V10 Charger (Update 5/25/21)

[GT]

Some other fun things that I've been working on in the evenings...

I needed the Stock Viper PCM to be able to "talk" to the Infinity multiplexing system.  One such reason is for the PCM to be able to tell the Infinity box when to turn on or off the fuel pump - but I want the Infinity system to control activation via the power cell and provide security to several subsystems (preventing hot-wiring).

Problem is, the PCM sends out 12V signals and the Infinity Mastercell wants to see ground signals (12V would damage it).  So i created a small circuit using a transistor and resistor to provide a ground signal to the Mastercell when the PCM provides the 12V signal.  That little beasty is in the upper portion of the picture (three wires - Black=ground, Red=12V signal from PCM, Green=Ground signal to Mastercell).  I found a similar solution pre-made for ~$28 each.  I can make twenty of them for $4.  Win!

The other item i have been working on is adding power windows.  I picked up some newer Dorman power window motors (~$33 each), but wanted to avoid the lousy stock wiring, relays, fuses, and switches that are so problematic.  I also wanted to add other features such as single touch roll up/down, lock out, etc.  After much research i found that using an Arduino (embedded programming with C++) and a high amperage monster motor control shield would fit the bill.   You can see how small the unit it - it can drive up to 30A per motor, has overload protection, i can custom program it to do whatever i want - even control the speed of the windows.  I may interface it with the Infinity Mastercell and remote control to open windows remotely...  Best yet, all this set me back under $15 for the electronics.

It sounds complicated - but after you dig into a little bit it is really pretty straight forward, open source and CHEAP.

[keepat]

Great job on the trans tunnel! look forward to seeing your progress.
Pat

[68 VIPER CHARGER]

I've read this thread, and am very looking forward to seeing your project complete:)
My uncle and I own the silver 68 that everyone always mentions with the viper engine.
It is one amazing car, I took it to a carshow last weekend, and burned a little rubber in it
Great work so far!!

[GT]

Thank you!   I'll post some updates in a week or so, wanted to wait until i had all the misc accessory components mounted.  The planning for where everything goes, routes, fittings and mounting has been surprisingly time consuming - especially since I have to think about where things (like electrical) mount...

I've been searching for a suitable stainless steel washer tank that "looks right".  Totally striking out.  So I spent the weekend at the TMS Good Guys show, specifically checking every car...  nada...  came to the conclusion that everyone just omits the washer bottles... I can only assume i am worried about something i shouldn't be...  While i do have a new stock washer bottle - honestly, it looks like poo compared with everything else.

I also bought a new TIG welder - which has been time consuming to chase down all the infinite number of items needed to use it.  This will slow me down as I learn to use it...  But i have a large number of uses for aluminum and stainless items that, when estimated, came out cheaper to buy one and learn vs. paying a pro. 

Besides, he who has the most toys/tools.... WINS   

[Stevearino]

Man. That electronic stuff you were talking about was like reading Martian for me but I would love to  understand it. A couple of better ideas I had for my project were left out due to my utter ignorance on the subject.  Great to see this project moving along again. I am lovin' it.

[GT]

I hear ya - it spooked me for a while...  The bigger challenge is packaging.  Between this and mounting all of the radiators/coolers/etc. etc. on the front of the car, it has given me profound respect for the packaging engineers that manage to cram everything into modern cars.  And they aren't even trying to make it look pretty.

Look at this... I have to mount this power cell, arduino, & Dakota Digital fan controller under the hood without it looking half baked.  That is a 8.5x11 white piece of paper under them for perspective...  I have three more of those Infinity Box pieces that have to mounted somewhere in the car.

I've been searching for an decent looking enclosure to mount this stuff in under the hood... pains taking searches.  Its either uber expensive and bulky (think BUD cabinet stuff) or plastic crap.  Has to hold up to moisture, heat, etc. 

Which is another reason for the TIG... I'll probably just make an enclosure out of stainless...

[sardillim]

nice job on the wipers !!!   I've been wondering how I am going to pull that off myself

[Stevearino]

I hear ya - it spooked me for a while...  The bigger challenge is packaging.  Between this and mounting all of the radiators/coolers/etc. etc. on the front of the car, it has given me profound respect for the packaging engineers that manage to cram everything into modern cars.  And they aren't even trying to make it look pretty.

Look at this... I have to mount this power cell, arduino, & Dakota Digital fan controller under the hood without it looking half baked.  That is a 8.5x11 white piece of paper under them for perspective...  I have three more of those Infinity Box pieces that have to mounted somewhere in the car.

I've been searching for an decent looking enclosure to mount this stuff in under the hood... pains taking searches.  Its either uber expensive and bulky (think BUD cabinet stuff) or plastic crap.  Has to hold up to moisture, heat, etc. 

Which is another reason for the TIG... I'll probably just make an enclosure out of stainless...

As I was reading this I was thinking the same thing. No need to wait for your TIG skills to come in though . Here is a simple way to make a sheet metal enclosure out of stainless or any other sheet metal that I have seen a bunch of times. You just need to have access to a box pan break to fold the edge flanges. It is good to start with the flange side of the enclosure as it is easy to fit the plain cover to it rather than vice versa. You can screw it to the flanges as shown or through the face depending on how tight the space is you are mounting it in.

[GT]

A few updates.  I've spent all of the last month on the front 5 feet of the car...  A great deal of metal work/repairs.   The left and right sides of the cowl support and front sections of inner fenders were swiss cheese from multiple modifications/hacks over the last 45 years...  I counted over 75 holes that had to be filled... 

