70 Challenger RT/SE 440-6pack "shaky SHAKER"

[RusTy/SE]

wow...

Hi Tobias, that is a sweet example of how these cars were occasionally ordered when new. I only had the chance to read half of your original post before it was time for me to leave work ( shhh.. ) yesterday.

The location you mentioned - Winder, Ga. - stuck in my mind until just now. Rev, that's the exit for Year one right?

[Rev-It-Up]

It's pretty close. Year One is right off the highway. Winder is closer to Athens. Still....very close!

[TobiasM]

Look, 426 readers...that number just shouts "HEMI"!   

[TobiasM]

There is also some news on the car...spent this Saturday with a little wrenching but mainly with investigating in medias res...will have to transfere the pics taken from my mobile, so I can upload them here....will give you an update tomorrow...stay tuned...interesting news on colour-changes and more to come! 

[Cuda Cody]

 

[TobiasM]

As promised, I transfered pics to my computer, so update on my car with results of yesterdays investigations on it are ready to go...so here we go:

ENGINE:
Knowing that the original engine/trans/carbs of my car was "Gone in 60 seconds" long ago, I still was interested what mill is inside now. Obviously it is a bigblock-Mopar-engine, as the distributor is upfront...so a good starting point...or might this be a 383/400 block only???

Ok, so down under the car to take photos of the block-casting-number and casting-date and afterwards I sanded down the machined surface on top. What was the results?

I would call it "good news": it is not a period-correct 1969-1971 440-RB-block, but it isn`t a lame 383/400-B-block either. The actual engine is a 1966 440-RB-block, casting-date is 8th of March 1966 and I assume the additional "5" and "9" stamped on the machined area on top as assembly date "9th of May 1966". There is no VIN stamped on the block, as this wasn`t started before arround 1968/1969.

Current engine has MOPAR-aluminium heads, MSD-ignition, single-plane intake, Headman headers and a 850cfm single-4bbl. PRO-FORM-carburator. Seller claims my Chally did mid 10`s all day long in its current configuration and NOT using the NOS.

This particular engine is a good starting point for me and I don`t have intentions to swap it for a more date-correct 1969-1970 RB-block. But the 4bbl-carb and the single-plane-intake will be replaced by the six-pack-setup I already posted pictures of before.

so here we go...more input will follow instantly, so stay tuned!

[TobiasM]

Ok, updates continue...so let`s deal with the:

SHAKER
As per fendertags my car is a SHAKER-car from factory, I was interested in what parts are on the car right now and let`s start top to bottom:

Hood:
I am pretty sure the hood isn`t the original one to my car, as it is in a too good condition for beeing 45+ years old and it doesn´t have the provisions for the SE-molding. That said, I am also pretty sure that my hood isn`t a flat standard-non R/T-hood that someone butchered a "shaker-kit" into...cause I couldn`t find any crude cuts in the sheetmetal and the welding-spots look clean/industrial, too.

So it`s up to the board`s experts to tell if this is a factory-shaker-hood or a reproduction-shaker-hood.

The cutouts for the hood-pins also look superclean/industrial, but I wouldn`t have expected a car with factory hood-pins to have its hood locked/secured in 3 ways:

1) the hood-pins
2) the "unlock"-lever moving sideways
3) the "security-latch" moving front/back.

I would have assumed it would have been locked/secured with the hood-pins alone or if the factory wanted to be on the safe side, with either #2) or #3). If that is all factory-correct, factory could have saved lots of $$$ and weight during production by deleting #2) and/or #3).

Bubble:
My SHAKER-bubble seems to have all the provisions for the grilles and internal flaps. It also doesn`t seem to be made of fiberglass and I found a partnumber inside...3413367 or sth. alike as I missed to take a close-up-photo. Original part or reproduction?

Air-filter top-plate:
Is missing...and I could swear I had ordered one to be put inside the car before shipping it.

