IT RUNS NOW! AWESOME FEELING Update w/pics 3/19/13

[charge69]

Well, I went over to my buddy's home and shop to take most of the fluids for my engine as I knew we were getting close. Arrived there to see he had already mounted and wired up the MSD Digital-6 box and fabricated a custom coil mount for the MSD Blaster coil where a normal coil would go. He had already finished installing all the new wiring harnesses for the car and, when he installed the MSD Digital-6, he made sure all of it could go back to stock, if I wanted it.

Then, he said, " go get some super and lets just start it up" ! So, I went to the nearest gas station and got 2 5-gallon jugs full of Premium and brought it back. We siphoned the gas out of the jugs into the new and dry fuel tank and saved about 1/3rd gallon to prime the carbs and ... IT LIVES! It started right up and ran like a top for the few minutes we ran it. The front fenders, hood and Grill are not there yet as he said it would be easier to get to problems if we had any but ..... no problems! Doggone it, I did not have my camera with me as I did not expect it to be started today so, no pics for now but, WOW, does it sound nice and I hope to have it on the road in a couple of weeks!

I am really excited to get the old girl back on the road! It's gonna be tearing up the neighborhood soon. Plenty of pics to follow for you to see it. Damn, it's a beautiful car!

[lukedukem]

I know how that feels. Your grin will get bigger when you get to drive it 

Luke

[JB400]

Glad to hear   But, that's still no excuse for not taking your camera

[charge69]

Yeah, I know! I should have had the camera! Oh well !  here are a couple of older pics to set the stage.

[cdr]

that is awesome!!!!! very happy for you   

[Fred]

I share your joy. I know how it was for me when I first heard mine come to life. Man what a feeling.   

[WHITE AND RED 69]

   That is one hell of a motor! Looks great and bet it sounds even better.

[tan top]

      awesome stuff     

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Nice numbers.  Now, who here once said that Hemis suck & don't make any power? 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

R6 looks yummy! 

[projectanimal]

Very COOL!!!       Pretty soon you'll be leaving nice black strips all over the place!!!

[bakerhillpins]

R6 looks yummy! 

   

[Cooter]

Nice numbers.   Now, who here once said that Hemis suck & don't make any power?  

HUH???

Don't know bout that, but I know when it comes to power/per dollar, they suck.....

Congrats Bill! I know all too well bout the first fire up. NOTHING can compare to that. Enjoy it, as there ain't too many times you get to in this life.
I'm waiting on that first test drive.

[bill440rt]

R6 looks yummy! 

   

x3    

Oh, and the Hemi looks great, too! Congrats! 

[charge69]

Thanks guys, the Charger looks a lot better than the picture from a few months ago as the engine compartment is, basically, complete now. I still have to have my wiper motor restored. It doesnt look bad but it is not "restored-new" looking. We mounted the digital-6 box just ahead of theradiator on the passenger-side radiator support but with no airflow interference to the radiator. Love it! A small screwdriver and you can change a lot of parameters. Total timing, timing at startup, timing at ildle, rev limiter, etc. It wasn't necessarily the cheapest way to go but, it is an awesome system.

I'll go over the motor specs again as it has been a while since I posted them. Original crankshaft, just cleaned up the journals, Custom JE forged pistons at a true 11 to 1 compression (actually measured 10.95 to 1), Manley H-Beam rods & Caps, ARP bolts thru-out the engine,  Manley SS valves w/ 3=angle valve job on heads, New OEM rocker arms (damn, about $124.00 each), custom one-off Comp Cams hydraulic roller and complete spring kit,  Custom cut pushrods for the hydraulic roller cam, both original carbs rebuilt and plated by Dan DaVinci and tuned separately on a big-block Chevy dyno mule in his shop (he is actually a Holley and Chevy guy but did this as a special favor to me) Timing was set at 30* total on the dyno and, as you can see, it was still climbing when we shut it down. We set the MSD box at 30* also and noticed no pinging so far! Idles at 850rpms with a great loping idle and instantly revs up to 6000.

