Kcederwall08's 68 pro-touring build

[kcederwall08]

I've been building this car for a while now, so I figured it was time I made a build thread for my car. Sorry for the amount of pictures, but I have a ton, and these are only some of them

This whole process all began about 3 or 4 years ago, when I got this car from a family member for cheap. I didn't really have any goals for the car, so I just started working on the car and getting it a little bit restored.
So here was the car when I got it after sitting for 20 or so years without being run.




I started out by doing random stuff to get it to run, like new ignition, starter, and fuel system. I finally got it to run the first time.
After that I got the transmission redone by a professional since I don't want to even touch anything related to the transmission. After that I drove the car somewhat regularly and only replaced little things to make it more reliable.

Then I finally decided to rebuild the engine and make something of the car. At this point I had sort of decided that I wanted to go in the direction of pro-touring. So I decided to take the stock 383 cubic inch motor and stroke it out to about 438 cubic inches. I could have done a 440 motor swap for about the same price, but I kind of wanted to keep the original motor in it, and the 383 block is lighter than the block I would swap it with. So I pulled the greasy motor and cleaned the engine bay out.

the old motor:

Installing the new motor:

New motor almost complete:


I got the motor in and got it running pretty decently, and then I lowered the car a ton. I was bottoming out on my oil pan a ton, so I decided to get one a little more low profile. Then I lowered it some more.

The motor SHOULD be making around 400 horsepower at the crank and more than that in torque.
It looked decent as is, but I really wanted it to look good and grip better so I got some wheels
I scored some mint wheels for a good price
They're DPE R05's 18x9 in front and 18x10 in the rear all 0 offset.


Then went to a good guys show and got featured in the magazine. I also picked up a front spoiler there, and installed it a little later. It looks way better with it on and without the "bumperettes" and license plate.

Then I lowered it some more, and got the front height pretty much perfect. Bad alignment and camber killed my set of front tires.

So I picked up some adjustable upper control arms and new shocks to get the camber under control (excuse the dirtyness of the wheel wells)


I then unfortunately hit a huge concrete "pole" in a parking garage, and made a nice crease in the rear quarter panel. Basically I tried to go down a really skinny ramp in a parking garage, and turned in a little shallow, so I caught the back end on the pole. I had the dent pulled as best as I could without having to get it primered, and I used some touchup paint for the scratches. It doesn't look half bad now. It will eventually get fixed when I paint the whole car.


Then I took it auto crossing with the stock wheels in front. It did as well as I suspected, which was pretty bad: Body roll and under steer all over the place.  Also the power steering quit my second run and stayed bad the rest of the day. So I will eventually need a new steering box most likely since the pump has already been replaced.
(you can see the damage repair in the second picture)



Then I got a new differential. I went from a 2.76 ratio open, to a 3.55 ratio LSD sure-grip diff. Installed it and made the rear look nice and pretty again with some paint. The diff makes it 100x times faster but the freeway speeds are pretty bad.

Then overheating issues came up so I bought fans and water pumps, and thermostats, and additives, and nothing really got it much better. I'm still fighting it, but I am able to drive it again, so it's not too bad. Now it looks pretty much like this:



some future plans are:
Sway bars f/r
Steering box, probably a firm feel stage 2 or 3
Lower rear end about 3"
New rear springs
Maybe custom make a front spoiler or under tray w/diffuser (a big maybe)
New exhaust headers
Disc brake conversion
Random interior stuff to make it look nice

Super future plans are:
Manual swap
(New) new motor, but not really sure what type yet, A srt10 twin turbo sounds good (I wish)
New front suspension, maybe coil-overs or just stiffer t-bars
Chassis stiffening

I've left out a lot, and the exact order might be messed up, but whatever. I'll probably keep updating this thread as I go to keep you guys in the loop. This car is practically daily driven by the way, so progress might be a bit slow at times.

[teamroth]

Love it man! Car looks great. 

[Charger-Bodie]

Great Charger....Cool story too.

[Brock Samson]

  more pics please... 

[skip68]

     Nice ride.   pics  pics   pics   

[john.v]

  cool car,

[jaak]

Nice car, love the color combo.

