The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Hello, This is my first time at a Challenger forum. Don't hate me for this, but I have been spending most of my time at a 94-6 Impala SS forum to learn about my daily driver. GM guys really aren't that bad once you get to know them

I am 18 and own a 1970 Dodge Challenger 340 (with R/T badges but nobody has realized that there never was a 70 340 R/T) and a 96 BBB impala ss for a daily driver. The challenger is sort of a joint project between me and my father, although all he did was buy the car initially and fund the project. Im really the only one who drives it and the speed shop I work at part time does all the work on it. All the body and paint work on the car was done before I bought it. It has VERY good paint, which I believe is b5 bright metallic blue but there are 2 patches of slight bubbling where the prep work must have been done poorly. The color is VERY bright, although it shows up as anything but that on camera. I have not verified that it is b5 bright metallic blue yet as I have never had the car side by side with another b5 car, but that's my only guess. There are a TON of things done "wrong" or as I prefer to call it, different on the car that I actually grew to like. I think the only thing I would change at this point are the mirrors. Heres my mods and some pictures...

(before I put the MSD in)

(before I put a C2 Tach/shift light in)



Again, sorry about the color

Mods are: balanced and blueprinted
Speed pro pistons
Eagle rods
factory steel crank
block bored .30 over
3 angle valve job
comp cam, valve springs and lifters
hardened valve seats
edelbrock performer manifold
holly 670cfm street avenger carb(rejetted many times)
Hooker Super Comp headers
MSD 6AL ignition w/ accell coil
K&N filter
Richmond 3.91 gears
Hurst line lok
KYB+Lakewood shocks(70/30)
all new PST suspension components
Freddy Brown Performance 727 tranny with manual valve body
JL front speakers, apline rear, Kenwood motorized amp, alpine deck
I may have left out some small things.

Although my father has owned 2 other challengers, this is the first car that we have built ourselves for street/track. I work together with my boss (who is also the guy who does all the work on the car) to decide on what parts we are going to use ect... everytime something gets done. Although my dad wanted just a mild street car originally, my boss and I eventually talked him into building it for more of a track/street car. Thus far, everything on the car has been done great and it seems to be bulletproof. Even though my boss knows nothing about mopar, he gets advise from his buddy at the machine shop next door who actually worked with Sox and Martin.

Anyway, I have a few questions. Our next step is to hook up a nitrous system. Because of the built motor/tranny, my boss is confident that it can take a 250 shot so long as we can get it to hook. That is actually my problem. I don't know much about what these cars can handle. With drag slicks, and a 250 shot (or even 200), if I hook well am I risking screwing up the frame/fasteners or twisting the axles?

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading

Kris[/img]

Oh yea, we nicknamed the car "blueprinted"

I had a look at your website too. Some great photos on there.

If your car is not B5 blue then it is VERY close to it. I think it is B5 though.

Have you fitted chassis connectors? If not DO SO NOW! Otherwise you will get stress cracks up the rear roof pillars and I have even heard of rear windows popping out!

And that is just on slicks never mind NOS!

In fact what times are you expecting? You might want to consider a roll cage.

I just thought a moment longer. If you are going to use a 250hp shot I think you will need a roll cage to stiffen the chassis for sure.

NOS produces a huge amount of torque. You will need a stiff chassis and a good rear suspension set-up with some sort of traction device to get the power to the ground.

Thanks,

I need to check on the chassis connectors, I dont think the car has them though. I haven't run the car on slicks yet, but i'll be sure to look into those very soon.

I haven't gotten any good times yet, and the only local track closed right after we fine tuned the car and rejetted the carb but im almost 100 percent sure it is in the high 12's. I still need to run the car many more times w/o nitrous to get the tuning down. Im going to start with a 125 shot and work my way up from there. I want to be in the low 11's to maybe high 10's. I know I will need a roll cage for safety issues, but I really didn't want to put one in. I wasn't planning on racing the car on n20 that often, and the closest track is now 4 hours away. I didn't realize that I may need one to stiffen the chassis though. Thanks, Ill definitely look into these things.

Most of my knowledge is of Impalas, and with the body on frame construction of Impalas, 250 shots are fine. Of course there is nothing like a Challenger

I checked out your page, your challenger looks great too. I love the stance and color.

Hey mate welcome aboard.


Challenger looks pretty damn fine bud, sit well too.

I really like your car too!

The R/T badges doesn´t necessarily have to be wrong, if I have understood things right. See: http://challenger.mpoli.fi/phpbb/viewto ... 8070#18070

I am running high 11s with mine without a roll bar or cage because like you I didn't want to 'spoil' the car with one.

However because I never wanted the roll bar I aimed for 11.99 seconds as a target when I built the car. I might get it down to 11.75 one day but if I really wanted to go faster I would use a roll bar for sure.

Not just for safety as you say but for chassis strength.

As you know the Challenger does not have a full chassis so it is not very rigid. In particular it flexes just in front of the forward leaf spring mounts. Right where the rear 'subframe' ends.

440 and 426 R/T cars had extra re-enforcement called "torque boxes" welded on in key areas. I would do that too.
You can get them here;
http://www.autorust.com/safetcap/art24.htm

The chassis connectors are easy to make and weld on. You shape and weld them onto the ends of the rear subframe legs and run them up to the trans crossmember. This gives the car a full chassis.

Because of the torque you want to put down and the VERY high speeds you will get on the NOS I would also weld in (at least) a 4-point roll cage for good measure. Tie this in with the floorpan and through to the chassis connectors.

All this will stiffen the car up a lot and you will feel the difference when you drive hard on the street. It will handle and corner better too.

Looks like a very nice Challenger !! Welcome....

About the roll bar thing, I just came across a thread on moparts which said that the NHRA changed their rule from 11.99 to a 11.49 before needing a roll bar !!

So Dave, go make that challenger a bit faster

About that NOS thing, I don't think I would go with a 250 shot... What's your build up of the bootom end? Stock rod bolts, main bolts etc or is it all studded? With studs I would dare to go as far as a 200shot, without it a 125shot I guess. But that's just a guess, never used or will use NOS so no experience about it. Just a thought...

Looks really nice! Have fun. Hope you have a tranny shield! With NOS, it gets pretty scary when the tranny let's go...

Todd