'69 charger r/t-se: Building my dream car

[Propwash]

Dang! You've been busy! Congrat's on your own speed shop. Should be a pretty cool adventure. Chev's looking good! Keep on keeping on amigo!

 

[HYRDGOON]

The Laughing Larry Logo definitely gets FER RACIN' approval! I'll definitely need a sticker for the Toolbox when they're done!

As far as the GPS speedo goes it's really your best consideration since you're planning a T56 as well. Those custom guages and your trunk close-out are all gonna look sweet!

Welcome back fella! It's not the same around here without you!

 

[usaroadrunner]

thank the lord.....SPEEDYS BACK, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
the trunk plan looks awesome

 

[kiwigtx]

[video=youtube;Y4Kbyte51MY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Kbyte51MY[/video]

...ooops sorry...wrong thread. Ah well.
Congrats on the New Speed (y) Shop mate. I hope it goes well and you make a squillion dollars. :headbang:

 

[PFG MOPAR]

Damn Chebbie Chit !!

You still postin that chevy chit in this here MOPAR GRoUP !!
Don't make me come down there !:black_eye:

Okay, you can come paint my motor and I'll forgive ya :icon_surprised:

Lookie ..

My buddy took a can of "Omaha Orange" to the block, it looks terrible.
Maybe I should let you "powder coat" it :headbang:
You'll need a bigger oven..
Waddayathink?

Mike..

 

[HYRDGOON]

You need this!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRANKENSTEI...-SS-/201324888212?hash=item2edfe60094&vxp=mtr

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody, missed all you guys! So here's a post you might like: I'm still plugging along wrapping up the Chebbie (looks like we finally have some righteous outdoor bodywork weather lined up this week), but after a long few months I was finally able to get a few minutes of work done on the Charger! Lol



Nothing amazing but got some flash corosion stripped, cobwebs blown off, and a few minutes of bodywork done on the quarter-to-roof seams. It's also sounding like Meep-Meep is coming up to take delivery of his Roadrunner this weekend, but first I'll be helping him and Muscle Car Alley Mike get the engine and drivetrain in, maybe if I'm lucky Mike might pay me in a piece of AMD sheet metal or two haha. In any case, it felt good to take a small step forward



Kindof had to take a moment to regroup and get a new gameplan together for Frankenstein as well, now that the Chebbie is back and I can take as much time as I need on the Charger without rushing to any "I need a means of my own transportation" thing or "I gotta drive it this season" imaginary deadline.

That being said, I do want to get it back running ASAP just in the interest of not letting a tank of gas go bad, not letting the engine sit for too long without a fireoff, and obviously the motivation of hearing that wedge fired off and pegged to 6 grand haha. So last week I scored myself a deal on a fleabay Mopar Performance electronic distributor, leaving just picking up a mopar orange box Mike Devee was going to give me, and throwing that powdercoated Holley double pumper back together and on the engine. Should be getting all that going after this weekend when I get over to Mike's.

So if you guy's thought that was good news....



...cause Speedy's officially started piecing together Frankenstein's full sequential electronic fuel injection setup! Starting with a trip to the junkyard with my girlfriend and my good friend Casey (aka the friend I got to buy an '87 Grand National with his sold subaru funds lol) and here's what we managed to scavenge up: (mini remote rervoir power steering pump was a craigslist find that'll also hopefully end up on the Charger if it fits under the Procharger)



Couldn't believe how nice all this stuff cleaned up with a quick degreasing


A '97 Grand Prix sacrificed the following:
-Throttle Position Sensor (chebbie LS style)
-Idle Air Control
-Intake Air Temp
-Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor that I probably won't even be using since the boost will be beyond its pressure range
-All the connectors and pigtails for these bad boys!

Also grabbed a spare IAC and IAT off some other chebbie passenger car, but the IAC looks a little different (the one with the visible spring on the plunger) and not nearly as nice as the Grand Prix one.

And don't burn me at the stake here, but a '97 Ford Explorer (Eddie Bauer edition!!) sacrificed the following:
-full Injector harness with 8 fuel injector connectors and some long damn pigtails!
I did accidentally break one of the connectors though, so I grabbed a few more spares off another explorer, seen at the bottom right of the pic.

