Got a project 70, now the fun/pain begins

[AKcharger]

 

[Baldwinvette77]

Hey how about some more pictures with the painted fenders? 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Hey how about some more pictures with the painted fenders? 

6 months later...   






New Video!

https://youtu.be/ExiAwHV9jP4



Car is in winter storage right now, but still thinking on potential upgrades.  I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but fuel injection might be a possibility.    The Fitech system definitely has me thinking.  As much as I love carbs, it has been a constant struggle to get any of the ones I've used dialed in on this pile.  I know that there is still more performance and economy to be found.   Not sure if the fact that the engine combo was FI to begin with is part of the reason it's been so hard to dial in, it pulls 23" of vacuum at idle! 

[Cncguy]

I think it looks cool and fun!

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome  Maybe someday ill put 9000 miles on my charger.. or it'll burst into flames..... both possibilities are equally spectacular though 

[smithenhiven]

Loved reading your thread man, great job on making your Charger road worthy again.  I wonder how close we are, I'm in PA too, Beaver County, just outside of Pittsburgh. 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Thanks guys.     I'm over towards Butler actually.

[toocheaptosmoke]

Few days ago I did something rash...   Never thought I'd do it, but I put an Fitech fuel injection system on order!!!        Between the $100 rebate and a summit coupon I had, I just gave in.    Wouldn't shell out the dough for the fuel command center though, gonna rig my own setup there as I've already got an electric pump and regulator with return.   New goal with fuel injection, 25 mpg! 

Car just came back on the insurance april 1st, then we get snow on april 2nd and they cover the roads in salt again.    Gotta wait another couple weeks now for the rain to wash it away.

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome! Now we can say you have a fuel injected suicide machine! 

[JR]

You won't regret the Fitech. Best mod I ever did to my 70. It's worth it.

Tanks Inc makes a drop in ready efi fuel tank setup you may wanna check out.

[crj1968]

Haha, it's for the A/F ratio gauge, don't worry I didn't go fuel injection!

Wait? What?      

Fitech- nice looking forward to seeing how it works out. I've been eyeballing it for some time now. 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Awesome! Now we can say you have a fuel injected suicide machine! 

Hotter than a rollin' dice! 

You won't regret the Fitech. Best mod I ever did to my 70. It's worth it.

Tanks Inc makes a drop in ready efi fuel tank setup you may wanna check out.

I hope so, seems like pretty positive reviews so far. 

Haha, it's for the A/F ratio gauge, don't worry I didn't go fuel injection!

Wait? What?      

Fitech- nice looking forward to seeing how it works out. I've been eyeballing it for some time now. 

I know, I know...    

[toocheaptosmoke]

FINALLY this came in the mail.   

[VegasCharger]

 

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome  and only cost 8 times more than the rest of the engine 

[toocheaptosmoke]

The EFI is installed and functioning, oughta have a video of that at some point.   It fired right up first try, put about 50 miles on it so far.   I'd be lying if I said things were 100% awesome, but I'm trying to let this system keep learning before I judge it too much.     On the bright side, it's good to know that even a fuel injection system is having some of the same struggles trying to tun this motor, I feel a bit vindicated for giving up on the carbs.     

The system seems to be slowly improving, so we'll see.   The first few drives were definitely worse running than where I had the summit carb at.  However, most bogs/stumbles/rich conditions are not consistent, so the system is trying to sort things out.  Most of the WOT runs are seeing extremely rich conditions (had same issues w/ carb) and it takes a while for the mixture to be corrected.  I believe this is coming from the default fuel settings being overly rich for my application, so hopefully it will learn. 

The hand controller is really nice, but some of the functions could be explained a little bit clearer.  Seems like it will let you tweak quite a bit, so that's cool.

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome!!! Now at local car shows you can expect to hear things like "Thats not EFI, thats a holly spreadbore, i had one on my 58 chevy nova" 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Really should slap a Holley sticker over that FiTech. 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Still have some tweaking to do, can never leave anything alone...  But here's a vid I from when I was installing it,

https://youtu.be/OKjq6QIweUE

[Baldwinvette77]

Nice! , im thinking of going EFI too honestly.. People seem to get pissed if you let your car warm up before you drive off.. 

[toocheaptosmoke]

The EFI has been great so far during highway cruising, the WOT also seems to improving as it gets leaned out.  Of course I keep tweaking things, it hasn't been without its hiccups.  Idle has been tough to get smooth, it hunts up and down, to the point of almost stalling at times.  Was able to manually set the throttle blades to a minimum opening to keep it from dropping too low.  The pedal has a lot more heavier feel to it now, and that along with a slight hesitation on light tip-in has made leaving stop signs interesting...  Hard to do it smoothly, looks like I'm learning how to drive a manual for the first time. 


Also been working on getting the new headliner installed.

[Dodge Don]

Well that is different.

[toocheaptosmoke]

Couple weeks ago I had issues with the engine cutting out occasionally.  After much trouble shooting I found that the pick-up sock in the tank had fallen off and something partially obstructed the fuel line causing fuel starvation.   Installed a Holley fuel mat for good measure and now everything is back to normal.  I reset the EFI calibration while troubleshooting, so it's now re-learning. 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Getting ready to blow out the cobwebs and drag this pile out of winter storage.    Got some plans for this summer! 



Having trouble finding a single plane magnum style intake, may try to find an LA small block intake and just egg out the holes. Anyone got one kicking around they want to sell?

While I'm in there, might as well port the heads too, right?

[BDF]

YES, do the heads! It will run better if the eggs line up. 
Just read a bunch of your thread/watched a couple of your videos. We seem to have similar attitudes.
People can't believe I go to the lumber yard & nurseries and haul stuff away in the Charger, but hey, the trunk holds a LOT and I'm careful.
Heaven forbid they see you go thru the gas station car-wash!  I just tell them it needs a paint job anyway.
I don't do the car wash thing any more though. It seems to traumatize the onlookers.