LS Swapped 69 Charger

[oztornado]

If thats what gets it going and on the road, good job. Looks like good work and easily reversible if you were to ever sell it to a purist. Its not like you need to have the hood open or tell everyone whats under the hood, and in that case it's another great sounding v8 powered charger cruising the street. Congrats.

 

[Pritchert403]

I guess you could look at it this way even though many won’t admit it how many top fuel cars have Chrysler alky Hemis under the tilt up lid or under that gm or ford body... I guess those are boring too? But seriously a charger with a big block boring... ?

Top fuel cars ARE boring. Purely because they’re basically all the same, there’s no uniqueness to them. Same goes for big block powered mopars. IMO once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. That’s why I like my car so much, it’s something unique that no one else will ever have

 

[WP29440SE]

Top fuel cars ARE boring. Purely because they’re basically all the same, there’s no uniqueness to them. Same goes for big block powered mopars. IMO once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. That’s why I like my car so much, it’s something unique that no one else will ever have

that's where your wrong. everybody and their brothers , sisters and husbands are shoving those boring *** ls crap engines in everything with wheels on the planet. once you've seen an ls swap you've seen them all. it's boring as hell and been done a million times over already. there is absolutely nothing unique about them. it's just an excuse for the lack of knowledge to put together a badass 800 hp big block Mopar. it's completely lame. thank goodness I can make it disappear with a simple click.

 

[Pritchert403]

When was the last time you saw an LS in a 69 charger though? Bet this is the first one. The car it’s in is the reason it’s unique. But since you’ve brought it up, “lack of knowledge” isn’t any reason for not building a BBM, cost is. Why would I choose to spend $5k+ to make 800hp when I could spend 1500 and do the same thing?

 

[Kern Dog]

That’s why I like my car so much, it’s something unique that no one else will ever have

....or want!
If you like it, that is fine but you are pissing into the wind trying to get many Mopar guys to accept this. You could have gone with a totally stock late model 6.4 Hemi and had 500 HP naturally aspirated. This would have kept the car all Mopar and had just as reliable of an engine as any LS mill. You picked a Chevy engine because it was cheap. That is why so many guys do it. I do understand that they can make great power for less bucks but to use it in a Mopar is just bullshit, man. Build a Nova, a Vega or a mid 70s Camaro.
Sure, the sight of a Charger with a 440 is pretty common and I will admit that they do get repetitive when every car you see looks the same. You took it too far though by going with a Chevy engine. Good luck even finding 1% of the Mopar crowd that will accept it.

 

[Pritchert403]

....or want!
If you like it, that is fine but you are pissing into the wind trying to get many Mopar guys to accept this. You could have gone with a totally stock late model 6.4 Hemi and had 500 HP naturally aspirated. This would have kept the car all Mopar and had just as reliable of an engine as any LS mill. You picked a Chevy engine because it was cheap. That is why so many guys do it. I do understand that they can make great power for less bucks but to use it in a Mopar is just bullshit, man. Build a Nova, a Vega or a mid 70s Camaro.
Sure, the sight of a Charger with a 440 is pretty common and I will admit that they do get repetitive when every car you see looks the same. You took it too far though by going with a Chevy engine. Good luck even finding 1% of the Mopar crowd that will accept it.

Never tried to get anyone to accept it lol. Just sharing my project

 

[Fran Blacker]

Never tried to get anyone to accept it lol. Just sharing my project

Friend has/had a 66 Belvedere I 6cyl car converted to a Hemi. Think his son may own it now. Bought a 65 Satellite and was looking at Hemi engine prices, said he couldn't see spending 20k on a Hemi. He bought a 502 Chevy and a 6 speed conversion 15k. You aren't alone.

 

[70chall440]

Friend has/had a 66 Belvedere I 6cyl car converted to a Hemi. Think his son may own it now. Bought a 65 Satellite and was looking at Hemi engine prices, said he could see spending 20k on a Hemi. He bought a 502 Chevy and a 6 speed conversion 15k. You aren't alone.

And a 502 is as good as a hemi how exactly? I don't see any rhyme or reason as to why this would even happen; the guy wanted a Hemi but they are too expensive, I got that but instead of going 440, 383, 426W, 5.7, 6.1, 6.4 he goes 502 Chevy... pure laziness IMO.

 

[Thrashingcows]

I find it amusing how bent out of shape people get with a swap like this...it's called hot rodding! You take parts and pieces from other cars, due to desire, artistic vision, or finances, and build a car to your own tastes, hot rodders have been doing this for close to a 100 years now. Has nothing to do with being lazy, cheap, or unknowledgeable.

Yes I know this site is predominately about keeping it all Mopar with survivor, original, restored, restified, or hot rodded B-bodies but I think it should also embrace the people who think outside the box and maybe build a machine that is not so cookie cutter. For every one mopar powered by a SBC, SBF, LS or other power plant there are 100's of the exact same car out there that are restored to original specs, so really it has very little affect on the hobby in general other then ruffling a few feathers.

So regardless of your personal views on motor swaps I say encourage a young person like this to keep going in the old car hobby, there are few enough taking up the wrench these days.

 

[DanielG]

It looks good to me. Thanks for sharing. Nice car. It's yours---do what you want!! Ignore the haters.

 

[chargervert]

Much cooler than the thousands of boring big block powered chargers

Saying that is like saying that you are bored with hot chicks with large tits! Too stupid!

 

[ACME A12]

I agree with the "His car, his call" crowd. It really is just that simple. It's not for me, but it's not my car...

At least he's not building some wrong-wheeled drive POS with less displacement than a plastic Coke bottle like most of the rest of his generation...

 

[3PlyHemi]

Sweet looking build and I love that it's clearly stirred the pot here! I'd be happy to pit my 5.7 satellite against it one day for a little late model competition! Glad to see there's plenty of young blood getting interested in projects like this.

 

[Jarven1977]

Not something I would do but what the hell, it's your car, do what you want with it! And thank god the black paint is just temporary, that was way more upsetting.. the 400lbs drop on the front end is simply amazing and probably does wonders to the handling! Looking forward to see what's coming next!

 

[Pritchert403]

Took the charger out for the first time with the turbo. Unfortunately it blew the oil cap off and sprayed oil EVERYWHERE lol. Other than that it ran pretty good, still needs lots of tuning though

 

[Hemirunner]

Took the charger out for the first time with the turbo. Unfortunately it blew the oil cap off and sprayed oil EVERYWHERE lol. Other than that it ran pretty good, still needs lots of tuning thoughView attachment 1024259 View attachment 1024260

You need some breathers in the valve covers on that thing and a catch can.

 

[Pritchert403]

You need some breathers in the valve covers on that thing and a catch can.

I've got a catch can but I had the lines wrong so it was boosting the crankcase. Just changed it up so we'll see if it happens again

 

[Hemirunner]

What are you using for engine management? Aftermarket eFI?

 

[Pritchert403]

What are you using for engine management? Aftermarket eFI?

Holley Terminator X. It was only few hundred bucks more than a standalone harness and factory computer and is wayyy more tunable and user friendly

 

[Hemirunner]

Holley Terminator X. It was only few hundred bucks more than a standalone harness and factory computer and is wayyy more tunable and user friendly

Yeah I’m using Holley Dominator. Love it, although it’s way smarter than I am, lol.