Chopping up that harness lol:


And the bill for this junkyard adventure, you ask? A whopping total of free fitty!! That's right, I showed up at the front counter with a box of connectors and hacked up wiring, told the guy I was putting it all on '69 Charger, and he must have thought I was an escaped mental patient and felt bad for me or something, cause he let me out of there with all this stuff for free!

I did a pretty boring long-winded post over on the Procharged 440 thread, but I guess the decision on going this route boils down to really looking into the cost of building a quality blow thru carb, and the added cost of sending it to C&S or csu if I end up not being able to get it to run right. The numbers stacked up quick, and I figured if I was spending that kind of money, I might as well be that far into my end-goal of the blown efi setup. It'll still take me a while to save up and get the whole thing put together, but luckily there's PLENTY of junkyard/cheap parts I can start gathering together, and my newfound "nothing but time" attitude for the Charger certainly makes things easier.

Here's a teaser of DC.com Redmist's setup, which I'll be following almost exactly since his end goal setup is exactly the same as mine (he's now in the process of adding the procharger)



And his efi buildthread: (I've been hitting the internet research hard over the past few weeks, and I'm up to understanding a solid 95% of what they're talking about over there lol :banana

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,99432.0.html

So that's about all for now, just plugging along on the Chevelle, collecting parts and researching efi/tuning for the Charger, hopefully some bodywork on both cars this week, and looking forward to a day or two wrenching on Meep's bird with him and Mike! Good times!
ccasion14:

Very cool post. I can sleep easier now Speedy, knowing you're OK.

Thanks man! And yep, all good here other than still being buried under my to-do list lol

LMAO, I like the sticker. Glad your back Speedy

- - - Updated - - -

Trunk plans look pretty sweet!

Haha I'll have to see if I have an extra one to send ya! And thanks man that reminds me I need to finish those templates lol

Dang! You've been busy! Congrat's on your own speed shop. Should be a pretty cool adventure. Chev's looking good! Keep on keeping on amigo!

Thanks Prop! I'm hoping to have my first customer out the door satisfied next week, and hopefully more to come. The real dream would be building and selling my own cars and making money that way, but I've unfortunately become slightly attached to my first two projects, maybe I should buy a ford next time hahaha
(Hold your fire everyone, only kidding!)

The Laughing Larry Logo definitely gets FER RACIN' approval! I'll definitely need a sticker for the Toolbox when they're done!

As far as the GPS speedo goes it's really your best consideration since you're planning a T56 as well. Those custom guages and your trunk close-out are all gonna look sweet!

Welcome back fella! It's not the same around here without you!

Thanks Mike! I'll get one out to any of you soon as they're done! And I was thinking the same thing about the gps speedo, even though it'll probably be a while til I have the T56 funds now, it should definitely save me a headache later. And it's good to be back brother, missed all you guys and the bad@ss builds going on!

thank the lord.....SPEEDYS BACK, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
the trunk plan looks awesome

Not sure if we should thank the lord or wonder what yhe hell he was thinking, but either way I'm always here to stay! Lol thanks USA!

[video=youtube;Y4Kbyte51MY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Kbyte51MY[/video]

...ooops sorry...wrong thread. Ah well.
Congrats on the New Speed (y) Shop mate. I hope it goes well and you make a squillion dollars. :headbang:

LOL it's all good mate, I know my thread is easily confused with the blue room :banana:
Ahh a squillion, now that would have frankenstein in good shape haha

You still postin that chevy chit in this here MOPAR GRoUP !!
Don't make me come down there !:black_eye:

Okay, you can come paint my motor and I'll forgive ya :icon_surprised:

Lookie ..

My buddy took a can of "Omaha Orange" to the block, it looks terrible.
Maybe I should let you "powder coat" it :headbang:
You'll need a bigger oven..
Waddayathink?

Mike..

Shut up mike hahaha but yeah I think an engine block would be a little beyond my current toaster oven and blast cabinet capabilities haha would be pretty awesome though!! I'd just get some hemi orange mixed up by Jad up at Smooth Finishes, well actually that's exactly what I did lol his is color matched to original street hemi orange that Mike Devee took to him, good stuff!

