The Dodge Challenger Message Board

After 17 months, I finally got to hear this thing come alive! The 440 engine was built by somebody else over 4 years ago, so I had no idea how or if it would run. Luckily she fired right up (after a couple of sputters) We had a tiny bit of smoke for just a few seconds. After a couple minutes she smoothed out and ran fine! I was using stock manifolds and straight pipe with no mufflers. (I had to do that because I couldn't break the engine in with my ceramic headers) Today I will drive her over to the muffler shop to complete the exhaust then its back to my place to complete the interior which should take just a couple days. I already had the seats redone, headliner and have new carpet to put in. I can't wait to drive her later today!
Paul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InvhoDPA_xk

Well done rockin stuff..........

Man you sure looked happy there.

You have turned that car around in such a short time. It is amazing.

It didn't seem like a short time to me! I guess with all I had to do it was pretty quick though.
Now I have to show you the funny aftermath. Notice the funnel? Check this out! (no harm done)
Paul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLYnayt0 ... re=related

When I watched the first video I was actually thinking to myself "when are they going to put the rad cap on?"

I got to drive her today! I drove to the Muff shop to have the exhaust completed. This thing is LOUD with just the headers. I was lucky I didn't get pulled over on the way. It sure was turning some heads!
When I bought the car, the guy had some pipe pieces and a couple "Force" mufflers. As with almost everything else, they were backwards for this car. I think I'll just go with some Flowmasters and do it right the first time.
Getting close!
Paul

HAHAAH.........You said Muff Shop....hahah.

Awesome Paul! Great work! And sounds great, too!

Well done. Should bring a lot of attention at the shows along with the many hours driving fun. And a tax write-off to boot?

There is actually a place in town here that is called the Muff Shop. And there motto is of course "No Muff Too Tuff"! They have shirts they sell also.
As with everything else, nothing is going smoothly. The Flowmasters sound great and they did a great job with the plumbing. Unfortunately when I went to drive away there was no clearance from the wheels to the wells. I put in new air shock lines and inflated them, but they just went flat in a few minutes, so the shocks were bad. I took it over to the Les Schwab shop across the street since I couldn't drive it the way it was and they installed new shocks today. One shock bolt was welded on, and the other was all "buggerd up" around the hole. We actually had to grind the end of the shock posts to get them in and had to cut one bolt out. The good news is that I got to drive it home! Now the interior fun begins!
Paul

I drove her around town yesterday for the real first drive. We have an event here every year called "Boatnik". Thousands of people come here from all over for the event. There are lots of cool cars in town also. The crowds are all over the place and my Challenger was a real head turner! EVERYBODY had a positive comment. People were turning their heads and I really thought I was going to cause some wrecks because the people in cars near me weren't even watching the road. Their eyes were glued to my car! I felt like a celebrity. I can't wait to see what she will do after the break in period. I've only put on about 60 miles so far, which amounts to about a 1/2 tank of gas!
Paul

Challengers just seem to have that look, style, horsepower, and stance that scream "muscle car" Your Challenger takes it to the max though.