Building a 70 Charger from scratch Build Thread

[tnthull]

starting this thread so anyone that wants to follow along this charger from scratch can. Im intending the car to be a street legal car that I want to be able to take to track days at Atlanta motorsports park, Road Atlanta, autocross events, and ofcourse the occasional dragons tail run. It will be a tube chassis with mostly amd sheet metal skins. I just want to see someone build a charger that's for more than just drag, so here we go.

[tnthull]

trying to post pictures

[tnthull]

chassis

[tnthull]

with some of the panels

[Indygenerallee]

Yeah, I thought I was a glutton for punishment!!  Best of luck!!

[1974dodgecharger]

you truely are going to build it from scratch, literally....

[Baldwinvette77]

so youre only going to use door skins, not complete doors? *cue dukes of hazzard into* , how do you plan entry and exit? 

[tnthull]

I'll build my hinges and handles on the inside, there's just no room with the bars where they are for full doors, it's going to be an undertaking! This is the biggest project I've ever taken on for sure but I do work building race cars so i have at least learned a solid foundation to start something like this. Ps. Some of the people at work are taking bets on how long it will take before its complete enough to legally drive...anyone else want to chime in? I have a bet of 3 years, 5 years and 6 years, I cut the first guy in half at a year and a half for my bet

[Indygenerallee]

You could really just make a 1x1 steel tubing frame for the door and tack or bolt the skin on to it that way you can have fully functioning door.

[dyslexic teddybear]

Year and a half? Ambitious.

Most of us are limited by time and $$$$.  We have a job/family/life.

So many variables, such as skill level, available shop tools/time, how well you are going to detail it. If you are building it as a functioning, street legal race car, fit and finish isn't as important. Suspect show quality paint, AC, and killer sound system.[not talking about exhaust] isn't on the option list. That will save a lotta time.

Wish you luck, and looking forward to the pics. Really interested in the engineering needed. Like for the doors. Some sharp people here, there will be some clever things suggested.

[Dino]

That's pretty neat!  So I'm assuming the only things Charger here will be skins as you are using tubing to build the actual frame?  I like it. 

[tnthull]

I like the 1x1 idea ill measure to see if I have room as soon as I can. Thanks, and yes the only thing really that will really be charger will be the skins but I'm ok with that. The look is the best part I think...can't beat those lines. As far as the extras that will be on the car, like you said it will more or less be a street legal race car, I don't want show quality paint that is so nice it'll make me scared to beat on it, no ac or radio in the plans, we have most any tool I could ever need here at the shop so that shouldn't be a huge issue. As far as time and money, like everyone else that is limited, I'm 24 and do have a wife so balance is needed! But she is supportive of all my projects so that makes things easier.

[tnthull]

And I look forward to the suggestions of the people who have worked on these cars for year and years!

[Dino]

And I look forward to the suggestions of the people who have worked on these cars for year and years!

Don't install a stock hood latch, your skull will thank you for it.   

[tan top]

intresting build going on    , 

And I look forward to the suggestions of the people who have worked on these cars for year and years!

Don't install a stock hood latch, your skull will thank you for it.  

 

[tnthull]

Haha! I saw that thread. I think I'll go with hood pins!

[Indygenerallee]

The more I thought about what you have planned if I were doing it I would make the entire skeleton out to the panels with the 1x1 tubing then weld tabs onto the tubing and at that spot on the panels weld studs that way you can easily bolt the panels on and remove them in a few minutes. what kind of powerplant you plan on running??

[Indygenerallee]

I just thought what would make this build even better would be to add a wing, nose, vega plug and some radiused front fenders!! 

[tnthull]

Haha I thought About doing a Daytona but I think I'm sticking with the 70 stock body for now. I do love the wing cars though

[Mike DC]

 

- 2500 lbs
- very hot V8
- RWD
- grippy tires

. . . this basically equals the physics of a hot Shelby AC Cobra replica.  

Are you sure this is what you want?  


