My Dodge Charger '69 R/T 440cid

[Charger´69]

Thanks Bob T!!   And YES, I´m really enjoying this Charger very much 

I found interesting cold air intakes from Jegs, does anyone have one in Charger?  

http://www.jegs.com/p/Spectre/Spectre-Muscle-Car-Cold-Air-Intake-Kits/1297515/10002/-1

That would give some pretty cheap horsepower when engine gets colder air and without cutting hood or/and using scoop   I think I buy that Edelbrock RPM intake manifold. I haven´t decided yet for sure, other choices are Mopar M1 and Edelbrock Performer. But RPM sounds good, it is pretty good dual plane intake and maybe it works better than single plane intake manifold (like Mopar M1 is) on my engine and that RPM intake was also recommended to my engine in our Finnish mopar forum.

Now I´m thinking that would I buy that kind of cold air intake also, because it isn´t much more expensive than that K&N X-Stream that I before was looking. And it would give some more horsepower and it is easy to install. I don´t know how nice looking that cold air intake is but it is other story.. With decent parts I think it could look pretty ok  

[Charger-Bodie]

Hey, I have a couple photos of you car at a nearby all Mopar show from a few years ago.

[Charger´69]

Hey, I have a couple photos of you car at a nearby all Mopar show from a few years ago.

VERY interested!!   Could you email me those or you can add all those to this topic also  

By the way, do you know this previous owner or something of this car? If you do, I would be interested to hear   And if you have contact info (email) to my Charger´s earlier owner I´m interested of that also, I would love to hear some history of this Charger  

[shart70rt]

First time I have looked at this thread. Inspiring that a long distance sale went so well, and that you were able to enjoy it immediately.

One of the previous posts suggested shooting some nitrous to help with power - might be a real good idea. Sounds like you are getting good plans to help launch quicker, and nitrous might be an inexpensive way to drop to the mid or low 13's by applying the extra power after you are already hooked up. As far as $ per horsepower gained, hard to beat it. Sounds like you have a solid motor, so as long as you don't go wild on the juice, should handle it fine.

I visited Helsinki and Tamperi in February 8 years ago, man was it cold. Busted my butt on icy sidewalks several times (sometimes aided by a bunch of that excellent Koff beer).

Great posts, and keep enjoying it. I intend to have my 70 back on the road this summer.

[Charger´69]

First time I have looked at this thread. Inspiring that a long distance sale went so well, and that you were able to enjoy it immediately.

One of the previous posts suggested shooting some nitrous to help with power - might be a real good idea. Sounds like you are getting good plans to help launch quicker, and nitrous might be an inexpensive way to drop to the mid or low 13's by applying the extra power after you are already hooked up. As far as $ per horsepower gained, hard to beat it. Sounds like you have a solid motor, so as long as you don't go wild on the juice, should handle it fine.

I visited Helsinki and Tamperi in February 8 years ago, man was it cold. Busted my butt on icy sidewalks several times (sometimes aided by a bunch of that excellent Koff beer).

Great posts, and keep enjoying it. I intend to have my 70 back on the road this summer.

Yes I´m satisfied to how everything did go with this sale. But You can believe that I saw several nightmares during that time when Charger was coming here to Finland   But lucky me, everything did go well  

And yes, I know that nitrous would help me and it is cheap, but I hate nitrous, I don´t know why, maybe I have seen too much Fast & Furious "Toyota nitrous" movies and after those I´m not going to never go to nitrous  

Someday I might add 8-71 blower or ProCharger supercharger, maybe even twinturbo but never nitrous. I don´t want to get to the situation, that I don´t have all power usable because bottle is empty   And here in Finland nitrous aren´t even street legal but you can add blower, supercharger or turbos legally. In street, nitrous bottle would have to be disconnected if you want drive it on street with nitrous system in your car. And IMO that would be kind of embarrassing if You have nitrous but still your car does only 13's in quarter mail  

And that´s nice to hear that You have visited here in Finland, so you know how cold here is   Next time taste also Karhu (means bear in english   ) and Sandels beer when You come here, those are even better than Koff in my opinion..   And good luck to your project, get that 70 back on the road and enjoy that great feeling that you can get with these cars!!  

[shart70rt]

I have always felt the same way about nitrous, and have never used it, but with older age, you start to accept things as inevitable. Not being street legal kind of puts a crimp on it too.

