Father/Son 1966 charger 383 4spd build thread

[whitetailglass]

My Dad and I are restoring a 1966 Dodge Charger 383 4spd we picked up last month and Ill be documenting all the restoration here in this thread!


Hi guys/ and girls! My names Kyle Welch and I recently purchased a 1966 Charger 383, all numbers matching. My dad and I are currently in the process of restoring it and this site has been so helpful already that I decided to create an account here to document and ask questions from you all!
My Dad's first car ever was a 1966 Charger 383 4 barrel 4spd, so we went out and found this one. Its definitely ROUGH, but fixable.

 

[G.V.Charger]

 

[whitetailglass]

Photo Dump

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

I like it
Great to see a father / son project !

 

[69Bee]

Welcome from AZ...

 

[whitetailglass]

More photo dumping

 

[whitetailglass]

Pulled the engine out yesterday, put it on the stand and started to tear it down. Just dropped the heads off at the machine shop and are ordering a new cam and roller rockers and lifters.

 

[whitetailglass]

 

[Greg Ducato]

Manual Brakes, Manual steering, 383 and a 4 speed. That car was built for hotrodding, have fun with the build, looks like a good foundation.

 

[mr. b]

nice father and son project keep posted on your progress

 

[theman440]

Yikes, that frame rot looks scary! Bitchin' car thou, welcome and good luck.

 

[66ChargerHI-PO]

Hello and Welcome from Connecticut Kyle!

I will definitely be following along as I love Chargers and 4 speed cars, and because my stepdad also has a '66 Charger 383 4bbl car which I am documenting here. Just search "So It Begins, 1966 Charger Restification"

If you are also interested in joining, be sure to check out the 66-67Charger.com website forum. They can help ya out as well as here and they I believe have a page for restoration parts.

Keep up the hard work, besides the frame rot the car looks good.

 

[whitetailglass]

Yikes, that frame rot looks scary! Bitchin' car thou, welcome and good luck.

we bought all new amd frame rails, new inner fenders, new torsion bar crossmember, new firewall, and a new floorpan. Thats the next step of the process is replacing that entire front clip.

 

[whitetailglass]

Hello and Welcome from Connecticut Kyle!

I will definitely be following along as I love Chargers and 4 speed cars, and because my stepdad also has a '66 Charger 383 4bbl car which I am documenting here. Just search "So It Begins, 1966 Charger Restification"

If you are also interested in joining, be sure to check out the 66-67Charger.com website forum. They can help ya out as well as here and they I believe have a page for restoration parts.

Keep up the hard work, besides the frame rot the car looks good.

You're in connecticut? So are we! Northwest ct
Once the car is done we should definitely hit some shows!

 

[66ChargerHI-PO]

You're in connecticut? So are we! Northwest ct
Once the car is done we should definitely hit some shows!

Son of a gun, now I see your profile location. I'm in Berlin. Maybe we can meet up sometime when your car is done, ours won't unfortunately be done for awhile though

 

[440Coronet500]

Welcome from Michigan the Motor City! Great to see a father/son resto! You will always have those memories with you. I'm a big fan of the Gen 1 Chargers. Those interiors are a thing of beauty. 440'

 

[Nate S]

Super cool. If you ever need any help I’m in Harwinton. Can’t be too far away if you’re in “Northwest CT”.

 

[whitetailglass]

Son of a gun, now I see your profile location. I'm in Berlin. Maybe we can meet up sometime when your car is done, ours won't unfortunately be done for awhile though

We're in harwinton! And ours is also not going to be done for some time lol

 

[Fran Blacker]

I'm in Cheshire, close by also.

 

[whitetailglass]

So update as of today, Ive cut the inner fenders off, removed the dash, braced the body, cut the front clip off, removed the torsion crossmember, and cut out most of the floorpan.
We sent the heads out to get cleaned up and beefed up with roller lifters and rockers, and a new camshaft is ordered. The carb was sent out to be rebuilt, and we actually found out that the one that was on the car is actually a Clinton 4299s (which was supposed to be on a 426/440 and ours is a 383) so our carb guy is looking to see if he has the matching afb for our engine, if not the 4299s is being rebuilt and put on the car.

Next is to weld new frame rails, inner fenders, torsion crossmember, and radiator support to the front, patch the holes in the firewall, and start to reassemble.

We also bought two new carports to keep all the tools and parts closer to the workspace