My '72 charger - the odyssey so far - update 5/30

[bk72]

looks good

[defiance]

Thanks!  Got the dash in the car tonight   obviously there's a bit more work to do with the instrument cluster and steering column

[bk72]

that was a good idea to put i cd player there

[mikesbbody]

Ive been following this thread since im interested in all third gen's and i like what you have done your own personal touches etc. But what im wondering is about the stereo I like what you done but you said it was "hard to reach" correct? couldnt you have just used the head unit's remote? since most do have them these days. Not trying to bust your balls just wondering...

[defiance]

Still have to see it sometimes, and the steering wheel was right in the way - and personally I never liked using remotes; I've used several brands (kenwood, sony, etc) and they all seemed klunky to me

Incidentally - 3-4 days now I've been underneath the car scrubbing.  Big time pain since I don't have a lift ...  Finally got the underside completely clean tonight and put on a layer of raptor liner.  That stuff is AWESOME!  Even without it being cured it's already pretty tough, and even under the car like that it was a BREEZE.  Also have the rear end in now, along with most of my homemade cal-tracs-type bars. I'll get some pics of that all later.  Taking a break now...

[defiance]

Well, I realize now there are some spots I need to re-do with the raptor liner; the pics showed them up pretty badly   No problem, though, I've only used 3 cans of it, so I've got another can I'll put on later.  Anyway, pics!  Plus, I got my tires in.  Wheels won't be here 'til next week, but I set the rear ones in place and they look ... well ... aggressive, let's say   Ignore the sand and dust all over everything, natural side effect of having sandblasted.  Also, the bars aren't finished, I still need to weld on the rear mounting plates. 

This weekend's going to be busy - I plan to weld on the plates mentioned above, weld in the subframe connectors, then put in the final can of raptor liner on the sc's, rear suspension, and the spots I missed before - then actually lower in the engine/transmission if I get time!!

[mikesbbody]

Thanks for the reply  and i understand what your saying I like all the thought you are putting into your charger (all the small details) it really will be unique when finished 

[Beer]

Keep the pics and progress coming, I am only about a month or two behind you...

I may duplicate your stereo console! 

[69 charger 500]

loving the car especialy your color combo for vinyls and paint keep up the pics and try to gte a vid of her starting up when finished

[Foreman72]

as always man...slammin...i can't wait till mine is there...what a sick car

[Johnny SixPack]

Sweet work on the custom deck housing. 

Cool idea and it looks good.

I still have a secret thing for 3rd gens and love seeing new ways of tackling stuff with them.

Can't wait to see more. 

[defiance]

Got my wheels/tires in!!!  Black Torq Thrusts, 315/35/17's on 17x10.5's on the rear, 245/45/17's on 17x8's on the front.  I only had enough time to confirm they fit before I had to get back to work, haven't even looked at them much - but the 315's look MEAN from behind   I'll get pics tonight.

[defiance]

The rears

Fitting 315's in the back required some finesse - the springs had to be relocated (dr diff sells an EXCELLENT reloc kit; bolted right up and gave LOTS more room).  With that in place, though, the rest was easy.  The wheels are a standard 94-04 mustang cobra configuration.  Only down side is I got cobra center caps   but I can deal with that later.  Anyway, I was anticipating that I'd need to use 3/8" spacers for the rears, but there was enough spring clearance as is that I just put in 1/4" and left it at that.  On the other hand, I anticipated no problems with the fronts, but there was one - the wheels had too narrow an opening for the front bearing cap.  I suppose one could just grind the opening a bit and get the clearance (it was REALLY close), but I'd just waited 2 hours at firestone to have them balanced, so instead I put on the 3/8" spacers I didn't use on the back 

Anyway, I don't have any pics of the front yet.  It looks kinda stupid because with no engine under there the gap is huge.  But my hope is to drop in the engine this weekend, so those pics will be forthcoming

As with the last few pics, excuse the dust.  The car is now almost able to be rolled, so I can roll it out and give it a bath VERY soon

[FLG]

Is the doc diff one similar to the ones sold on the mancini site?

btw car looks sweet!

[mikesbbody]

Wheels and tires look great! 

[defiance]

If you mean this one:
http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/sprinrelkit.html

Yeah, the doctordiff one is quite a bit different.  It includes offset rear hangers and an offset front hanger.  Both still go to the stock location.  The front hanger has a pan head bolt that fits in a bevel of the hanger body, so the hanger gets moved all the way over to the frame rail, but still bolts up to the stock location.  No welding required on the frame.  The spring perch has to be cut and welded still, though.  Also, the doctordiff kit doesn't actually include the new perches like the mancini kit.  I like the drdiff kit better myself, but the mancini kit allows for a more extreme reloc I think.

[Foreman72]

as always man

thing looks awesome

[defiance]

Well, still no engine in the car... my help was supposed to show up at noon, now I'm hearing more like 5  and I can't do it by myself.  *sigh* - But I've already finished up the subframe connectors, completed the suspension work, etc...  so to pass the time, I did a quick spray-off to get all the dust off the car, and grabbed some shots of the wheels.  Front's still got the "no engine" stance, so keep in mind most of that wheel well will be gone once that's fixed.

