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1969 Dodge Charger 440 steady 120mph Cruising

Dennis H said:
TKO or Gearvendors. The Coronet gets squirrelly at about 130 due to aerodynamics. Or so I am told. Feels best around 105.
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This didn't get squirrely at 147 !!:realcrazy:

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The bad thing for aero is the front grill being set back so far. Same with a 70 Challenger. My boxy 66 Belvedere II did better at 130 than my Challenger did but lowering the front end helped the Challenger quite a bit. The forward corners of the hood rising up a good 1/2" told me it was packing a LOT of air into that recessed grill and is also the reason so many stuck on aftermarket hood pins.

As for rear gears, a 2.76 would let a 440 powered Charger hit 120 with no problem. A 2.94 did my 383 Challenger just fine but an OD trans would let you play a lot on the low end. Someone mentioned a GV overdrive...and those things are nice and very tough but are also pricey. At one point, I considered in stalling a chin spoiler and even a plexiglass grill filler just to see what effect it would have but my wife wasn't all that crazy about doing high speeds so that plan went nowhere.

I spent 1 1/2 years in Germany and had a good time driving the autobahns with a 66 Opal Record with bucket seats and stick on the floor instead of it being on the column. Couldn't believe I found a factory build 4 door car with buckets AND 4 on the floor. That 4 speed set up on the column was just strange to me lol. The Opal also had a 1900 engine with the progressive linkage 2 bbl carb. That was my first 4 cylinder powered car and it impressed me.

Suspension alignment is also key in not getting flighty at speed or at least not so much. Caster is your friend at high speed plus a little bit more caster doen't hurt either. Just need to find someone that knows how to do the older Mopars. You CANNOT go full circle with the upper control arm cam adjusters!!!! Make sure the front end tech knows that.....
 
I guess you mean a 1966 Opel Rekord.
Opel was owned by GM back than.
Here in germany manual transmissions where pretty standard, you would have to pay more for automatic, so most people have driven manuals, many still do today.

A Superbird or Daytona would be very cool of course, but sadly i cant afford.
 
Michael_ said:
I guess you mean a 1966 Opel Rekord.
Opel was owned by GM back than.
Here in germany manual transmissions where pretty standard, you would have to pay more for automatic, so most people have driven manuals, many still do today.

A Superbird or Daytona would be very cool of course, but sadly i cant afford.
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Yup!! Speeeled that one wrong for sure lol. Hey, it was in the early 70's and thought the 'k' was kinda strange way to spell it :D I'm a stick guy so I liked the fact that it was on the floor. I didn't go looking for it since I didn't know anything much about them except that it was a GM car.....it did run good and it wasn't rusty....
 
One other things, make sure you have good, none worn out seat belts...
 
Good compound tires, tall tires, tuned suspension, numerically low gears and hopefully tight steering.
 
onlyone said:
Hood pins? (Kidding maybe)
Just be sure you don't blow off any trim.:)

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Cool vid!! My 71 340 Cuda was probably the best handling and high speed Mopar that I ever owned! Many do not know that 340 E body cars came with front and rear sway bars AND had the T/A steering set up. With 275-60's mounted on 8" Rallye wheels (home made) and...can't remember exactly what size the fronts were but were mounted on 6" Rallyes, it still handled very well for being a totally stock suspension. At speed, there wasn't much front end lift and it felt solid doing 130.....and am still kicking myself for ever selling it!
 
Michael_ said:
Hi,

I may have the chance to buy a 1969 dodge charger with a 440/727 here in germany. According to the seller the car is in very good condition so i will have a look and see. The 69 Charger is my favourite car so if its good i think i will buy it.

Im living in germany so i have the joy of the german autobahn where you can drive without a speed limit. I want to do this with the charger. :)

I discussed this in another forum too and already got good advices, but now bevor i am maybe shelling out big bucks for a charger i wanted to talk to guys who are b body experts. :)

What do you guys think i would have to do to the STOCK charger with a 440/727 to be able to cruise steady 120 mph for long distances?

Do you think it would be enough to upgrade the oil pan, pump and cooler?
What would you do?

At the moment i do not have the cash to buy the car AND perform a complete reconstruction of the car with a modern drivetrain, brakes, suspension etc.
Also i would like to leave the car as original as possible.

In another forum they said i might have to install a modern transmission with more gears? like the one from the new challenger.
do you think i can avoid this? or is this really necessary?

Of course i would like to spend as little as possible and would like to avoid rebuilding the engine, if possible.

Also what is a good price for a good condition 69 charger with 440/727 and factory ac?
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I, like most, love the design of the second generation Chargers. Way cool design from the 60's era.
The areo of these second generation 68-70 Chargers were designed with Daytona and super speedways in mind. The engineers found that the rear buttress design created lift on the rear deck around triple digit speeds hence the Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird creations. The back window was layed down for a fastback design and the cars ran away from everyone on the super speedways, setting track records that are pretty impressive even by todays standards. The cars proved to be ultra stable above the 150 to 200 mph mark, the tire technology of the era wouldn't hold up to the downforce created by the areo package thus the reason NASCAR put the kabosh on the HEMI and winged cars of the day. If I was cruising a constant buck twenty I think I would want the most areo stable car I could find. It's one thing to touch triple digit speeds and then back off but its totally another to drive at a constant triple digit speed on public highways...just sayin
 
To answer your question, yes you could get 440 and 426 Hemi in Charger RT models. Slant 6 all the way to 383 in standard models.