Jason

[BrianShaughnessy]

Nice.     Lotta balls to go autocrossing with old drum brakes and skiinnies on steelies!   

[Charger440RDN]

Beautifullllllll charger!! 

[aone415]

  BADASS 68

[kcederwall08]

Thanks for the comments guys!

as requested MORE PICTURES!!!!

So heres what my tires looked like with a bad alignment and a ton of negative camber. They were down to the metal chords when they were removed, but this picture doesn't show it.



and here is the new 3.55 axle all painted and ready to go in.

[Rolling_Thunder]

Damn man - I love those wheels but HOLY SH!T they are expensive!       

PS - I assume you got her painted sometime after you got it...    what color is it ? 

Love the blue with white top combo   

[kcederwall08]

yes the wheels are very expensive new, but i got them "used", but they had never been put on a car. I got very lucky

The paint is actually the stock LL1 paint job, I haven't gotten it resprayed or anything. I just used some rubbing compound and a ton of wax. It will be painted some day though.

[speedfreak68]

That is a realllllly good looking car!!!!    

[Charger440RDN]

Original paint???!!! The paint looks like it just rolled off the assembly line!! This car may be worth more as a survivor with original paint than if you get it painted.
A lot of car shows now have survivor categories. How many unrestored chargers are left that look this good?  Remember, it's only original once!  

[8WHEELER]

Congrats, sweeeet looking 68, so glad you left the color combo ''so far'' I love these cars with
white vinyl tops, and blue is my favorate color, and LL1 is close to a blue.

I would love to run through a course like that, it must be a blast   

Dan

[autodynamics]

real nice!!!!  the cars looks on its way to be pro toured.... your signature front spoiler looks great..i would change all that stuff on your list asap and get this thing feeling solid. i would add subframes/rad support/brakes sway bars, rear leafs, different shocks those kyb are junk. use the edelbrock great product for the money. firm feel box fast ratio pitman idler, 11/16 tie rod ends, drop spindles from magnumforce to get your geometry back to normal after the drop...shoot me an email if you have any questions....Pete 

[elanmars]

i would add subframes/rad support/brakes sway bars, rear leafs, different shocks those kyb are junk. use the edelbrock great product for the money. firm feel box fast ratio pitman idler, 11/16 tie rod ends, drop spindles from magnumforce to get your geometry back to normal after the drop...

any recommendations for where to get these, as well as the best brands? brands to stay away from?

as for kcedarwall, love your Charger and the pics are great!! keep taking more and posting more!! 

[autodynamics]

Suspension upgrades I got from firm feel tie rod ends fast ratio pit man arm mangnumforce drop spindles

[bakerhillpins]

Original paint???!!! The paint looks like it just rolled off the assembly line!! This car may be worth more as a survivor with original paint than if you get it painted.
A lot of car shows now have survivor categories. How many unrestored chargers are left that look this good?  Remember, it's only original once!  

Another Turquoise with white vinyl top! Nice combo. Why does it seem like I a lot of this combo are popping up?
I'm with the rest on that paint, WOW - original. Great job on the elbow grease. 

I, however think you need to move (correct your address) or sell me the car an get a 70! 

[autodynamics]

sexyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[tan top]

   looking 68  , & original paint   , like idea of the  upper control arms  , looks an easy way to adjust them 

great stuff , keep the pictures comming

[kcederwall08]

real nice!!!!  the cars looks on its way to be pro toured.... your signature front spoiler looks great..i would change all that stuff on your list asap and get this thing feeling solid. i would add subframes/rad support/brakes sway bars, rear leafs, different shocks those kyb are junk. use the edelbrock great product for the money. firm feel box fast ratio pitman idler, 11/16 tie rod ends, drop spindles from magnumforce to get your geometry back to normal after the drop...shoot me an email if you have any questions....Pete 

Yeah I agree with you on most of that stuff. I will probably end up adding chassis stiffening to the list, especially now that I have access to a welder. Rear springs i have noticed are way too soft, so that will be done too. But I think I'm gonna stay with the KYB's for now just because its not really worth my money at the moment. I need to work on making this car a little more reliable before I do more upgrades. Also i'm a broke college student at the moment haha.

