The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Very Nice, Dave Beautiful yet, Menacing!!!

Looks super !!! I can feel your pain Dave as you work in your garage as mine is much smaller, all this crawling and hiting your head, but when you look at the results, then you know it was worth the efforts.

Nice Dave Keep it up

man that looks sweet dave
looks like you have been working in to the wee hours of the morning, you have made some good progress, you have alot of motivation!

I can only do one or two hours a few times a week. Plus one half day at some point over a weekend. Which is why progress is so slow.

Dave, you bit off quite a bit but it's coming along nicely!

I have not been too well this last week so progress is even slower than usual.

But this where I am at right now.

The battery is in the trunk and the battery cable used to route directly to the starter motor through a hole in the bulkhead.

I decided it would be more useful to make a terminal here that I could route extra equipment from rather than use the BATT terminal on the starter relay.

So I installed a large rubber grommet in the bulkhead that had only a small hole through it and installed a stainless steel stud.
On each side of that I placed two cut-down spray can lids as safety insulators.

So my battery now connects to this on the inside of the car and a short cable runs from the other side of this to the starter motor.
The alternator attaches directly to this point also.

This is my main electronic board for the engine bay. It houses the starter relay, main 50A Fuse, two 30A circuit breakers (fan and headlights), and three relays (Fan, low beam, high beam). This bit is now fully wired except for one wire that will go to the neutral safety switch.

Dave with all of these mods and relocations in the engine bay will this free up alot of space in the bay thus making it easier to work with the extra space?

It does in fact make life easier on the drivers side if you don't have things like a battery, brake servo, steeing column coupler, manual steering, no air con, etc.

The passenger side is easier if you don't have a heater or associated valves, hoses etc. The the passenger side on a 440 is always going to be a pain for things like the spark plugs. It is very tight getting your hands or any tools in on that side.

When these cars were new the 440 spark plugs on that side were serviced from UNDER the car.

I really like that centrally electronic junction Dave. It cleans up that area nicely and makes it a snap to service! It's kinda like these modern vehicles today. They have a Relay for almost everything.

dave-r wrote:When these cars were new the 440 spark plugs on that side were serviced from UNDER the car.

Note to self : replace spark plugs tomorrow before engine, trans and K-member go back in...

Yes on the plugs mate, I done those a few weeks back and had to feel ,position, tighten etc my way from the underside!!! I know sounds kinda kinky..but as Dave says its the only way to do it...The plugs I mean.

Ah but!

I do mine from above with the help of my dinky home made plug box spanner.

dave-r wrote:Ah but!

I do mine from above with the help of my dinky home made plug box spanner.

If you had a mullet Id call ya McGyver!!!

dave-r wrote:Ah but!

I do mine from above with the help of my dinky home made plug box spanner.

i changed my plugs friday night, before track day i started at 9 pm and was done at 10:30, only had to get under the car once, those removable panels in the inner fender panels make it easier to do the rear ones, i had a buddie that got pissed with his 440 road runner, and just drilled holes to get to them and put rubber plugs to seal them up!

Hey Dave looking good man, now I know you are abit of a wizz with wires BUT, do you think that positive wire from the battery is big enough? you know the Luton lads, we like to do things about right and from experience we found we needed to use a bigger wire when using a battery in the boot.................

Its big. Bigger than stock.
50mm2 I think? Maybe just a touch smaller as the connector was not a tight fit.

That is a 10mm hole on the end that goes over the stud.
Been using it for years with no problems.

Looks good Dave!! Any idea on when you guess it's finished?
Keep up the good work

Hans.

ps. ignore my mail about passwords and stuff...

Elephant Racing wrote:ps. ignore my mail about passwords and stuff...

What emails?

Good to hear from you anyway Hans.

I still have a little more wiring to do before I can fire up the engine.

Lookin great Dave! You eatin the "Spaghetti" inside your car?

You got some nice work going there, Dave. Where in the trunk did you mount the battery? I may just go ahead and do that myself. Really liked your spray can lid terminal guard idea, too.

The battery goes to the right side of the trunk so it is diagonally opposite the driver. I have not mounted the battery tray back in yet so can't show you a photo.

Some progress but not enough to get me to the Euronats with the Challenger.
If I only had one more week I think I could have made it. But never mind.

I painted the steering column today and fitted the new Grant Steering wheel which I like very much!
It feels much better in the hands than the original wheel. I have to wire up the steering column next and start a tidy up on the wiring I have done under the dash so it all tucks neatly (I hope) out of sight.

Vey nice Dave, top stuff....so clean, you must know every inch of that car!!

hey dave its looks sweet, i do know what it is like to have a weeks worth of work and one day to get it done,i had the same problem, after day 2 i threw in the towel, and decided to just take my time, go to the event with out the car and enjoy a little less stress free time, by the way i noticed you have a newer type steering coupler how did that go? i need one bad ,was the install relativley simple?let me know

Yes that Flaming River thing is much better than the original coupler although not as safe in the event of a head on collision.

Easy to fit if you have good quality sharp drill bits.

Not so easy if your drill bits have seen better days like mine.

It comes about 12 inches long and you need to cut off most of that to get it the right length.

You also have to remove the stock pin through the end of the steering shaft. But they are tough to get out and I gave up on mine and cut it flush with the angle grinder.

Dave, I just went through all 14 pages of posts regarding your 70 Challenger R/T, and I am just amazed of what you have gone through to get the car where it is at today. It is a labor of love, no doubt. I have nothing but admiration and respect for someone like yourself, that puts so much effort and work into an American muscle car, that you obviously love dearly, especially with your health concerns. Keep on keepin' on !

Not so easy if your drill bits have seen better days like mine. yes mine either, but thanks for the info,good to know

Looks gorgeous, Dave. I particularly like the carbon fiber dash trim and I'm a fan of the gage layout on the left side of the steering column. Might have to lift that idea, if you don't mind...