New project - Gran National "style" '73 Charger

[Outlaw525]

Rebuilt the rear leaf springs, added an additional half leaf to the drivers side, an extra set of clamps on the front half and poly bushings. Waiting on the FirmFeel 2 position front hangers.

 

[Outlaw525]

I have a 493 and Holley Sniper injection that I built to put in my '71 Road Runner but I think it's going to end up in the Charger. It has a Milodon low profile 7 qt pan but I think it will still hang down too far. I found this Milodon road race 7qt pan on Craiglist which will give me more ground clearance.

 

[MarPar]

It's the Water!!

 

[Outlaw525]

I'm old enough to remember Herschell McGriff running that car with different paint in the old Winston West series!

It's the Water!!

View attachment 1141699 View attachment 1141700View attachment 1141702

 

[Outlaw525]

Updated rear suspension is back in the car. Next will be rebuilding the frontend, converting to manual steering, adding heavier torsion bars, bigger sway bar and brakes. I will be keeping this stance on the car.

 

[Paul_G]

I like that stance. I have removed extended shackles on many cars to regain that factory rake.

 

[Outlaw525]

When car is done, there is road course in BFE Oregon about 60 miles away that I would like to run the car at so I've settled on 3.23 gears. I dug through the parts piles and came up with a '489 case, 3.23 gears, power lock limited slip, large yoke and a new set of bearings.

Made a call to DoctorDiff for a new crush sleeve eliminator, thrust button and a set of limited slip discs. Going to assemble everything this week.

 

[Outlaw525]

The car was missing the grill and taillights. Since I'm not a big fan of the '73/74 "keyboard" taillights anyway, I found these '72 taillights in Texas on FB Mopar sight. I think they will work well with the stock car style rear spoiler that I have planned. Also bolted up the AMD '71 style rear valance.
Jury is still out on the rear shackles. They are built like the ones that were run on stock cars back in the '70's, 1/4" thick with adjustment and solid spacer sleeves. I like having the adjustability but don't care for the JC Whitney lift shackle look.

We pulled the cast crank 440 that was sitting the car out today and stripped out the wiring and misc. Tomorrow will be pressure washer day.

 

[MarPar]

Comin' along nicely!

 

[Outlaw525]

I've been trying figure out what seats to use. I want something with more support that the factory seats but a lot of the aftermarket seats look like they should have come in GM product. I found this for a good deal on an on-line classified sight and had to have it. Now I just need to figure out the passenger seat.

 

[Outlaw525]

Moving forward on the project, I'm just not good at posting updates.

The car was originally a column shift so I dug through the parts pile again and came with pieces to build a floor shift column using pieces from a floor shift pickup and column shift column out of a '71 Satellite. This makes it like a '70 column and eliminates the ignition lock tab mechanism. Now back apart for stripping and painting. I am going to use the Tuff wheel adapter and horn button that is in the car but I like the thicker Grant wood grain version of the Tuff wheel.

 

[Outlaw525]

Purchased a Flaming River steering box from a fellow forum member. Thanks Duece! I found the adapter kit at a swap meet recently.

 

[Outlaw525]

I drug this donor out of the desert earlier today. Pretty much anything that can be unbolted is gone except the rear swaybar and tinted back window. Other than the lower quarters, it does have lots of nice solid sheet metal with only a little surface rust that I can use for patch panels.

 

[Outlaw525]

The desert derelict was reduced to the sum of it's parts this week. Salvaged a lot of trinkets and bunch of good sheet metal for patch panels. Some of them on my car, some for my buddy's big block '73 SE and some for future use?

 

[Outlaw525]

We had the first local swap meet in two years last weekend. Got rid of a bunch of stuff and found even more for the car:
Derale tranny cooler with fan
New 3.73 gears for a '489 case
Hughes 2500 converter
Mopar mini starter
Trunk mount battery kit and master switch
A 5 point harness, outdated but will work for mockup
Everything was new, it was a good weekend!

 

[Outlaw525]

Also had couple packages show up this week- one from Classic Industries, I took advantage of their Labor Day sale, (order shipped complete and showed up in less than a week) engine wiring harness, weatherstrip and gaskets, hinge rebuild kit and front lenses. The other one was an unexpected surprise from a friend in California that is putting his car back to stock, thanks SteveO.

 

[Outlaw525]

I finallly began reassembling the third member. I decided to use the 3.73 gears that I picked up at the swap meet since I will be running a 275/60X15 tire. I rebuilt the limited slip and made a pair of side gear alignment tools from a set of old axles. I should have it completed this week. That thing called work keeps getting in the way!