Have tried to buy some good Finnish beer here in the states, with no luck. I am able to get a decent Russian beer, called Baltika, that comes in quite a few different variants. Like the Koff 4 or 5, it will knock you for a loop with the high alcohol content. Drink less, and be happier.

440 is coming out of my Charger tomorrow, and will start some engine bay modifications before installing the 500 inch beast. I am adding an air conditioner from Classic Air (Texas Gulf Coast is miserably hot in summer), and a Be Cool Radiator system. I am going to take the time to upgrade the electrical while the engine is out.

Installed the overdrive conversion set to my 833 4 speed from Passon Performance for driving pleasure, and am looking forward to hitting the road again.

[Charger´69]

Well I´ve decided to get that Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold. Now one question: does that RPM intake fit under original hood with Holley Street Avenger 670cfm and K&N X-Stream airfilter that is 3" height (dropped base distance 1.25" -> http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KNN-66-3040/ )..?  Or should I buy only 2" high airfilter? Hope not...

It´s pretty tight place, RPM intake manifold is something almost 2" higher than that original Magnum iron intake.

[Piston_Freddy]

If you really want to make "more power" then a 750CFM would be minimum. Nice ride btw!

[Charger´69]

If you really want to make "more power" then a 750CFM would be minimum. Nice ride btw!

Thanks 

But I don´t understand why would I need that 750cfm if I really want to get more power. Of course in some point it is necessary, but I don´t think that right now it would give me so much more horsepower, maybe 10hp? Or something like that.

This is a good test, "Size Matters / Power-Testing Seven Holley Carbs".

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0403_seven_holley_carbs_test/index.html

When they use carb that is right size to that engine (if calculated with carb calculator), they get almost all power out from that engine that can be gained. After using bigger and bigger carb they got only few hp extra.

I think that this almost original 440cid Magnum engine isn´t even near race engine with VE 100%, not even then when I get that RPM intake and better aircleaner. I quess it is more something like VE 80-85% and if I don´t rev engine over 6000rpm that 670cfm should be enough big carb to this engine. carb calculators says that and there are several tests that show that bigger carb isn´t always so much better that it is must to get. At this point, I think I lose max 10hp if I don´t update my carb to 750-850cfm carb. I can live with it 

[Charger´69]

Today I tested new "shoes", Weld ProStar front: 8x15" bs 3.75" with 225/60 tires and rear: 10x15" bs 5.5" with 295/50 tires.

Pretty tight it seems to be rear!!!   Something 1cm to spring leafs etc. Will those rub in some situation? I can´t test that because now is winter here.

Here are some poor quality pictures, I take better photos tomorrow when I drive Charger out of garage.

[Charger´69]

... So I bought those new wheels, I started to like those when I drove Charger out of garage 

So today I bought these:
- Weld ProStar 8x15"/10x15" wheels with 225/60 & 295/50 tires
- Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold
- K&N X-Stream 3" high airfilter (dropped distance 1.25")
- Holley jets (set #64-99)

So maybe those are enough for this summer 

Now I have set of Magnum 500 wheels with BFG tires to sell (if someone here in Finland is interested to buy those). Wheels and tires are like new!! I think those are 2-3 years old. Here are some pictures of those:

[Charger´69]

And some pics from Charger with new wheels 

[Charger´69]

... Sorry, one more!! 

[Charger-Bodie]

I like the Magnums better. 

[Charger´69]

I like the Magnums better. 

I understand, I couldn´t decide which one was better looking because I like both very much but Welds won because I got now wider rear wheels with wider tires and those wheels come more "out" from fenders so....  These aren´t so hard to change if I decide some point otherwise 

[bullit68]

very nice charger!i like the new wheels,and they are much lighter than the magnums which should translate into better all around performance.what rearend gears are you running?if they are 323's,changing to 355 or even 391's would really help with acceleration.its a simple swap to try,just buy a complete chunk.

[Charger´69]

very nice charger!i like the new wheels,and they are much lighter than the magnums which should translate into better all around performance.what rearend gears are you running?if they are 323's,changing to 355 or even 391's would really help with acceleration.its a simple swap to try,just buy a complete chunk.

