70 Hemi Road Runner Street Monster build

[YellowThumper]

Read thru all your updates. Nice progress.
Be careful on the "shop" equipment. They will suck your money and time dry as much as a Mopar will. Lol.

Mike.

[70chall440]

Thanks for the heads up but I think it is too late... LOL I do like having a versatile shop though.

[70chall440]

Shop work continues; I've been meaning to upgrade/rebuild my bead roller for some time. This is a Harbor Freight unit which I modified and motorized. It worked/s well but it had some flex in it I didn't like plus it looked like crap. I added some bracing on the top, back and sides and then painted it a very nice blue. I have a lot of dies for this machine and it comes in very handy at times.

I am not working on putting DROs (digital Read Out) on my mill for the Z axis (up and down). I am putting a DRO on the spindle as well as the knee since either/both can be manipulated during a machining operation. I am waiting on a new DRO scale for the lathe, I ordered the wrong one so now I have to wait.

I also worked on improving the lighting around my machines; ended up buying some LED lights at HF and Home Depot (which has a really nice/small 1000 Lumen LED light for $17). I took the HD light and added 2 2" magnets to it and have one of them placed on my mill. I also bought a desk LED that was on sale and has a flexible neck. I added a 3" magnet to the bottom and have that on my verticle mill/drill. I still need to figure out what light to put on the lathe but I am going to wait until I have the DRO mounted so I can see what room I am left with.

[YellowThumper]

That should be plenty sturdy.
I have DRO's on my home mill and lathe. Nice to have.

[70chall440]

Thanks and I agree, I used it the other day and it works well.

I am waiting on my trunk gutters from AMD, ordered them back in November but I guess they are moving. They sent me a tracking number so I should get them soon. I got my pipe bender set up and ordered some pipe so I should be getting to the snout bars soon. Also, Hemi Denny is sending me some tubular LCA's, I need to order some tubular UCAs and then I cam start to make the front end. I need to figure out shock lengths though.

I've been looking for some decent front calipers, I want to use something that is "take off" and has at least 4 pistons; I found some off of a 92-95 Toyota 4 runner that look good. I really wanted to go with something like the Brembo units than they out on SRT cars but they are still spendy, although I might try and get some used ones. Dr. Diff has some hubs that will work and then I can get hats and rotors from Wilwood.

A buddy sent me this picture/drawing but this is kind of what I am thinking.

[70chall440]

Before I get slammed, obviously I am not going to be using a Chevy engine... LOL

[mrob]

How about late model Mustang brakes? I seem to remember a guy at Dodgecharger.com that made a caliper bracket for B-bodies.
Let me see if I can find a link and post it.

[70chall440]

I would consider it, as far as the brackets I can fabricate my own once I decide on the caliper. I know they used a Brembo product on one of the newer mustangs.

[mrob]

Ok, here's the link from the Dodge Charger site. Hopefully, you'll be able to see everything including the pics.

I just mention it because I think using OEM parts is usually better as far as maintenance, parts availability and longevity is concerned.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,122780.0.html

I think Dr. Diff has a similar set-up available on his website. Good luck!

[70chall440]

Thanks for that, I looked through the entire thread, a lot of good information there. The actual adapter is not that hard to make, I did it for my 73 Cuda. I will look for some calipers and then decide how to proceed from there, I have many other things to get to before brakes but this is my process, do the research well in advance of the application.

[70chall440]

I am thinking Mustang calibers are a definite contender.

[jimynick]

I am thinking Mustang calibers are a definite contender.

Mike, the old saying used to be "why try to re-invent the wheel?" and it's good to see you're on top of that. Why not Mustang calipers indeed?! 

[70chall440]

I completely agree, no reason to try invent something that already exists.

[YellowThumper]

There is/was a Charger build on theturboforums. Like many many builds, it seems to have died. Page 4 and 5 have pics of how he converted front drums to Mustang discs and calipers.
There was also some good details on custom bracketry as well.

Mike.

[70chall440]

Thanks, if you post some links I will check it out. I email myself any pictures I want to post and in doing that it allows me to change the size.