Dodge Charger 68 R/T Engine bay

[Gentleman]

Hi members,
I was a quiet reader and fan of this forum for a long time but now I got to a point where I have to take some actions in here and stop beeing silent.

I got a 68 Charger R/T back in 2017. Its quite a project. It still has the Fender Tag and matching numbers engine, transmission and axle.

Right now the engine is removed and rebuild so I have a lot of room in the engine bay, so my plan was to rebuild that as well because I would like to bring my Charger back to a factory look.

The only problem is, that I have just a couple of photos how everything is mounted and fixed (like wires) because the car was a little bit modified and a lot of parts were missing.

There are also a couple of holes drilled into the firewall and fenders. I would like to know what is factory and that is "modified".

My set up is:

440 HP
4 barrel
A727
Power steering
Power brakes
3-Speed Wiper
A/C
26In radiator
Tic Toc Tacho
hood mounted turn signals

If anybody has a couple of photos how everything is mounted and connected that would be awesome! I will share a couple of photos how far I am with restoring my engine bay later on.

greetings

 

[1968rt]

some info here might help. http://www.mmcdetroit.com/ICCA/References/Engine_Compartment/#pop01

or here http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,8248.0.html

 

[70runner]

Build project of my daughter's 69 RT may be useful.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Build project of my daughter's 69 RT may be useful.

I would think that should answer allot of questions... Nicely done... I see your as impressed with Firecore as I am.... I dealt with him once... If thats what he considers customer service he can keep it...

 

[super-bee_ski]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Demonic]

Welcome. A/C cars are special. Even more so if it all works. Patience.

 

[multimopes]

Can't help you but welcome aboard from NJ. Best of luck with your RT! Can you post any pictures?? We are very visual here.

 

[Gentleman]

some info here might help. http://www.mmcdetroit.com/ICCA/References/Engine_Compartment/#pop01

or here http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,8248.0.html

There are a lot of helpful pictures indeed.

Build project of my daughter's 69 RT may be useful.

This is awesome! That one helped me a lot to have a couple questions answered.

I know it is very hard to find A/C parts over here. I am lucky that a couple A/C parts were in the trunk and on the back seats.
Usualy I send all the parts that I could find to a friend of mine in Texas. After 3 month, the package is ready to ship. Thats my way to get used parts and new parts for my Charger.

 

[Gentleman]

So that’s my one... the previous owner had the idea to paint the car in Matt black. It’s also just the primer, so as soon as you get in touch with the paint, other than with water... the paint will dissolve. Quite annoying but I will restore it anyway so the next two years I don’t have to take care of the paint. The original paint is GG1.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Welcome aboard!

Nice looking Charger!

 

[hunt2elk]

Build project of my daughter's 69 RT may be useful.

Curious what happened with the Firecore distributor? You didn't elaborate in the thread and I can't ever get the search function to work on moparts.

 

[70runner]

Glad the build pix were useful. If you need any other help, just holler.

I would think that should answer allot of questions... Nicely done... I see your as impressed with Firecore as I am.... I dealt with him once... If thats what he considers customer service he can keep it...

OT, it's interesting that he/Firecore have a decent rep on moparts. So I wasn't expecting the unresponsive/unconcerned attitude.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Yup, he does have a good reputation & I gotta admit when he burned me I should have made a stink about it but I was the nobody out on the west coast & he's buddies with all the "in crowd" on Moparts so I bitched to him, got a slow & marginally satisfactory outcome & I'll never do business with him again..

 

[Dennis H]

Like the hubcaps ands striped tires. I’d keep both. Grill/Nose looks really nice.

 

[70runner]

Curious what happened with the Firecore distributor? You didn't elaborate in the thread and I can't ever get the search function to work on moparts.

With apologies to OP for walking on his thread...The Firecore Ready to Run (RTR) distributor, which requires a special Firecore coil, was the engine builders go to. Worked for about 3mos, then the engine just shut down one day. Did the troubleshooting included in the paperwork and RTR checked OK, but no spark. Contacted Rick at Firecore. He walked me through some additional troubleshooting, which also indicated no problems.

At that point Rick basically said it wasn't the RTR, I should check other components. After more troubleshooting, decided to replace the RTR (and special coil) with stock points distributor, stock coil, with stock ballast resistor (Firecore RTR specifies no ballast). Engine started right up. Called Rick back, asked me to ship the RTR and coil to Firecore. Heard nothing for a month, so called. After a song/dance about how he's offloading retail biz to Summit, informed me the RTR be returned to the engine shop so they could initiate a refund with the seller (Summit). I had assumed engine shop purchased RTR from Firecore. Why didn't Rick tell me to address this with Summit in the first place?

Rick agreed to ship it directly to the engine shop. Two weeks later received a shipment with the RTR, which then had to reship to engine shop. I guess Rick was confused and/or indifferent. Never got an explanation about the RTR problem and did not get reimbursed for the RTR coil or shipping charges. Never again with Firecore, no matter who is selling them.

 

[hunt2elk]

With apologies to OP for walking on his thread...The Firecore Ready to Run (RTR) distributor, which requires a special Firecore coil, was the engine builders go to. Worked for about 3mos, then the engine just shut down one day. Did the troubleshooting included in the paperwork and RTR checked OK, but no spark. Contacted Rick at Firecore. He walked me through some additional troubleshooting, which also indicated no problems.

