Hey guys,

I have hit you guys up for some advice already, and greatly appreciate all the responses. Does anyone have a good resource/link to read up on car basics (mechanically?). Growing up, my dad didnt know much about cars so i never really worked on them. I am 27 now, and I have some free time so i am trying to learn as much as I can. Every link I go to pretty much assumes some knowledge and uses terminology I am not familiar with (took a little while to figure out TDC and such) , so it is a difficult learning curve. I am a pretty quick learner. So far I am pretty clear on basic internals of an engine, but get lost quickly when people start talking numbers (406 cylinder heads, etc). I would like to find a quick guide to understand how everything works together. I am just learning where the master cylinder is, what it does, and the alternator, etc.

What I got and what I am doing:

I purchased a yellow 1973 Dodge Charger SE w/ bad primer job (protected it, but obvious overspray and such) , with a 95% straight body for a thousand dollars. The problem is I have no way to speak to the person who worked on it. Purchased it from a wife in a divorce, her husband bought it and never worked on it, all work was from previous owner.

I know most of you guys do great resto jobs on some really beautiful cars, and some of make some 10 second track monsters, I am on a very limited budget, so as much as I would love to follow your lead, I am trying to spend as little as possible to get a really fun cruiser that can lay some rubber.

Body:Only problems with body are slight surface rust, a small hole on the drivers side fender that I thought was rot at first, but after wire wheeling it, is seems it was surface rust all around it, and it was probably cut out (about a half dollar sized) at some point. the roof has a couple large dents about fist sized (car port collapsed under snow)

Engine: According to the stamp pad, it is a 1978 440 truck engine

tranny: automatic so it a 727

Rear end: 9.25

Exaust: Nice new looking dual exaust, and what look like aftermarket headers (or is it called exaust manifold? still not clear on difference sorry)

Things missing/needed: (This is where I would LOVE some feedback! Am I in the right direction, would you do anything different for similar money?)

Radiator: Radiator is rusting so no good. I know i have seen the really nice 800 dollar ones with the electric fans built in, etc. I found a guy on craigslist that has a late 60's 26" radiator selling to me for a 100 bucks. I am going to pickup this week. (Am i reading correctly, that a 440 can use a 22" but needs 26" if you run A/C?)

Transmission cooler: missing, will any tranny cooler do? they are pretty universal correct?

Shfiter: Would love some advice on this one. No shifter in it right now. Leaning towards B&M mega shifter. Only problem is i think the chrome looking B&Ms and Hursts look cheesy and stupid, like they should be in an 86 camaro. Anyone know any decent prized good looking ones?

Driveshaft: No driveshaft, assuming due to the mix and match parts Ill need a custom one. found a guy down the road that has adapters that are easy to use (allegedly) and says it will prob be around 300.

Wiring: Dont have the money for a Painless right now, I am pretty familiar with electrical. Where can I get the correct terminal lugs and mating pieces?

interior: Seat frame good, foam seems good enough. Found a place selling carpet, seat covers, and head liner for 600. sounds pretty good?

Interior panels: Ugly and faded, but in good shape. Plan on using vinyl paint i have seen referenced on this forum. Going from yellow to black. Dash is cracked, came with dash cover. May try to repair dash using vinyl repair kit since i can use the cover if i mess up.

Paint: Plan on using a bright green (not year correct, plan on using a stock mopar green though). Going to do it myself, use neighbors garage.

Carburetor: stock carter thermoquad, gonna keep it until i need a new one.

Suspension: Underside looks in very good condition except for the rubber bushings all mushy and rotted. I plan on a from end rebuild kit with polyurethane bushing for about 300. Good idea?

Cooling fan: Obviously a belt driven is probably cheaper, but i see tons. Suggestions?

Status so far: Ordered an edlebrock air cleaner, waiting to pickup the 26 inch radiator. Took off carburetor, sprayed carb cleaner in it, soaked it in gas overnight and bolted it back on. Opened valve covers and cleaned out gunk, poured a little oil in there and sealed it back up. Poured some gas in the carb, had the wife turn the key and i opened the carb, started up with 0 effort! sounds loud and mean.

