B Body stiffening

Darius · Jan 17, 2010

The complete braking system from the 07 Charger was moved on to the GTX with the modifications shown. The e-brake came right with it, next time I have it apart I will get some more detailed pics.

Been frustrated lately due to lack of time created by survival mode with my business, Not sure when I will get back to work on it some more:sad:

69HEMICORONETR/TCONV · Jan 17, 2010

Looks Great, Hope all goes well with your Business.

rolling_Thunder · Jan 26, 2010

Nice to see this thread is still alive... I've been doing a lot of work - not on my Charger however... I have finally decided on a brake package though - So I am trying to round up all the parts so it'll go off without a hitch... These things will be large by huge and hooked to a hydroboost unit when all is said and done...

Back in College - hitting the gym everyday - part time work at AutoZone - and part time doing restorations - does not leave much time for my three cars that need work...

Darius · Mar 17, 2010

Yoo Hoo!!!
On the 29th I am taking the entire week off to work on my car again!!!
I cannot wait. It has been a long and painful winter and business is starting to come around again. The good news is I survived the downturn and it caused me to get off my fat *** and go do some REAL work again, as a result I lost 20 lbs and I even feel great!
Now to channel some of the new energy into my car.
I will be at Spring Fling with a bunch of parts if anyone goes, stop by and say hi. I'll have my 09 Ram , white with Blue, Red, &Yellow logos for "D&J Kitchens & Baths" on it
I will post pics as I get some.

Darius · Apr 4, 2010

B Body Stiffening 4-4 update

I bet you all thought I dropped off the Earth, well, it seems that way to me anyway.
I FINALLY got some more time on my build and it looks like I can get back in to some more regular work days on it now that business seems to be picking back up.
I spent the whole last week working on it. Stripped all the dash stuff out of the 07 Charger to see what we could make work.
Looks like we will be able to modify the ENTIRE dash from the Charger along with the center console to fit in the GTX. It will be a challenge and some PVC/plastic work will be involved. Also have to find a really good upholstery shop to do the dash covering but there is a place for anything....right?

Here are some pics. The car sitting on it's own new suspension for the first time with the engine and trans in it. Also a pic of the wheel clearance at the fronyt of the rear well. These are the 17" rims and tires from the 07 Charger for roll around purposes. It is also the min size to clear the disc set up from the Charger. These wheels are about 26.5" diameter. It looks like I will be able to get a max of 28" on the car when done. This will get me about a 5-5.5" tall sidewall, which will look pretty meaty and that is what I want.
Also a pic of the trunk floor opening required to clear the fuel lines. This is a stock size fuel tank with an electric pump. I got the whole set up from XV.
There are also some pics of the underside with the front half of the exhaust system installed. I like how clean the entire bottom of the car is going to be, nothing hanging down!.

Darius · Apr 4, 2010

This is what is left in the Charger. I think we will even get the HVAC unit to fit in the GTX also. This will all be so cool if it can work as the harness from the Charger won't require much manipulation then.
I cannot believe the size of the harness in this car, I'll probably need a crane to lift it out! You wonder where 4400 lbs comes from when you start taking these new cars apart, EVERYTHING is plastic it seems. I lifted the entire HVAC unit with one hand! A significant part of that weight is absolutely in this harness though.

Donny · Apr 4, 2010

Wow, looks like I need a re-read of this thread! So, a recap is you are putting the LX chassis on your B Body? Front and rear suspension assembly's? I thought I was nuts for tackling some impossible builds! Nice work! Glad your business has proven to survive! It has been a rough road, I was wondering if I was going to make it myself last year for about a 5 month stretch with no work! But, 2010 has proven to pick up!

Darius · Apr 4, 2010

I did not move the LX chassis over. I installed an AlterKtion front and a 4 link rear. I moved the disc brakes from the Charger over and used the 5.7 and auto transmission from the Charger.
I am trying to use as much of the Charger as I can in as Stock application as I can. My thought was the less I mess with, the easier the swap will be in terms of the computer issues not having to be tweaked or modified. So far it seems like ABS and MDS will be casualties of the swap, not sire about anything else yet. I have the accellerator module and brake pedal module from the Charger that look like that will work just fine with some mods to the firewall penetrations and actual locations. The steering column is not going to work, or at least I don't want to try to make it work, too complicated of a structure the way it was built to fit easily in the GTX. I will use a Flaming River column instead.
The dash cover (not the frame itself) from the Charger looks like it will work with some width shortening in the glove box area but the column shaft opening and the instrument cluster lines up just right as does the center console....we will see.
I only paid 6700 for the Charger so I think I am more than getting my $$$$ worth out of it plus I have not begun to sell the left over parts yet , body panels, air bags, suspension parts, glass, etc.