You need this!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRANKENSTEI...-SS-/201324888212?hash=item2edfe60094&vxp=mtr

Yes! hahaha I'm pretty dead set on that t56 with a pistol grip, but I think I might get that just because lol

 

[Gpuller]

Nice to see the EFI conversion taking flight! Are you going to use the Mega Squirt stuff?
Now that SD Concepts is cranking out CPS bushings and they are working on crank sensor brackets and reluctor wheels this stuff is going to get easier.
I would like to go the LS (gasp) route and use a LS computer. They are under $50 bucks, the only thing I need to brush up on is the tuning. There is a big curve, the nuts and bolts stuff is easy.

Link to the LS conversion on Moparts.
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1376746&page=1

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Nice to see the EFI conversion taking flight! Are you going to use the Mega Squirt stuff?
Now that SD Concepts is cranking out CPS bushings and they are working on crank sensor brackets and reluctor wheels this stuff is going to get easier.
I would like to go the LS (gasp) route and use a LS computer. They are under $50 bucks, the only thing I need to brush up on is the tuning. There is a big curve, the nuts and bolts stuff is easy.

Link to the LS conversion on Moparts.
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1376746&page=1

Thanks Gpuller! Yep that's the plan, Megasquirt Ms3x. The more I research it the more I like its capabilities, the community support is awesome, and without even having the ecu yet I'm still getting more and more comfortable with the tunerstudio software just from reading up and watching tutorial videos on youtube. Now that I get the main concepts, the little things are a lot easier to catch on to. Plus with Redmist so far ahead of me, I'd be willing to bet he'll have his procharged setup Msq (base tune) ready long before I get everything together, so that would be a great starting point for me if that ends up happening

And I saw that stuff about SD! Very cool!! I have access to Haas mill and lathe at work so I'll still probably go the diy route, but that's awesome that it's becoming so accessible

I've heard about people using LS ecus but haven't gotten to checking it out yet, I'll have to give that a read! It was kinda funny when I really started looking at the Edelbrock Pro-flo intake, it's basically an LS intake for a big block mopar. The plenum's machined for gm map sensor off the bat, Edelbrock's throttle body is basically an LS throttle body with slightly different bolt spacing (but Redmist was able to oval out the holes on his ebay tb so it would bolt up), which works for me since all the hardware will be readily available at any local parts store should a sensor go out on a roadtrip or something.

Really cool to see a few more people on fbbo getting into efi, glad I'm not alone here haha

 

[Gpuller]

My plan would be to drill my Torker II intake and weld in injector bungs, and use a throttle body. Just would like a different way to mount the coils, get away from the GM look.

 

[747mopar]

Haha, salvage yard shopping! Nothing I love more than making everyday cheap parts get the job done, way to go Speedy! Looking forward to the updates because, love seeing someone your age show so much drive and ingenuity.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Alright guys, kicking this thing into high gear! Throttle body, crank position sensor/trigger wheel, and cam synchronizer are all somewhere in transit being shipped to the speedfreak laboratory.

The throttle body is a cheaper ebay model recommended by redmist, chebbie ls style 92 mm.

Crank position setup is a.. dare I say it.. ford style EDIS sensor and 36-1 trigger wheel. Basically the trigger wheel will be modified and welded to my factory crank pulley, and a bracket coming off my timing cover to mount the sensor to.

And the cam synchronizer (cam position sensor) is one of my favorite improvisations of the whole setup. It's 2004 Jeep 4.0l standard equipment, and the end of the shaft is exactly the same as an old Chrysler distributor! Just have to machine a bushing to account for the base's different diameter, and we'll be good to go! A lot easier than jerry-rigging something into a gutted distributor, and a lot cleaner looking, too.
(Via redmist):


Also found out how I faired with tax season, and let's just say we'll be seeing efi on Frankenstein a lot sooner than I thought haha
ccasion14:

My plan would be to drill my Torker II intake and weld in injector bungs, and use a throttle body. Just would like a different way to mount the coils, get away from the GM look.

Oh yeah that will be awesome, originally I was planning on an efi Victor with a 4150 footprint throttle body like that, but hood clearance is a major concern with my car (especially since I'd need a carb hat rather than a drop base air cleaner) so I figure I might as well go with a setup that's already been done and fits under the stock hood. I do like the look of your style setup though, and it'll be just as effective and a little less expensive than mine.