At that point Rick basically said it wasn't the RTR, I should check other components. After more troubleshooting, decided to replace the RTR (and special coil) with stock points distributor, stock coil, with stock ballast resistor (Firecore RTR specifies no ballast). Engine started right up. Called Rick back, asked me to ship the RTR and coil to Firecore. Heard nothing for a month, so called. After a song/dance about how he's offloading retail biz to Summit, informed me the RTR be returned to the engine shop so they could initiate a refund with the seller (Summit). I had assumed engine shop purchased RTR from Firecore. Why didn't Rick tell me to address this with Summit in the first place?

Rick agreed to ship it directly to the engine shop. Two weeks later received a shipment with the RTR, which then had to reship to engine shop. I guess Rick was confused and/or indifferent. Never got an explanation about the RTR problem and did not get reimbursed for the RTR coil or shipping charges. Never again with Firecore, no matter who is selling them.

I too will apologize for sidetracking the OP's thread...
Having an engine built currently and the well known builder will not use any FireCore distributors anymore. Said he has had a couple of RTR's have the advance plate blow apart shortly after being installed in customers cars. He is only using MSD now, so that is what I will have. Sounds like they are experiencing some quality control problems as of late.

 

[Gentleman]

Like the hubcaps ands striped tires. I’d keep both. Grill/Nose looks really nice.

Thanks, I was very happy to purchase the original 14" and hubcaps with the car. So I looked at the fender tag to find the right tire. F70x14 Red sidewall was written on it so I ordered those and it looks pretty neat.

With apologies to OP for walking on his thread....

No porblem but thanks.

I need some advise for the original look:

Spark plug shield for spark plug #7 is mounted on with a manifold bolt and is not painted in engine color right?
Spark plug shield for spark plug #6, I think is mounted on the zylinder head with zylinderhead screws and is painted in engine color?
Spark plug wire brackets are painted in engine color with black tips made out of "insulation"
The intake manifold vacuum port is not painted in engine color correct (blank)?
The PCV valve is also not painted in engine color (blank)?
The booster for the brakes is black (I have seen it also in silver and grey)?

Thanks for the answers

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Thanks, I was very happy to purchase the original 14" and hubcaps with the car. So I looked at the fender tag to find the right tire. F70x14 Red sidewall was written on it so I ordered those and it looks pretty neat.



No porblem but thanks.

I need some advise for the original look:

Spark plug shield for spark plug #7 is mounted on with a manifold bolt and is not painted in engine color right? Actually I believe it is painted, along with the exhaust manifolds, yes the exhaust manifolds were painted with the engine & the paint mostly burned off...
Spark plug shield for spark plug #6, I think is mounted on the zylinder head with zylinderhead screws and is painted in engine color? 6 & 8 are both part of the same shield which is secured with two of the outside head bolts, & yes they too are painted
Spark plug wire brackets are painted in engine color with black tips made out of "insulation" Even the black rubber areas are originally painted with the engine
The intake manifold vacuum port is not painted in engine color correct (blank)? Actually I believe it is... I'm more familiar with what was done in 1970 but I suspect 1968 was the same
The PCV valve is also not painted in engine color (blank)? Again I know in 1970 the grommet & valve are painted, I know the earlier cars had a metal cap that was painted black but in 68 they were using a grommet so at the very least I'm sure the grommet was painted with the engine
The booster for the brakes is black (I have seen it also in silver and grey)? Drum or Disc? Disc used the Bendix which is black but Drum used the Midland Ross which is gold...

Thanks for the answers

 

[Gentleman]

Awesome! thank you very much.

Okay, cool I will write it down on my to do list.

I got disc brakes so I will paint them black.

I Think I will go for not painting the rubber ends, and grommet. We will see...

I also know that they painted the negative battery cable half way.

Fuel pump is also painted correct? But the Vapor separator isn´t.

For a little overview:

CAR: Dodge Charger R/T 2 Door Sports Hardtop
ENGINE: 440cid 4-bbl HP V8
TRANSMISSION: 3-Speed Automatic
TIRES: F70x14 Red Sidewall, Steel Belted
MODEL YEAR: 1968
BUILD DATE: February 19.
AXLE: 3.23 Rear Axle Ratio, Sure Grip
INTERIOR: Charger Trim Grade, Vinyl Bucket Seats. Black Interior
PAINT: Racing Green Metallic (Dodge), Forest Green Metallic (Plymouth, Chrysler, Imperial)
OTHER: Black (Dodge, Plymouth), Formal Black (Chrysler, Imperial) Upper Door Frame Color. Stripe Deleted
MOLDINGS:
25 Drip Rail Mouldings
30 Body Belt Mouldings
78 Wheel Lip Mouldings
ABC OPTIONS:
A1: 26in Radiator
D9: Front Disk Brakes
H1: Power Brakes
K8: Power Windows
N8: Rear Window Defogger
P6: Rear Seat Speaker
R1: AM Radio
S1: Air Conditioning
T7: Tachometer
X1: Tinted Glass (all)
Y6: Black Vinyl Top
abc OPTIONS:
a6: Console
b4: Bucket Seats
h7: Fender or Hood Mounted Turn Signal Indicators
m6: Driver's Outside Remote Operated Mirror
u1: Sold Car When Built (Somebody Ordered It)

 

[Richard Cranium]

Here's my GG1 a/c equipped car. If you need some particular detail pictures, just let me know.