69 383 Formula S 4 speed

[larry4406]

Shane - what are the details of your stroker build?   Kit?  Home brew?

[Shane Kelley]

Shane - what are the details of your stroker build?   Kit?  Home brew?

It's a 440 Source kit. 440 Source has a lot of haters out there and most people that dog them have never even used them. Just parrots repeating something they read in a comment on a the internet. They also have a lot of people who like their products. If I was building a full time race car I might go a different direction. But for a street car I was very impressed with the quality of there stroker kits. It's a nice kit because it's a proven combination that makes over 500hp and remains very streetable.

[Shane Kelley]

Tilton Hyd is the best way to go , McLeod offers them also
they just expand forward pushing on the front of the trans , all you need is a hose into & a bleed hose out of the belhousing , every block I have seen is taller than the factory spec & needs to be decked to bring it down to zero deck .
The engine looks great BTW 

I may end up going that route. I actually have linkage on the car working now. But I'm not sure I'm getting enough travel. It's releasing the clutch but the pedal is sitting lower than I like. I'm going to see how it feels once I fire the motor up. If it feels fine I may just extend the push rod to bring the pedal up some. I did one of those hydraulic set ups on the Hemi car I built. They work good but I'm just not a fan of how the pedal feels.

[RUNCHARGER]

I think the 440Source kits are great. One phone call and the complete kit is coming. Lots of guys have went quite fast with them. I would never build a stock stroke engine these days if it needed a crank turn and new pistons.

[Chryco Psycho]

The CF clutches never Feel right , no pedal pressure & then they Pop over center , very hard to release smoothly for the same reason , I hope yours lasts more then 72 hrs or you will be pulling it out again . 
I have used 15 or more 440 Source kits , great stuff 

[Cudakiller70]

For mufflers Flowaster 40's for this one?

[Shane Kelley]

For mufflers Flowaster 40's for this one?

Actually going with the Dynomax Super Turbo's on this one. TTI 3" with X pipe all the way out the back through TTI tips. If it was my car I would most definitely be going FlowMaster 40's. Owner wanted a more mellow tone on this one.

[moparcar]

Moving along to the cowl panel. Besides the 2 kinks we also have perforation along the lower window channel. We have a parts car and it actually had a perfect one to donate. Also a couple little patches for the rf apron right where the fender mounts. Filler work on engine compartment.

@Shane Kelley  Shane you do great work! Thanks for posting and teaching! In this post a few pages back you were working on the cowl. It appears you shot the lower cowl edge with weld through primer, taped off and maybe shot epoxy? Can you clarify you process for cowls? I'm replacing both lower and uppers on my Challenger and want it right. We all know this is a very hard area to prep correctly and get paint into after assembled. Do you epoxy and scuff for future? Do you seam seal at all like the factory had between the upper and lowers? What if the cowl is new with an E-coat? Do you remove the E-coat and epoxy? What's your normal process to protect from future rust and allow proper adhesion for topcoats in the paint process?

Thanks in advance. Very much appreciated!!

Wes

[Shane Kelley]

Moving along to the cowl panel. Besides the 2 kinks we also have perforation along the lower window channel. We have a parts car and it actually had a perfect one to donate. Also a couple little patches for the rf apron right where the fender mounts. Filler work on engine compartment.

@Shane Kelley  Shane you do great work! Thanks for posting and teaching! In this post a few pages back you were working on the cowl. It appears you shot the lower cowl edge with weld through primer, taped off and maybe shot epoxy? Can you clarify you process for cowls? I'm replacing both lower and uppers on my Challenger and want it right. We all know this is a very hard area to prep correctly and get paint into after assembled. Do you epoxy and scuff for future? Do you seam seal at all like the factory had between the upper and lowers? What if the cowl is new with an E-coat? Do you remove the E-coat and epoxy? What's your normal process to protect from future rust and allow proper adhesion for topcoats in the paint process?

Thanks in advance. Very much appreciated!!

Wes

This is a A body and quite different in the build design than a E body. I did use epoxy primer on replacement cowl panel and the base cowl on the car. I then shot a couple coats of gloss black on the base part before attaching the upper outer cowl. I actually put a welding blanket inside the cowl before I welded them together. I let one end hang out the lower vent. I left this in there until until car was ready to paint. That way it kept primer and over spray from building up in there. I would have loved to have used seam seal on the inside but there is no way to get in there after the top is welded on. I used Honey Coat with a wand and tried to get to all the edges. I went up through the vent openings on each end.

Now for your E body. The E coat can stay on the new panels. Just grind and use weld through primer everywhere your going to weld. I would hit it all with 180 on a DA and hit it with some primer and I would probably go ahead and paint the inside of the upper cowl. (that's just me). On the lower part I would have it all prepped and ready for paint before welding. Easier to get to it now before it's together. You can and I would use seam sealer inside the cowl. You can go through the vent openings to get to the outer area and the cowl grill openings to get to the firewall areas. It is tricky because you can't get any kind of seam sealer/caulk gun in there. Use a small brush about 1' wide. Put some on the brush and apply to the area. It will take some time but just keep it going and overlapped. Once you have a 12" section just run the brush across that whole area to even it out. For painting I always paint inside the cowl before I do the car. That will keep from getting dry paint in there and also keep from getting any runs around the edges when you are trying to get the paint and clear in there. Here is a couple pics how I painted mine.   

[Cuda Cody]

   Love seeing your work.  Nice job!!!!   

[moparcar]

@Shane Kelley Thank you so much for taking the time to explain how you go about the cowl prep and paint. I sure appreciate it! This all makes sense and I'm going to follow your way to the point. Great info that is lots of times glossed over from metal work to prep to paint.

Again Thanks! Wes

[Shane Kelley]

@Shane Kelley Thank you so much for taking the time to explain how you go about the cowl prep and paint. I sure appreciate it! This all makes sense and I'm going to follow your way to the point. Great info that is lots of times glossed over from metal work to prep to paint.

Again Thanks! Wes

Glad I could help. Your very welcome! 

[Shane Kelley]

Lets do some work on the dash. 

[Shane Kelley]

More dash work. Check out the 383 stamp label on instrument housing. Also upgraded the tach to 8000k with modern electronics. Redline gauges did that work. Heater control  and cables were a real nasty mess.  Took a couple of units to build one good one. Same for cables. Nothing offered for these cars like the E body.

[Chryco Psycho]

Great Job , the dash looks better than new