What have you done with your Charger lately?

[kokxville]

Went to a local show Saturday and was truly shocked when I recieved "Best of Show".  I really built my car just to be a nice driver, not really a trophy winner.  (I have put 750 miles on it over the past 3 months)   I must admit it is nice to get some recognition of the hard work that went into it, even though I said I didn't care anything about winning trophies.    To make things better, it was at the Chevrolet dealer and they sponsor the show.  The guy from the dealership said "it sure does pain me to give this to a Mopar"     The sales staff tried to get me to do a burnout as I was leaving but I said no, there were too many people around to risk it.   Have you ever seen small rocks get flung by spinning tires?   

Your Charger looks awesome.

[71charger_fan]

I sent the '71 Charger's cluster off to have the ammeter converted to a voltmeter and to have the speedometer gone through.

[smithenhiven]

New wheels and tires. Ordered carpet today.

Looks awesome.  Curious about your rear suspension setup, I like that slightly Jacked-up look. 

[krops cars]

I arched the springs and added a leaf. I had a frame and suspension shop do it. I think $200.00. I may have to use air shocks. And hank you for the reply.

[funknut]

Went to a local show Saturday and was truly shocked when I recieved "Best of Show".  I really built my car just to be a nice driver, not really a trophy winner. 

Car looks amazing, outstanding work!   

[funknut]

Electrical gremlins finally forced my hand!

Brief history: When I bought the car in late 2015 I knew it had some issues. Some are typical age-related things, and some were larger. Collision damage in the driver's front was mostly repaired, but there were some things that needed further correction. The car has an older (mid-90s?) repaint/color change job when the R/T badging and butt stripe were added, but the surface wasn't well prepped and the topcoat isn't aging well. It looks good from 10 feet, but get any closer and it doesn't take long to discover it has some issues.

My first clue there would be electrical challenges was the engine bay wiring was quite an interesting layout. The PO added MSD ignition, but the wiring didn't make any sense. The firewall bulkhead connector had been temperamental since the get-go, and I've had it apart a number of times to clean it out, grease it up and that got me down the road each time. I knew I'd need to tackle it before long as the bulkhead connector had had a rough life. It had very clearly gotten hot at least once, a couple wires were epoxied into the engine compartment connector, and one of the locking tabs was broken. The last straw was when I was trying to get to an alignment appointment and I just couldn't get it going. In a fit of irritation I took out the cluster with the intent of just replacing the bulkhead connectors, but, as they say, that's when the wheels came off.

I found lots of splices, extra grounds and enough bare wires that I knew I wasn't going to feel good about putting it back together without redoing at least a decent chunk of the dash wiring. I ordered an American Autowire Classic Update kit and set about what I thought was going to be a 2-3 week project to get it rewired.

Suffice to say things have escalated.  Interior is out, carpet is out, floor pans were quite badly rusted and coming out.  That's when I knew it was going to be apart for a while.

As of now...

- Quarter windows and regulators are out and rebuilt with new rollers, outer window whiskers are going in (inners were good).
- Doors are attached but disassembled, need to clean up/rebuild passenger window tracks/regulator.
- Engine bay wiring is out, radiator and fan are out.  Engine and trans will be out shortly to help in replacing the floors.
- Steering column is out and detailed, needs reassembly.
- Dash is apart, HVAC is out.  Considering VintageAir vs. trying to fix the original.
- Dash cluster is apart, need to finish detailing the gauges and plastic parts.  Cleaned up the switches but need to figure out how to re-chrome 2 of the rocker switches.  Ordered new dash lenses (turn signal, brake, etc.) and gaskets.  Painted metal gauge frame.  Considering upgrading to a tic-toc-tach while I'm at it.
- Dash wiring is out.
- New ACC carpet on order
- New rear seat cover on order

Plan is to

- de-rust/prime/paint everything I can - frame rails, crossmembers, floors, door and quarter inners.
- put in a 1-piece AMD floor
- Paint/detail dash frame, gauge cluster and dash plastic, reassemble dash and steering column.
- replace rear seat padding and cover
- upgrade to 3/8" fuel hard-line (because why not?)
- refurb front seats, possibly replace with something more modern that has side bolstering.
- figure out an HVAC solution
- Add some chassis stiffening, probably US car tool torque boxes and frame connectors.

