My 68 Charger Project....is now a Pro Street Project!

[HollyWoodCharger]

Well we tried to get a start on some welding today, but the Mig had other ideas and I have to call the tech line on monday to see what has to be done to fix it....

I can't wait to see these tucked up under the back end and the side profile as these tuck deeep inside the quarter!

[b5blue]

YEA! That's what I'm talking about! 

[HollyWoodCharger]

Well, not much new to report other than a few parts that showed up in the past month or so..

I picked up a New driver's door from AMD at the All-Chrysler Nat's in July, and I got the rear axle housing back from having it narrowed and some brackets welded on I needed to have done...



The House kind of decided it wanted some more of my money this Summer after we had to have the Roof and Bathroom repaired after some water damage..

Sandblasting should be starting soon her sometime after labor day........

additional pics are coming soon!

[HollyWoodCharger]

Ok..... Update as Dec 25,2010

Not much has gotten done due to work schedule and the fact that the house has needed some work done since last Spring and I've been trying to get caught up on that stuff......

I have gotten some tubing welded in to support the shell so it can be transported to a friends shop here in town that is opening a new sandblasting business, he's agreed to soda blast and lightly sand blast the areas that need in preparation for metal work to commence...

I good friend of mine from high school has agreed to help me out by coating the body in epoxy primer after it's blasted and will remove the roof skin at his familie's body shop, then we can start getting the shell up on jack stands and leveled out to start the chassis work this winter....

I'll also be working with Martz chassis later on this coming year to obtain the new front suspenion kit kit they have designed for the mopar chassis...

www.martzchassis.net

They have a page dedicated to the suspension system they have designed for mopars...

[HollyWoodCharger]

The second update has to due with engine selection I have made...

It actually was pretty easy, I'll be having a set of custom mounts built to install a nicely built 3.9 Magnum v6, this will provide some weight reduction and shifting of some weight to behind the front axles centerline and axis, improving weight transfer and handling, it'll use a factory dakota fuel injection system, and timing control paired with a paxton or vortech blower running 6-8 psi of boost, this will make about 300-350 hp at the crank with a mild build I have already done on the engine.

add a little NOS and I'm at nearly 400 at the crank, and if you feather foot it on the interstate it'll get close to 20 mpg with the right converter and gear set selection...

[Rolling_Thunder]

maybe i'm just being strange but why not just run a 5.2 or 5.9L magnum?  Any weight reduction you were looking at with the V6 might be negated by the weight of a supercharger -  the 5.2 or 5.9 would make the available 350+hp and you could still run stock magnum efi ---   I also think the aftermarket support for the 5.2/5.9 would be greater - aluminum heads, intakes, etc.     

[HollyWoodCharger]

maybe i'm just being strange but why not just run a 5.2 or 5.9L magnum?  Any weight reduction you were looking at with the V6 might be negated by the weight of a supercharger -  the 5.2 or 5.9 would make the available 350+hp and you could still run stock magnum efi ---   I also think the aftermarket support for the 5.2/5.9 would be greater - aluminum heads, intakes, etc.     

That actually a very good question, and yes, the 5.2 and 5.9 are heavily supported by the aftermarket which would make it easy......

I had a line on a 5.2 that I was going to get, but the guy scrapped the Van it was in and didn't pull the block from it first...

The 3.9 I'm planning to use is one left over from a previous project that I had started, but did't have the heart to pull a good 3.9 from my Dakota with only 34K on the it..

so I'm going to finish assembling it with a mild cam and lifter package from hughes and button it up, I have already built up the bottom end for boost and NOS, as it's
Bored .030 over, balanced, and has studded mains, is fitted with Forged TRW's, and Speed pro rings, I've also got a a set of fully prepped heads, and a ported Intake.

I see no reason to buy a 5.2 and go thru it , when i have this ready to go..

[greenpigs]

Will not see another V6 powered 68 Charger I bet. The only thing is the sound, unless you want people to say WTH is that when they hear it idle. I give ya credit on doing something different & it could allways be replaced later on. Could you use the vortech on a SB with different pullies in case you change your mind or find a deal later on?

[motorcitydak]

You sure on that power number? 350 with a blower and 400 on nitrous? My old v6 was a dog, only 175 HP stock and not much aftermarket support

[HollyWoodCharger]

my stock 3.9 in my Dakota popped 290 rwhp on the Dyno at Carlisle a few years back, on the stock long block and 8 psi of boost, with a 75 hp shot of NOS thrown in for the fun of it, got the guys attention from Mopar muscle magazine too.......

with the built up shortblock, better heads and a mild Cam, 350 at the wheels should be fairly easy with some tuning, thats right at the 400 mark at the crank....

The added bonus is I can modify the wiring harness and bolt in a 5.2 with very little effort as the dakota mounting pads on the 5.2 are real close to 3.9 position in relation to the beelhousings, and the blower and Nos will transfer as well with little effort, just the cooling system will require a few mods to make the swap and that will be minimal.

I'll be able to run either engine with just a few hours of wrench turning, depending on what is needed for power...

[HollyWoodCharger]

Will not see another V6 powered 68 Charger I bet. The only thing is the sound, unless you want people to say WTH is that when they hear it idle. I give ya credit on doing something different & it could allways be replaced later on. Could you use the vortech on a SB with different pullies in case you change your mind or find a deal later on?

