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EPISODE 1 - The Search for a Charger Back in September 2000 I finally got to realise my dream of owning a Dodge Charger. I looked at a few cars for sale which were mainly base 318's since I couldn't really afford something like a 440R/T on my budget! Most of the cars I looked at were pretty much in need of a lot of work, but when I came across this one it really stood out from the others. Perhaps the fact that it had huge rear wheels on Centrelines and an Edlebrock cam and lifters kit installed, plus the chrome valve covers and air-filter helped to persuade me, not to mention the fact that it was a lot cheaper than any other I'd looked at! The picture on the right is of the car as it sat at the previous owners house before I bought it. After a short test drive the deal was done and I came back to pick up the car a couple of weeks later. Man was I excited!! I had to drive the car from North London to my home about 30 miles away. First I needed some gas so I pulled into the first station I came to. Being as this was not only my first Charger but my first American car I had great difficulty finding the filler cap and the hood release.... well I should have asked the guy I suppose. Half an hour later he finally answered his phone and I felt a right idiot when he told me where they were! Back on the open road, or the M40 to be exact, I got up to a reasonable cruising speed which was when I noticed how bad the brakes were when I had to stop at a junction. The tail of the car also weaved from side to side at high speed, which I was later informed was worn leaf spring bushes. I had expected a fair amount of mechanical repair work to be done, so I was in no way dissapointed. Now that I had the car home I needed to give it a real good inspection, but first I just had to cruise around in it for a few days! After studying the fender tag and build sheet it was quite apparent that this car left the plant with as few options as the buyer could get away with apart from a/c. It had manual drums all round, 8 .75" axle with open diff and 2.71 gears, 904 transmission, column shift, 318 2bbl 150hp engine and a radio! Last of the big spenders, eh? The interior was still Bright Blue with a front bench seat which was a little worn, but the back seat was very good. I spotted a pair of Charger bucket seats for sale in a magazine a few months later and decided to have them for the car. Although the vinyl on them was bad they did come with grey fabric covers which I did'nt mind as I intended to have new vinyl covers made in Bright Blue for them when I could afford it. I became good friends with the guy who was selling them and he has helped me tremendously with sorting out the car's mechanicals. I obtained a front and rear bushing kit along with a set of new balljoints and gas shocks to replace the original oil-filled type. So I set about dismantling the car to replace the worn suspension parts and at the same time had the leaf springs strengthened and re-tempered as they had sagged severely. This was also a good time to clean and rust-proof the underside of the car and replace the solid and flexible brake lines. A few weeks earlier the seal on the master cylinder had perished and left me with very little in the way of brakes at the worst possible time - approaching a junction at 80mph! Needless to say the master cylinder was treated to a new seal kit. I took the Charger to the UK Mopar Nationals in August 2001 intending to go as a spectator. Next thing I know I have the urge to take the car up the strip just out of curiosity. Fifteen passes later I was a lot happier and had become addicted to drag racing! The best the Charger ran with this setup was 16.1@ 85mph, which seemed fast to me but I was soon put in perspective by all the 12 or 13 second cars. SO....what am I to do? A quick consultation with my racing buddies determined that with a few adjustments to the drive train I should see the top end of 14's. Over the following winter I got stuck into the modifications. The power steering was removed and converted to manual, an electric fan and fuel pump were also fitted. Off came the 904 transmission and on went a 727 with a Cheetah manual valve body, and a gated floor shifter saw goodbye to the column shifter. A few little extras like a line-lock, Autometer battery,oil and temperature guages and a nice blue sparkle steering wheel were installed. For better fuel delivery a 1/2" fuel line with a fuel pressure guage was also fitted. The radiator needed to be recored to help with cooling as it was badly clogged up. The main jobs like building a new rear axle got under way. I found an 8.75" housing and then tracked down a 489 centre section for which I had bought a set of 4.10:1 gears and a suregrip diff. A shorter prop shaft was need as the 727 is about 6" longer than a 904. I did a basic overhaul of the engine too with new bearings, timing chain, and a de-coking. When the heads