lear4406

I just tagged and insured my 71 Challenger and hit the road again. I put 2 new tires in the back and slotted, cross drilled rotors up front. I also put a new master cylinder on it. Gave her a bath and hit the road. It was great because the weather here in SC on Sat. was in the 70's. Kowalski rides again.I took her straight to the gas station and filled the tank with premium, $2.15 a gallon. Then I proceded to drive over to the muffler shop and have the guys install my new stainless steel quad tips. This car sounds awsome. Just the feel a V-8 as it goes through the gears, its been a while. I'm going to get my brother to come back to SC next weekend and drive one of my cars back to NC. Then I can drive the Challenger back and forth to work on nice days. It has 3.91 rear gears so we will more than likely drive down I85 at night or early in the morning. 55 MPH and I'm above 3000 rpm. On I85 they like to drive at 85 mph and they would run me over at 65 mph. The car needs a paint job and some new bumpers, I took a few pictures of her and will post as soon as I can. Ya'll take care and have a nice weekend.

lear4406

Heres my starting point, in a year it will be awsome.



I now have the stainless steel quad tips on.





Pistol grip and the interior in the making


My GTX, Challenger, and son's Charger Daytona

MGDMike

Sweet! [sm=drooldude.gif] You got the rear tire low on the GTX on purpose? Came back from the strip maybe?

lear4406

The GTX has a 440 6pack and it does move out nicely. But the tires are low from sitting. The GTX is the next on the list for a complete resoration. It is a #s matching 440-4bbl car and I am looking for a resoration shop in NC. If anyone knows a real good shop for the body and interior, please let me know. This car is original down to the shocks. The only thing that is not original is the engine. Its a 78 HP 440 with a purple shaft cam. I have access to a 1970 440 block and heads.

RLSH700

The exterior looks very nice on the Challenger so far, good luck on the interior. That pistol grip looks sweet.

lear4406

Well we left out Sun. morning 11:00, weather in 70's. Me in the Challenger, my brother Jim in my Stealth. We stopped at the gas station filled the tanks up with 93 oct. $2.09 a gallon. Left Seneca SC with 190 miles of interstate in front of us. I have 3.91 rear gears with a 3-speed automatic. Not too bad for 60 mph. But when we hit I-85 it has 65-70 and to keep up I had to run 4000 rpm. We stopped after 80 miles to check everything out and to top off my tank. 8 gallons of NC high test $2.49 and only 10 miles to the gallon out of the 340. Man what a ride, I found out I have a leak in the rear main. It got bad the last half of the ride through Charlotte, where it looked like I was spraying for bugs. But once I got the r's down to a modest 2500, no trace of an oil cloud. I will be calling Mr. Kiesler about his 5-speed manual trannys. All in all a good trip, the stealth used 6 gallons and the Challenger 18 gallons of gas. I put a 1/2 a quart of 20W50 into the Challenger when I got to NC and it held 65 pounds of pressure at 3500 RPM's. The engine has 25000 miles since a rebuild in 1986. I think the car did well for it sitting for 4 years. We had a great time and now I can drive it around Kannapolis until I have it repainted.

jdb840

Your car looks great. Good luck on the interior, its not as hard as you think to do it yourself.

I've been wanting a 5 speed as well for my chally, one day when I have the money it will be mine.

lear4406

Nice Challenger R/T. Your car is awsome. [:-]Tell me a little more about it, is it a automatic or stick. If you can post more pictures please Is it a big block? And do you drive it on the street very often? I have a few parts for the interior carpet, headliner and I'm finishing up the heatercore and air box. I've got a little extra cash and I'm torn between 5-speed conv. or fresh paint job. I think I'll go with the fresh paint, as the trans is working good right now. Thanks for the compliment on the car and take care.

jdb840

https://dodgechallenger.com/forums/m_8010/tm.htm

I posted a couple of pics on here a while ago, here is the link.
I don't have any interior pics though. I just redid the interior black. It's a 440 6pack, 4 speed pistol grip as well.

I had the same deliemma, I chose to do the paint job first. If I could go back and do it again, I would do the other work to it first. I'm in need of an engine rebuild badly. This year's plan is to get some heads and a rebuild kit. Then hopefully exhaust, rims and tires, and suspension. Once all that is done then I will do the 5 speed, being there's nothing wrong with it, I will make it my last mod.

I've the car about 7 years and put about 3000 miles on it. I went away to college for 3 years and didn't drive it during that time. Hopefully now I will be able to get more driving time out of it.

lear4406

Thanks for the link, you have one nice and very sought after Challenger. You have the big block and the 4-speed. I have a 440-6 pak that I could drop in,but I really like the stroker kits available for the 340. So I think I'll stay with the small block and add the 5-speed. Good luck on your projects for the R/T and If I can help, let me know.