Found it easier to simply cut and replace the panels. 

I still need to wrap up the drivers side inner fender - but here are a few pics...

[GT]

Of course it doesn't end there... My radiator support had taken a beating over the years, it was tweaked, and had a number of holes in it.  That portion of the car is so freaking flimsy... took a few measurements and a 1" x 2" piece of square tubing would fit the bill perfectly.   However, it would offset the hood latch 1" forward (more on that below).

I had to cut it into sections to match the contours - worked out pretty good.   I welded a couple of nuts on a piece of metal and added a retainer inside.  Eventually i will tie in the radiator support to the inner fenders. 

Once done, the rigidity was excellent - i could grab and shake it with no movement - unlike the 1" of back and forth with the original.

I used rivnuts in the locations to mount the hood latch.  (Rivnuts are awesome, btw).

[GT]

Now with a solid radiator support, i could mock up and mount the AC condenser, oil cooler and power steering cooler.  Tried multiple ways before a found my happy place.  what a hassle. 

The oil cooler is 14"x14"x2" unit with AN-10 fittings, should support 600HP.  I would have loved to use the viper water/oil heat exchanger, but i just could not make the packing work out - plus, it caused issues with having a heater that works... i can explain more if interested.

The AC Condenser was the largest unit Vintage Air sells... funny, but it was only slightly larger than the stock unit.

[GT]

Now on to the pesky hood latch/tray...  I knew i had to section out an inch due to the new radiator support.  I also needed to modify the lower bracket to clear the coolers.  It worked out well.  I am very pleased with the sectioning of the  hood latch - can't hardly see where it was modified.  (Yes my charger was originally plum crazy purple).

[GT]

After about a month of mods, here is the final product... modified latch, oil cooler, power steering cooler, ac condenser, new radiator support, etc.  Whew!

[keepat]

Nice job! Love the upper radiator support.
Pat

[qwick68]

Very nice work

[Ghoste]

A lot of modifying and engineering as you go, hats off to you.

[unrulyprocuda]

I like the Build its going to be sweet i almost went with a Viper Motor in my Daytona Build i just couldn't stand that tractor sound when idling but it sounds Badass when your hard on the Throttle so i went with a stroked 400 and twin turbo's you will have to check out my Daytona build in aero cars its at Holohans hot rods for the simple fact no time and no skill but like you i had a ten year old dream. Good Job looks Killer

[VegasCharger]

Nice work

Don't you just love it when you pull something off that you're really proud of. To the point where you're just staring at it for awhile and then doing the shake test. It's almost like you don't want to move onto the next task thinking to yourself "how am I going to out do what I just did".

[Bobs69]

Nice job! Love the upper radiator support.
Pat

Ditto

[ChargerSG]

A lot of modifying and engineering as you go, hats off to you.

[Dino]

Very nice!  I'm liking this thread!

[GT]

Time for a monthly update... Finally sorted out the mounting of the radiator and fans.   Never really liked this FSR radiator much due to the lack of mounting options.   Used stainless hardware and made spacers out of some stainless tubing i had.  I didn't take photos, but there are brackets and mounts along the bottom as well.

Worked out well - solidly mounted.  I made sure there was at least 1/4" clearance between the radiator, fan, and radiator support (as well as between each of the coolers).   I'll add a seal between the radiator and support upon final assembly.

[GT]

Using Pat's "tutorial", I bent my stainless A/C hard lines as well.  Both hard lines snake thru the gap between the radiator support, bumper mounts and fender.  There is about 2" of space there...  I just about went nuts trying to figure out how to route the #10 line... the condenser in the car and the location of the compressor are on opposite corners.  In the end, I decided to route the #10 line thru the drivers side...

Here are some pics of the flex line from the compressor to the fender.  That short piece was a huge pain due to the short radius, lack of space, and size of the line.  I had to cough up some coin for the 90 degree tight fittings to make it work.

[GT]

Next up i tackled some of the electrical mil-spec connectors.  There are four, one on each side by the door mounts and the other two on either side of the trans tunnel for the PCM and gage wires.  I am glad I am using the InfinityBox system, even with that, I have ~100 wires to route forward of the cowl. 

The first pic shows the connector (and boot) just about the emergency brake cable (you can also see the A/C bulkhead).  Space was limited due to the cable, emergency brake, and the vent housing.  I will say this was probably the most difficult area to engineer out all of the components needed in the limited space given.

The next two pics is the passenger side - with and without the boot.  Lots of careful measuring again as the wiring will pass in close proximity to the Vintage Air box & lines.

All of the wiring will run under the fenders (or under the intake manifold for the engine stuff).

[GT]

On to some fun... err... frustrating stuff.  Remember that TIG I bought, well i've been practicing with it for a few weeks (and its about 100X more difficult than MIG).  So I decided to try my hand at making a pair of reservoirs (one as a radiator overflow, the other for windshield washer).

No before you start hating on my welds and telling my how bad they suck  remember this is my *first* attempt at actually making something.  All in all, I think it looks OK - i would hate to spend money anything that looked like this, however.   

I bought a six foot section of  3" pipe made from 6061 at 1/8" thickness.  I chose about 11" in length for the tube. The end discs are 1/4" thick, since I will tap into those for the fittings later.  I picked up some decent bungs/caps that are about the size of the radiator cap.  The "plan" is to create a top plate that covers the ugly radiator and welds for a more finished look...  so, my crap welds will be hidden.   

First pic is the raw materials.  Second are the cut parts mocked up.  Third pic I am ready to weld.  The fourth is the final product with a slight polish on it.