First drive w/512 stroker after 13 Months of Resto!

[joflaig]

Lesson #1, it always takes much longer than you thought!

The last three weeks were spent sorting out the Wilwood disc brakes. We finally ended up using a Hydroboost setup. And after doing a pressure bleed they finally got them working right. The guys at XV were a great help.

If you followed my engine build from last winter:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,36197.180.html

then you know part of the story. But aside of that, literaly every system in the car was completely replaced, rebuilt or restored in the last 13 months. I have to thank everyone here for their feedback and advice as just about everything I did to the car came from somebody on this forum, especially Firefighter Ron! Thanks! 

Well, anyway I picked it up from the shop in Milwaukee this morning. It was a nice sunny fall day here today. Unfortunately, I am walking around with crutches because I had knee surgery two days ago so this whole thing was going to be interesting. Just getting into the car and strapping on the 5-point harness was tricky. It's good it's an automatic or I wouldn't have been able to drive it.

Now just a warning, I drove it 140 miles today (19 gallons burned), but because the engine has just a few dozen miles on it and everything else is also new and it was my first drive I never really dropped the hammer and pretty much kept it at 3k most of the time so I don't have much exciting to declare about the stroker just yet. The guys at the shop did a drive test and took it up to 100 mph and were able to smoke the tires pretty much at will even at 40 or 50mph. They said when doing a panic-stop brake test the car stopped so fast that the engine stalled. I'm not sure why that should happen, though it only seems to be a problem when slamming the brakes as hard as possible until you stop.

I've taken some pics, so enjoy. It's a little difficult for me to get around right now, the timing was such that there could have been a better time for me to finally receive the car than this week. And in a few weeks it will probably be snowing here! I'm too tired right now to list all the mods, you would have to search many threads to get an idea, but feel free to ask anything.

[joflaig]

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[runningman]

Congrats, must feel great   

[joflaig]

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[joflaig]

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[joflaig]

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[Charger-Bodie]

Congrats!!! Did you atleast have SOME fun??

[joflaig]

Congrats!!! Did you atleast have SOME fun??

Yes, some, but it's a bit like bringing a newborn infant home. I was kind of nervious something would break since so much was changed -- so I was perhaps too conservative. I'll take it out again tomorrow now that I have some more confidence.

The ESPO springs with the QA1 shocks and the slide-a-link give a real nice modern ride and the stage II Firm Feel steering box is great. Depsite everythng it's not as hot in the car as before and even quieter thanks to the lead septum under the carpets. And those Corbeau TRS seats are super comfortable. I was shocked I got such "good" fuel economy, which is what I wanted to begin with, though I was taking it pretty easy.

I want to see what it will do with slicks on the 1/4 next spring.

[Rolling_Thunder]

mind telling us the fix for your hydroboost unit ?  I have one myself I plan on using - just want to know of any issues before hand

[joflaig]

mind telling us the fix for your hydroboost unit ?  I have one myself I plan on using - just want to know of any issues before hand

As I understand it from the shop they had to use special equipment to put extra pressure into the brake lines when bleeding the system. I don't know if this was something unique that happened to me or if it is common.

[SFRT]

awesome!!

[Back N Black]

Very nice car, clean and great attention to detail. 

[FLG]

Awesome...i plan on doing a 512 for my charger so i really want to see how it is when you finally romp on her.

The only thing i can think of with them stalling when they stopped is if they mashed the accelerator from a stop then jumped right on the brake, suddenly the engine has a large amount of fuel but since you went off the gas it dosnt have enough air to mix with causing the mixture to be too rich and stalling. Might want to make sure the carb is adjusted fully.

Congrats man and enjoy her!

[68coronetGLwannabe]

Awesome car I cant wait till my GL is done Its taking alot longer than expected

[joflaig]

Awesome car I cant wait till my GL is done Its taking alot longer than expected

Thanks, I took out again today on a scenic road and immediately got stuck for 20 minutes behind a Model T! People are nuts, one guy pulled into the oncomming lane in the middle of a town just to take pictures, it was almost an accident.