When I was researching the D585 coils, I saw a guy on an ls forum that mounted his coils down low, possibly brackets up from the oil pan bolts or something, with the wires comin up to the plugs to keep everything hidden. But the proximity to headers would make me a little nervous about something like that.

Haha, salvage yard shopping! Nothing I love more than making everyday cheap parts get the job done, way to go Speedy! Looking forward to the updates because, love seeing someone your age show so much drive and ingenuity.

Nothing like it! Hahaha it's fun as hell scavenger-hunting all this stuff down, and seeing it all working together will be pretty cool. Think it's a safe bet there won't be many blown, full-sequential efi Chargers rolling around out there either lol
ccasion14:

 

[PFG MOPAR]

Make me one too !!

I gotta say, I'm intrigued by this whole Megasquirt fuel injection thing :icon_cyclops_ani:
I might have to drill a few holes in my Torker ..
When you machine that adapter, make me one too.. In fact, you should make a bunch and sell em in "Speedy's Speed Shop" or on fleebay ..

Mike..

ps: You wouldn't happen to have a (mini) starter sittin around ya could sell me? (& a fan pulley.)
I'm running into that header clearance issue I seem to have read about here :violent-smiley-100:

And the cam synchronizer (cam position sensor) is one of my favorite improvisations of the whole setup. It's 2004 Jeep 4.0l standard equipment, and the end of the shaft is exactly the same as an old Chrysler distributor! Just have to machine a bushing to account for the base's different diameter, and we'll be good to go! A lot easier than jerry-rigging something into a gutted distributor, and a lot cleaner looking, too.
(Via redmist):

 

[Ron 73]

Speed, sometimes you scare me with your knowledge and ability! Cool is all i can say and im betting my wife before this is done something out of the extraordinary will take place.. If you don't open up "Speedys shop",,,,,,, i think some of us here would be disappointed.... Good luck to you sir!!!

 

[usaroadrunner]

now everyone knows im a mopar guy, BUT i wouldnt mind seeing a pic of the grand national...me likey those. boosted 6 man that is a fun car to drive.

 

[kb67mopar]

Glad to see you back Speedy! Good call on the speedhut gauges. I have a set in my Coronet and I love them. The GPS speedo is pretty cool and works better than you'd think. Also their setup is pretty easy.

A word of advice I got straight from them...buy on Black Friday...cheapest time to buy of the year.

 

[PFG MOPAR]

Speedy,

What starter did you put on your 440?
I've gone through 3 already and none fit the damn Hedman headers I put on !!
What headers did you use ??

Mike..

 

[CoronetDarter]

Coincidentally Ehrenberg is doing a series in Mopar Action converting the Project Beeper over to EFI and CNP (coil-near-plug) ignition. This is very cool. Once I get the Coronet back on the street for a while I will be circling back to this thread. Your pics and explanations are tremendous.

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Man I'm way overdue on an update I guess haha. Well, there's good news and bad news. Bad news is I've been having too much fun this summer and Frankenstein's looking pretty much the same as it was in my last pictures. The good news is, my first customer's car is done and down the road, and all that summer fun hasn't gotten in the way of my bargain bin parts collecting. Made some pretty major scores over the past few months :icon_thumleft:

Snagged this Wilwood smorgasbord on ebay for $250, basically the price of the pedals on their own





Another ebay find, Aeromotive Phantom 340 in-tank fuel pump that was brand new just taking up room on someone's shelf, picked up for about $60 less than new. "Supports 700-1,000 hp" definitely "fer racin" approved lol



And a pretty exciting bargain find on craigslist, this $700 Viper spec T56. That's right gentlemen, the 6 speed has landed!
:banana:






I was combing the local craigslist auto parts one day and spotted it listed for $750, and only a couple miles away from my shop haha. Story was the guy picked it up in a package deal with a ford 4.6 and front k-frame/suspension, never ended up using any of it, and was now parting it out. So I did a little research and it turns out '00-04 Cobra Mustangs came with a "Viper spec" T56, which is essentially just a Viper trans with a different mid-plate being set up for a manual clutch/throwout rather than hydraulic. So I basically have 3 options here:

1: make the manual setup work with my pedals since I got the cable and fork with the trans