If the Charger is an RT in Good condition then yes $40000. Is a good buy.

If it's a 318 Charger it may have a big block swapped in, I wouldn't pay more than $35,000 in good condition for that one.

Also be sure to your research here and elsewhere to determine if the car is in good condition. A lot can be hidden on these cars.
 
I think it would be hard to "cruise" at 120 MPH without being into the secondaries on a 4bbl carb. It took 3/4 to WOT on my 3.23 geared 71 440 R/T Charger to go 120.
Cooling Cooling Cooling!!
Oil temperatures climb WAY higher than expected if you haven't done that before, and I don't think it's a good idea without an OIL COOLER. Trans cooler too.
What is the ring and pinion gear ratio?
Have fun!!
 
I have done it in the 72 GTX with 3:54 gears with no problem with stability issues or brakes. You will want a good set of speed rated tires. I have ridden in a few police cruisers in the 70s at 150 for miles with half the items some claim you need. I have also had the 68 Charger RT there for more than a few miles at a time with 4:10 gears. I am just not buying the instability thing.
 
mopar 3 B said:
....... I have also had the 68 Charger RT there for more than a few miles at a time with 4:10 gears. I am just not buying the instability thing.
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Just cruising along at 6,500 rpm.
 
The Mopar 8 3/4" axle was not available with any gear taller than a 2.76. The pinion gear gets larger as the gear ratio gets taller. A 4.10 pinion is tiny compared to a 2.76. The 2.76 almost rubs the housing of the 3rd member where it is fitted.
A 2.76 ratio with a 28 or 29" tire would allow the rpms to be within reason.
Air dam/spoilers will help but not if the car is at stock height or higher. The dam needs to be closer to the ground to be effective. Otherwise, it does little for downforce...but still may direct a little more air through the radiator.
 
Kern Dog said:
The Mopar 8 3/4" axle was not available with any gear taller than a 2.76. The pinion gear gets larger as the gear ratio gets taller. A 4.10 pinion is tiny compared to a 2.76. The 2.76 almost rubs the housing of the 3rd member where it is fitted.
A 2.76 ratio with a 28 or 29" tire would allow the rpms to be within reason.
Air dam/spoilers will help but not if the car is at stock height or higher. The dam needs to be closer to the ground to be effective. Otherwise, it does little for downforce...but still may direct a little more air through the radiator.
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I bought a 67 Belvedere convertible with slant 6 auto. The first time I jacked up the rear end, I went to check the gear ratio. I find out it was a I believe 2.41 ratio suregrip to my surprise. 8 3/4" rear end of course.
 
Never been to Germany but just were will he be able to drive the thing at 120 for any real extended time? There are areas with speed limits to my understanding. So what is he really looking at 15 to 30 minutes at a time maybe? Or is that even pushing it?
I have done 20 minute runs and that is 40 miles. Crazy yes, taking one heck of a chance of being stop, yes. Am I still doing it, No.
 
69b3rt said:
I bought a 67 Belvedere convertible with slant 6 auto. The first time I jacked up the rear end, I went to check the gear ratio. I find out it was a I believe 2.41 ratio suregrip to my surprise. 8 3/4" rear end of course.
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I would be surprised too since it never existed. Maybe someone took a 2.41 tag from a Pontiac?
Several sources online confirm what I mentioned..... This one from "MyMopar"
"Gear ratios available on the 8-3/4" axle through the years include: 2.76, 2.93, 3.23, 3.31, 3.55, 3.73, 3.91, 4.10, 4.56, 4.89, 5.17, 5.57. On OEM gear sets, the ratio is usually stamped on the ring gear edge. Ratio may be determined by the number of teeth on the ring gear divided by the number of teeth on the pinion gear or by counting the ratio of the number of turns of the pinion relative to one turn of the axle shaft."

I've never heard of a 2.41 ratio in any Mopar. GM ? Sure...They had that ratio in their 8.5 axle, a common ratio in Firebirds.
Mopars did come with a 2.21 in some 80s Fifth Avenue cars, Diplomats and Gran Furys too but they also came with the A999 transmission that had a deeper 1st gear than a traditional 904 trans. This was their way around an overdrive transmission. This was in a 7 1/4" axle. The next tallest ratio was in the 8.25" axle. You could get a 2.45 and it was fitted to a unique differential carrier that did not fit to a 2.71, 3.21 or the 3.55 the 8.25 axle was also available with.
Finally, Sure Grip was available in any ratio. I actually have owned TWO 2.76 Sure Grip 3rd members. I converted one to a 3.55 and it now spins in my Charger.
 
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