Dave999's Aussie Charger

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Dave999
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Dave999's Aussie Charger

Post by Dave999 »

Well everyone else seems to have pics n progress so i thought i'd post as well

Bought this in Australia in 2002
went out there is 2000 for 6 months and stayed for 3 years
intention was to buy a VW split screen van or oval window beetle
I got a bit side tracked after reading an article about chargers in NZ classic car on the way to Oz.

This one was in Syndey Motor Museum.
Its a VH Valiant Charger RT 2BBL one of 1300 RTS
it was no 439 off the production line in October 1971
It was sold to the main distribution centre near syndey where it will have stayed until a smaller dealer needed a new one for their show room. It therfore appears as a 'fleet' order in the CA Ltd pty records.

Its odd
its an RT but it has Aircon. One of only 5 that did, that means all windows should be tinted it also means it got pop out rear windows. but it has front 1/4 vent fronts which is odd 1/4 vents and RT don't fit.

History is generaly unknown
the car was spotted in the mid 90s under in a garage under a house in heathcoat NSW
the engine had been removed and the owner was trying to sell it on as a more desriable E37 engined version. He failed as although the factory had chalked the E37 option under the dash as a production line hint, you can't have it and aircon at the same time.
This mismatch alone was enough to make some suspicious, hence it remained unsold for a long time
the compliance plate correctly identifies it as a none E37 car with H51 Aircon option.
it was eventually bought by the bloke i got it off who did a semi restoration
got it sprayed and replaced the doors

non standard parts
Its got a 4 speed Borgwarner single rail manual box.
It should have a 3 speed (essentially a 4 speed box missing its first gear)
its got a 2.92:1 diff ratio should be 3.23:1
its got a bosch coil and a chevy HEI ignition module instead of points

It came to the UK in a container with our 3 piece suite on top of it and
I spent a happy summer hooning it about insured on the chassis number with the aussie plates still on :)

its now been here 4 years and the rust had taken hold so this summer the bottom foot and a half all way round got stripped welded and repainted


Dave
Last edited by Dave999 on Tue Aug 14, 07 5:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dave999
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Post by Dave999 »

added some roller tipped roller bearinged aluminum rockers from Yella Terra last summer

these things cost about $2500AUD yella terra rather than street terra
however i came by mine via another source

Bloke with a ford windsor had a disaster and i picked up the 12 working (just about) rockers that were left

so i bought them for little £ on ebay
got myself a set of measuring tools measured all dimensions, checked out with YellaTerra
bought new trunnions bearings and clips
bought new studs.
made use of fridge and oven to ensure press fit bearings went in easy
good set or rockers for about £170 on parts and £60 purchase.

all on and working well
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Ivor
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Post by Ivor »

In future Dave you may find the rockers will be better with a little tarragon and garlic, basted regularly with the juices from the meat.

Looks great mate, bonzer motor! :thumbright:
The pump don’t work coz the vandals took the handles.

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Dave999
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Post by Dave999 »

OK now the fun starts

Car has 2 barrel carter BBD carb. In fact the whole inlet is designed to allow you to pull your boat out of the water filled with bilge at just over tickover RPM but never allow you to go much over 4500 rpm.
Engine of course has a reputation for longevity.

Now my motor is a unknown quantitiy
i was told it was set up with 9.5:1 CR and a longer duration cam
but that was by a bloke who has since tuned out to be less than reliable. :)

So i have a 4.3 liter six with 1.96 inch inlet valves and 1.5 inch exhaust
can't remeber the lift but its not too shabby either.
ports a big and square and pretty direct to the back of the valve and there is a nice bowled region

size of motor really does point to a 465 holley

but where's the fun in that

i know of numerouse slightly baffled chaps in Oz who swear they have had much more success with 600 vac sec holleys and 650 AVS carters
so we went with an edelbrock/weber version of the AVS.

(note 3.5 and 4 liter Rover V8s like a 550 AVS)

so I needed a manifold

can hack out ya 2bbl manifold and fit a new adaptor but it just makes fuel distribution worse. you end up staying with 3 inch runners to cylinder 3 and 4 and 6 inch runners to 1 and 6 with e near right angle bend in them

get a big whopper my son was the advice

so i bought a hemi hurricane hot out of the foundery
an item that has since been withdrawn due to casting issues. great

So i thought i'd better get on and fit it to see if the casting issues affect me.

have chosen to go a bit old school on the gasket front and am using an expanded graphite gasket as per circa 1930 these have a good 2-mm crush.

the metal and asbestos malarkey that coame off had obviously been chuffing for a long time.

anyway

pics
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Anonymous

Post by Anonymous »

6 pot power wayhay looking good mate
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Dave999
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Post by Dave999 »

Ivor wrote:In future Dave you may find the rockers will be better with a little tarragon and garlic, basted regularly with the juices from the meat.

Looks great mate, bonzer motor! :thumbright:

exactly

the smell of degreaser and burnt engine oil permated the sunday roast for weeks.

i think garlic works as an aroma version of swarfega

Dave
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Anonymous

Post by Anonymous »

Great story Dave - can we have some more pictures please? That original carb is well small isnt it. The new one looks more like it.


