Page 1 - Major rebuild project and car history
Page 2 - (old) Intro / Exterior
Page 3 - (old) Trunk / Features
Page 4 - (old) Interior
Page 5 - (old) Engine / ECU
Page 6 - (old) NIGHTMARES

The charger is undergoing a complete rebuild as we speak. Major body work, new engine, new transmission, new rear end, new front end, new kickpanel pods, fiberglassing in the trunk, and new rims.

*latest updates - 30-May-2009*

So it's been a while since I've updated this.  Last half of March and most of April was a mad frenzy of getting work done.  Things done since:

I completely finished up the rear suspension.  The rear end is all in place, the stance is adjusted as I like it, the pinion angle is close (I will come back later to tweak it).

Also, the homemade cal-track type bars are in and complete, brakes are tested and working.

Wheels are in and on (and they look awesome!)

Drivetrain is in.  Had some hiccups there; I dinged up the headers a bit getting them in there, but nowhere visible, and found out my plug wires were in reverse order, so I fixed that, and now the lengths aren't in line enough to run them all neat like I had them before.  Will definitely fix the plug wires soon, but probably won't worry about the headers unless they start to rust.

Finished a 1st pass at the interior.  Everything's there, though I plan on replacing the upper door panels and console later.  They're "pretty good", though.  The dash came out really well, I'm glad I changed my mind from putting the head unit in the console to putting it in the dash.

Wiring is pretty much all finished up.  There's some cleanup I need to do still, but it's pretty minor. 

I got a nice welder, taught myself to weld, and welded in some subframe connectors.  I also sandblasted the entire underside of the car and coated it with raptor liner.  Underside looks great now, and I shouldn't have to worry about rust in the forseeable future. 

Once that was done I put the exhaust together, and finally the trunk got the same treatment; completely blasted and raptor lined.

Still to do:

At this point the car starts and runs, and I've moved it around in the driveway...  Not sure if I feel comfortable driving it yet, but it all seems OK so far.  The trunk is still completely empty, no box, no amps, nothing - so lots to do there still, but I've noticed a minor leak in the trunk seal I need to figure out before I put any electronics in there anyway.  So there's a good bit of tuning to do to get it running right, put the hood back on (left it off after putting the engine in just because that makes it easy to work on), then I can be driving it while I do the audio work.  I should be much further along, honestly, but after missing the April dyno day, I just got kinda burned out and haven't touched it since.  Finally getting back to it now, though.

*updates - 11-Mar-2009*

Not much to add.  My wife has been laid off for the past month, so money expenditures have been at a halt.  She got confirmation of a new position today, so a bunch of stuff is back on its way, and I just put together a project plan.  According to what I've got scheduled now, I should have it on the dyno by April 25th.  Meanwhile, the only thing I've really been able to work on in the past few weeks has been the dash.  Here's a pic of it in primer.  I still need to do another couple sessions of wet sanding before painting, but it's nearly there. 

*14-Feb-2009*

Progress - a million little jobs have built up I need to get taken care of.  I scrapped the idea of a custom console, and decided instead to 'glass a new pod onto the existing dash frame.  I had already planned on taking the whole frame out, having it sandblasted, and repainting it ... this just adds a "small" step to that process :)

 

Stage 1, framing and bracketing:

Stage 2, initial fiberglass layer.  I put an old dead cd player in there, surrounded by plastic sheeting, to make sure the cavity stays large enough for a player, then I used fiberglass cloth instead of fiberglass mat.  Yes, my garage is a COMPLETE WRECK right now, with about 12 different charger-related projects going on simultaneously!  I actually relocated the fiberglass work outside after this part :)

Step 3 - swamp thing :)  - I used bondo-glass to build up to the general shape I wanted.  I could've done that with fiberglass alone, but it would've taken a LOT of layers. You'll notice it's really red - My mixture was a bit weak, so I gooped on a bit of extra hardener after the fact.  Worked out OK.

Step 4: final shaping:  After I ground down the bondo-glass layer with an angle grinder, I put one last layer of fiberglass on just to close up any gaps.

And finally, gave some attention to the surface shape, making the corners bend evenly, that sort of thing.