2: try to source a Viper mid-plate and throwout

3: pick up a GM LS midplate/throwout (which are hydraulic) and machine a throwout spacer (LS T56's use a shorter input shaft). This would probably be the most cost effective way to go so it's currently what I'm leaning more towards

Either way, scoring the trans in my own backyard for $6/700 less than the junkyard price (before truck freight cost) was too good of a deal to pass up. Shifts nicely into all the gears, everything's good and tight, hell, I probably won't even change the shifter that came with it lol
ccasion14:



Oh and actually I forgot to mention, I got the Mopar Orange box all hooked up and the Charger is back among the living running on the avs, mopar performance electronic distributor and orange box! Runs awesome and the uncorked big block was nice to hear again. Idled nicely after just a ballpark timing adjustment, still not sure what was going on with the points distributor I was running last, but at least it's all good now.

[video=youtube_share;gNIFs-AAKMk]http://youtu.be/gNIFs-AAKMk[/video]

Otherwise I've just been busy with summer hitting up some local car shows, going on some fun trips with my girlfriend, and spending time at the river. Did have a fun weekend the week before last with our biggest local car show/cruise of the year, took the Chevelle out and had a fun time hanging with Alex (Meep-Meep on here), Grand National Casey, Muscle Car Alley Mike, and a few other friends. (looking forward to our October coast run Alex, get that Bird back together or get the Dart up here!)

I gotta say, I'm intrigued by this whole Megasquirt fuel injection thing :icon_cyclops_ani:
I might have to drill a few holes in my Torker ..
When you machine that adapter, make me one too.. In fact, you should make a bunch and sell em in "Speedy's Speed Shop" or on fleebay ..

Mike..

ps: You wouldn't happen to have a (mini) starter sittin around ya could sell me? (& a fan pulley.)
I'm running into that header clearance issue I seem to have read about here :violent-smiley-100:

Yeah that's an idea! I've actually seen I think 1 or 2 shops selling them but I'll be doing mine slightly different. Pretty excited to jump into that part of the project as soon as I can

Speed, sometimes you scare me with your knowledge and ability! Cool is all i can say and im betting my wife before this is done something out of the extraordinary will take place.. If you don't open up "Speedys shop",,,,,,, i think some of us here would be disappointed.... Good luck to you sir!!!

Hey thanks Ron! I'd settle for "not bad for a monkey with a wrench" hahaha I'm pretty excited to see everything come together too :icon_thumleft:

now everyone knows im a mopar guy, BUT i wouldnt mind seeing a pic of the grand national...me likey those. boosted 6 man that is a fun car to drive.

I actually almost bought one right after I picked up the Charger, and I was the one who sent him the craigslist ad that led up to him getting the car lol. Engine's just now getting finished up, that car's gonna give frankenstein a run for its money

Glad to see you back Speedy! Good call on the speedhut gauges. I have a set in my Coronet and I love them. The GPS speedo is pretty cool and works better than you'd think. Also their setup is pretty easy.

A word of advice I got straight from them...buy on Black Friday...cheapest time to buy of the year.

Awesome thanks for the feedback and head-up KB! I have a little savings set aside just waiting for Black Friday now haha

Speedy,

What starter did you put on your 440?
I've gone through 3 already and none fit the damn Hedman headers I put on !!
What headers did you use ??

Mike..

I'm running a mini-starter from a late-model dodge truck, but that's with my Doug's headers. Hedmans can only run the original full size starter, one of the primaries is routed to where it interferes with the mini-starter solenoid location

Coincidentally Ehrenberg is doing a series in Mopar Action converting the Project Beeper over to EFI and CNP (coil-near-plug) ignition. This is very cool. Once I get the Coronet back on the street for a while I will be circling back to this thread. Your pics and explanations are tremendous.

Thanks CD! I'm doing the same, doing a little test driving/ baseline setting running the Charger carb'd for a little while then implementing efi.

 

[Ron 73]

Speedy your one of the guys here that makes me want to head out and do more, you would put a picture of the Road runner in here lol, you DO have a great supply of parts there, i don't know, i think i should be shopping some at the least soak up some of that summer fun before the white stuff comes! Yep you have me thinking, you sir have a great one and looking forward to some more Charger work! ;)