Cobras are all motor & tires without much vehicle weight around them to stabilize the whole thing.  Sounds like a blast on paper, and it is a blast in person . . . until you push the thing one inch too far.  Then it snaps out of control and puts you into the wall with very little warning.


It's blasphemy for a muscle car guy to say this.  But if you're really aiming for so little curb weight, and you just want it fun to drive more than anything else, then you might wanna consider giving it less motor and tires.  It will make it more controllable and also make it easier to hit the weight figure you're aiming for.  Having 600 horses and 9-10" wide tires in a 2500-lb car is going to feel more like having 1000 horses and 15" wide tires.  You could afford to scale down the tires & engine a couple notches and still have a seriously fast car.  Small/light hardware is more forgiving and also more responsive too.  

[Ryan]

Cool project. I'll be watching this!

[tnthull]

I think I'm going to have to disagree with some of this. As I said I'm only 24 but I've been racing cars since I was 13. Most of these have been high power to weight and a Ton of fun to drive, legends cars 1350 lbs with driver. Almost 200 hp, 73 in wheelbase, and I have a drift car also that is 1950 lbs/450hp. The ac cobras are very snappy loose but a lot of that isn't just the high power to weight, a significant factor of that characteristic of that car is the super short wheelbase, which as you know is certainly not a quality the charger possesses at 117", that should make the car much easier to control, I still am afraid I may struggle to get the front end push out of it, that wa my logic in cutting the weight and especially the nose weight in the car, just to try and get rid of that.
It's been my experience that the more tire you put to a car the better grip and handling you'll have also, the charger will have wilwood wide 5 hubs and 10" wheels, so it should be able to fit a lot of tire, I'm thinking probably 275/50/15 up front and 305 or 315/50/15 out back. As far as motor, if I can't get my hands on an old dodge cup motor that's laying around i have an older aluminum race motor ill probably throw in that makes around 500hp that should work fine also, but I'm not even really thinking about all that until I get everything built from the firewall back.

[Mike DC]

Yeah, I agree the wheelbase of the Cobras is a big factor in the car's bad tendency to swap ends.  Maybe the single biggest factor aside from the raw power.



It sounds like you do have some good experience in high-powered uncompromising cars that would leave you better able to handle something like this.  Lots of guys don't have that, they just jump right into trying to build a lot more car than they can handle.  

I also said to be careful because people tend to get blinded by HP numbers without adequately respecting what a lightweight car does to the picture.  A guy who would be cautious about driving 1000 hp in a 2-ton car does not always show the same respect for 500 hp in a 1-ton car.  It sounds like that isn't you though.  



 
The pushing front end will probably be at least somewhat of an issue, you're right.  Going for a 2500-lb curb weight makes the drivetrain weight a real drawback even when it's all aluminum.

Going from a stock 4000-lb Charger with a big block iron engine, down to a 2500-lb Charger with an alloy smallblock motor . . . the proportions are probably not too far different there.  It sounds like a scaled-down version of the assembly line car in terms of weight & proportions.  The stock 4000-lb car understeers initially, but the suspension & long wheelbase & torque will readily turn that into a drift with some throttle applied partway through the corner.

 
As for tires, I was advocating shrinking those down partly just for the fun of it.  Wide tires tend to make the car's limits pretty high and that leaves you pushing the car VERY fast to explore the limits.  Some of the most fun I've had in cars has been in lightweight cars with moderate tires.  Just my opinion.  

[tnthull]

Oh I totally agree with the small tire=more fun in a lot of scenarios, I think some of the most fun I've ever had in a race car was a dirt mod with a crate motor and 8" tires, very hard to drive and very fun. And again, I know all this is more or less an expensive experiment, but I'm just hoping to get the power to weight and all that balanced correctly to end up with a really fun toy...maybe do the power tour in a couple years

[JB400]

I'm going to need a bigger bag of popcorn   Have you considered remaking some of the skins out of carbon fiber or fiberglass?  It looks like you have already bought most of the skins, but they could be a little bit lighter and/or a little bit more durable than going with replacement steel pieces.