Mauls 1970 challenger build

[mauls]

Hey guys, I'm starting a build on my first Mopar and figured i'd post it here.  I just purchased  a 1970 challenger, B5 blue and originally had a slant 6 in it.  Car came with a 440, and 727 trans.  I have every part necessary except for a rear valance, drive shaft, and front windshield.  Car also came with 3 rear ends, and i'm going to run the dana 60, but I have to get it cut as it came out of a truck.

Plans for the car are a TX9 paint code, black on black.  Rebuild a strong 440 and convert to a manual transmission.

I'm open to any and all advice/criticism

Below are some pictures.  I have all new body panels such as rear quarters, trunk, trunk pan, door skins and hood.  I'm going to purchase new front fenders to complete the package.

[mauls]

Here's the 440, very dirty and lots of sludge









Next week i'll take the block up to get hot tanked, decked and bored out .30 over.
Build plans include:

440 source 512 stroker kit
440 source aluminum heads
Edelbrock performer rpm intake manifold
Holley 850 cfm carb

Taking recommendations on distributor and fuel pump.

What do you think so far for the build?

[ToxicWolf]

Great project. 

[Chryco Psycho]

All you will be using is the block ,
512 " I would use a 950 cfm
 I would use a Mallory 110 electric pump or a HV Carter Mechanical pump with 3.8 fuel lines everywhere including tank pick up

[mauls]

All you will be using is the block ,
512 " I would use a 950 cfm
 I would use a Mallory 110 electric pump or a HV Carter Mechanical pump with 3.8 fuel lines everywhere including tank pick up

Thanks for the info, I prefer to go mechanical so I will look into the HV Carter.  As well as the 950 carb set up.

Anyone have any idea why I have those perfect circle holes in my doors?  Car came that way and was just curious, if they shouldn't be there I will get them filled.

[mauls]

Nothing exciting here but here's a few updates.

Tore the block completely down and it's off to the engine shop to get hot tanked, bored .30 over and decking the block
This thing was one of the dirtiest engines I've torn down






I'm replacing pistons, rods etc, but the bearings were pretty bad in this engine, a lot of deep scoring on a few of them.  I don't think it had much life left in it.

While i'm waiting for the block to get back i figured i'd start on the body.  While i'm waiting for my new fenders to arrive I figured I'd start cleaning the surface rust off the inner fenders and get them looking sharp.  Here's the progress so far.

[1970 RT Challenger 1970]

Looking good!

[mauls]

Got some new goodies yesterday.  Two new left/right AMD front fenders, and the 512 Stroker kit.







I went with the 440,   .30 over kit with -17 dish pistons.  I figure with that setup and their 80 cc aluminum heads I should be pretty close to 10.1 compression.

Now that the shop has the pistons, they can finish the bore on the block.  Also what I thought was strange with this 440 kit is that I had to lightly hone the bushings in the rods?  You think they would do that before they sent them out.

[ToxicWolf]

Thanks for the info, I prefer to go mechanical so I will look into the HV Carter.  As well as the 950 carb set up.

Anyone have any idea why I have those perfect circle holes in my doors?  Car came that way and was just curious, if they shouldn't be there I will get them filled.

Are you talking abour side mirror holes?

[mauls]

Are you talking abour side mirror holes?

Yeah I was but I think I got the question answered in another thread

[mauls]

I got the rest of the car gutted today, removed all of the interior and to my surprise the floors weren't as bad as I had planned.  Just a couple small spots need some patching, I don't think it's worth  putting in a full patch panel at all.

The entire trans tunnel will be removed and i'm putting in the 4 speed patch panel to accommodate room for the manual trans.  So i'm going to fix the small spots, then remove the rest of the surface rust and should be good to go.

[mauls]

Also I got the engine bay almost ready for a coat of paint.  Most of it is stripped down to bare metal.



For the K Member, I have a spare big block E Body K member laying around, so I'm going to just rebuild that one, then simply swap them out.  While I do that I plan to upgrade to the thicker Torsion bars.

Picked up this little guy this weekend.  It's not my ideal setup, but due to funds I will go with this 4 speed for now then upgrade to the Tremec 5 speed setup down the road.

[jimynick]

Looks good and you're making progress. If it makes you feel any better, the very first engine I pulled apart took  weeks worth of motor mechanics class to chisel the gunge out of it. Should be a nice car! 

[mauls]

Looks good and you're making progress. If it makes you feel any better, the very first engine I pulled apart took  weeks worth of motor mechanics class to chisel the gunge out of it. Should be a nice car! 

Thanks!  While the funds are low i'm working on the manual labor pieces.  I'm out of town for work next week but hope when I get back my block will be ready for pick up.  I decided to get mine hot tanked, i've had great luck with that in the past, it made my 455 in my buick look brand new!

[mauls]

Picked up the block from the machine shop last Friday.  Turned out great!







Got a fresh coat of paint her






Going to assemble the rest of the stroker kit when I get back in town, and go from there