What have you done with your Charger lately?

[cdr]

Dana 60 install done, waiting on the driveshaft to be shortened   

[Dino]

Nice!   

[johnnycharger]

Looks tough!

[UH60L]

After 27 years of total service in the Army and Army National Guard, I was force to retire, losing my full time job as well.  Yesterday was my last drill with the Guard.  I drove my Charger, and on the way out did a massive burn out in front of the gate!

I'll miss the good people, but the a-holes that forced me out can suck it!

[keepat]

 Bummer,  I hope you land on your feet soon!  Thank you for your service!
Pat

[b5blue]

After 27 years of total service in the Army and Army National Guard, I was force to retire, losing my full time job as well.  Yesterday was my last drill with the Guard.  I drove my Charger, and on the way out did a massive burn out in front of the gate!

I'll miss the good people, but the a-holes that forced me out can suck it!

Look on USAJOBS there may be jobs available at the VHA in your area. 

[sanders7981]

Finally ordered the gas tank, sending unit, and a new gas cap.... Spectra tank and unit, good mark cap via rock auto.  Unfortunately, the oem fuel line was out of stock at right stuff brakes, and I don't want to fork out for SS Lines.  Guess that will have to wait. 

[Puzbie]

Disassembled, cleaned, and installed original taillights along with new back-ups

[timmycharger]

Disassembled, cleaned, and installed original taillights along with new back-ups

Wow! that looks great!!


I got myself a couple of buffing wheels and some rouge and had a go at polishing out my trim.  Wish I took some before pics but below is the almost finished product. I plan on hitting them one more time with a finer buffing wheel but they are very close.  I had some deep scratches on them, so I wet sanded the trim with 400 then 800 then 1000 then 2000 then buffed them out. All of the scratches came out, the trim is a bit hazy still but a little more work will do it I think.

[lukedukem]

that trim work looks great. what polish did you use, and what buffing wheels. 

Luke

[timmycharger]

Thank you Luke, I picked up the 6 inch tight wound wheels from Harbor Freight. They are about 7 bucks each. I put two together to make it wider like some of the higher end ones. They only had the coarse ones at the store I was at.  I picked up the black polish in stick form they sell next to the wheels specifically for stainless. They have other colors for other applications. 

I bought a finer wheel on ebay that hasn't arrived yet, I plan on using that for the finish polishing.

[Dino]

Also go with the wheel direction for a finer finish and against the wheel for a more cutting action.

[timmycharger]

Also go with the wheel direction for a finer finish and against the wheel for a more cutting action.

Yes! exactly.  I watched this video, was very helpful for me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isHjCyJw2Ek

[68 charger freak]

Mocked  up door panel moulds

[68 charger freak]

.

[Puzbie]

TimmyCharger that trim looks great!

68 charger freak...I'm staying stock myself but that mock-up looks really nice...looks like you are going with a fully custom interior...good luck!

[JR]

I've been busy lately. I cleaned up the inside of my trunk and added a repro trunk mat.

Then I moved the battery to the trunk, and wired up a kill switch, and a Ford starter solenoid, so the main feed wire is cold except during cranking. I used a sealed box, and vented it to the outside.  Then I added some LED cargo lights to the trunk on the original switch, and they are awesome. They light up the whole trunk at night. I added some red ones over the NOS bottle for some Vin Diesel street cred.

Also, as a bonus, the relocated battery has dropped under hood temps a noticeable amount, and handling on the back roads seems to be slightly more responsive. It moved 30lbs off the nose.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.

[alfaitalia]

.Maybe I missed something but why would moving the battery to the trunk affect under hood temps? They don't get hot enough to feel unless it or the alternator is faulty. Hope you used a heavy gauge battery wire over that sort of distance! Your  Ford solenoid must stay live after start, not just during crank or your battery won't charge.

