The Dodge Challenger Message Board

I have wanted to post my car here for a while, but procrastination got the better of me. I readily admit raiding this forum for info to accomplish the project from time to time. It took me about 2 years of weekends and holidays working with my brother on this project. We've done several other Mopars and worked on this car before but not to this extent.

I bought this car in 1989 for $2,000. It was a 73 Rally with a 318 auto. I drove it for years as my daily driver and replaced the 318 with a 340 and converted it to a 4-speed after a couple years (when the 904 started slipping). Then, after a few more years I parked it and put it in storage for later rebuilding.

After my dad (who taught me everything I know about cars) died I realized that I better get a move on and enjoy my toys while I could - we are mortal for sure.

Engine is a 408 stroker now with 385 HP and 465 ft-lb torque. I added a new interior, fenders, quarters, wheels, wiring, exhaust, TTI headers, and of course new lights, grill, tail panel, etc (all required for 73 - 70 conversion) and many, many more new parts. Overall I invested over $20K in parts before I was finished. In this series of posts I want to show my project. Will post 3 or 4 at a time - not sure if I can put 10 or 15 images in one post.

More pics

and more still.... (By the way videos of the finished product are on my YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/vanshpt?feature=mhum )

Thanks for this forum - there were so many little details I ran down here, I can't even count them!

Well done, you made a nice car a brilliant car, who can't love a Vanishing Point tribute
Great motor and trans combo, 4 speeds rule

For all the UK guys I lived and worked in Milton Keynes, Weybridge, and Guildford for a few years. Did not drive my Mopars there of course as they stayed back home but I did see a few old Mopars in London from time to time. I used to think how cool my Challenger would look in the UK given the cars on the road there. I used to think what it would be like to rumble my Challenger thru some of those sleepy country villages.

Given the cost of petrol in the UK you have to really WANT to drive a big American car there. Mine gets 7 MPG, that would really cost in the UK.

Sweet. Take it out to Goldfield, Nevada. You'll be glad you did. 7mpg,,damn my 440 6Pak gets around 12!

Very nice!

Nice car mate. Checked out you vidoe clips....looks like it goes hard!
Well done on finishing it and keep the photos of the build coming....it will help to motivate me with mine!
Cheers

great job youve done ther looks awesome
cheers ian

It looks savage mate..top job.........

Adding some more photos of the work. I removed the paint, did major work on body, prepped and painted under hood, trunk, and in door jambs before painting the rest of the car.

Of course at this point I had to install all the wiring, lights, interior, etc. Not trivial but more time consuming that difficult in terms of skill, etc



Springs and Things in the US provides good made in US quality steel springs, not Asian steel like others.

Used 72 and up quarters before I decided to make a 70 clone so I had to change the side markers in the rear

I did the same with mine to save a few bucks. I got 2 new 72/74 quarters for about $400 less than the 70 ones that I needed so out with the grinder...

You would have noticed that the lights are positioned slightly different between the two. 70 sits a bit lower from memory.

I have to admit that I did not catch that the side markers sat lower for 70/71 than 72/74. I put mine about in the same spot I think. I need to closely look at a "real" 70 next time I see one. 99.999% of people you meet don't know anything about Mopars at all, so no one has said anything. True I have not had my car at the Mopar Nationals or similar concentration of Mopar experts. As a clone it's not made to be put in that environment anyway. It would take a pretty good Mopar expert to notice the differences in mine vs a "real" 70 but they are there.

The pics of yours don't look out of place, I might have mine wrong I am far from a Mopar expert. In any case it was ony about 12mm difference from my old 70 quarter to the new 72 one. I doupt anyone would notice unless they had a ruler in thier pocket.

That's bloody nice mate! I remember watching those Youtube vids a few months back. Nice work!

Thanks to all for your comments. This forum was such a help to me. Among all the choices for information on the web I find this forum to be the most factual and reliable. There are a great bunch of people here and great information.

Regarding the differences in the years there are numerous things that I found to be slight differences. Some are easy to spot if you know them, like in 70 there was a different passenger side mirror than all other years. In 70 the driver and passenger door mirrors were very different. I've been working around and on Mopars for a long time and just stumbled on that one as I was doing my car. Of course the dash and instrument panel is different, firewall is different....lots and lots of little things.

I certiantly did not take your comment about the side marker as a negative comment. I appreciated it in fact. There are in fact a lot of little things that changed and I know I did not catch them all, tried to catch some and said "close enough" on others. I enjoy learning more about the cars.

I have seen at shows like the Mopar Nationals some guy walk up to what appears to be a "real" version of something rare and he starts pointing out little flaws. Sometimes the person is right and someone is trying to pass off a clone as the real thing, but sometimes the guy is full of crap and thinks himself to be more than he is. The worst case is when someone has clearly said this is a clone or tribute and you see someone challenging them about this or that at a show. That's partly why I don't take mine to those high end shows. Mine is not real and is for me to drive and enjoy and for people who get a kick out of seeing this throwback that reminds them of that movie they saw a long time ago.

I still like to learn about the differences in discussions with fellow Challenger collectors. It is amazing how much the cars changed from 70 to 71 and 71 on up. Mopar went into a huge cost cutting effort it seems. Lots of things were changed and the cars got less special. The death of the Detroit muscle car was not pretty.

I certiantly did not take your comment about the side marker as a negative comment. I appreciated it in fact. There are in fact a lot of little things that changed and I know I did not catch them all, tried to catch some and said "close enough" on others. I enjoy learning more about the cars.

Thats good. I thought you must have noticed as they looked right and I only mentioned it as a bit of a talking point...I certiantly didn't look at you photos and think they were wrong quite the opposite in fact. I am not the kind of person that goes looking for incorrect components, numbers etc I just like muscle cars for what they are and yours is cool. If mine turns out close to as clean as yours I will be happy (I am aiming to have it driving by xmus 2012 but comes down to $$$ and time).
How cool that your Grandfather is 100 and he is still interested in your project
Cheers

My grandad would be in the middle of working on it if he could. He is running down a bit now but nothing goes forever. But, heck when I was initially removing paint he put on the stripper and peeled off the old paint for about half the car. He's show up at the garage and ask if I was working on it....he would drive up - yes he drives, got his license renewed for 5 years last year. He is amazing. I hope I have some of his good genes in me!!

On my car again, right now I have the interior apart, rebuilding my heater box and putting down sound deadening material in floor, doors, etc. I got a offbrand dynamat for about 1/4 the price called Raammat (http://www.raamaudio.com/). I got a heater box rebuild kit off ebay from Detroit Muscle Technology (DMT) and found a couple good desritpions of people doing that rebuild. Like this guy's set of pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevencook ... 126216112/

I am also removing my console as I want to go a bit with the bare shifter look. I got a 4 speed, may as well show it off ....and the console vibrates and rattles anyway, buggs me.

123rmp wrote:I am also removing my console as I want to go a bit with the bare shifter look. I got a 4 speed, may as well show it off ....and the console vibrates and rattles anyway, buggs me.

I'd do the exact same thing if I had a manual. I love the Pistol Grip sans console look.

And same here (visible between 0:20 and 0:30), I like the 'rough' look.

Going way back, this is my Challenger in 1989 when I bought it. It left Hamtramck painted a dark metalic silver with vinyl top but was white when I got it and had non Mopar top. I think it had been in a bit of an accident. Found old repairs when I took it down to bare metal.





In mid 1996 I painted it Sassy Grass and made it a 4 speed.