finally got the motor! *INSTALL PICS* -its running!-VIDEO * ITS ON THE STREET!*

[SFRT]

the concept is cool, but I think I prefer the pin style ones.

made alittle more progress this evening, rest of the serpentine, started figuring out how to route the fuel line.

[six-tee-nine]

took me about 10 minutes to realize there was actually a red car in one of those pics.. the others it was easy to find.

I did'nt even see the hood pins the first time I read Brock's post.......I got a little carried away by something there.....

[CB]

Frank, could you reveal what budget you have into the rebuild of the engine, suspension, brakes and other goodies?
I think your R/T will be the closest to my idea how I would like to build my Charger.

Only I don't have the key of the local bank safe    and I am not planning to take a second job just to finance it.
CB

[SFRT]

its way more than I originally planned for, thats for sure.

roughly...the brakes ended up costing about : 2500.00
wheels and tires and hubcaps: 1150.00
suspension: 2100 ( this includes the shocks, swaybars, caltracs etc)
transmission: parts to rebuild the 4 speed: 500.00 or so
bellhousing 450.00 (?)
engine work, parts, clutch etc  7000.00
carb and fuel line junk 1000.00
recore radiator: 300.00
battery, box, line kit etc: 500.00 or so
ignition system:approx 600.00
all new looms, hoses, etc etc etc misc shit 2000.00
headers and exhaust: 2000.00
frame rail and sheetmetal for inner fender and rad support 800.00
consumables, paint etc: 500.00

outside labor for everything 3000.00

so right around 23 grand for parts and labor

my 'free' hours so far entire car: about 500...400 of which where gruesome dirty dissasembly and prep work.


I have maybe another 8000 into it for structural and cosmetic stuff so far.



once the motor is in and the car reassembled, its basically complete, except for the final cosmetics:

new rear quarters, some interior stuff and paint the unibody. I figure I have to spend another 15 grand on that, so the final 'cosmetic' stage will have to wait about 6 months while I get the dough together.

my total budget is long blown.

I have been able to do the whole project cash only by  previous saving, doing some extra work and selling some other stuff I had laying around.

I am totally broke right now tho, money and time-wise. Its been a blast doing this car but it's really been a sacrifice.

hopefully, worth it.

I tell you tho...I cant imaging what it would cost if I hadnt done 80% of the labor myself. After this, I think that the cost for doing resto work is much much higher than dudes are willing to admit they paid. like double. I basically am paying like no labor, and its still a huge amount of money.

on the plus side..I bought a rusted out pos scow on purpose...it forced me to entirely dissamble every piece of the car, and fix EVERYTHING. so..basically, mechanically, its a brand new car. I am going to drive the hell out of this thing...shows and trailers are not my thing, and down the road there wont be any surprises. every inch of this thing has been looked at and fixed. Its in no way 'restored' or 'cosmetically perfect' and never will be. I wanted a bad-assed mean looking musclecar...and thats what its turning out to be. A DRIVING machine.

since I either did it myself or hovered over Bill while he worked on it, I know this car will be sound at any speed. Thats important to me.

It's also been like...the ultimate model kit. It's been really really fun to do.

[SFRT]

this is what I had to start with





like, there where chickens living in it. up in the holler, yonder by the creek....

[SFRT]

some other tidbits as far as mods:

the proportioning valve for the brakes is an aftermarket 'camaro' one which is self-adjusting. Theres a 'camaro shop' here in town where I got it. 69.00. nice piece. the SSBC mastercylinder is actually a corvette style one anyways. all that stuff is uncomfortably close to the headers so today gonna make a stainless steel heat shield to isolate them further.

the power steering reservoir is also Chevy, from a '71 Impala. March fixes em and chromes them. fits perfect.

we fabbed special 'stand off' axle brackets for the rear swaybar in order to clear the girdled Dana cover, which is like 1 inch thick.

also, I have been cramming Dum Dum into every nook and cranny I can find, as well as using rubber sheeting and grommets anywhere I can between 2 panels or items, to cut down on vibration.I am have also been using hushmat everywhere I can to further dampen things a bit.

the subframe connectors are in place, am awaiting delivery on torque boxes and the skidplate, I am also probably going to run an engine bay brace across the top of the motor. I ordered the XV one, if it doesnt fit i will use it as a template to make a modified one.
I may also run an extra piece of square tubing across the bottom off the radiator brace,if it fits.

the entire bottom of the car has been cleaned up, painted and rubbercoated with 3M.