[Foreman72]

anyone seen my jaw? last place i saw it was on the floor

i can't wait to see this ride all done man...its crazy sweet

[defiance]

sorry for the lack of updates - too much work and too little progress!  The engine/trans is basically in there - WAY later than I wanted, but at least it's that far.  The engine & trans are in place, headers are on (scratched and dented more than I wanted, though ), and the exhaust is on from the rear to the front of the x-pipe.  I just need to weld up one more piece from the flange to the x-pipe front.  But now I'm at a bit of a standstill...  I didn't realize 'til now that I'm missing the bracket that goes on the bottom of the shifter linkage.  On it's way now, be here wednesday.  I also didn't know that my headers were ball & socket style (I didn't realize there was a difference).  That last exhaust piece will make that bracket harder to reach - plus I don't want to weld it in until I get the full joint dummied up, so both of those are on hold 'til wednesday.  'til then I'll just work on underhood wiring and such.  closing in on finished, but I must admit I'm getting tired of these little $2-20 parts.  I've spent another $400 on random little parts I never expected to need in the past few weeks. 

[defiance]

progress has been slow past few weeks, but I think I'm starting to catch up.  Had a pretty good day.  I've now replaced the oil pressure gauge I toasted (I just got a cheap $15 sunpro and worked it into the stock location; ended up looking pretty much stock), managed to put together all the tranny connections -- that was trouble since I found out my transmission came from a truck originally, so it didn't have the proper mounting spots for the lower shifter linkage bracket... fabbed up one, ended up being easier than I thought.  Found all the parts for the speedometer pinion housing (had some trouble finding the seal, found it at brewers performance, good find.).  Finally got all that done and broke my starter-- twisted the bolt on the solenoid and broke the little insulator pad inside it.  Figured out something really cool, though - if you need a starter out with headers, you don't necessarily have to take the headers off!  On mine (440source mini starter and hedman headers), I took off the two screws that hold the main starter motor to the front piece, disconnected the power cable between the two halves, and was able to pull it off in two pieces.  Once I figured it out, took about 10 minutes to get it off, then 10 to get it back on once I had everything in it fixed.  So hopefully done with the 'spending more time fixing my screwups than actual progress' phase!

Anyway, once that was all finally finished up, I got the driveshaft in (mancini 1350 cut-to-length kit), then the exhaust in - 3" summit kit with a 3" summit x-pipe.  Looks good so far.  I knew it wouldn't completely bolt up given that I was adding the x-pipe kit, but it came impressively close - I only had to get creative with the connection between the front of the x-pipe and the first piece of the exhaust pipe.  I put together the rest of the kit with the supplied clamps, then welded the joint between the x and the first exhaust piece.  I may go back and spot weld 3 spots on each of the others to keep them still, but I don't want a full welded set in case something ever rusts, I can just pull out the bad part and be done.  Then I welded on a couple of o2 sensor fittings (one on each pipe),, and FINALLY dropped the car off jack stands.  I'm TIRED of being UNDER that thing, so it feels really good to have all that stuff done.

Anyway, today I did a crapload of engine wiring stuff.  with efi, buncha fans, relays, etc, that part's pretty time consuming, but I think I'm nearly done.  Still need to connect all the vacuum lines, need to finish up the heater hoses (hoses are actually all done, but I ran out of clamps), put in the radiator, fans & fan wiring, a/c lines, condenser, dryer, charge the a/c, put the steering coupler back together, put in the instrument cluster, bleed the brakes, and it should be ready to run!  So yeah, long list, but a long list of small things; I think this week is doable for having it started!! WOW what a long time coming this has been.....


After that I still have to finish up the driver's side door panel (waiting on a replacement lower panel handle), do some work on the kickpanels, and put the trunk/amps/subs in, but those are of secondary importance.

Oh, and I just remembered - I'm going to have to have my intake elbow cut and shortened about an inch to make room for my air filter - it's too close to the rear firewall, and I can't make it face forward either; hits the a/c compressor that way. 

Oh, here's a few pics - engine bay as it stands right now (yes, it's VERY dirty, but my driveway is REALLY steep, so I can't move it out the driveway until I can actually drive it back in, and I can't wash it in the garage...).  the rear view as it stands right now (raptor lined the gas tank, so it's all coated now), side car view with the engine in so the front isn't up so high (still a bit higher than I'd like, probably due to lost weight in aluminum parts), and a view of the installed auto rust technicians subframe connectors after I raptor lined them.  for some weird reason they were about an inch too long; Called a.r.t. and gave them the length and my measurements matched what they have on record for a '72, but my car was shorter for some reason.  ended up being a really easy fix, though, I just cut back the front notch an inch.  No biggie.  Guess my car is a mutant

Anyway, it's been a long weekend.  I'm effin' tired

[defiance]

Oh, one more pic I wanted to add- final rear suspension.  Dana 60, addco sway bar,  homemade cal-tracs.  Should handle pretty well on a straight line or a curve

[Duey]

  Nice work, def!  Still can't get over the incredible paint work!

[defiance]

Me neither!!!  It' HURTS me to see it so dirty right now, I can't wait 'till I can pull it out and give it a well deserved bath and wax

[Foreman72]

man i can't to see vids of this car roaring...what a top notch job u've done on that car...tell me about the raptor line stuff