Introduction

[MedPhys]

I've been a member for a while (long enough that I forgot my old username and password and had to sign up again), but pop in only every now and again.  I've owned my 69 charger for 15 years.  Since I was a junior in high school.  You can imagine the attempted modifications and number of visions that have been thrown at the car with limited skills and budget.  After high school I drove the car from NC to PA to CA on a long road trip.  Not far outside of St. Louis while traveling at 70mph the car and axle decided to part ways. Luckily I was able to safely bring the car to the side of the road without much fuss while my wheel and axle passed me.  A few days later I was on my way.  (Only to find out months down the road that I had been ripped off, and lucky it didn't happen again. Years later I found out I had been ripped off again because things still were not right inside the center section).

I made it to CA and it was my daily driver until I realized I could pay for another vehicle with the money I was spending in fuel.  The charger was parked.  Some idiot shattered my quarter window, bent my window trim to get my radio   (Seriously, I should have just left the windows down so they could get what they wanted without damage.)  Since about 2003 it has sat garaged in various places collecting dust and boxes.  I think the time has come to sell my turbo miata track car and start the final charger build.

What to do............

I am a big fan of getting the best bang for the buck and saving a little coin by not chasing that last tenth/hundredth of a second, or squeaking out that final 20HP.  Usually the last little bit is the most expensive to get.

Ideas:

Suspension:

I really enjoyed road racing the miata, so I need the charger to handle well.  I've heard that a lot of people are able to get significant performance without swapping in a new front end.  I was going to get the Hotchkis TVS, but was told that I could get almost the same performance for a lot less money with the proper springs, torsion bars, alignment, etc.  It currently has front disc brakes from a 73 challenger, and monoleafs  with caltracs.  I want something that will allow me to go to a track day and have a little fun.

Transmission:

I plan on rebuilding my 727  (originally planned on a GV overdrive, but more on that later)

Engine:

I would say the engine has less than 20k on it, but I will have it pulled apart.  New aluminum heads, fuel injection, individual cylinder spark/fuel, wideband o2, etc controlled by a megasquirt 3.  I'm very familiar with this because I use it on the miata.  The ability to autotune fuel is nice.  It currently has ported iron heads with gold roller rockers, mild cam, and forged pistons.

Here is what I am thinking.  My original thought was to run a short rear gear with a gear vendors unit so that I could have the low end grunt, but also have some form of a highway gear.  Then I started thinking about what I have done in my miata.  I actually run a much taller gear because I've got 300HP at the wheels.  I ran across a thread here about a 511 build that was making in excess of 600 ft lbs at an absurdly low rpm.  Why not put the gear vendors money towards a stroker kit and run a 2.76 or 3.23 rear gear??  The car would still have plenty of low end grunt to get it moving while using a highway friendly gear.

In a nut shell:

1. Suspension that would be good for occasional autocross or track day
2. 727 trans
3. MS3 engine management system
4. stroker with tall gear, or milder engine build with GV and short gear

I'd love to hear what anyone thinks, tips, what they did and how they like it.  Where you got the best deal on your parts.  My starting cash in hand will be 8k, so feel free to tell me where you would spend this money.  I'm not completely new at this. I have searched many threads and have a pretty good idea of what I would like to do.  However, I don't want to reinvent the wheel.  I also want to know what everyone would do differently after they went through their build.

Thanks,

David

[Cooter]

Yeah, ain't got no love for no thief. Just soon to shoot 'em. Sorry your sh*t got vandalized.

Sounds like you are trying to squeeze thye last amount of MPG out of a huge engine. Not a bad idea, just doens't work real well in reality.
Most get around 15 if they are lucky. Seen a couple flukes get past 19 MPG once or twice, but you said the "Majic word" Budget..

Sounds like the taller gear would work, but have you ever tried it on the street? Even withall that torque, you still have to have some mercy on the torque converter. You will KILL a high stall converter with that set up on the street. You didn't mention what size engine you got.

[MedPhys]

The engine is a 440.

I'm not really concerned about MPG.  I like the engine management for dialing timing and fuel.  It then adjusts the fuel for altitude, temp, etc.  Controls electric fans, allows me to use individual coil packs per cylinder. I'm comfortable with it and thought it would be fun.  On the other hand an electronic distributor and orange box is simple and cheap.  I have a holley annihilator system on there now, but I'm going to pull it off.  The system is ancient and not worth the trouble.

I didn't think about the tall gear and the converter.  My miata has a manual trans.  I don't like cruising at 4000 rpm so it's important for me to get the rpms down.  Is there a good way to get the automatic to work well with a tall gear and lots of torque, or is it best to switch to a manual?

[OldGuy]

I'm not a transmission guy, but I don't think there is much you can do with the internals of a 727 to bring the RPM's down.  About all you can do with the 727 transmission is to add a Gear Vendors overdrive.  The only other options would be adjusting the rear tire size and the rear end gearing if you don't go with a manual trans.

[440]

Not enough gear in an automatic in my opinion to keep the engine in the sweet spot. You'd want a full manual valve body in it but you'd only use 2 and 3

Edit: Overdrive would give you three usable gears which would be more ideal. I wouldn't go tall on the gearing, torque is what gives you a kick in the pants.

[OldGuy]

Agree with 440 on the gearing.  I had 2:76's that gave good highway cruising but nothing off the line.  Now have 3:55's with 275x60xR15 rear tires and a manual valve body in the 727 tranny.  Comes off the line great but higher RPM's on the road.  I'm thinking about keeping the same setup but go with 3:23's in the rear to reduce the cruising RPM's.  Probably the best of all, without going to a manual trans, would be to keep my current setup and add the GV overdrive - just my thoughts.

[twodko]

John Kunkel what's your take on this?