[CB]

its way more than I originally planned for, thats for sure.

roughly...the brakes ended up costing about : 2500.00
wheels and tires and hubcaps: 1150.00
suspension: 2100 ( this includes the shocks, swaybars, caltracs etc)
transmission: parts to rebuild the 4 speed: 500.00 or so
bellhousing 450.00 (?)
engine work, parts, clutch etc  7000.00
carb and fuel line junk 1000.00
recore radiator: 300.00
battery, box, line kit etc: 500.00 or so
ignition system:approx 600.00
all new looms, hoses, etc etc etc misc shit 2000.00
headers and exhaust: 2000.00
frame rail and sheetmetal for inner fender and rad support 800.00
consumables, paint etc: 500.00

outside labor for everything 3000.00

so right around 23 grand for parts and labor

my 'free' hours so far entire car: about 500...400 of which where gruesome dirty dissasembly and prep work.


I have maybe another 8000 into it for structural and cosmetic stuff so far.



once the motor is in and the car reassembled, its basically complete, except for the final cosmetics:

new rear quarters, some interior stuff and paint the unibody. I figure I have to spend another 15 grand on that, so the final 'cosmetic' stage will have to wait about 6 months while I get the dough together.

my total budget is long blown.

I have been able to do the whole project cash only by  previous saving, doing some extra work and selling some other stuff I had laying around.

I am totally broke right now tho, money and time-wise. Its been a blast doing this car but it's really been a sacrifice.

hopefully, worth it.

I tell you tho...I cant imaging what it would cost if I hadnt done 80% of the labor myself. After this, I think that the cost for doing resto work is much much higher than dudes are willing to admit they paid. like double. I basically am paying like no labor, and its still a huge amount of money.

on the plus side..I bought a rusted out pos scow on purpose...it forced me to entirely dissamble every piece of the car, and fix EVERYTHING. so..basically, mechanically, its a brand new car. I am going to drive the hell out of this thing...shows and trailers are not my thing, and down the road there wont be any surprises. every inch of this thing has been looked at and fixed. Its in no way 'restored' or 'cosmetically perfect' and never will be. I wanted a bad-assed mean looking musclecar...and thats what its turning out to be. A DRIVING machine.

since I either did it myself or hovered over Bill while he worked on it, I know this car will be sound at any speed. Thats important to me.

It's also been like...the ultimate model kit. It's been really really fun to do.

I didn't know you came that far!!
way to go dude, you're living my dream, well part of it 
Thanks for posting those progress pics and sharing all the info on your ride. 
Christian

[SFRT]

I started on the car in April, and it crawled along so I told all my clients and the wife to leave me alone for 6 weeks, so most of the work was done between august 1 and last week in 1 long filthy stretch of 18 hour days. my hands dont work so well right now.

[moparstuart]

your doing a great job and doing it your self ,just awesome !!!

[CB]

15K to put in the car in about 6 months, what do you do for a living?
are you a pimp? 
CB

[Finn]

What do you mean rubber coated? Is this different than say like undercoating or bed liner?
I was thinking of doing the spray on bed liner for an undercoat myself...

[SFRT]

15K to put in the car in about 6 months, what do you do for a living?
are you a pimp? 
CB

heh. sort of. 'culture pimp'

I am, for the lack of a better term, an 'artist'. I mainly design toys,clothes and furniture, but I also do 'fine art' painting and sculptures...so if I can get motivated to do extra pieces, they usually sell right away= extra dough for the car.