Thanks! Rearend gear is already 3.55  And I think it is best for me, can drive highway and pretty good acceleration.. Eventhough could be better but maybe I´ll try to get some more horsepower instead of increasing rearend gear ratio.. 

And this Charger´s main purpose is to work as a fun street/cruising car in good weather so quarter mile times isn´t the most important thing at all 

[LUMI]

Nice wheels i have had those front ones in my charger last summer
it woud be even better looking if you drop the rear suspension a little bit

[Charger´69]

Nice wheels i have had those front ones in my charger last summer
it woud be even better looking if you drop the rear suspension a little bit

Thanks but ass will be as high as it is now  It´s too tight ass to drop and this is nice 80´s stance, I like... 

[LUMI]

OK but the you must lift it a bit 

[Charger´69]

OK but the you must lift it a bit 

If those rear wheels rub to inner fenders I´ll do that  Then it´s real 80´s style "Hottentotti" like we say here in Finland  Well really, I won´t..

Those tires would look much better if there was white letters, damn, do I have to paint them or change all tires to Mickey Thompson or Cooper Cobra...  Maybe I´ll try paint tires letters, don´t have money right now to change all tires just for to get white letters 

[Bob T]

Looks cool without being too over the top chromeoids  probably will notice the less weight on takeoff maybe too.

[
If those rear wheels rub to inner fenders I´ll do that  Then it´s real 80´s style "Hottentotti" like we say here in Finland  Well really, I won´t..

Those tires would look much better if there was white letters, damn, do I have to paint them or change all tires to Mickey Thompson or Cooper Cobra...  Maybe I´ll try paint tires letters, don´t have money right now to change all tires just for to get white letters 

Try this then, a cheap fix , and looks real cool. One of the guys here made stencils and just sprayed em on for that 70's stockcar racer look, pretty effective

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skul4aface/2466411163/in/set-72157604893213271/

[Charger´69]

Well I sold those Magnum 500 wheels to my friend. Those went to Ford Torino GT -70 

And I´ve started to LOVE those Weld ProStars  It took a while but YES, it was right decision to me, I got also those wider rear wheels with wider tires that I wanted.

Yesterday I assembled that K&N X-Stream 3" high airfilter with 1.25" dropped base. It was great, much lower (~1") than that Magnum airfilter setup. I just had to remove one cable bracket bolt that wasn´t even in use from Holley Street Avenger and that dropped base fitted like a glove!! I also noticed that I have 1" high "plate" (I don´t know what is that called in english) between original intake and carb. So I metered that my new Edelbrock Performer RPM intake is only ~0.5" higher than my current setup, and that K&N with dropped base is ~1" lower than Magnum airfilter setup, so I think I won´t have any problems to get new intake+airfilter setup below original hood. If I metered everything right, new intake+airfilter setup is actually a bit lower than current setup. And that´s nice to know 

Now maybe next week I assemble that RPM intake and also new spark plug wire fastenings. And do some wheel cleaning and polishing, I do that same cleaning and fixing to engine-room. I think I also have to tune Holley again, I think it breaths much better now with new parts so maybe I´ll have to change jets to carb too, just in case I bought Holley jet set #64-99 that I can tune everything properly and get all power out that can be achieved now.

I wish it was a summer already that I could get that bad boy out and burn some rubber  Well, maybe in 5-8 weeks roads are here dry and I can go cruising 

[Charger´69]

Today I drove Charger out of garage and washed those Weld ProStars with Autoglym carwash soap and water. With those wheels came Mothers® Mag & Aluminum Polish can. I think I polish those wheels soon.. My friend said that I should polish those wheels with that Mothers stuff and then use Sinol to finish surface.

Do You guys know how I can get best result to nice shine that lasts? After polishing and using Sinol, can I use AutoGlym car wax (red + gold) to those polished aluminum Weld wheels to get best result? I think wax coating would protect better those wheels.

And here few picture, again, sorry, I´ll try to stop uploading these pictures so often 

[Charger´69]

Today we shoot some photos (again), now with girl in picture also, these ones are taken by me. There was also a real photographer who took most of photos with professional lightnings + camera and he will edit etc. those pictures near future and maybe we see those some day here in Charger forum. I think he´s going to change backgrounds etc., we´ll see, we let artist to do his work like he wants to 

But here are some I took with normal digital camera just for fun, models are my Charger & lovely girlfriend