Goal: Get it on the road and looking presentable by end of summer for a grand investment total (purchase price plus parts) of 2500-3000.

Buildup and performance are definitely on the agenda down the line. Thanks guys!

 

headers are metal tubes. where exaust manifolds are cast iron.
big blocks should be at least 26 "
transmission cooler is built into a (automatic) radiator
shifter the one i like you mite not so ill leave that alone
driveshaft 300 not too bad
wiring...i cant held you sorry
interior. 600 sounds fair
suspension...very good idea
cooling most after markets fans are good..
as far as a link to help you with terms and learn more i cant think of any but ill do some suring.

 

Hey Timmy, many radiators have the trans cooler built in. Mine did not, a previous owner replaced the radiator with a cheaper one without it.

I ordered one from summit:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLX-4120/

 

Timmy - As far as reading up on this automotive things, a lot of that is going to be dependent on what you want to learn. If you want just a general overview of how things work, I can send you the name of a book (textbook from when I was in college) that covers everything. Otherwise I would just go down to your local book store (Barns & Noble) and spend some time in there looking over books that could help you. The series of books "(fill in the blank) for dumbies" is a good start. Also, we are always here to help if you have any questions. No question is stupid, if you don't want to make a post about a question, then send one of us a PM (private message).

I'll do a write (during work ) about your plans for your car and post it up later today or tonight.

 

1) Body - rust spot can be fixed easily enough. If there is small pitting, you can use a glazing compound to fill them in. Larger areas use bondo. As for the dents in the roof, tro to get as much of the dent out as posible. If you want it really good, you may need to take it to a body shop or have a dent guy come and fix them for you (usually dealerships use these guys for small dents on cars they are selling. Dent Wizard comes to mind). For the hole, you can either weld in a patch panel of use a small piece of fiberglass mesh and resin then bondo over it. However you decide to handle these areas remember one thing; The longer you spend now on these areas fixing them up and smoothing them out, the better it will look later. It may take some time but it will be worth it later once you paint it and it doesn't show up.

2) Drivetrain (motor, tranny, rear axle) - You have a great setup there. The 440 may not have the same compression as a car 440 but that can be changed over time with cylinder heads and pistons. The 727 Torque Flight transmission is a great automatic to have and there are plenty of aftermarket parts out there to build it how you want. The 9.25 rear end is a good rear end and you can pick up a sure grip (limited slip/posi/whatever you want to call it. Different makes call it different names) pretty cheap. Also tehre are plenty of disc brake conversion kits out there if you feel like you need/want some more stopping power.

3) Exhaust - Exhaust manifolds are usually cast iron and are heavy enough to be used as a boat anchor. Headers have a 5/16" or 3/8" flange and "tubes" that run down to a collector allowing better flow of exhaust gases.
This is what an exhaust manifold looks like. You can see how it puts a restriction on the flow of the exhaust gases.

This is what a header (these are long tube headers due to the length of the tubes). You can see how the exhaust gases would have an easier time flowing out. This allows more exhaust to flow out faster allowing the motor to "breath" better creating more power and better acceloration.


4) Transmission cooler - There are a lot of different size tranny coolers out there. You do not want to get one that is too small where it can not cool the fluid. typicaly a 10"(tall)x20"(wide)x3/4"(thick) cooler should be plenty large for what you need. I would also install an inline temperature gauge.

5) Shifter - Since you have a 727, you have a boat load of options here, a lot of which are going to depend on what you want, what you like and how the car is setup now. If your shifter is on the column, then you can stay with that. If you don't like/want that, then you can swap in a manual shift steering column (one that does not have the column shift) and install a floor shifter. This might be some work but it would look very clean. You also don't have to get rid of the column that you have now (if it has the column shift), you can wait to do that later and just remove all the shifter linkage going to the transmission (that is what I did with my J10).