[SFRT]

What do you mean rubber coated? Is this different than say like undercoating or bed liner?
I was thinking of doing the spray on bed liner for an undercoat myself...

its thinner than bedliner, and very flexible, so if i want to redo an area i just scrape it off then respray it in. comes in big honking cans, covers real well, but isnt as 'permanent' or thick as the bedliner. I will probably be messing around with the underneath a lot from time to time, so I wanted something more malleable than bedlinr. plus, bedliner is $$$$$$$$$$.

[CB]

Maybe I have failed to notice it in previous threats but are you keeping it flat black?
I mean when redoing the 1/4's and so are you going for a total paint job or keeping the flat black look?
God, I miss the flat black paint I had on my other Charger. It's sooo mean!
I was going for this set up(thanks to DS440 for Photoshopping):



CB

[SFRT]

yes it will all be SEM 'hotrod black' with a white stripe, black semigloss teel wheels and redlne hubcaps. the trunk lid, fenders, hood and valance are finished.....the same place will match the unibody  and doors later on.

[SFRT]

made a little more progress last night:

transmission, driveshaft and safety loop are in:

[SFRT]

these are the elctric cutouts from maryland speed.

while the materials seem good, the welding was really flimsy, so I had Boyd  'tha masta welder' re weld the units and then weld them to the front part of the x pipe. the cutouts will sit in front of the X behind the collectors. i talked to the exhaust guru down the street and he told me that it wont adversely affect the scavenging effect of the X n that position.






we will be installing the rest of the exhaust today and maybe I might even weld on the torque boxes if theres time

[CB]

again, nice progress, keep them pics coming 
CB

[CB]

Hi, any new interesting update stories?   
When you think you could start the engine so we can hear the exhaust system you built? 
CB

[SFRT]

im at home so I cant post the new pix..will do so tommorrow...last 2 days we did all the 'plumbing' for the fuel , vacuum pump etc. filled it with oil 7 quarts royal purple 10-30 breakin oil, set the distributor in, hand turned it, compression seems great, set up the throttle springs and such, set up the clutch pedal assembly/z bar..had to modify that it took a while, as i welded the bracket in a littl off,but it worked out fine, just wwe had to re-loosen the headers to fit it in...(good news is these headers are 'pretty' sparkplug friendly as far as in and out, kind off a pain, but not a nightmare...) ...the clutch is SNAPPY, set up the gas pedal mocked up the exhaust...the previous idiot owner not only sheared off both the standard rear hanger bolts, but also welded in a bunch of junk hangers, so those where cut out and the sheared bolts drilled out and re-tapped. that was a pain,it about killed me having to tap a big ass set of holes up above my head.... but alls good now...took apart the back of the interior and started in on replacing all the window felts and so on, hushmatted the back of the passenger compartment, made a line for the power steering, built up a set of spark plug wires, sourced a nice ford truck heavy duty starter solenoid relay to replace that crummy chrysler one....tons of little stuff. we should be ready to fire the engine tommorrow afternoon, but I may hold off until we get the pipes installed for real.

also made the digital voltage stepdown conversion for the gauges, managed to make it fit in the original little metal pod, that thing is a pain to get back in,man.

tommorrow I want to finish the engine set up,run the wiring harness.... then I think monday the exhaust and re-mess with the brake system to add the line lock, which I should have done before but spaced out on. theres some really steep hills around here and I feel anti-roll is a must. I ordered the Moroso setup, it seemed to have the best reviews.

[CB]

wow, sounds good Frank. Can't wait to hear how bad puppy sounds. She will scream!! 

[SFRT]

ok time for more crappy pics




the hushmat is creeping forward

[SFRT]

I am using a highly advanced method to control the project



this is the ford solenoid deal I am using as a junction/power takeoff. IF I add a stereo I can power of the top post



we spent a lot of time figuring out gow to route stuff so it would be 'clean' and yet saty away from heat and vibration. I used rubber mounts wherever possible

[SFRT]

the fan is so pretty...too bad it cant be seen...



tinkered up the throttle sprongs...tacky but it should work OK



shop shot

[SFRT]

I wish MSD offered an orange flavor. hate the red. oh well




heres the rats nest for the fuel pump and return.