Rusty knuckles
Well-Known Member
I thought I'd make this thread to log my progress and share info from taking my 69 charger autocrossing. If this is not the right place, mods please move it. I've read lots of threads on lots of forums and it seems like there's an interest in making these cars handle but not a lot of data to support recommendations. It's inspired by the b bodies and road courses thread by superbeemike. I've read that thread several times, used some as guidance, but also done my own thing.
My car is pretty plain. A 383 auto with an intake and headers. Stock cam. It still retains it's A/C even. With a full tank and me in it weighs 4080lbs. 2260 on the front 1780 on the rear. Weighed on a truck scale with 20lb resolution but close enough for me. I don't even take out my spare tire, jack, or other easily discarded weight.
I got the bug to go racing and so found a 7/8" rear sway bar and added a 1-1/8" front bar. Leaf springs and torsion bars are 65 year old stock pieces. Bushings, ball joints, etc good enough to drive on but not new. Shocks were the cheapest thing you could buy from napa. So a very cheap and very stock suspension aside from the sway bars. No chassis stiffening.
Tires are 205/70-14 front and 245/60-15 rear cooper cobras. Man talk about tire squish! I have video. Tires play peakaboo in the fender wells on corners. I played a little with tire pressure but found you really have to run them high to keep from driving on the raised white letters.
Brakes are 11" power drums on all 4 corners adjusted properly. I have no problem locking them up in a panic stop. Heat fade is not a concern. I've found my best times are the runs I use very little brake at all. But even if I intentionally push very aggressively my brakes don't warm up much.
So how does it run on the course in this trim? Slow. Not embarrassingly slow but I'm generally in the bottom 3. About 9 seconds off the top fastest guys on what we'll say is an average 50sec lap. Unfortunately I don't have a baseline with no sway bars. That might be interesting if I could unhook them at an upcoming event.
But how does it feel? Honestly not bad. If you try to brake hard in the corner it pushes pretty bad. If you're hard on the throttle it tends to get a little loose but if you can maintain a neutral throttle it feels balanced. But the tires are 100% giving up. So it's kinda like, the front slides, the back slides, or you d a 4 wheel slide. You're guaranteed to slide.
So in the next posts I'll list any updates or changes I've made and how they feel and if possible, time improvement.
My car is pretty plain. A 383 auto with an intake and headers. Stock cam. It still retains it's A/C even. With a full tank and me in it weighs 4080lbs. 2260 on the front 1780 on the rear. Weighed on a truck scale with 20lb resolution but close enough for me. I don't even take out my spare tire, jack, or other easily discarded weight.
I got the bug to go racing and so found a 7/8" rear sway bar and added a 1-1/8" front bar. Leaf springs and torsion bars are 65 year old stock pieces. Bushings, ball joints, etc good enough to drive on but not new. Shocks were the cheapest thing you could buy from napa. So a very cheap and very stock suspension aside from the sway bars. No chassis stiffening.
Tires are 205/70-14 front and 245/60-15 rear cooper cobras. Man talk about tire squish! I have video. Tires play peakaboo in the fender wells on corners. I played a little with tire pressure but found you really have to run them high to keep from driving on the raised white letters.
Brakes are 11" power drums on all 4 corners adjusted properly. I have no problem locking them up in a panic stop. Heat fade is not a concern. I've found my best times are the runs I use very little brake at all. But even if I intentionally push very aggressively my brakes don't warm up much.
So how does it run on the course in this trim? Slow. Not embarrassingly slow but I'm generally in the bottom 3. About 9 seconds off the top fastest guys on what we'll say is an average 50sec lap. Unfortunately I don't have a baseline with no sway bars. That might be interesting if I could unhook them at an upcoming event.
But how does it feel? Honestly not bad. If you try to brake hard in the corner it pushes pretty bad. If you're hard on the throttle it tends to get a little loose but if you can maintain a neutral throttle it feels balanced. But the tires are 100% giving up. So it's kinda like, the front slides, the back slides, or you d a 4 wheel slide. You're guaranteed to slide.
So in the next posts I'll list any updates or changes I've made and how they feel and if possible, time improvement.
we're suckers for 2nd gen Charger photos around here.
