Hmmm. Petty charger build?

[charger_cody]

So I was looking at some old petty charger pics today in class, and I got to thinking, "If I could EVER get enough money to buy/build a 426 Hemi, then I would totally make a petty clone out of my car." Did he ever drive a car without a 426 in it?

And how much is the big dog hemi going for nowadays?

Cody

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

it later sported a 426 wedge in his charger i do recall

[moparstuart]

just put a 440 in it and call it a 426 wedge  or  put hemi valve covers over the 440's and call it a hemi

[Nacho-RT74]

welll for a while you think and save on/for the engine, you can build the car looks. No matter the engine you have by the moment since you can have fun with the look. Then the engine like a future project

If I had a car what needs lots of parts ( specially interior ), I would make it myself

[451-74Charger]

There is a very nice lady selling a 73 charger, needs a lot of work, but would make a great Petty clone.
she only wants 1000 obo for it, or its getting hauled off to the junkyard Saturday
if you want I can send your her email

[charger_cody]

There is a very nice lady selling a 73 charger, needs a lot of work, but would make a great Petty clone.
she only wants 1000 obo for it, or its getting hauled off to the junkyard Saturday
if you want I can send your her email

Well I have a 73 already but I appreciate the offer!!! 

just put a 440 in it and call it a 426 wedge  or  put hemi valve covers over the 440's and call it a hemi

Valve covers don't make it a HEMI, and putting a 440 in it doesnt make it a 426 wedge. 

welll for a while you think and save on/for the engine, you can build the car looks. No matter the engine you have by the moment since you can have fun with the look. Then the engine like a future project

If I had a car what needs lots of parts ( specially interior ), I would make it myself

Hmm That sounds like a good idea. I think i'm going to leave it full petty blue until I am for sure I want to do it.

Cody

[68X426]

Did he ever drive a car without a 426 in it?
And how much is the big dog hemi going for nowadays?

Answer: he always drove a 426 Hemi when it was available (not before 1964, not when he spent the year with Ford, and not after the Elephant was outlawed).

Answer: $15,000 to $50,000+ depending on the components. An original 426 Hemi block with modern modifications/parts, well built but not insane, is typically $20k to $25k. If you want NASCAR level insanity, then more likely over $100k.

[charger_cody]

Did he ever drive a car without a 426 in it?
And how much is the big dog hemi going for nowadays?

Answer: he always drove a 426 Hemi when it was available (not before 1964, not when he spent the year with Ford, and not after the Elephant was outlawed).

Answer: $15,000 to $50,000+ depending on the components. An original 426 Hemi block with modern modifications/parts, well built but not insane, is typically $20k to $25k. If you want NASCAR level insanity, then more likely over $100k.

Honestly 15k is not worth it to me.... What about a 426 wedge?

cody

[Ponch ®]

Did he ever drive a car without a 426 in it?
And how much is the big dog hemi going for nowadays?

Answer: he always drove a 426 Hemi when it was available (not before 1964, not when he spent the year with Ford, and not after the Elephant was outlawed).

Answer: $15,000 to $50,000+ depending on the components. An original 426 Hemi block with modern modifications/parts, well built but not insane, is typically $20k to $25k. If you want NASCAR level insanity, then more likely over $100k.

what engines did he run when NASCAR lowered the maximum displacement allowed in the mid 70s? Was he running a small block based motor?

[moparstuart]

There is a very nice lady selling a 73 charger, needs a lot of work, but would make a great Petty clone.
she only wants 1000 obo for it, or its getting hauled off to the junkyard Saturday
if you want I can send your her email

Well I have a 73 already but I appreciate the offer!!! 

just put a 440 in it and call it a 426 wedge  or  put hemi valve covers over the 440's and call it a hemi

Valve covers don't make it a HEMI, and putting a 440 in it doesnt make it a 426 wedge. 

welll for a while you think and save on/for the engine, you can build the car looks. No matter the engine you have by the moment since you can have fun with the look. Then the engine like a future project

If I had a car what needs lots of parts ( specially interior ), I would make it myself

Hmm That sounds like a good idea. I think i'm going to leave it full petty blue until I am for sure I want to do it.

Cody

i was just giving you an economical solution , there are several nascar clones running around with 440's and 383's with hemi valve covers and they look pretty good

[sittinonready43]

you dont need a hemi just a big block and your good to go .and a petty blue car 

[charger_cody]

you dont need a hemi just a big block and your good to go .and a petty blue car 

Yea but I wanted a Petty clone. Wouldnt I need the motor also?

Cody

[Troy]

you dont need a hemi just a big block and your good to go .and a petty blue car 

Yea but I wanted a Petty clone. Wouldnt I need the motor also?

