My Carlisle survivor tent trip

[Kern Dog]

I don't recall complaining that I have no time for my cars. I make time if needed.
Mopar Performance? I didn't name them specifically. I wrote MOPAR. They do still sell 3G Hemi engines brand new ready to run.
You clearly feel the sting of the critics for the decisions that you have made with the car. I wrote elsewhere that this isn't CUBA where choices are extremely limited for parts to keep old cars running. YOU chose to go with an engine from a competitor and YOU must be prepared to get feedback on it when YOU tell people what you did. If I saw the car sitting with the hood closed, I'd just smile, glance and walk on by. YOU chose to admit the engine that you used so YOU have to be ready to deal with the fallout from the choices that you made.
Many people are polite to your face but will talk trash about what you did when you are not around. Try taking your car to any ALL Mopar show and see how many positive responses you get compared to insults.
The rest of the car may or may not be nice. I didn't care to look any deeper. If a "man" had sex reassignment surgery, I wouldn't look any more at it than a casual glance because it is an abomination. Just hearing of a FORD engine in a car as iconic as a classic Mopar is bad enough to turn me away just as fast.
The "BlaspHEMI" 55 Chevy built by Mike Finnegan is equally offensive to me, as is the Japanese straight 6 he put in the ratty Charger he built. I'm not a fan of cross breeding for any car when brand specific engines are available.
There was a HUGE backlash from Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick owners in the 70s when GM started using "corporate V8" (Chevrolet) engines in the NON Chevrolet cars. My opinion on this is not new and not limited to me.

[John_Kunkel]

I'm not a fan of cross breeding for any car when brand specific engines are available.

Sometimes it's a matter of economy and availability. Back in the sixties when I decided to build a dedicated Mopar-powered drag car with lots of available lightweight components, there wasn't much for Mopars but there was a bunch available for the '55 Chevy and rollers were available all day long for $50.

Starting with a $50 roller, I built this 10-second car with an all-Mopar drivetrain.

[Kern Dog]

See, while I am not a fan of that, I can understand the desire to do "weird" stuff if "correct" powertrains are not available or far too inadequate to meet the goal of speed.
Nowadays, used 3G Hemi engines can be picked for under $1000 for a decent 5.7. Holley makes motor mount kits. TTI makes headers. The swap is almost a bolt in.
The 5.0 Coyote is a great engine but lacking in torque where a 4000 B body needs it. It is a great mill for a lighter FORD but with how almost everyone looks at FORD cars, to put a FORD engine in  a Mopar is just wrong.

[Swampwing2]

I don't recall complaining that I have no time for my cars. I make time if needed.

Try taking your car to any ALL Mopar show and see how many positive responses you get compared to insults.
 

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,142522.0.html  Unless there is another Kerndog

I took it to Chryslers at Carlisle, 2023. If you made it, you could have insulted me in person and I would have enjoyed it, since saving this car was likely beyond your capabilities. Name a bigger, all Chrysler show in the US, and I can drive it there too. I got many, many, many, many, positive comments and surprisingly few negative ones. Mostly because everyone that saw the before photos was shocked with what I started with, and most naysayers changed their thoughts after I had to explain the cartoon connection. Considering this topic has Carlisle in the topic, and it's about people seeing me there, you are pretty sharp. I am pretty sure Chryslers at Carlisle is the biggest, all Mopar show.

The funniest/saddest thing I heard multiple times was the number of people that think that, ONLY that grave TV show guy could have saved it.  Since I never saw the show, I just tell them to stop watching TV and they could build cars too. This car was built at home.   

I enjoy the controversy and hearing the opinions, both good and bad.   

And just to be clear to all those who are struggling to put gen 3s in their car. My EFI fuel tank, tunnel modifications, CAN bus gauges, cooling system, electric steering pump and other changes are all done and would all interchange with a hemi as well. It really would be simple to drop one in and go with all the various motor mounts, exhaust, oil pan etc you can just buy online. A $1,000 gen 3 is not something I would drop in and drive across the country. A hemi still would have been significantly less expensive, but then I would have been just like the others and not have the Coyote connection.
 

[Kern Dog]

I understand the desire to want to drive the car. I drive mine and have no apprehension about it. It gets in the 110 degree zone and even hotter here and I'm out in the car mixing it up in traffic. I also have a 1970s vintage 440 block because that is what was available in these cars when they were built.
I see that you are proud of resurrecting what was a really run down car. I am not one to criticize anyone for that. It takes vision, faith, skill and dollars to bring a rusted and incomplete car back from the dead. We have absolutely no difference of opinion there.
As I stated before, the efforts to get these cars to be livable to today's standards does often include some compromises. I have a Tremec 5 speed in my Charger. Some may see that as a sacrilege since these transmissions were in FORDs for years. I also have FORD front and rear brakes only because no affordable Mopar bigger brake kits are out there.
It is amazing that you integrated electric power steering. Very interesting and impressive.
It is the engine that stops me dead in my adoration of the car. With all the effort to make this work, putting a FORD engine in a Mopar just ruins it...like a perfect looking woman with bad teeth and a bulge where none should be.
The engine is the soul of the car.
The following is more opinion, please understand that.....
I suspect that the people that saw the car at Carlisle were more impressed with the resurrection and less with the engine choice AND were being polite about it.
I'll admit, seeing it in person, I might say "what the f*** ?...and walk on past. It was the fact that in this thread, you made it a point to mention the FORD engine in it that smacks of "I did this to annoy people....hit me with your best shot"
Admitting even more, I know that there are many guys MORE hardcore than I that hate even seeing 3G Hemis in classic cars. I can see their point...some argue that the newer Hemi shares no allegiance to the classic cars. Me? I never thought I'd be interested in them enough to swap one into an old car but the idea is  growing on me.
In closing, I do want to state that while I disagree with you about a few things, I do respect that you stood fast and completed a project that few others could/would do. I'll refrain from further criticism and wish you good times and great memories with the car.