Everything is a very clean installation and looks fantastic. My car is being built to drive, not just look at, and it is going pretty well . I will have some pics up next week as I am going to Louisiana in about an hour and my wife's Aunt in Sulfur dosn't have internet so, I will be out of touch for a couple of days.

P,S.   It has complete TTi ceramic-coated headers with a 2 1/2" x-pipe exhaust system including the SS tips all the way back. Not too loud but very menacing!

[68RT4ME]

Man that is nice. I'm sure you're all stoked about getting it out on the road. I'm lovin that color too. 

[Brightyellow69rtse]

when i fired up the 440 the old man across the street came outside to see what i was yelling about.

[charge69]

I am back from Louisiana and can reply now. The color DOES look fantastic. Actually much better in person than pictures show. It was painted with single-stage acrylic enamel like the factory used then hand wet-sanded and buffed to a mirror shine. It looks so shiney, people seeing it think it is a basecoat/clear coat paint job. It's not. We used middle-of-the-road costing paint and, by the time we used 4 gallons, including hardener and reducer, I guess it cost a little over $600.00 a gallon. Yeah, after paint supplies (various weights of sandpaper) various tools to use the sandpaper, paint and he bought a new paint gun (almost $700.00, my paint job with no labor cost involved, was about $3500.00. It BETTER look nice!!! Ha!

We will now finish restoring the grill, and reinstall the fenders and hood on the car and check the paint over for flaws and do some more buffing and "shining" on the car. If things aren't right with the paint (any differences in the shades of the quarters, hood, fenders etc. we will put one more coat of paint on the totally assembled car and get it shining again!

I will still have some things to restore on the car but that can be done after it is running and back home. We tried to use as much original stuff as we could so, some of the original chrome-plating looks pitted but it will eventually be right. Even tried to clean up, replate and use as many of the old fasteners that were original to the car. When we could not reuse some fasteners, new reproduction or original nuts and bolts from my buddy's stash were used to have the correct Chrysler markings are on them.

It is an original Hemicar so it has all the extra bracing on it anyway but my friend installed Extra-heavy guage tube-type ( 3/8th inch pipe that is 2 1/2" diameter) frame connectors on it for more structural rigidity. He welded them in but only welded the ends of them and nothing to the floor so it would be simple to remove them. Installed them before painting the car so they are painted and blend in so naturally, they look stock!

[Back N Black]

Beautiful Charger! congrats 

[charge69]

Thanks to all who replied and I am sure it will be a great moment for me when I get to drive the Charger again. Should be very soon and pics of it will be here.

[charge69]

Here is a very small pictorial history of my car.

In the driveway before restoration.            



After dipping and starting restoration.



Welding and finishing wheel wells (only first4 " of new wheel well were used, rest is original) Gotta love those plasma cutters!



Fitting rear quarter panel.

[greymag]

Congratulations-Can't wait to come up & see it!!!!!!!

[charge69]

Thanks, those wheels and tires (69 magnum) were put on the car to move it as the original 15" wheels had bad tires on it and we were afraid to even move it with the others installed. These weren't a lot better but, at least we could move it around. The original wheels have been restored and Firestone F70-15 wide oval tires from Coker Tire are on them.

My buddy is gonna make a pure racecar out of his '74 Chally and we, most likely, will put the Ansen slot mag reproductions that are on his Chally now on my Charger. At least to see how they look and drive. He has B.F.Goodrich Radial T/A's on them now that are factory blackwall tires and they look pretty good and he will not be using them for his racecar so ....... I am gonna try out the look and buy them from him if they look good to me. I will try to have pics of both the Firestones and the B.F.Goodrich installed.

Here it is with the trunk floor, extensions, and last few outer inches of the wheel wells being installed.



One more with the rear panel being installed.

[charge69]

Here is just one more motor shot from the front.

[r4daytona]

I'm usually over in the aero cars but saw this today and had to say that looks great!  Going to be an awesome car!