Cody

Depends on how accurate you want to be. The suggestions above would get you the "look" you wanted without being totally accurate (which would cost many, many thousands of dollars). Depending on where you were most people would have no clue if it were correct or not.

Troy

[mikesbbody]

what engines did he run when NASCAR lowered the maximum displacement allowed in the mid 70s? Was he running a small block based motor?


Wasn't it 358 C.I? or am I confusing it with Today's limit?

[68X426]

Wouldnt I need the motor also?

If you never open the hood, the world would never know.

Spend all the money on the look, a big 426 painted on the hood, and then drop a slant 6 in the engine bay, preferably with 220,000 miles on it just for laughs.

[Ponch ®]

Wasn't it 358 C.I? or am I confusing it with Today's limit?

I'm pretty sure youre right on 358 being the limit both today and since the mid 70's. That's why I'm wondering if Dodge/Plymouth cars were running small block (LA?) based engines.  

[RTDaddy]

ON motors, the 426 Hemi was the weapon of choice until the restrictor plates made their appearance in Oct, 1970. (Yes, 1970).  Nascar played a LOT of games with different holes in the plates for different engines, trying to A. eliminate the "race only motors" the Hemi and the Ford "shotgun" 429, and B. trying to "eqaualize" everyone.
Therefore the "production based" motors, (read wedge) had a bigger plate.  so for the July Daytona race in 71, Chrysler brought out the 426 wedge, which finished 1-2-3-4 at Daytona, with Bobby Isaac winning.  Nascar then played some more games with the plate, and all of a sudden the Hemi was competitive again.  For 74, Nascar wanted to go the smallblock route, and slapped a smaller plate on anything over 355 C.I.  This effectively killed the big motors, but the small blocks did not have the reliability, (or so everyone thought).  Richard did not go to the smallblock until the spring North Wilkesboro race, which was a punched out 340. this was the basic engine configuration until Mopar was out of the running in 81, (I think Buddy Arrington was the last one, an 81 Mirada or Chrysler).  When Mopar got back in in '01, this was a race only motor like they're running now.  Good luck with the project.

"IF YOU'RE UNDER CONTROL, YOU AIN'T GOING FAST ENOUGH."

[Highbanked Hauler]

   
   
DODGE R5 P7 NASCAR ARCA ENGINE MOTOR LATE MODEL NHRA

The picture didn't copy but 9K and you got an 800HP motor. something like that was going in my 68 at one time.

[charger_cody]

Well what I could always do is get the body like Petty's and save for awhile to afford a 426 wedge, or, in the case of NASCAR putting a limit on the motors, slap a punched out 340 in it. Whatya think guys?

Cody

[mikesbbody]

Yeah, you could do that Nobody would know if it was stroked or not unless you told them.
What about a 408 small block stroker?

[charger_cody]

Yeah, you could do that Nobody would know if it was stroked or not unless you told them.
What about a 408 small block stroker?

Well I was also think about that or just a 400 bored out. I'm not really sure. But my main concern in the clors of the car.... Do they make a sticker set for this? I know the 43 was painted on along with the red, but didn't he have a car that didn't have red on it?

Cody

[Aero426]

Yeah, you could do that Nobody would know if it was stroked or not unless you told them.
What about a 408 small block stroker?

Well I was also think about that or just a 400 bored out. I'm not really sure. But my main concern in the clors of the car.... Do they make a sticker set for this? I know the 43 was painted on along with the red, but didn't he have a car that didn't have red on it?

Cody

All Petty Chargers have the STP day glo red.     

[Brock Samson]

.

[charger_cody]

See that one there says 360 c.i. Is it really running a 360? And go google richard petty charger. There are a couple that are petty blue with just the stickers. None of the red.

Cody

[Ponch ®]

See that one there says 360 c.i. Is it really running a 360? And go google richard petty charger. There are a couple that are petty blue with just the stickers. None of the red.

Cody

those might be the Road Runners he ran for a while in 71-72 before switching to the Charger and before STP sponsored him.

[Mike DC]

Yeah, I don't recall Petty ever running a 3rd-gen Charger without the STP red portion of the paint.  He ran 71/72 RRs in all blue but once he hit 1973 I think it was red & blue from then on. 

When the Hemi motors were gone they ran 426 wedges briefly (Max Wedge heads I think?).  NASCAR had started discouraging BB motors with weight/ci penalties before the BB motors were fully banned, and Petty saw the writing on the wall and started dumping money into developing a SB motor.  The took what the Trans/Am guys had learned about fast-winding 340s and began working on them. 