[JR]

In the hot and humid Southeastern U.S., the under hood temps have been high. (Which is half the reason I moved it.) 140 degrees plus ambient air temp underhood, verified by a lab thermometer. Which is causing some drivability issues, and heating the fuel in the return line.

I suspect the heat radiated from the bare cast iron manifolds, combined with the battery blocking some airflow and absorbing heat itself, is the culprit.

I tested it right before I did the modification. After 20 min of driving, underhood temps hovered around 140-150 degrees at 55-65, 138 at 45mph, and into the stratosphere in stop and go traffic.

After a 20 min drive yesterday, the underhood air temps were 132-138 at 55-64, 130 at 45mph, and I didn't get to test stop and go.

That's an immediate, significant reduction in underhood temps.

I want some ceramic coated shorty headers next along with fabricating a cold air intake for the EFI. I think that will bring it down to acceptable.

For comparison, my M3 runs about 120-125 degrees underhood after a 20 min drive.

The starter/battery wire is 1 gauge welding wire, with 8 gauge wire feeding the alternator/main fusebox wire. It will deliver plenty of amperage. The alternator/feed wires are run to the kill switch, before the Ford solenoid. There is a jumper wire on the starter posts. The heavy starter wire is absolutely dead when not starting, and the alternator is charging perfectly. (If it were hot all the time, the starter would always be spinning, and defeat the purpose of the solenoid.)

Of course, the 30lbs of weight off the nose was the other half the benefit I wanted. The weight distribution on a big block is awful, so this helps alot. The left front corner is the absolute worst place for a 30lb battery. The right rear corner is the best place. It's moved 30 lbs of weight from the heaviest corner, and put it on the lightest.

I am building the car to drive the wheels off of it, so I'm all for improving functionality.

[alfaitalia]

All good answers and thanks for your reply.

[JR]

No problem.

[garner7555]

I've been busy lately. I cleaned up the inside of my trunk and added a repro trunk mat.

Then I moved the battery to the trunk, and wired up a kill switch, and a Ford starter solenoid, so the main feed wire is cold except during cranking. I used a sealed box, and vented it to the outside.  Then I added some LED cargo lights to the trunk on the original switch, and they are awesome. They light up the whole trunk at night. I added some red ones over the NOS bottle for some Vin Diesel street cred.

Also, as a bonus, the relocated battery has dropped under hood temps a noticeable amount, and handling on the back roads seems to be slightly more responsive. It moved 30lbs off the nose.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.

JR, how does the FiTech work with the Nitrous?   I was considering putting nitrous on my 440 with FiTech.   Is yours a wet or dry kit?  How big of a shot are you using?
Your mods look great by the way!         

[JR]

Im afraid I cant answer that yet Garner, I havent finished plumbing the nitrous kit yet. Ive been dialing out random bugs and drivability concerns before I install the rest of it.

But the FItech kit is the 600hp "Power Adder" version, and the nitrous is going to be a wet 150 shot. As soon as I get the tuning where I want it, ill install the rest of the kit and post an update. I cant tell if there will be enough room under the throttle body for a nitrous plate without hitting the hood, I may end up having to drill the manifold for a direct port setup, but I hope not. The plate is so much quicker to install.

Thanks for the compliment.

[timmycharger]

Yesterday I had the car registered and insured so its completely legal! I was able to use an original MA license plate from 1968 that was in great shape so now I only have to run 1 plate vs. 2 

I celebrated with a few laps around the neighborhood, got the car in all 4 gears. I really love the Firm Feel Stage 2 steering box, its like a different car. I have some tweaking to do still as the carbs are running rich and I have a knocking sound coming out of the rear when I go over bumps that I will have to investigate.

The terrible shop tires I am using were amusing as when I got on it in 1st and 2nd, they easily spun and had me grinning from ear to ear. 

[M5Ivan]

The terrible shop tires I am using were amusing as when I got on it in 1st and 2nd, they easily spun and had me grinning from ear to ear.