70 Charger owner from the UK

[phoenixv8]

Hey all,

Chris here. Owner of a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T SE that I imported into the UK in 2019 during lockdown and have done a ground up restoration on it. Locking forward to putting the first miles on the car hopefully later this year. Restoration has taken a while as I have done everything myself except for rechroming the front bumper and the machine work needed on the 440 block under a tent on my driveway as the car is too big to fit in my garage.

The car was bought sight unseen from an unknown buyer on Facebook marketplace and transported from North Dakota down to California where it was shipped to me where I received it in November 2019 looking very sorry for itself. Since then I have completed the bodywork, rebuilt and improved the seized solid 440 and a727 and will finally get the car on the road for some shake down drives in the coming months.

Already I am looking at improvements that I can make as I am in no way interested in keeping the car original due to the fact that it didn't arrive in that way.

Planned upgrades so far are

Suregrip as it currently has an open diff and I'm not about the one tyre fire liftestyle
Rack and pinion steering
Front coilovers to ditch the torsion bar setup
4 link rear suspension
Auto to 5 or 6 speed manual conversion
Brake upgrade at some point

And above all, just enjoy driving the damn thing

See you out there

Chris

 

[Mopar Hunter]

 

[Bob Lynch]

Hello Chris, welcome to the group from Southern CA !!
Some very nice work there so far, you'll be driving the heck out of it in no time.
I had a 727 and did a Tremec TKX 5-Speed Conversion on my '67 GTX from Silver Sport Transmission a few years ago.
SST makes a nice complete kit for the 440, and mine works perfect so far.
Good luck with the project !!

 

[phoenixv8]

Hello Chris, welcome to the group from Southern CA !!
Some very nice work there so far, you'll be driving the heck out of it in no time.
I had a 727 and did a Tremec TKX 5-Speed Conversion on my '67 GTX from Silver Sport Transmission a few years ago.
SST makes a nice complete kit for the 440, and mine works perfect so far.
Good luck with the project !!
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Hi Bob, thanks for the info, Silverline are the company I have been looking at for the kit. What are your thoughts on their offerings? I'm unsure whether to go for the 5 or 6 speed and what ratio rear end to go for so a lot more research will need to be undertaken before I pull my wallet out, but I am always keen to hear about others peoples experiences

 

[ckessel]

Welcome from the central coast of Cal, Chris. Looks like someone started the job of reinforcement on the front end of the car. Anything behind that? Here is a very good read for you on the trans that Greg did.
Tremec 5 speed conversion in a 1970 Charger

 

[Bob Lynch]

Hi Bob, thanks for the info, Silverline are the company I have been looking at for the kit. What are your thoughts on their offerings? I'm unsure whether to go for the 5 or 6 speed and what ratio rear end to go for so a lot more research will need to be undertaken before I pull my wallet out, but I am always keen to hear about others peoples experiences

When you're ready, get in touch with SST and they will give
you some good info and a quote for a complete kit, it's very impressive with all parts included.
It will be designed for your car, year, body, engine, etc...
I waited for a sale to happen and got 10% off my kit.

There are other places too, Brewer's is one of them.
Finding a stock A833 4-speed is a no brainer also if you can get all the linkage and parts with it.

My kit required some very minor tunnel work.
Stayed with my stock 3.23 rear end and got a 5-speed.
I didn't see a need for the 6 speed, I'm a grandpa driver....but shifting is still fun !!!
There are a lot of posts on this site for doing a complete conversion, read up on them for good advice.

 

[phoenixv8]

Welcome from the central coast of Cal, Chris. Looks like someone started the job of reinforcement on the front end of the car. Anything behind that? Here is a very good read for you on the trans that Greg did.
Tremec 5 speed conversion in a 1970 Charger

Not much to go on I'm afraid. The front bars weren't welded in the best so I left them in there after rewelding them as I liked the extra reinforcement. The car was reportedly found out the back of a transmission shop in Nevada by Chris Birdsong who then sold it to the guy I bought it off. The engine was found like you see in the pics, heads off for an indeterminate time and was seized badly enough that one piston came out in 3 pieces. Luckily a 0.030 overbore cleared it up and a 0.020 grind on the crank got rid of some discoloring on the main crank journals. The trans was also FULL of sand/dirt and had been abused well and the front bars in the engine bay also had mounts for motor plates on it, so maybe some sort of burnout/ drag car. No other real clues on the car though as to the life it had besides a multitude of shoddy repairs that I put right

 

[65Bel]

Your efforts to bring this B-Body back to life are worthy of admiration Chris!

 

[phoenixv8]

Your efforts to bring this B-Body back to life are worthy of admiration Chris!

View attachment 1682055

Thank you for the kind words. It has has been a long held dream car of mine and I gave up another project to help fund it (68 Mustang Fastback) and I would have never been able to afford it if I didn't do the work myself. Being in the garage and turning something that has been unloved and abused into a head turner is therapy for me though and I'm looking forward to causing my fair share of whiplash when it hits the admittedly small UK roads

 

[Coelacanth]

Welcome from Alberta, Canada. It's great to see vintage American B-Bodies represented abroad! I'm also restoring a 1970 Charger 500, I think our projects are at a similar stage in the resto process. Mine is finished body & paint and the slow, arduous task of reassembly is starting this spring/summer.

 

[440 4 speed]

Congratulations on your endeavours! Sure looks nice.

 

[Budnicks]

Cool car & build story

welcome to FBBO from way across the globe, NorCal Sierras

 

[Jerry Hall]

Welcome from Alabama, your car is looking great. We will wait for the rest of the story. Congratulations

 

[68sprtsat383]

Welcome

 

[polywideblock]

G'day from Australia

 

[HD539]

Welcome from Washington State.

 

[phoenixv8]

When you're ready, get in touch with SST and they will give
you some good info and a quote for a complete kit, it's very impressive with all parts included.
It will be designed for your car, year, body, engine, etc...
I waited for a sale to happen and got 10% off my kit.

There are other places too, Brewer's is one of them.
Finding a stock A833 4-speed is a no brainer also if you can get all the linkage and parts with it.

My kit required some very minor tunnel work.
Stayed with my stock 3.23 rear end and got a 5-speed.
I didn't see a need for the 6 speed, I'm a grandpa driver....but shifting is still fun !!!
There are a lot of posts on this site for doing a complete conversion, read up on them for good advice.

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately being this side of the pond, chances of coming across a complete A833 package is pretty slim, and if I have to import then I figure it's worth saving up the extra pennies and modernising the transmission.

I appreciate your input and will go delving through the forum to read up on those that have gone before me

 

[uk-maxie]

Hi Chris, I look forward to seeing the finished article! Whereabouts in England are you?

 

[chargervert]

Cool Charger project! 70 Chargers are my favorite Mopars! I have a few of them. You are making great progress on the car! Welcome to the site!

 

[phoenixv8]

Hi Chris, I look forward to seeing the finished article! Whereabouts in England are you?

Hi Maxie, Midlands based for the time being Just off J1 of the M6, you?