Procharged E85 340 70 Challenger

[1mean340]

Hey guys, I lost my mind a few weeks ago and decided to take a whole bunch of parts I had from past builds/part outs that I never got around to selling and throw them all at my baby, a 70 Challenger that my dad and I bought back in 2001. The car hasn't seen much love since the motor was done at the speed shop I used to work for back in 2003.  The catch is, since this was kind of a spur of the moment thing, I am on a very tight budget which is near impossible for a forced induction build, but so far it is going as planned (sort of). I am also trying to make good time on it to hopefully have it running before the end of summer.  Anyway, here is what I've got:

69 J headed 340 block with factory forged crank, speed pro forged pistons and eagle H beam rods. 727 built my TAC transmission that has been sitting in my shed for some years while a junkyard 904 filled its place in the tunnel, 8 3/4 with 4:56 gears.

This is the plan:

-Half fill 340 block, clean up bores, main and head studs
-Install ported W2 heads/Indy Intake I have. Heads flowed 300cfm at .600 lift and ran mid 9's in a 2800 pound A body so they should work nice.
-Hopefully keep C/R around 9:5 to 1 once I check piston to deck height, worst case scenario there is plenty of meat in the heavy Speed Pro's to cut reliefs
-Rig up this used "E body" "SDCE" bracket I bought (in quotes because I really don't know what it is, and I am waiting on SDCE for a reply on that, but I bought it at a good price and I know I can make it work).
-Install D1SC blower and eBay intercooler I have
-Weld up piping
-Install 727 with new Pro Torque converter
-Swap in my 4:10 center section
-Buy a CSU blow through carb
-plumb the Aeromotive A1000 fuel system I have to the sumped tank I am welding up

Looking to hopefully make around 650-700fwhp on the corn juice.

....

[1mean340]

I'm actually heading out now to start welding the sump in. Picked up the tank for $100 and the sump for $40 so now it is just a matter of hoping that the E85 doesn't cause the bare steel to rust up around the welds. I was thinking of using a fuel tank sealer, but the way I see it, coatings are a huge potential failure point and when they fail, they will clog things up fast and bad. If the welds stay submerged, I can't see the moisture in the ethanol causing corrosion without oxygen and if it did, it would be a little bit at a time and very slowly which I can catch by checking the filter. Should have just done stainless LOL

Also going out to work on intercooler piping and the bracket. I am going to have to cut a second aluminum bracket up to support the back end and reduce flex. I am trying to figure out if I want to use my 12 rib pulleys and manual tensioner or the 8 rib "SDCE?" spring tensioner pulley that came with the bracket....or try to find a 12 rib spring tensioned bracket. I think whatever I use as a crank pulley spacer is really going to determine this. It is going to take some time, experimenting and research to get the pulleys/pulley spacing all sorted out.

Is anyone here running an SDCE bracket that they could take pics of? I'd love to see if that's what this bracket really is, or if it's some modified chevy part or something.

All my pics were too big but I'll try to post some later 

[Oldschool]

Sounds like an interesting build. I will follow along as you go. Good luck moving forward and keep us posted...     

[69ChargerRT]

yeah id certainly to like to see pics of this as it comes along

[1mean340]

Thanks Oldschool,

69ChargerRT, Here are some pics of what I have so far. Most of the time has been spent staring at the bracket, measuring piping and trying to get in touch with a few companies regarding crank spacers. I finally started to do some actual work on it yesterday and was able to sump the new tank I bought.

I am having some trouble with my Miller 211's gas feed giving me insufficient shielding gas at the torch even at 40psi on the regulator, hence the black soot and spatter. Welds are sloppy but I pressure tested it and had no leaks.  Going to try to fix the problem before I attack the stainless intercooler piping

Only worry now is using E85 in the steel tank, uncoated.  Hopefully I won't run into any rust issues. The car also doesn't get driven too often, so I am doing some research now on how well fuel stabilizers work with E85. Having E85 sitting in the tank for weeks on end absorbing moisture could really cause some corrosion inside especially around the welded area,  but I could always redo the tank in stainless down the line if I have problems.

Next weekend I am going to try to box up the fender well area that I had to cut out to clear the blower. The bracket I have puts the blower partially into the fender well about an inch at one corner which is another reason that I suspect it wasn't really an E body SDCE bracket like the seller said. It works though, it was cheap, and nothing a little welding can't fix.

[1mean340]

Some pics of the car. It looks clean from a few feet back, but unfortunately it is starting to bubble through bad a few spots, Mainly the front corner of the passenger fender and a bit on the hood. I plan to do the metal work and swap the mirrors out soon then hopefully get somebody who can blend the blue half decent. Kind of a band aid fix, but can't do a full resto now. Whoever painted it did an amazing job at spraying and a terrible job at prep. I am sure there is quite a bit of bondo under there too.

[YellowThumper]

Looks like it will be a fun one to watch.

[1mean340]

Made some progress, not my cleanest work but I am in a big rush getting it done before the end of summer with very little time to work on it so I am happy it is moving along!

It looks like I'll be able to route the piping as I planned based on that quick mock up. The whole setup clears my hood by about 5/8ths of an inch using the low profile procharger carb hat (which will cost me some power but I'd rather keep the current hood).

Next big step is to cut up a support bracket to sit behind the procharger bracket and figure out how I am going to mount that all up (I have the J heads on now, I'll have to mount the W2's for that). I haven't heard back from SDCE yet about whether or not this bracket is theirs or if they can sell me a crank spacer that might work. I am preparing for the worst in having to measure out/have a crank spacer made from scratch somehow. any ideas?

[1mean340]

some more

[RCCDrew]

Awesome!!

[YellowThumper]

Very cool to see.

Gotta like the "bolt ons".
Looks somewhat familiar...

Mike