Very nice looking car - mustard! :lol: :thumbright: :thumbright:
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Post by Cannonball »

great stuff dave,
the bit that surprises me with this 6cyl thing is every one i have ever come in to contact with are knockin rattlin breathin horrible things but keep running, is that whats meant by unburstable, they are always knackered and gutless but keep goin forever,
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Post by Stu »

Cannonball wrote:great stuff dave,
the bit that surprises me with this 6cyl thing is every one i have ever come in to contact with are knockin rattlin breathin horrible things but keep running, is that whats meant by unburstable, they are always knackered and gutless but keep goin forever,
:lol: You're quite right, Dunc. Ours is still leaking like a sieve and popping and banging, but just won't give up! :D Should be fixed at the weekend, though, performing open heart surgery again! :roll:

I was amazed when I saw this car in the flesh at Pod, Dave. Very nice indeedy! :thumbright:
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Post by Anonymous »

Are you mistaking this for the /6 dunc? The Aussie Hemi 6 was a different animal entirely. In E49 trim with the triple Webbers they made 302bhp!!!
Brian J

Post by Brian J »

never seen or heard that aussie mtr but all mopar and chevy sixpots seem knackered tom listen to
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Dave999
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Post by Dave999 »

many thanks for the comments chaps

Mr Bratby makes a good point
the leaning tower of power that this the /6 only has 4 main bearings
mines proper, its got 7 and a shorter rod length. still rattles though.
hemi 6 was designed to replce /6 on a world wide scale. all made in Oz. but US pulled out and left the aussies with a very expensive engine plant and the local market only to service......less than 20,000 engines.

was desinged to be 245 265 or 300 CI. The 300 never happend so all internals are a bit over engineered. especially overkill in the 215 version.

historic racers rev em to 7000 but that involves balancer and oilpump upgrades however they do it quite nicely on the original crank rods and occasionally pistons. but no one makes any decent pistons.

They rattle cos the cam won't stay where it should, mine is held in by a bolt through the timing cover and a double row chain (chrysler reccomendation) :)

that and never getting the exhaust and inlet to seal properly makes for a noisy chuffing engine. however they sound fantastic with open header and 6000 rpm.

Plans

well

I went to the nats and had a little pootle up the strip.
ideally i'd like to go faster, but fast and budget don't sit well in the same sentence. so the plan is to be realistic and take it easy.
Factory race version E38 E49 of this car pulled a 14 second 1/4 out of the show room. only real difference was higher CR extractors and 3 webers

I want mine to do that

Now i can't drive
ive got an unknown quantity for a motor
and a 1 legged 2.92:1 diff
have a house child mrs etc who like to use money for other things that are not car related so progress may be slow.

now

3 45 or 48 mm webers or dellortos are about £2000 (no chance)

A 4 barrel is about £250 so I've started with that my CR is up from the standard 9.5:1 but god knows what, head has been skimmed
I don't have fully floating piston pins but frankly..... i don't care

I keeping the old exhaust manifold. its a 2 outlet cast iron lump of lump its never going to rust out and its flanges are 1/2 inch thick and will not warp break off etc these things work about as well as a cheap press bent set of headers with a lot less grief, and are so much better than the standard 1 outlet pea shooter.

just got to get it off the inlet manifold. They bolt together so a little stove like arrangement can heat up the bimetallic choke and inlet manifold from beneath. the lot has been joined in unholy matrimony since 1971, you can only get a ring spanner into to two of the bolts so i anticpate the whole lot getting kicked down the garden about 45 minutes after i start working on it.

wickes built throttle clamp (see pic i'm well proud of that) will be swapped to the other side....i really want to keep me washer bottle.

looks like I might need to cut off the top of the shock.... unless i want a hole punched in me new manifold base. that or a big chain to hold the engine still.

once that is done we will see if it improves anything.....lets face it it may not.

next up is a nearly completed laptop programmable ignition
its got shift light, rev limiter, 3 rev actuated programmable outputs for triggering things..................................
bunch of flowers at 2000 rpm
tea and toast at 3k
and raise the antenna at 5k

ten BINs BINS??? well bits to say what happens and when
two maps switchable on the fly from a wee button on the gearstick or wheel if you so desire.
interpolates between bins (soon)
1/16th of a degree accuracy and multispark under 3000 if i get the right bit of V6 Ford Mondeo.
Gotta be easier than welding slots and messing with springs.
recon it will cost about £150 and about 10 hours work all up.

after that we have a set of 3.9:1 gears on their way
got a spare diff
got a 2 pinion gear, cone LSD. its a bit limp
on the lookout for a knackerd Gen 111 Chev camaro to borrow a centre out of, same company (spicer light axel) stronger centre, wrong side gears and cones. will do a swapsie with the 2 pinion centre and maybe get a bit of machining done. should end up with an axle near as strong as a dana 44 which aint that strong but adequate for my plans. mind good enough for holden ford nissan TVR marcos Lotus carlton and toyota so good enough for me

might go 3.23 dunno yet 3.9s verging on silly for getting anywhere a long way away.

Mmmm

need new stickers as well missing my hemi 265 and Charger RT decals at the mo.

got a few pics of the car but all the same

will post something more interesting soon

see ya

Dave
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Post by latil »

Something obscure.
Indian Mahindra Jeep CJ3B's have Dana 44 axles,not limited slip and
maybe made from candy metal. Whole shebang made under licence from Jeep.
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Dave999
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Post by Dave999 »

the trax jeep in soutch africa got the same borgwarner axle as my car got but made under licence in SA however local mopars got a whole range !!!!

and seemingly the dana 44 design was used by the factory that made the IRS centres for Jags and is now part owned by dana spicer.
So the legendary Jag rear end is dana 44 derivative as well

so ya salisbury diff is now a dana diff or indeed a spicer axle

aaaaaarrrrrgh

can you tell i read a lot of old twaddle when looking up 4 pinion gear centres

dave
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Rich

Post by Rich »

can you tell i read a lot of old twaddle when looking up 4 pinion gear centres

dave[/quote]

Yep!!! :D :D :read2: :D :D
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