Petty himself has been known to say he liked the 1970s 3rd-gen Chargers as his favorite NASCARs.  Everybody links him with the '67 Belvedere or the '70 Superbird but I think he liked the mid-1970s more than any other time in his career.

The wing car era in particular was not his favorite time as I understand.  First Mopar didn't build him a wing car & he switched to Ford.  Then when he had the wing car he kinda felt like it gave too many other guys too much help catching him.  The stabilizing effect of the rear wing uprights really helped cover a driver's butt when he made mistakes that should have spun him out.  The Superbirds were fast cars but I think Petty was glad to see them go.       

   

[Brock Samson]

 As i recall, him and Pete Hamilton had a hell of a rivalry in '70,.. but he really dominated by the time he was in Chargers,..
I remember being pretty shocked when he joined up with Andy granitelli and the STP branding. but i was a kid then and only had the newspapers and a few magazines for my info. Took me quite a while to get used to the two tone red and blue but i absolutely like it now... 
As to making a clone you could allways go for it and drop in a HEMI when you can afford to, I would think over all it would be a pretty Pricey deal, a decent paint job alone would cost mucho moo la... 

[Aero426]

The last race for an all Petty Blue car was the January 1972 Riverside 500.    That car was a Road Runner.

[Brock Samson]

 wh i gotta do all the work around her?.. 

[LeadfootBob]

Just for clarity... A 440 IS a wedge motor. Pretty much the same engine as the 426, just a tad more bore. Throw the right air cleaner, valve covers and stickers on it and nobody can tell the difference 
A max wedge, on the other hand, could cost you some cash depending on how OEM you want it. Different (well flowing) heads and intake manifolds.

[Mike DC]

i was just giving you an economical solution , there are several nascar clones running around with 440's and 383's with hemi valve covers and they look pretty good

Got any pics or links on that one?

I remember having that idea years ago.  I was thinking maybe you could run the spark plug wires through the holes and down to the wedge head plug locations.   

[Nacho-RT74]

somewhere I saw a 71/72 Petty's Charger being already STP... and I'm talking about a real race pic, not a clone's car pic

[Nacho-RT74]

or maybe a clone, but I don't think invented from nothing



since 73 and lates paint scheeme was diff

[charger_cody]

Well I am painting the car petty blue myself. So the whole car will be petty blue. But, I was thinking that in a later time when I move out of my parents house and get my own place with a garage , until then, I will save up for a 426 wedge, and get the red done by someone else. I won't be putting a HEMI in any of my cars unless I hit the damn lottery.  I don't think the elephant of a motor is worth it when I could just build a 400 or a 426 wedge the RIGHT way and get just as much power.

Cody

[Ponch ®]

or maybe a clone, but I don't think invented from nothing



since 73 and lates paint scheeme was diff

I think he switched from the RR to the Charger sometime during the 72 season so there would have been a 72 Charger with that scheme, but only ran it for a few races before switching to the 73-based carl that he drove till 76 or 77.

[learical1]

I believe Petty's first race in a Dodge was the 72 Winston 500 at Talladega.  I think he switched back and forth between RR and Charger the rest of 72.  The 426 wedge in 1971 was a hemi block with the cylinder head mounting surface welded up and tapped to take a bolt instead of a stud above each bore hole.  The cylinder heads were 440 6 pack heads with very minor modifications. 

[Brock Samson]

 I saw this Cody and thought of you,..
dated dec.
http://www.petrol-head.com/2009/12/v8-power-deal-buy-a-ride-for-le-mans-classic-2010.html

[charger_cody]

I saw this Cody and thought of you,..
dated dec.
http://www.petrol-head.com/2009/12/v8-power-deal-buy-a-ride-for-le-mans-classic-2010.html

Wow that's bad lookin. Thats not a petty car though is it? Before he had that famous petty blue?

Cody

[68X426]

Cody, maybe you've seen this site before. If not, check it out. Dozens of Petty cars from back in the day.

http://s545.photobucket.com/albums/hh369/69RoadRunner/06%20Racing/Petty/?start=0

[Black Charger]

If you want HEMI power, you might want to consider using a modern 5.7L HEMI. These have been popular in resto mods, are super-reliable, have the look you're probably going for, and they cost about the same as any other well-built V8. I have seen built ones in the $6,000 range. The Petty Charger is one of my all-time favorite cars, so I wish you the best of luck with your project.

[DrHemi]

I was surprised to see no one mention a modern Hemi until I got to the last post. I'll have to dig up my old NASCAR stuff and find out about the cube limits. Whenever I'm at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the races there's a Petty Charger replica. Here's the site: http://ju-online.com/index.html mainly videos as the pics don't seem to be working currently.