1974 Challenger Restomod

[Dmod1974]

Ahhh...thank you, I've got so much to learn 

Those are great continuous duty relays.
Interesting, never thought to use them for fans.
I used 100 amp one in trunk to power fuse and relay block when I moved battery back there.
Your car is looking incredible.
Color choice is my favorite for Ebodys.

Thank you!  It was a toss up between this and Green Go for me.  Looking at the final product, I'm glad I went with the orange.

[Dmod1974]

Amazing progress! Glad to see it all tie in.
What are the plans for the wheels?

Thanks!  For the time being, I'll run the 18" Torq Thrust M's that were on it before.  275 up front and 305 out back.  Now that the car is mini tubbed with inboard relocation mounts I'll probably want something bigger in the back and will change it up.  That should be right around the same time that the 8 3/4" blows up I'd imagine.   

[Dmod1974]

Absolutely  fantastic job/workmanship! What a beautiful clean car!  I love the colour! That was always my first choice when I was dreaming about owning an ebody way back when! This is one of my favorite builds on here! 

Thank you!  It means a lot hearing that from some of you E-Body veterans!

[Dmod1974]

Another busy and hot few days with not a lot of time to work on the car, but I did manage to spray the inner fender undercoating and begin installing the Quite Ride Acoustishield insulation kit.  It's an interesting kit that uses strategically placed strips of Dynamat Xtreme to control noise while minimizing weight.  A layer of thermal/sound deadening insulation is then applied over that and seam sealed with reflective tape.  The Dynamat and thermal barrier panels are all precut and designed to go in with minimal effort.  I can vouch that the roof and trunk pieces fit very well; the only mods I had to make were because I am mini tubbed and to add holes for the license plate light grommet, fuel sender grommet, and filler neck in the quarter panel.  Despite the amount of panels, the thermal insulation is very light weight.  The Dynamat is without a doubt the vast majority of the kits weight.

It'll be interesting to see how well it does on the road, but I can definitely tell that the trunk area is quieter based on the difference of noise in there from my shop fan before and after.

I also installed my amp rack, and like I've said previously I will be finishing the rest of the trunk so the shiny material will be concealed.  I installed my steering column but will be holding off on the main floor insulation until I get the powertrain installed later this week.  I wanted to get the trunk done so I could make sure amp rack cleared the filler tube so I can get my fuel tank installed finally.

[YellowThumper]

Looking good with the sound control.
Yea, I have heard that properly placed strips of Dynamat still works well.
Be sure to close these holes and also any in the C pillars to prevent sound migration from trunk forward.

[Dmod1974]

Good call, I'll seal those up when I do the main cabin.

I got the Aeromotive 525 fuel tank and 8AN Hotrod Fuel hose installed and wired up.  I went with the black/orange fittings and orange checked black braid.  I did have to notch the LH muffler heat shield to clear the 90 degree fitting at the tank.  Other than that, plug and play!  The rear end assembly and rear wheels are also back on it and I'm just about ready to roll the powertrain under it!

[anlauto]

Looking really good

[Dmod1974]

After another grueling day, I managed to get the powertrain, suspension, and brakes back together.  It went fairly smooth, but man, this is a TIGHT fit.  Hopefully I never have to do plugs on this thing because that driver side back corner will suck.  Tomorrow I'll start doing all of the routing, clipping, and plumbing - which I'm sure will take quite some time given how much space this beast takes up.

There are 2 things that I'll need to sort out: the steering shaft is hitting my 2" header pipe, and the clearance between the wiper motor and supercharger coolant crossover block is virtually nil.  I'm not worried about the engine moving backward at all since it will twist with torque, but I need to make sure I have some clearance.  I'll measure tomorrow and see if I need to do anything about it.  The steering shaft may just require me shifting the column over a hair.  We'll see; it's almost never that easy.

[Dmod1974]

So far, plumbing and routing everything has gone pretty smooth.  I was shocked at how much room I have up front for the cooling package; that was one thing I was worried about.  I have way more than I did with the 408 stroker/March pulley combo. 

With the air filter and battery tray removed I have tons of room to get to the power steering, A/C, and lower radiator hose connections.  I got the oil cooler installed and plumbed up, and I'm waiting on some hoses to hopefully get the A/C, radiator, and heater connections taken care of.  Harness connections, clutch, P/S, SC coolant, driveshaft, and battery connections are all taken care of too.  I'll try shifting the column over tonight or tomorrow night; fingers crossed!  Pic's and a couple of YouTube videos I made below.

[anlauto]

Some one should tell RMS that when they design the KFrame/Motor mounts to move the engine forward some, even 1/2" would be nice...Even with the 392...same thing, tons of room up front and super tight at the back...

[Katfish]

Looking good!
What PN / model is that radiator overflow tank on the drivers side?

[Dmod1974]

Some one should tell RMS that when they design the KFrame/Motor mounts to move the engine forward some, even 1/2" would be nice...Even with the 392...same thing, tons of room up front and super tight at the back...

Right?  The only thing I could see for hugging it so close to the firewall is concerns about the shifter for a manual trans sitting in the opening properly.  Though, I highly doubt 1/2" forward would cause a problem.

[Dmod1974]

Looking good!
What PN / model is that radiator overflow tank on the drivers side?

It's actually a 90's 5.0 Ford Mustang overflow tank mated to a Lincoln MK4 fan.

[Dmod1974]

Last week I managed to test and make sure all of my wiring worked correctly, and amazingly, it did.  Not one bad crimp, loose connection, or incorrectly wired circuit.  I thought that was amazing given the amount of custom wiring and circuit building I did on this build.  We'll see how it does after it gets some mileage and vibration through it!

I finished up the plumbing and got it fired up for the first time too.  I vacuum filled the cooling systems and prelubed the engine so it fired right up and required very little top off.  No leaks or bad noises!  I'm shocked at how quiet it was at warm idle with open headers.  My old small block was deafening when running that way.

Not everything went perfect though.  I am having issues getting the crank relearn to run on HP Tuners, and I have a beta program from them that I'll try out this week.  I also have a call in with Mopar Performance because my brand new PCM is repeatedly setting BARO sensor faults and the sensor is internal to the PCM....  The BIM-01 module from Dakota Digital had to be mailed back to get a firmware update to read oil pressure too.  I should have that back on Wednesday.  I also accidentally ordered one of my 2 custom A/C hoses without a high side port like an idiot, so I had to order another one and install that to charge the system.  The hoses I spec'd fit great at least. 

Last issue that I finally diagnosed and resolved with a helper standing on the brakes was a line lock solenoid with a loose O-ring plug that was spraying brake fluid all over my engine and headers only under full pedal pressure.  Luckily I fixed that and cleaned it all up fast so there was no damage or staining to the paint or header coating.

I'm now fabricating an exhaust system and parking brake cable setup before working on the rest of the interior.

Upper 1.5" to 1.75" Gates hose (required minimal trimming)





Lower Gates branded hose.  I had to cut this one and reclock part of it with a hose joiner, but it fits great now.





First start!  All of the adaptives had to be learned, so that's why it took a few tries before it would stay running.  The throttle pedal learn was already done and the fuel system was primed already, but the PCM has to learn the idle air values to idle smooth.

Warm idle

[anlauto]

That's awesome !