The good news:

- the rear floor pan is solid.
- the rear body harness is a new M&H piece.

Wish me luck!

[70 sublime]

Electrical gremlins finally forced my hand!

Brief history: When I bought the car in late 2015 I knew it had some issues. Some are typical age-related things, and some were larger. Collision damage in the driver's front was mostly repaired, but there were some things that needed further correction. The car has an older (mid-90s?) repaint/color change job when the R/T badging and butt stripe were added, but the surface wasn't well prepped and the topcoat isn't aging well. It looks good from 10 feet, but get any closer and it doesn't take long to discover it has some issues.

My first clue there would be electrical challenges was the engine bay wiring was quite an interesting layout. The PO added MSD ignition, but the wiring didn't make any sense. The firewall bulkhead connector had been temperamental since the get-go, and I've had it apart a number of times to clean it out, grease it up and that got me down the road each time. I knew I'd need to tackle it before long as the bulkhead connector had had a rough life. It had very clearly gotten hot at least once, a couple wires were epoxied into the engine compartment connector, and one of the locking tabs was broken. The last straw was when I was trying to get to an alignment appointment and I just couldn't get it going. In a fit of irritation I took out the cluster with the intent of just replacing the bulkhead connectors, but, as they say, that's when the wheels came off.

I found lots of splices, extra grounds and enough bare wires that I knew I wasn't going to feel good about putting it back together without redoing at least a decent chunk of the dash wiring. I ordered an American Autowire Classic Update kit and set about what I thought was going to be a 2-3 week project to get it rewired.

Suffice to say things have escalated.  Interior is out, carpet is out, floor pans were quite badly rusted and coming out.  That's when I knew it was going to be apart for a while.

As of now...

- Quarter windows and regulators are out and rebuilt with new rollers, outer window whiskers are going in (inners were good).
- Doors are attached but disassembled, need to clean up/rebuild passenger window tracks/regulator.
- Engine bay wiring is out, radiator and fan are out.  Engine and trans will be out shortly to help in replacing the floors.
- Steering column is out and detailed, needs reassembly.
- Dash is apart, HVAC is out.  Considering VintageAir vs. trying to fix the original.
- Dash cluster is apart, need to finish detailing the gauges and plastic parts.  Cleaned up the switches but need to figure out how to re-chrome 2 of the rocker switches.  Ordered new dash lenses (turn signal, brake, etc.) and gaskets.  Painted metal gauge frame.  Considering upgrading to a tic-toc-tach while I'm at it.
- Dash wiring is out.
- New ACC carpet on order
- New rear seat cover on order

Plan is to

- de-rust/prime/paint everything I can - frame rails, crossmembers, floors, door and quarter inners.
- put in a 1-piece AMD floor
- Paint/detail dash frame, gauge cluster and dash plastic, reassemble dash and steering column.
- replace rear seat padding and cover
- upgrade to 3/8" fuel hard-line (because why not?)
- refurb front seats, possibly replace with something more modern that has side bolstering.
- figure out an HVAC solution
- Add some chassis stiffening, probably US car tool torque boxes and frame connectors.

The good news:

- the rear floor pan is solid.
- the rear body harness is a new M&H piece.

Wish me luck!

Guess you are not driving it again this summer 

[funknut]

Guess you are not driving it again this summer 

No chance of that!  My goal is to  get the painting done before the weather turns cold. Then I have a chance of reassembling over the winter and having it ready for next spring. We'll see, this is my first project of this scope so I'm sure I'll run into some surprises along the way.