It'll have a dual 2.5" exhaust off a set set of shorty Dakota Headers, I'm planning to run a Dual 2.5" inlet / Dual 3.0" outlet Dynamax Ultra Flo SS muffler at the back of the car with twin 3.0" Turn downs right behind the Rear crossmember.....

it should sound ok without the Cats, the 3.9 in the Dakota chassis sounds a little Raspy due to the Cats muffling the engine some...

[Rolling_Thunder]

makes sense -  I like the idea of the V6 maggy being used -  just wondered why that's all -  seems like you have some history with them - no reason not to use one.   

[HollyWoodCharger]

Here is a Photo of the 3.9 after I got it back from the machine shop, Fully balanced and blueprinted rotating mass, Forged TRW's, ARP studded Mains and Rod bolts, this set up is veryy stout and will take double digit boost levels or low boost with a Nitrous chaser for the instant increase in low end torque!



Ported and reworked Magnum V6 heads, Magnum R/T Valve springs, stainless steel intake and exhaust valves!



I just have to select a Cam and valve spring kit and put it all together!

I got word this week from a buddy that will do my sandblasting on the bare shell, that he will be able to do it next week, and it'll go to the body shop for epoxy primer and removal of the roof skin soon afterward.......

additional photos will be coming soon...

[b5blue]

I for one am with ya on this! Makes sense to use what you got, look at the Grand Nat. Buick. 

[HollyWoodCharger]

The Sandblasting work is behind schedule due to inclement weather here in Pa the last couple of months, on the up side it looks like we'll be Soda blasting instead of using sand or coal slag...........

I've had a delivery of AMD parts to my shop and soon additional stuff will be showing up......





I decided to go ahead and replace the floor pan with a new AMD 1-PIECE,and install both of the rear pass footwells as well....

Now the Big news.........

I decided I wanted a full-color illustration done so I'll know excatly what this Charger will look like when finished, and it'll make it easier to get some sponsorship...

so I contacted George Trosley and he's agreed to do a 11" x 14" full color illustration, which I'll post when he completes it...

[472 R/T SE]

Hmm, that's different.

You won't have to worry about replacing the rear tires. 

[PocketThunder]

Youre in penn?   Here all thsi time i thought you lived in Tinsel town...     

[HollyWoodCharger]

The Original Charger I had in my avatar pic above was sold to Hollywood Music producer named Draco Rosa in the spring of 2001, it will be 10 years next month since then...

I picked the User Id for this site based off of that Charger's Final Destiny, as I learned that the Charger may have been stolen from it's current owner, but I have no way of knowing for sure...........soooooo and since this build will be much nicer than the first, I went with that name...

[HollyWoodCharger]

Ok........ The weather finally broke, and we got started!



we started by welding up a couple of small holes we found in the front of the Rocker, I used a 5/16 drill to punch out the rust holes and found good metal afterward, so we used a copper spoon to provide a backing thru a rust proofing hole as it was mig welded shut, then metal finished........



we had a small rust out area just above that, so we cut that area out, fabbed a patch and used a combination of butt welds and small lap welds to fix this area, a little
light grinding and it was ready for a coat of primer till it goes for sand blasting....... won't take much to finish this off and make the repair almost invisible...



the factory rad support was in good shape other than the bottom having been bent and twisted with a floor jack at some point, so a U.S. Car Tool lower rad support was welded in, we fitted it and tacked it in place, then we just cut the damaged lower area away and smoothed the edges up.

this fit pretty nicely , except that the differences between cars make these a challenge to fit properly,  I had to split the differnce in in the width and adjust the brackets to fit some. these cars can vary as much as 3/8 of an inch in this area.



finish welding and trimming of some excess metal is still to come, we'll make it look much nicer than this when it's done...... just needs sandblasted now to get it ready for final welding...

[HollyWoodCharger]

I started removal of the floor pan in preparation for installing the new 1 piece AMD part, since this was pretty thin in areas, I just used a sawz-all to open the area a bit, and I  have a friend with a plasma cutter who will help me finish cutting out the bulk of the floor around the crossmembers and trim away the excess welded flanges.

then I'll work on cleaning the frame and rockers up so they new floor can be istalled...

[HollyWoodCharger]

after about 9 hours of slow work to avoid damage to the good frame and Rockers, I have the floor about 85% removed, just have a couple small holes to fix from where the spot welds broke thru in a couple places.......... easily fixed after blasting is done.

[morepower]

Man I love those big tires under the car! Im going to stick with my L60-15's though.

[SRT-68]

  Love this thread!

[440]

Strange combo going on here...

Car looks great but the V6 is a bit contradictory. Those slugs in that 6 are either pretty big or the block is really small. Either way it will be interesting to see how this turns out. It's good to see something different but the 6 is similar to "Brand X" power in my opinion. I wonder how it will sound? That's a lot of tire for 400hp....Extremely curious to see what the 60ft and 1/4 mile times would be..... My guess would be a low 14....

Is it going to have full interior or stripped down for weight ?

Keep up the good work, looks good...    

[HollyWoodCharger]

Full interior is planned, although very little will be stock..........

I've been doing a little searching on craigslist and with local sources on a Magnum v8, so I can keep my options open as far as a powerplant goes...

But the V6 is still a possible option......

I'm building a nice cruiser, so it may wind up a little heavier weight wise.... so it won't be a fast street car.