Yeah, I come here regularly, just have not had much to post until we got started. It is a Charger, not a cuda.....hehe
I picked the charger, just because I always dug that body style and missed one when I was 16 because I could not afford the insurance on the 400.....whoa big 155hp scared the insurance companies in 1974. Anyway, I found a perfect 72 SE in Arizona when I was out there this past January for the Barrett Jackson auction. Since it was not a special car, it is ideal for modernizing.
The new frontend bolts up like a glove, no issues at all. I told John and crew at XV that I would report things as they went, not hide any issues. However, other than a length issue on a brace (11/2 inch short my car is a 72 and their brace was made based on a 70) everything looks good so far. I am doing the work at a shop where two guys work on it part time. They have the equipment there that I just don't have in my home shop, plus, one is a great machinist, so he can make parts as needed.
The one draw back that I can see is that you can not get the XV cars real low, for "the look" that is hot right now, but the car will sit fine, and will handle like a dream. I looked at several options, including the alterKtion stuff and decided I wanted the XV parts. They just seemed to bee the best on the market to me. When the C-5 based spindles, the brake options are better too IMO. I will have pictures up as soon as my web guy gets them hosted on musclerides, and I will post a link. No need in using everyone's bandwidth. The really nice thing about redoing the rearend of a Dodge/Plymouth of those years, you can get a decent tire under the rearend without minitubbing. I am using 295s on the rear, and probably could squeeze more if I lipped the quarters.
Anyway, more to come soon, now that we are working on the car daily.