[Hemidog]

I have the same master cylinder, and I also have the exact same leak! Crappy-ass caps...
Nice motor BTW!

[firefighter3931]

Congrats John....that is one Bad Azz General ! 



Ron

[Finn]

 
Looks amazing man, very clean!
How deep is that tint on the windows? My 68 is going to be black on black and out here in SoCal that's a formula some major seat burn without tint lol.

[six-tee-nine]

Congratulations on your enginebay.

It looks neat and clean!   

[joflaig]

Looks amazing man, very clean!
How deep is that tint on the windows? My 68 is going to be black on black and out here in SoCal that's a formula some major seat burn without tint lol.

That tint is pretty dark, though from the inside there is not much negative effect. Not sure how to quantify the degree exactly. I've never had to wear sunglasses in the car.

[Marck]

I'm looking forward to hearing about how the car performs when you step on it, since I'm building a 511 stroker for my charger..
Your Gen Lee looks awesome by the way, good job... 

[68RT4ME]

My God that car is nice. I'm not a big GL fan but if I were going to own one, it would definitely have to be this one. What kind of seats are those. They look comfortable.

[PocketThunder]

Damn that is a very nice General..  Where are you from in Wisconsin?  I lived there for 25 years.

[joflaig]

My God that car is nice. I'm not a big GL fan but if I were going to own one, it would definitely have to be this one. What kind of seats are those. They look comfortable.

Corbeau TRS seats. They are extremely comfortable, so much better than the old stock seats.

[SFRT]

how did you break in your cam?

[joflaig]

how did you break in your cam?

The engine was broken in on the stand by the builder using the standard methodology. Since then I've pretty much taken it pretty easy on the motor.

On the side, you are also using the hydroboost, no? I'm curious if the pedal action has improved with use for you?

[SFRT]

sweet.


I had to do it on jackstands, watching the tach.

I have an electric vacuum pump. it works great. it took about 200 miles for the brakes to start to 'seat' properly. they get firmer and better every day. ( I have new discs all the way around) the first 20 miles though......whoa nellie no brakes. it was pretty freaky.

lately I have been able to get on them pretty good no probs. I am still nursing and breaking in my clutch i need another 100 miles or so of 'normal' driving before I can drop the hammer.

[joflaig]

sweet.


I had to do it on jackstands, watching the tach.

I have an electric vacuum pump. it works great. it took about 200 miles for the brakes to start to 'seat' properly. they get firmer and better every day. ( I have new discs all the way around) the first 20 miles though......whoa nellie no brakes. it was pretty freaky.

lately I have been able to get on them pretty good no probs. I am still nursing and breaking in my clutch i need another 100 miles or so of 'normal' driving before I can drop the hammer.

Yeah, it kind of sucks. The guys at the shop did drop the hammer a few times because they were building the car and had to test everything, but with the amount of money I spent I'm not going to do anything crazy just yet. They kept warning me that the backend would start sliding as soon as you did it whether at 20mph or 50mph because of the tire spin.

[SFRT]

yeah I have gotten sideway a couple of times in second....heh. I cant wait to see what it does for real in first.

[joflaig]

yeah I have gotten sideway a couple of times in second....heh. I cant wait to see what it does for real in first.

At least you will be able to keep using your car, I have to pack it in pretty shortly because of the weather and I doubt I'll rack up many more miles so it will be another 5 month wait.

[SFRT]

yeah I figure ill drive it every day it doesnt rain. it has become my daily driver. heh. well, for the last 9 days at least!

[joflaig]

yeah I figure ill drive it every day it doesnt rain. it has become my daily driver. heh. well, for the last 9 days at least!

Yeah, I may do the same when I get rid of the GL paint and go black. Can't really do that right now or you get mobbed everywhere you go.