  Shape is now satisfactory, I just need to layer on some body filler and sand it to a perfectly smooth finish.  Then, sandblast the rest of the metal, smooth where necessary, and paint the whole unit.

 

Remaining projects:

-repair small crack in front grille, repaint (can do immediately)

-clean up instrument panel wiring, and relocate stereo wiring (can do immediately)

-sandblast trunk floor (sandblaster is ordered, will be here next Friday)

-sandblast underside of car (already stripped out exhaust, rear end, springs, etc, waiting on sandblaster)

-finish cal trac construction (building my own - metal for bellcrank will be here thursday)

-coat underside, trunk floor, and maybe inside firewall with undercoat (raptor liner, ordered and will be here thursday)

-install rear end and gas tank (both ready to bolt in, but waiting on underside to be coated and, for the rear end, cal tracs to be finished

-figure out if I need proportioning valve, if not, remove it (old rear had drum brakes, new has disc)

-touch-up paint on steering column

-fix hole in instrument cluster and polish lenses

-install dash, cluster, column

-install console

-test run engine (could do it now, but want all these other 'open' projects finished up so garage will have enough room to work)

-install engine & engine harness

-test all wiring, lights, etc.

-have exhaust with o2 sensor bung built and installed

-check drive shaft length (dana has 1.12" longer 'nose', but I've heard mopar makes their shafts a little shorter than optimal, so I need to measure

-have drive shaft made, or shorten existing shaft and put on 1350 yoke

-install window trim (had to order new clips, and they're back ordered...)

-install stereo

-install kick panels

-build new trunk setup to match box, and install subs,amps, eqs, and wiring in trunk

-buy new wheels & tires.  Looking into american racing torq thrust M's, black with silver lip, 17x10.5's for rear, 17x8 front, with 315 width tires in the rear (the spring reloc gives a ***LOT*** of room!!) and 255 width fronts.

So yeah, still a LOT to do, but it's all a lot of relatively small projects, so it's getting there :)

*28-Jan-2009*

Body work is officially done!!

Meanwhile, the machine shop met with success on the rear seal - the problem was pressurization; they had to mill out some drain channels in the seal retainer and it worked like a charm.  Now the engine/transmission is on the test stand.  I just got the flexplate>torque converter bolts in the mail yesterday, which is the last component I needed to be able to start it.  Still a bit of electrical work on my part, but my goal is to start it this weekend! :)  Then a few weekends to put together a hoist and get the engine in the car, anothe couple of weekendss to move the rear spring shackles and weld all the spring/shock perches on the rear end.  Then I'll need to special order the proper length driveshaft, so I'm still a couple months away from actual driveability as it stands.

Once all that's done, there are a few things I need to do to the interior (finish console, trim work, etc.), get the audio system assembled (all components are here, just need to put it all together and do something neat in the trunk), and get some new rims.

I still plan on doing an alterktion kit and gearvendors overdrive, but tht's probably looking like October timeframe.  Yes, I know, nearly a year away - but if all goes well, I'll be able to actually drive it in the meantime! :)

 

*30-Dec-2008*

Gave up on fixing the rear main seal myself and turned it over to a engine/machine shop.  Should have it back in a couple weeks ready for the test stand. 

Meanwhile, GREAT news from the body shop!  Huge progress - Metal work FINALLY finished, and the rest of the work is going FAST:  The first pic is from just a couple weeks ago, as the metal prep was finishing up.  Prep, paint, and trim is all already wrapping up!  Plus, work on the kickpanels has started and is going really well.

 

 

Also, I've started work on a new custom console for it.  I decided to do that mostly for ergonomic reasons, but technical as well.  Basically, there are two problems with the current stereo location: it's in a bad place (visibility is slightly blocked by the steering wheel at normal driver position, and driver must reach forward quite a bit to use it), and it wouldn't look right with a standard cd player face there.  I had fixed the latter by using a kenwood mask unit, but kenwood droped the mask setup years ago - before USB and Bluetooth were incorporated - both of which I've decided I really need.  So, I've decided to swap out the head unit, add a usb hard drive enclosure, and house it all in a custom center console.  So, here's the head unit and drive enclosure I just ordered:

And here's the console 'skeleton' I just put together.  I've got the head unit location done.  The hard drive will be set nearly flush (just enough out to grab) in the plate just below the cd player so that only the blue LED will be visible.