Donny · Apr 4, 2010

The rear LX suspension is a tricky beast, I've seen it grafted/installed into a 69 RR, but, I understand it was super hard. It's a balance I would think to do the LX thing vs. the B Body thing. I wonder if it's easier in the end to just have a nice LX car and enjoy the hell out of it, and then a nice B Body with modern upgrades; suspension, tires, brakes, wheels, interior. But, let me get just ONE of my projects done!

TxSwimDad · Apr 15, 2010

Darius said:
The complete braking system from the 07 Charger was moved on to the GTX with the modifications shown. The e-brake came right with it, next time I have it apart I will get some more detailed pics.

Been frustrated lately due to lack of time created by survival mode with my business, Not sure when I will get back to work on it some more:sad:

Nice work Donny! BTW, next time you replace teh rotors and pads, I strongly suggest R1 Concepts as an oem replacement that is much better than stock. 4 drilled/slotted rotors and pads for $430 delivered to Austin. Just contact them via lxforums for the discount.

I'm thinking of the same brake set-up on my a-body.

Hope to meet you in Austin in September!

Billet Badges · Jun 29, 2010

Darius said:
Also a pic of the trunk floor opening required to clear the fuel lines. This is a stock size fuel tank with an electric pump. I got the whole set up from XV.

That doesn't seem right to have to cut up the trunk to clear fuel lines. You would think that they would have a recess in the tank for the fuel lines to run along the top of the tank toward the front to make your connection. I just spent a lot of time and money installing a new floor in my Roadrunner and I sure would not want to cut it up for a poor designed fuel tank.

dangina · Aug 18, 2010

Awesome! We need updates!

Darius · Aug 20, 2010

B Body stiffening-UPDATE! 8-20-10

Hi Kids!!
Bet you all thought I dropped off the face of the earth. The past 1 1/2 years has been tough business wise but we are surviving. I FINALLY got to take some time off so for the past two weeks I have been working on my car.
Here are some updates, I'll try to keep them in order.
First, here are some pics of the hump after I welded in the extension pieces. It had to be raised about 3/4" to clear transmission. Cutting narrow strips of sheet metal and then getting them fit in was a BITCH!! I did NOT just overlap the space.

Darius · Aug 20, 2010

I then noticed that the donor Charger has a convinient "cap" like piece over the hump to accommodate the console and shifter so I thought I would see if I could use it. Unbelieveable how well this worked and how much easier it made things.

Darius · Aug 20, 2010

My main goal for my time was to get the dash resolved. Once again, unbelieveable how well it all "moved over" from the Charger to the GTX.
I spent a lot of time ....I won't say wasted because I learned a lot.....by trying to "fit" the dash cover shell into the GTX because I was thinking "no way the Charger support frame is going to fit". After about 2 1/2 days of cutting, put it in, take it out, put it in.....I decided to just for the hell of it see if the Charger sub frame would fit. You would think the Charger was designed thinking people were going to do this. SOME fitting and grinding but not much. I bet if I had it to do again I could have it all swapped over in 2 days max, probably faster.
Here is the entire dash& console assembled on the bench. We were able to put the entire assembly into the GTX in one piece with very little effort.

Darius · Aug 20, 2010

Here are some pics of the assembly installed in the GTX. I am not going to use the stock steering wheel. It projects too far back and I don't like how it looks, besides, I won't need the air bag anyway. When we make that install I will take pics as we have some interesting ideas how to make a Tuff wheel work. I do have the a/c vent for the back seats installed though. Next post has pics of hvac unit.

Darius · Aug 20, 2010

Once again, I could not believe the HVAC unit fit in. It was a bit of a challenge but it worked, now all I have to do is figure out how to get all the ducting run because it is really tight around the wiper linkage. It looks like I will be able to use some of the flat ducting from the Charger and modify it with some flexible duct and be ok. You can see where it goes through the firewall. Some patching will be required when we take the engine out for body and paint work.

Donny · Aug 20, 2010

Fantastic fabrications! I am wholly 100% impressed in this project, truly an inspiration to me and my dream fabs! Oh yeah, nice shop too! (I need a bigger shop)!

5.7 hemi · Aug 21, 2010

Looking good Darius.

dangina · Sep 2, 2010

more more!

B Body stiffening

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