came off there was a cracked exhaust valve needing repair, they were then cleaned up and a littleporting done before putting it all back together. The last modification at this stage would be to replace the single points distributor and install the Mopar Performance electronic system. By this time it was almost Spring and all I needed now was a pair of slicks, then I'd be ready for the strip. In April 2002 I took the Charger to Shakespeare County Raceway for a test session. There was a gale force headwind which was going to cause a few problems with the aerodyamics! Best performance under those conditions was 15.3 @ 86.6mph....a little disappointing but still a secondquicker than last year. A month later at the same track there were more problems with a high rpm misfire and a vacuum leak caused by a cracked carb baseplate. I spaced out the plug leads, siliconed up the leak and crossed my fingers. The following day was nice and sunny. I got on the track early and the first pass was a 14.9 @ 92.3mph. I was really excited at getting into the 14's (barely). Not bad for a 318, all steel B body, with the heater and back seat still intact! Now that the transmission and axle have proved their worth it was now time to increase the power output. Over the next year I will be building a hot 383 to put in the charger which should hopefully make 450hp and get me into the low 13's. But in the meantime there are many more things requiring attention. I finally got around to recovering the front buckets using Legendary Auto from Year One.They have certainly made a big difference to the interior and I think they were well worth the expense. I also repainted the interior panels a suitable shade of blue and modified the steering column by getting rid of all the column shift protrusions. A new headliner is inevitable, but hopefully I'll get a few more years out of this one as it's only fragile in a few places, and as long as I don't poke it, then it should hold....I hope! I also reckon that after all this hard work and spending so much money that I should protect my investment by installing a fire extinguisher. It would be terrible to see it all go up in smoke! So now the car needed to lose some weight. The most logical thing to do at this time was to get a fibreglass hood. A friend had had a mould made from his 73 Charger metal hood, which had a six-pack scoop on it, to make a fibreglass copy. It looked really good so I was tempted to try that. I ordered one up as it would take a few months for the shop to make it. When I finally got the call to say it was ready it was too near to the 2002 Mopar Nats to try and fit it and paint it too. I decided to put it on after that event so I would'nt have to rush the job. When I had a few weeks spare later that year, I got started on the hood. If you've ever had a Charger hood off the car then you'll appreciate the size of it! It took ages to sand it all down before putting on a coat of etch-primer. Then it had to be sanded again before the top coat. But when it was finished I did like the way it looked. Slowly this old base Charger was becoming the muscle car it had always dreamed of being... all it really needed now was that 383 I'd promised to build....
EPISODE 2 - The Search for a 383 Shortblock I was put in touch with a fellow MMA member not far from me who had a fresh .040 over 383 shortblock for sale at a very good price. I went to pick up the block with my little trailer, which strained all the way home with the weight of it. The plan at this stage is to run about between 9.5 and 10:1 compression and fit a Mopar Performance 509 cam with a high stall convertor. The pistons in the block checked out to be in the region of less than 8:1and therefore I needed to find a higher compression piston. Summit racing had a TRW piston that gives 9.5:1 with an 80cc chamber, so I was still going to have to take a slice of the heads, which would'nt do any harm any way. I'd just bought a pair of 346 heads and set about cleaning those up. New stem seals were fitted and the valves hand lapped. A couple of exhaust valves had sunk a little so I chucked a shim or two in there to keep them right. Bearing in mind that this is a low budget rebuild I was glad that the bores, rings, bearings, crank and rods were good... plus the timing chain was new as well. So at this moment in time I have gathered all the necessary parts to build up a hot 383. I am waiting for the pistons to arrive from Summit in the US, then it's off to the balancing shop at Real Steel in Uxbridge, England.
to be continued........ July 2003 Due to health problems and my divorce I unfortunately had to sell the Charger and abandon the 383 project. The engine has now found a new home in Dave Dobson's 1970 Charger 500, and the cars proud new owner is Mark Curtis from Essex, England and can be seen here at the 2005 Mopar Euronats. This is the worst newspaper article you could wish for!
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