by David Robson (Admin) » 03 Dec 2002 21:10 
The words are all his though.
Dave
1971 Dodge Challenger 383 magnum auto,no’s matching car still wearing most of it’s go green colour, other colour is just some tidying up l had to do and that was the only green l had to hand?? And re no plate car came from Alabama,full history known, car came here in 89 and l am the 3 owner from new,1 in the states 2 over here.
Second pic shows none std wheels l have fitted, first owner had fitted disc brake conversion off a body duster. Both go wing and front spoiler are factory items, some time back l offered to take a mould and have some made up as l believe only 11 of these spoilers were ever made. But response was like the t/shirts a fat zero. Passenger mirror is a highly modified drivers mirror with remote fitted under dash by steering column, you can tell its been done as the foot of mirror is facing wrong way,3 weeks of careful work co’s l could not find a passenger mirror.Re go wing did not like original brackets fitted inside boot area bit like a bit of u section as a hasty after thought so made up my own brackets out of 3/8 th plate and shaped them to follow inner contour of boot skin and shaped spacers where needed. My boot lid had the markings or indentations for either go wing or duck tail spoiler.
third pic shows l painted front and rear bumpers ,side vents and bonnet vents and mirrors satin black. Steering column collapsible part l shortened down to 4" which puts wheel closer to dash and l feel a better driving position, and yes you have to be a pretty good welder to get it right and strong as original and it has been well tested, and very little rust in whole car, apart from lower front wings which l welded in a patch panel and panel under rear vents l had to rebuild box section under neath and remake outer panel and wheel arch section both sides ,caused by us side glass window seals letting water in.
Fourth pic, 383 +30 th Paw rebuild kit by previous owner with forged pistons,engine done 5000 miles, l have added a mopar mini starter..aluminum water pump,Edlbrok rpm manifold,750 carb and matching cam,petronix electronc ignition set up and matching coil,crane 135 degree angle plug leads which clear headers ,fuel pressure gauge and regulator and home made fan shroud. I run a fuel filter after the tank and another after the regulator so no sxxt gets in to that very expensive carb. Under the carb l run a 2" TD swirl spacer which do’s work, all this work is to promote low to midrange and let the top end take care of it’s self.
fifth picture shows the modded dual air cleaner as now ends cut and bent up rewelded and now work through now functional bonnet vents like a ram effect ant it is noticeable mid range to top end,and yes l had to remove bonnet brace to get clearance for every thing to line up. Not wanting too high a stall speed and wanting to keep 323 gears in my sure grip fitted a small block convertor in which is just right to keep the cam on song,Car came with handling package front and rear and l have just rebuild front and rear suspension using the hi energy bushing kit, and now l can go around corners if l want to instead of wondering am l going to get round ??.picked up a few years back a new brake servo and now was the time to fit. You can just see by rad surround dukes of hazzard air horns which l use as a burglar alarm??.Twin relays by battery are for low and main beam so now full power to units which l am upgrading to QH.
Sixth, Didn;t like the quality of chrome tail pipes so had Henry draw up a set so l could fit 2 ½ pipes in to them and had a local man make up 3 sets in stainless {still waiting to be polished in pic} worked out about £110 a set, again because seam was not in the same place as originals could not get MMA members interested.
Seventh pic shows modified stepped headman headers which l had aluminum coated,a set l made for a previous car l did on a 455 were still going strong after 11 years of constant use}, and fitted using copper header and collector gaskets.
Eighth pic shows my own design 2 ½ inch cross over system and as proven in a recent car craft mag worth 35 BHP and 25 pounds torque over standard h pipe set up and you can feel it when you start it up and running it and into two chamber flow masters, and after being in touch with flow master they said it must sound like a jag on steroids , l reckon because it is so free flowing l need not use silencers as its got this lovely low mellow exhaust note.
Final pic, l hate sitting on plastic seats in hot weather even here in England, sooooo spotting an option with clothe hounds tooth centre here is the result.
Down to the car upholstery shop, a roll of top quality correct pattern vinyl and roll of hounds tooth, total cost £35 and a top upholsterer friend of mine did the job including more padding on the sides and on the front of seat to hold you in better and more support for back of legs for £250 .
Finally with reference to skid plate on cross member my car has this and its only a baby big block so what gives???
Cheers! Jay.
