Hemi Charger Restoration thread (Updated 5/28/10 - Nearly complete!!!)

[69*F5*SE]

I love watchin this transformation take place.  Very nice work.   

[charge69]

Everything is looking really nice Brandon!  Interesting looking at the doors and the way it was painted. Mine is almost ready for paint and the doors, hood, and trunklid have all been primered on the inside surfaces. We have shot the white on my doors where yours is black as my interior is white and am getting ready to shoot some red on them. It was apparent that the factory sprayed the white first then masked off the areas to be kept white and then shot the red so, that is the way we are doing it on mine. Same results, just different technique.

yours will definitely be ready before mine as my friend and I just cannot find enough time to work on it but, mine is getting there too.

The shop you are using is doing a fantastic job and it is gonna be awesome!  Congrats.

Carl

[bzabodyn]

Thanks guys - the anxiety is building every day as we move closer to completion... should be posting some great pics here in the near future!

BZ

[hemi68charger]

Brandon..
Have they fired up the engine yet? Would hate to see the complete front clip on and then to find out (no bad Karma here) something's wrong with the engine....

Troy

[bzabodyn]

Of course they have... I think a few pages back I posted pics of it on the run stand... ran perfectly for 30min a time on two separate occasions... in about a week or so, they'll break it in on a chassis dyno for about an hour or so (and get some RWHP figures as well)...

BZ

[charge69]

Hi Brandon,

Got a question for you. Went back a few pages to pics of your motor (looks fantastic by the way) and was looking at the carbs. Are those the original carbs on it now and did you have a dyno run to check the jetting after the engine was done? How much did you have to do to the motor? Did you have to do a full rebuild or was it fine as you found it?

Just wondering as my engine is being completely rebuilt and the carbs were restored. The carbs haven't been on my HEMI yet but will get a dyno run next week. My carb guy ran the carbs on a test engine after rebuilding and had to work on both the jets (resized) and metering rods as well as adjust the air bleeds. I will know next week if what he did makes a difference.

Carl

[bzabodyn]

Funny you ask Carl!  I'm posting pictures of the car being dyno'd now!!!

The carbs, like about 98% of the engine components, were completely original and largely untouched - the engine block itself was in no need of real machining/boring, just hand polished/cleaned (really was surprised how "original" and complete the entire drivetrain was compared to how the rest of the car was) - all we really "updated" was the cam which we changed to a hydraulic roller-style that will hopefully make it more "streetable" - we are in the process of testing/tuning and the first pull out of the box gave like 370ft lbs to the rear wheels, so it has some grunt - they really didn't get into the top end quite yet, but all in due time...

Now - More Pics!!!

[bzabodyn]

More... The hood is ready, but just hasn't been fitted yet (problems with some of the grille plastic/paint too)... R/T stripe really sets off the rear!!!

[69*F5*SE]

Awesome.   

[1969chargerrtse]

More... The hood is ready, but just hasn't been fitted yet (problems with some of the grille plastic/paint too)... R/T stripe really sets off the rear!!!

Oh yeah, I love those stripes.  Still as cool as they were back 40 years ago.  

[Johnny SixPack]

thats looking fantastic BZ        keep the pictures coming 

Hope to see the car around Houston. 

[charge69]

They (the carbs) looked original and still have the tags, I see!  Mine do too. Great to hear it is up and running.

My car had over 83K miles on it and I wanted to completely go thru the engine for the resto. Soooooooo..... Now has JE 11 to 1 pistons .030 oversize,  Manley H-beam rods, ARP studded the bottom end, Manley stainless steel rods w/hardened seats, complete port and flow job on the heads, all new OEM rocker arms and a custom grind complete Comp Cams hydraulic roller cam kit.  Original carbs have been rebuilt and custom jetted on a test engine and TTI polished ceramic coated and heat barrier  sprayed headers are going on it.  Mine will be on the dyno at Nickens Brothers Racing Engines shop (they are doing all the engine work) on the Tues. after Memorial day! When it goes in the car a complete MSD Digital 6 ignition system will be used.

Houston is soon to have a couple of "HOT" HEMI Chargers on the road!  By the way, in case you forgot, mine is R6 Red. We will definitely have to introduce them to each other! I am definitely gonna be driving mine!

Keep up the good work on your awesome ride!

Carl

[bzabodyn]

I'm sure it won't be long before they're both tearing up the streets!

We opted to stay as "factory original" as possible and the condition of the engine block/etc allowed us to do that...

BZ

[charge69]

I understand about the factory original condition. Just couldn't do it with mine as the engine needed rebuilding anyway. Other than the ignition, mine will "look" all factory original.

[bzabodyn]

Holy Toledo!!! We have a NEARLY COMPLETE CAR!!!!    

Still have to get the glass situation sorted out and next week we'll start the shake down to make sure there are no rattles/squeaks, but other than that, we're pretty much set to go!!!  Back end is sitting high, but a good front end alignment next week should fix the rake...

Enjoy!!!

BZ
   

[bzabodyn]

More pics - keep in mind, the car is running continuously during all these pics!  Last pic is a nice one... the remnants of about 1/4 throttle... 

BZ

[Johnny SixPack]

Sweetness!

[tan top]

thats awesome  pleased for you dude ! & what you have gone through with the other shop !!!    looks fantastic 

[hemi24]

congrats on the beauty she come along way are you going to put the hemi plates on the doors or make a sleeper out of her.

[Back N Black]

Man! they did a good job. Start building yourself a trophy cabinet, i got a feeling you are going to be taking a few home.

[69*F5*SE]

No windows and he's already smoking the tires   

[TUFCAT]

Man! they did a good job. Start building yourself a trophy cabinet, i got a feeling you are going to be taking a few home.

WELL SAID ......and make sure its a BIG one!

[Hemidog]

Looks sweet! 

[bzabodyn]

No windows and he's already smoking the tires   

That's just how we roll!!!

Thanks for all the compliments guys!!!

BZ

[bzabodyn]

congrats on the beauty she come along way are you going to put the hemi plates on the doors or make a sleeper out of her.

Just waiting for the paint to cure on the doors... they were painted less than two weeks ago...

BZ