This is all done by rough measurements, since I don't have the car with me; I need the car to move forward.  Luckily the body shop reports it should be finished in the next week or two.  Once I've got it, I'll put the console in the car and fiberglass in the remaining portions, smooth/round off all edges, and vinyl cover the whole thing.

*older updates - 24-Nov-2008*

Car's been ungodly frustrating lately.  The engine was supposedly hours away from running on the test stand in late August, then issues with rear seal clearance led to massive leaks, repeated teardown/rebuilds, and a trip back to the machine shop.  It looks like those issues are *FINALLY* coming to a close - hopefully the engine will be on the stand running first week of December. 

Meanwhile, the body work is taking forever - It's hard to complain about the body shop being so meticulous; I'm sure the final product is going to be amazing.  Frustrating that it's taking so long, though...

Current estimates on the body work are December as well, though, so hopefully we'll be seeing the body ready just after completion of the engine.

Now the bad news - Turns out the company I work for is being bought, and my job is likely (probably around 95% chance) going to be redundant.  I've got a good resume and all, so I'm not worried about anything in the long run, but in the short term I'm pretty likely to have to move.  This means I really can't invest any *new* money on the car, so for the time being the alterktion kit for the front end is out of the question, as is the overdrive.  Sucks, but family first.   Still, the car should be amazing even without either of those, and I'm still looking at possible completion early in 2009.  Then, a few years from now when everything settles down on the professional front, I can come back to add in the alter-k and overdrive.

 

*30-May-2008*

Not a huge update. Been a couple months with minimal movement, but I finally got a chance to get moving again.

Finally got after the dana 60 with a wire wheel, got all the rust off, and put a layer of paint on it.

Made lots of progress on the engine - oil system, valvetrain, intake, etc

and the fuel system. The edelbrock fuel rails with this intake worked really well.

 

and cleaned up the radiator. Did a bit of cleanup to the shroud, but as you can see, it still needs a bit more.

Here are the plans, progress, pictures, etc - grouped by segment. First,

Body

The car itself is at Motorsports Authority now. They'll be handling the body work as well as some other aspects of the build (discussed later). It's been soda blasted to bare metal, all the bondo pulled out, and any panels with extreme rust have been cut out and patched. There's still a long way to go, but it's getting close. Once that part is done, it'll be painted black (of course) with highligting on the bulge hood as well as an R/T stripe, both in dark red. Additionally, the engine compartment will be entirely cleaned and painted as well.

Finally, MSA will be obtaining a good set of rims once the body work is done. Not sure exactly, but looking at something with chrome/polished aluminum around the outer edge and black center sections. Maybe something like this:

 

Engine / Drivetrain

Meanwhile, I've been working on the engine myself. The final plan is to have a 440 block bored .030" over decked to 0.00" with the pistons, and clearanced for 4.25" stroke crank. Then, put in a forged stroker rotating assembly from 440source with 17cc dished pistons. The bottom end will be reinforced with BCR Aluminum main caps and girdle, along with all ARP bolts and a mopar performance windage tray. The heads will be 440source stealth heads, cnc milled at modern cylinder head. The intake will be an Edelbrock Victor EFI, and the megasquirt controller already in place will simply be reprogrammed to handle the new setup. Additionally, I've got a race-prepped 727 auto tranny set up, as well as a newly rebuilt Dana 60 rear end.

The engine is progressing nicely. As of now the block is together with the rotating assembly, caps, girdle, heads, windage tray, etc. Here are some WIP pics of the progress:

 

 

 

 

 

(UPDATE) - got a pic of the rear end. Not quite finished with the cleanup, the center section needs some attention from a wire brush and some paint.

 

 

Also, got the front section of the motor assembled

 

 

The front end is one of the last bits I'll do, but it will be a Reilly Motorsports AlterKtion kit.

 

 

Trunk/Kickpanels

I've built an entirely new subwoofer setup for the car, based on four black cone Elemental Designs 12's.

Bryan at MSA will be doing some fiberglass work in the trunk to mesh the new box with the existing amps/eqs/etc. He'll also be creating updated kickpanel pods.

 

That's about it for now, will update when more progress is made.