacuum leak under the throttle body adapter plate and I definitely have a voltage problem and need to run a dedicated line to the battery.

Here is what it will look like when its done.

[Big Sugar]

Looks Good Steve !! Do you have a tail spoiler yet ?


Ron

[ChgrSteve67]

Yep

picture of it above.

[ChgrSteve67]

Still fighting the gremlins.

I have a voltage problem so the system is running in low battery mode state.
Got a game plan for fixing the electrical system and I am hoping to get in some wrench time this Sunday.

I never got a chance to take any more pictures. About the time I got done collecting data from the ECM my cousin called about a van she wanted to buy and had to drive across town to look at it. Van drove hard to the right and obviously had suspention damage.

Got a "Toys for Tots" Saturday so thats shot.

Just hoping to have the o'l gal purring by X-Mas.

Steve

[Rolling_Thunder]

Steve - looking good -  what EFI did you end up going with ?  Looks like a mass flo or edelbrock box to me?  I had high hopes for installing the EFI on my charger but looks like a carb for now

[ChgrSteve67]

Its a Rochester system and GM control module from AFI.
http://www.affordable-fuel-injection.com/index.php?id=30&title=Mopar+Throttle+Body+Fuel+Injection

For the price it was the best choice offering a complete solution not just performing flo control.

It has not been without its challenges. Distributor installation and temperature sensor being the biggest pain in the ass so far.
This is NOT a easy plug and play system but will be worth it when its done.

[ChgrSteve67]

Well I'm sneaking up on it.

Made some more tuning adjustments and my backfire problem is now gone.
But I still have some sputtering above 2500 RPM at WOT.

Cleaned up the engine compartment wires a bit and took some pictures.

Ate a whole bunch of exhaust fumes as well.
I really need to weld the back half of the exhaust system back on.

Here are some new pics of the system.

Steve

[ChgrSteve67]

another

[ChgrSteve67]

another

[ChgrSteve67]

Another

[ChgrSteve67]

Last one

[ChgrSteve67]

Well its been a while so I will give everyone a update on the Fuel Injection progress.

This system has been chasing one problem after another. Trying to get the motor timed correctly has been mission impossible. The AFI person I have been working with I honestly believe does not know how his FI system works. I ultimately bought another computer from Bob at Dynamic EFI http://www.dynamicefi.com/ this guy really knows how this Fuel Injection system works and is a well of information. After going round and round with AFI trying to figure out my timing problem Bob gave me three pages of trouble shooting steps and hit my problem right on the head. The coil pickup wires in the distributor that go to the distributor control module were backwards.  The Dynamic EFI computer is really neat, it has 8 programmable banks that you can switch between while the engine is running as well as a VE Learn mode that will create a new set up fuel flow tables that you can flash into the computer.  It also allows me to record the data while I'm driving and play it back later to see what happen during the drive.

Other good news is that the people that installed my 5 speed know a FI tuner that has a lot of experience with GM FI systems. They are going to give me a call the next time he is around to help me get this sucker tuned in a lot faster than I will be able to.

If I had it to do over again I think I would have paid the extra money and gone with a MPFI system and paid someone that knew what they were doing install it.  I definitely would not do or recommend the AFI system or method.

Well now I'm on to taking the rest of the Charger apart in order to media blast it and do the body work.  Finally.