Project "Endless Challenge" 4l80E, dry sumped 500 wedge

[ntstlgl1970]

Where are you going to mount your fuel pump? In tank or ?? I'm running the same pump and the housing on it is so rediculously large it leaves few mounting locations (external anyway). I ended up mounting mine on the frame rail since it was the only place I could put it that is lower than the level of the pickup.

[Tubbed440]

Well, I have not got to that point yet - but I had planned on sinking the fuel cell through the trunk floor - or maybe even making one that is similar to the stock tank and putting it under the trunk floor.  If I go that route, I will more than likely mount the pump to the front of the fuel cell as low as I can - between the cell and the rear end.  I had not planned on putting it in-tank, but that's another idea that I may have to explore.

[TROUBLE987]

hey!! nice challenger you building,quick question what kind of headers are you running?they look like they fit pretty good..

[Tubbed440]

hey!! nice challenger you building,quick question what kind of headers are you running?they look like they fit pretty good..

The ones that are pictured are TTI's 2 inch primary headers for A,B,E body cars.  They fit real good, but are a little low for my tastes.  My car is SUPER low to start with, so a car at normal ride height would not have any issues.  I decided to sell them a while back and I ordered a stainless weld up kit so I can custom make my headers.  I should be getting to that in the coming weeks.  Thanks for the compliments!!!

[Tubbed440]

So, today I started something that I have been meaning to do for a long time.  I never really liked the way I made and installed the first set of frame connectors.  Lots of things have changed since then anyways - the car was originally just going to be a street strip kinda thing with the existing drive train that I used to have - then I built a stroker, then I wanted EFI, then the OD trans....etc....you get the picture.  This also kinda came as a necessity due to the fact that the bottom of the car is 5 inches off of the ground.  I needed to get the exhaust up in the bottom of the car, so I was going to have to make some changes - and some cuts in the SF connectors to get the exhaust routed. 

Here's what I started with.





The existing SF connectors are 2x2.  That doesn't leave much section width to cut for exhaust.  I bought some 2x3 to put in it's place - and move the SFC up into the car a good bit too.

Here you can see more of the original one.


Out with the old.....



In with the new.....  You can see I butted the top of the tubing with the top of the frame rail  - unlike the original ones.





All welded up.



..and a shot just for fun.



What I don't have pics of at the moment is the floor board modification.  The floor tilts downward towards the back of the car, and I moved it up to be level with the front of the floor.  I did this to give clearance for the mufflers/pipe.   The idea here this week is to get the cage finished up so I can get the engine/trans in the car and start making the headers.   I broke my bandsaw blade today, so progress is going to be a little slow.  I've had to revert back to the ol' chop saw - it's kinda like using a shot gun instead of a sniper rifle - if you catch my drift.  Now that I TIG most of the time, I feel the same way about MIG and TIG.  MIG is the sawed off shotgun, and the TIG is the sniper rifle....

[Tubbed440]

Driver's side....



...and all done up.





I'll mess with the floor more after I get the engine and trans in the car.  I'll have a better idea of where the drive shaft will be, how far it will travel, etc. 

So, in the mean time, I started mocking the front of the cage up.  I put the dash in the car and put the A-pillar bars in.  I had already bent these bars a while back, but I had never fitted the passenger side bar.  I also had to clearance that side of the dash for the passenger bar too.  Here's a view from the font.





Magic dissapearing A-pillar bars!!





Made the cross bar that goes under the dash.  This one fits right nice.  Just over the steering column and under the brake pedal frame.

[Tubbed440]

Started making the down bars too.  I'm not too fond of the way this is turning out (aesthetics, that is).  It should carry the front end loads quite well.  The front bars actually meet the a-pillar bar under the dash in the same spot as the cross bar, creating a node.   From that exact node, the door bar will connect and connect with the main hoop - so it should be a very sound install - just not as high in the car as I would like. 



Kind of a bad camera angle ( the bar looks like it's going down as it goes back, but in reality, it's going up a slight bit).  At any rate, the reason I did not go higher is the cowl.  I would have to drill all the spot welds and remove the cowl in order to cut the hole in the firewall correctly so it would seal around the bar (so it could be welded).  It's hard to describe, but if you have a challenger and have explored this area, you know exactly what I am talking about.



Here's a shot with the fender hung on it.  Still trying to get used to the look, but this is still a mock-up phase - so I may just weld that hole up, get a spot weld drill and take the cowl off.   Like I said before, mechanically, it's going to be just as sound as any other, I just don't like the way it looks.

[geminiviper]

Nice work!   

[Tubbed440]

Not a whole lot of progress last night, but enough to say I did something.   Got most all the cage welded up permanent.  I'm going to replace the roof skin, so that will make it easier to weld the top of the halo and a-pillar bars later on.  RE-visiting the down bars in the front of the car.  Had Jarret welding bend another bar using my existing one as a pattern (for the driver's side) 20 bucks FTW. .  Made a new hole in the firewall to move the back of the bar up some, so it looks a bit better, and should function a little better too.  I'll get some pics up after tonight's jam session.  I hope to have the engine and trans back in the car by the end of the weekend so I can work on fabbing the headers up next week.  Another notable is the fact that I figured out how to make the dash removable once the cage is all welded up, which makes "final touches" and painting a bit easier.  It seems to be coming together rather nicely. 

I finally set the big ol radiator in the front of the car last night too, looks right at home.  I can hardly wait to start the plumbing of the oil and coolant system.  It might not be all that fast when I get done, but it might look like a space shuttle under the hood when all the plumbing finished.

[Tubbed440]

As some of you may know, I Have been making a second intake manifold.  I have used a new workflow to put this one together, so it seems to be coming together with a whole lot less finish work.

Here you can see what I kinda started with.  Getting the intake runner radius inside the plenum of the first intake was a *****.  You can see the work flow in the pics.



..after a pass on the band saw..


after a pass on the mill with a corner rounding end mill....



Welds getting better....this is the 0.060 to 1/2 inch.  Hard to do.



After some cartridge roll shaping...








This one still need a little blending.



The engine side.

[The Cuda Guy]

Thoes fram connectors ae awesome!  The whole car is coming along nicely!!!  Good luck with the rest of the project!

Don

[boydsdodge]

Holy Sh.., WOW Man.

[Tubbed440]

Thanks fellas.  I think I'm going to sit in my chair tonight instead of working on the car.  Last night was a late one, and today came real early.  I should have some progress pics tomorrow night or Sunday. 

[Tubbed440]

A little more progress today....

Got the cage welded up today.  I was thinking I was done, but I still have the door bars to put in.



I was left with this extra hole seeing as how I moved the bar.  Now you see it......



Now you don't.



Driver's side welded in - this was a total ***** - you'll see what I'm talking about in the next couple of pics.


In order to have access to weld up the side of the bar closest to the inside of the car, I had a cut an access hole.



......and all plugged up now.   



Tomorrow, I'll try and get some door bars in it, get the ladder bar cross member welded back in and maybe get a dummy engine with the trans in the car.  I'm going to try and start fabbing the headers later next week.

[Challenger III]

Wow, you have a lot of talent! Great job on your project.