Baseplate:
Here is also good news, I guess! The baseplate is not made of fiberglass, but it is a steel one and with the bellcrank-hinge on passenger-side plus the water-drain(s). Original part or reproduction?

Firewall:
One important sign for a shaker-car to make sure that it is what it claims is that hole in the fire-wall where the "fresh-air"-cable from under the dashboard connects through to the bell-crank at the shaker-baseplate. The hole appears clean and factory-stamped inside/out. Also it`s important that shaker-cars don`t have holes for air-condition in the firewall, because there were no shaker-cars available from factory with A/C! The place where the factory would have stamped the A/C-hole is just left beside the shaker-hole. My car luckily does not have any A/C-holes in the firewall, but only the 2 holes to connect the coolant-hoses to the standard-heatercore (roughly were the feet of the passenger would be).

Then I found 1 hole that I don`t now what it`s for:
As I want to streeet-legalize my Challenger, its mandatory over here in Germany that a car has functionally wipers. My wipers were removed somewhen and the place where the wiper-motor sat was blocked of. So I removed that blocking-plate to reinstall a wiper-motor and found a smaller hole behind...can anybody tell me what that smaller hole of approx. 1" is for? Thanks!

As usual:  so I took pics of everything for you and more updates will be posted immediately...stay tuned!

[TobiasM]

This one will be a short post, but also one with photos:

This is the place where my 2 fendertags mounted...one shot from top, one from underside...looks factory-correct to me: 3 holes for 2 fendertags...and not 4 holes ;-)

Ah, forgot about one other interessting photo:
This is the inside of my driverside wheel-house. As I mentioned in my initial posting, that my Challenger once had seen some serious use with full rollcage and ladderbars, you can see here the provision upon the frame-rail where the front-part of the full-roll-cage would would have met/ended. By the way: is that marked piece of metal anything 4-speed-related e.g. for the clutch-linkage?

Ok folks...and now stay tuned for the most interesting result of my yesterdays investigations...unveiled in the next post upcoming after just one short commer...ehhm...break 

[71vert340]

The part you have marked looks like the ball stud mount for the clutch pivot shaft .
Terry

[TobiasM]

The part you have marked looks like the ball stud mount for the clutch pivot shaft .
Terry

Thanks Terry!

That`s great news and (besides the shaker-hole) one more hardfact proofing my car.

[71vert340]

As far as the shaker bubble goes, compare the size of the drain holes at the front of the bubble. Mine look larger than yours. Unless there was a change in the bubbles - mines a 1971.

[71vert340]

Here's a pic of my baseplate. The area around the carb on yours looks like a rough weld or ?

[71vert340]

Here's my baseplate turned upside down like yours. Mine is a small block (340), so there are differences. Also note my baseplate has the front feet on it. I

Terry

[TobiasM]

Here's a pic of my baseplate. The area around the carb on yours looks like a rough weld or ?

@baseplate:
You`re right with that "rough weld"...my baseplate had been messed with to fit that PRO-FORM double-pumper carburetor...don`t know how much bigger its diameter is over a standard 4bbl-carb a 340/383/440-4bbl-SHAKER-car would have had come with...and the center-beam, where the air-filter mounting-screw goes thru, is also "home made" to fit that carb.

@bubble:
A good hind with the drainholes upfront...mine look definately smaller, at least in inner-diameter...don`t know if there had been changes during production 1970 vs. 1971, but if mine was a 1970 and automotive industrie at that time often took care in improving things, they might have figured out during 1970, that the inner-diameter of the drain-holes was too small in practical use, so they bored them wider for 1971/onwards production...but that`s just an idea.

I appreciate your help and supplying photos, Terry!

[Cuda Cody]

@TobiasM  very cool Challenger you have man!  Not sure I can tell you what the hole is behind the wiper motor?     I don't recall ever seeing a hole there.

As for the shaker hood, @ScottSmith_Harms  is wizard level on those Shaker hoods so lets hope he can take a look and tell you what he thinks.   

Any update on getting your fender tags?