[Kern Dog]

The Firm Feel Stage 3 steering box in my car has felt sloppy for awhile. I had suspected the coupler to have some slop but it always feels snug.
Still, the loose feeling on center or more specifically, from the 11:00 to 1:00 positions always annoyed me. I could turn the steering shaft by hand with the engine off and see a fair amount of movement before the pitman arm started to move. The splined shaft on the steering box moved in and out with the rotation of the steering shaft too. Today I adjusted the nut and screw on top. The 3/4" nut was cracked loose and the slotted screw was turned about 1/4 turn clockwise, then it would not move any more. I tightened down the 3/4" nut and drove the car. The slop is greatly reduced but a little still remains. I wonder if this means that I am at the end of what can be done with this box. I have considered a Borgeson box for the car so maybe I'll use this FF box in another car.

[NHCharger]

How many miles do you have on the FF Stage 3? I have one in my 68 Charger, have about 7k miles on it. I also dumped the stock steering column and went with a Flaming River unit

[cdr]

Working on EFI Hilborn Stack.

[ACUDANUT]

Just put in a 4.10 spool (all gears, no clutches) in my 72 Charger 

[b5blue]

Doing cooling system flush-de rust treatment. Replacing T stat, rad. cap, coolant, upper and lower rad. hoses.

[Ghoste]

Replaced the Pitman arm, but I notice the idler arm looks less than ideal now also.  Not quite bad enough to replace yet but getting there.  I see a front end rebuild coming up in the not too distant future.

[timmycharger]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way   

Couple of short vids..

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


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KtQ_MmBbU

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

[VegasCharger]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way   

You got cruise in your '68? Does it work?

Nice vids! 

[303 Mopar]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way   

Couple of short vids..

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


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KtQ_MmBbU

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

Healthy sounding '68!  Thanks for posting the videos!

[timmycharger]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way    

You got cruise in your '68? Does it work?

Nice vids!  

Thanks!! Nope, I modified a cruise control stalk with a new button to control my line loc as I still plan to drag race at some point. with the 4 speed, I wanted to be as easy as possible..

[timmycharger]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way   

Couple of short vids..

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


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KtQ_MmBbU

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

Healthy sounding '68!  Thanks for posting the videos!

Thanks!!

[VegasCharger]

Thanks!! Nope, I modified a cruise control stalk with a new button to control my line loc as I still plan to drag race at some point. with the 4 speed, I wanted to be as easy as possible.....

Okay cool. Those cruise control stalks are as rare as hens teeth. If you show your car be prepared to answer the cruise control questions such as you did with me lol.

[alfaitalia]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way    

Couple of short vids..

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


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KtQ_MmBbU

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

When you said "donuts for the kids" I completely misunderstood and expected to see a lot of tyre smoke! Lol. Or that it was some sort of  weird American "food for kids" exchange program.

[timmycharger]

Thanks!! Nope, I modified a cruise control stalk with a new button to control my line loc as I still plan to drag race at some point. with the 4 speed, I wanted to be as easy as possible.....

Okay cool. Those cruise control stalks are as rare as hens teeth. If you show your car be prepared to answer the cruise control questions such as you did with me lol.

Yep already had to a few times, but I started with basically a cracked useless one that I cleaned up.

[timmycharger]

Went for a ride Sunday morning with the wife to get some donuts for the kids.. took the long way    

Couple of short vids..

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


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KtQ_MmBbU

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

When you said "donuts for the kids" I completely misunderstood and expected to see a lot of tyre smoke! Lol. Or that it was some sort of  weird American "food for kids" exchange program.

Lol..Oh there was lots of tire smoke, just not recorded    where I live,  there is a Dunkin Donuts every mile or so. Good excuse to drive the beast.

[Tmb84]

I have heat issues.. on a hot summer day i need to drive with ease.. or it will throw some water out the radiator hose.
Its always been like this since i got it 5 years ago, but this year its worse. The weather is not warmer either..

Last week i changed the coolant, it was a bit dirty and i think it helped a little.
The radiator is the original 22' inch and looks bad inside. Tried to clean it, but it didnt help much.

Today i changed the waterpump house and waterpump wich i got from 440source, i hope this will help some until i get a new aluminium radiator.

Its nice to work on the car and do this kind of uppgrades.
-Sorry for my english, trying my best without any help from google.

[alfaitalia]

-Sorry for my english, trying my best without any help from google.

To be fair your English is better than most on here!