As for the paint, the pictures make it look much better, and i like the color combo. If I ever do paint it, I will either keep it the stock color or do a dark gunmetal/grey paint.

[autodynamics]

the rear springs i did were from detroit eaton 2"drop real nice...college student...lol trust me dump the shocks sell them to someone here that likes them those shocks are junk. 4for $100 get the edelbrock there about $300.00 world of a differnce.... i think you should shave the drip rals paint it black with a red stripe in the tail....ive seen that before and looks nice

[Cole317]

That is an amazing charger. One of my favorites! 

[Charger440RDN]

real nice!!!!  the cars looks on its way to be pro toured.... your signature front spoiler looks great..i would change all that stuff on your list asap and get this thing feeling solid. i would add subframes/rad support/brakes sway bars, rear leafs, different shocks those kyb are junk. use the edelbrock great product for the money. firm feel box fast ratio pitman idler, 11/16 tie rod ends, drop spindles from magnumforce to get your geometry back to normal after the drop...shoot me an email if you have any questions....Pete 

As for the paint, the pictures make it look much better, and i like the color combo. If I ever do paint it, I will either keep it the stock color or do a dark gunmetal/grey paint.

Keep it stock!!!!!!!!!!! I love this color!!    Of course it's your car and your choice 

[mopar0166]

where did you get your upper control arms

[elanmars]

real nice!!!!  the cars looks on its way to be pro toured.... your signature front spoiler looks great..i would change all that stuff on your list asap and get this thing feeling solid. i would add subframes/rad support/brakes sway bars, rear leafs, different shocks those kyb are junk. use the edelbrock great product for the money. firm feel box fast ratio pitman idler, 11/16 tie rod ends, drop spindles from magnumforce to get your geometry back to normal after the drop...shoot me an email if you have any questions....Pete 

Yeah I agree with you on most of that stuff. I will probably end up adding chassis stiffening to the list, especially now that I have access to a welder. Rear springs i have noticed are way too soft, so that will be done too. But I think I'm gonna stay with the KYB's for now just because its not really worth my money at the moment. I need to work on making this car a little more reliable before I do more upgrades. Also i'm a broke college student at the moment haha.

As for the paint, the pictures make it look much better, and i like the color combo. If I ever do paint it, I will either keep it the stock color or do a dark gunmetal/grey paint.

what are your wheel sizes? and tires? just curious.

[kcederwall08]

The upper control arms are from Magnum Force. There pretty nice pieces, i've had no problems with them.

The wheels and tires are 18x9 0 offset in front and 18x10 0 offset in the rear. Tires are 245/45/18's all around

[elanmars]

The upper control arms are from Magnum Force. There pretty nice pieces, i've had no problems with them.

The wheels and tires are 18x9 0 offset in front and 18x10 0 offset in the rear. Tires are 245/45/18's all around

any rubbing, any issues you've had with those wheels so far? how is it riding a car with wheels as big as those compared to stock?

[kcederwall08]

I had issues with rubbing on the inner fender support bar thing, but I cut that out and gave the fenders a little bit of a roll, so theres no problems now.

The ride is a little more harsh, but there is so much less sidewall flex in the tires so it handles way better. It's an easy ride to live with, its not insanely bumpy.

[dodgey68]

nice set up,  keep us informed how it handles ,,
, hopefully when my charger is done ill have something similer in the handleing department ,

[dodgey68]

hey kcederwall
did ya get the pics of the altered rear tubs i sent, and do you reckon youll have a go at doin the alterations, if ya need more info i can help, i am no panel man but it looked ok when finished, 

[Dukes69]

Awesome car dude!  Love the stance!

[kcederwall08]

dodgey68- I got the pictures you sent me, thanks a bunch. I may do the alterations sometime in the next few months, but i'm not completely sure.

Also my car got featured on a pretty popular blog just last week, which was super exciting for me. Here's the link to the article:

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2010/02/03/guest-blog-kevin-cederwall-gt-gt-68-dodge-charger-build.aspx

[Dukes69]

Is that a first gen Camaro front spoiler?  Looks like it fits pretty nice.

[orange383]

Lovely car!
I also think you should keep the paint as is simply because it is original and looks so good. 
My 68 was originally the same colour and will eventually be returned to it's former glory.