6) Driveshaft - If you do not have a driveshaft in there now, you can have one built. $300 is the going rate for them around New England here. Plus it give you the option to run any size yoke at the transmission and rear axle if you want to change them.

7) Wiring - Like I tell everyone, painless wiring is the way to go. If your wiring is all there though and just need to be cleaned up and you have the knowledge, Just get the proper size and color wiring and do it yourself. As far as connectors go though, I have no idea where to get them. When I get to the wiring on my buggy I will be using some of these as I have plenty laying around work and have all the tools and pins for them.




8) Interior - I got a dash cover for my 68 Valiant and it actually fits over it quite nicely. If you can repair the cracks though, I'd do that. As for the carpeting, seat covers, and headliner $600 doesn't sound too bad but I would still shop around a little to see what you can find.

9) Paint - Go over the car with a fine tooth comb and fix and prep everything, even if it is small. Once you paint it and put a clear coat on it (or if it is just a single stage paint), any and all defects will stick out. If you have not sprayed before, practice on some piece before hand. Whatever you do, please please please do not do a spray bomb (spray paint cans) to it.

10) Carburetor - The Thermoquad carbs are a great carb to run. if you can, keep it.

11) Suspension - Rubber vs. Poly always seems to be the debate. Rubber you can install with a light coating of gease and walk away from them and they will not make noise as long as everything is torqued down properly. The downside is, they do not like oil, gas, etc. and wear out over time. Poly on the other have is resistant to oil, gas, etc and last for quite some time. Problem is, you need to keep them greased or they will start to squeek. I would go with poly bushing and grease them when needed.

12) Cooling fan - If the stock fan is working, leave it. One thing that many people over look is the fan shroud. It helps to direct the air through the radiator allowing better cooling of the fluid. If you want to install an electric fan, then you would have less drag on the motor. I would also install a thermostat switch for it so that way it turns on automatically when the motor reaches a certain temerature.

13) Goal - What you want/have to do can be done with the price range that you set. I would be willing to bet that you will spend a little more though than $2000 (parts add up quick). There is no reason why you can't get the car back on the road though by the end of summer if not sooner. I would start with the things that THE CAR NEEDS then go with what you want. This will get the car on the road faster. Obviously the radiator, tranny cooler, shifter, driveshaft and bushings are what are needed now. The body work you can do over time (get a book that covers the basics of body work. I have a few at home that I will get the titles of and PM to you. They helped me out greatly.).

 

Welcome!!!
I know Ive said it before, and I'll say it again. . I LOVE how all these 3rd generation (1971-74) chargers are coming out. Maybe its just me but i feel like they were forgotten about and unloved for so many years in favor of the 2nd gen Charger (1968-70)

Lots of solid advice here. Cant really add any more info that has not been covered but I would vote to throw a Mopar slapstick shifter setup back in there instead of using an aftermarket unit. Good luck with the project and try to document as much as possible so we can all follow along!!

 

Nice post 78D200! That really covered all the bases. Listen to him, get the needs done before the wants and you may be on the road sooner than you think, and be crusing around this summer!

 

Hey hey another 3rd gen charger =-) Welcome to the forum. I actually had to do much of the same stuff.
I had my drive shaft built for 250 but i already had the yokes i needed. I also purchased a nice aluminum raidiator from Summit and am really happy i did so. There is a built in tranny cooler as well. I personally left the column shift in my 72 charger as i just get a kick out of column shift 440s. I would just tackle one thing at a time and dont be afraid to make friends that are car buffs. (in person as well as online.)Just take your time and have fun its easy to pick things up as you work your way through it.

 

welcome timmy you will learn alot of stuff from this site some people on here are the einsteins of the mopar world as far as learning on your own try to buy a haynes manuel for your specific vehicle it will give you info on a complete teardown and rebuild all in one book i get one for any car i buy

 

Welcome to the forum.... The Haynes manuel advise is spot on.... Excellent place to start.... JMO