I look forward to the updates on your car!!! 

[dodgey68]

hey kevin
i am building some thing along the same line as you are doin, i have made and fitted sub frame connectors, rad brace, bigger sway bars, as the emails also alterd tubs bigger brakes,etc   can i ask what shocks ya gunna use
if kyb arnt right for the job?



http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,65535.20.html

[suntech]

Is that a first gen Camaro front spoiler?  Looks like it fits pretty nice.

It is for a 69 Camaro

[Silver R/T]

Great job on Charger

[kcederwall08]

Hey guys, its been a long time since any updates, but i've gotten a little done on the car.

So far i've added 2in lowering blocks to the rear to make it sit a little nicer, but havent gotten a chance to take any proper pictures of the new stance. Heres a quick shot from a freind though..



I also took her to a car show a while back, and on the way back, someone else's popped tire decided it wanted to destroy my front spoiler... so a new spoiler for the front is in the works... Possibly inspired a bit by this car:


Then I finally decided on which headers to get, but they required a mini starter.

So i did the dodge Ram starter upgrade:


Then I took the car in to get the headers installed, and get a full new 3 in exhaust. A few hours later i get a call saying that I had TWO PASSENGER SIDE HEADERS 

So as of now, i picked up the car, and sent the headers back, and now i'm waiting for a new (and hopefully complete) set to arrive.

[Silver R/T]

I like your thread with restomod Charger.

[Bob T]

Hey, good thread, Great looking 68 

[WHITE AND RED 69]

The stance looks great.  more pics needed.

[dodgey68]

update?? how is the car running, performing, handling, when do you reckon ya might alter ya rear  tubs

[kcederwall08]

Its been a while, but I haven't gotten much done on the car..... I've been really busy with school lately, but hopefully i'll be getting some work done on the car this winter break. I'm not sure what i'm gonna do to it just yet, but I'll definitely do a few things to help with reliability at the least.

heres some pictures from a while back that I don't think I ever posted here.

[Long Island RT]

New air dam is nice 

Fess up - what is it?

Very nice pictures. 

btw: Your car has the most outrageous lack of front fender clearance I've ever seen...I will eventually shoot for something remotely close to that.

[1974dodgecharger]

The upper control arms are from Magnum Force. There pretty nice pieces, i've had no problems with them.

The wheels and tires are 18x9 0 offset in front and 18x10 0 offset in the rear. Tires are 245/45/18's all around

Love your stance I will do something similar but not as aggressive in front....thx

[dodgey68]

[heres some pictures from a while back that I don't think I ever posted here.




hey kevin
how's the car performing, handeling, what driving thing have ya been up too
i noticed the headliner is missing

[bzabodyn]

Your Charger looks great - real similar start to what I want to do with a '68 pretty quick here. Love the stance and probably the first time I've really liked LL1. More info on the front spoiler is appreciated.

BZ

[JB400]

The Charger looks  But I'm also digging the Conquest   What year and specs? 

[chargerboy69]

The Charger looks  But I'm also digging the Conquest   What year and specs? 

I guess you did not notice this thread is 3 years old, and Kevin has not posted on here in 2 years. 

Just saying you might not get a answer to your questions.

[1974dodgecharger]

I wish he would...I found his rims in black I want...plan to get those next month almost identical setup but diff size

[kcederwall08]

Sorry for the lack of progress.. Finally finished up my getting my mechanical engineering degree which has been taking up my time (and money). I still have the car, which has unfortunately been sitting for a while, but I'm hoping to get back into the project soon! Ive definitely still been thinking of ideas for what I may want to do with the car and build in the future, so i'm anxious to get back to it, and will post any progress here.

The Charger looks  But I'm also digging the Conquest   What year and specs? 

That conquest had actually been owned by a few of my friends, i think it was an 89. The car had a stock motor for quite a while but eventually got an LS1 swap and is no longer with us due to the car getting cozy with a tree The wheels were mb battles i think, not sure on the specs

[1974dodgecharger]

WOW I thought you quit and sold it, lol  its been so long...I remember even emailing you on the rims size like 3 years ago I think hahahhaha