1973 Charger winter makeover thread

cadboy · Post by **cadboy** » Wed Nov 02, 16 6:42 am

From the photos you have put up it does not look bad, it looks good and the colour is right for the car, she looks good.

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Wed Nov 02, 16 1:41 pm

Well, that seems to be unanimous. I shall be keeping it as close as possible tot he original colour!
Thanks for all your previous comments.

Charger's in the garage today having its vitals checked. Theres an annoying exhaust rattle that is going to be sorted out too.
Will post results.

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Sun Nov 06, 16 5:40 pm

Came back from the garage, running much better. Still a little flat off idle though. He said the timing was quite retarded, and he's set it to 8..?
What might i need to do to give it some more zip off the line? I know its got more to give, as i've had it running quicker before. Needle height perhaps?

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Sun Nov 06, 16 5:48 pm

Some shots of various parts of the car, so you can see the condition. Its all grubby and unloved at the moment, but it will gleam again soon.
In the trunk, i have sprayed the black on floor there temporarily, as i'd wire brushed years of crap and gunk from it.

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Sun Nov 06, 16 5:54 pm

8 degrees initial is nowhere near enough on today's fuel, the distributor needs to be re curved to get much more initial but no more than 34 degrees when it's all in, that'll wake it up and get rid of the fluffiness. There should be a sticky on timing that tells you how to work out how much initial your engine needs, every engine is different.

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Sun Nov 06, 16 5:56 pm

Some shots of the interior as it is at the moment.
Not sure what has been sprayed on the headrests to give them that gloss black shine, but i don't like it. Any suggestions?
It has an aftermarket steering wheel fitted, but i have the original. Should i put the original one back on?
The big chrome rev counter looks a bit naff, so i may well remove that.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Nov 06, 16 6:39 pm

That is a period style Tach - I specifically got one to go in the Bee!

Personal taste though.

Looks a very solid car and Blue is absolutely right about timing.
Shoot for 34 Degress on full mechanical advance and then see what you have at idle. If the car pinks or is hard to start then back it off.

After-market Dizzys that you can custom re-curve are the way to go nowadays but sometimes you can strike it lucky with a stock one, it is just hit and miss really..

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Sun Nov 06, 16 7:58 pm

I'd take out the tach, that's an early 60's style and looks about as right as a flathead in a Camaro.....

GJUK · Post by **GJUK** » Sun Nov 06, 16 8:41 pm

Looks minty clean...

Captain Chaos · Post by **Captain Chaos** » Mon Nov 07, 16 4:37 pm

That looks great in Brown,repaint in the original colour I'd say.

I very nearly bought a Sport Fury GT in a similar colour when I was looking for mine,I must admit to being a touch envious

70's Tastic

ChrisN34 · Post by **ChrisN34** » Mon Nov 07, 16 4:55 pm

Nice looking charger. Where abouts in somerset are you based? I Know there are a few yanks down here, and there was a 70s shape charger in weston a while back.

How did you get on with Classic Industries, i ordered from them back in march and they were ok, but every time i have emailed them since to order parts they have given me the runaround. Much easier and quicker to order from ebay.

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Mon Nov 07, 16 10:05 pm

ChrisN34 wrote:Nice looking charger. Where abouts in somerset are you based? I Know there are a few yanks down here, and there was a 70s shape charger in weston a while back.

How did you get on with Classic Industries, i ordered from them back in march and they were ok, but every time i have emailed them since to order parts they have given me the runaround. Much easier and quicker to order from ebay.

I live in Clevedon, just down the road.
Classic Industries are ok. Expensive though. Especially with shipping. A set of sun visors ended up costing me Â£200 from them.
Just make sure you don't order anything that comes up "on back order" when you go to check out otherwise you could be waiting years for it! I had a similar thing happen to me with NPD when i was restoring a Mustang.

Do you have a Plymouth Duster?
Think you brought it down to Vintage American workshop one day?

ChrisN34 · Post by **ChrisN34** » Mon Nov 07, 16 10:30 pm

Ah ok, yeah i quite a bit for my first lot, back when the pound was actually alright. But was still way too much than i wanted to spend (new carpet, seat covers etc)

Yeah i did take it down to waynes earlier this year, thought it might have been you, his son Dan said you had the old yellow 'bird and the White Buick. It wasnt the one that was backed into by the delivery van was it?

Post by **MattH** » Tue Nov 08, 16 11:03 am

That looks SOOOO original, definitely needs to be sympathetically cleaned and carefully recommissioned, not fully restored.

You can't buy cans of originality, even from Year One.

lough3969 · Post by **lough3969** » Tue Nov 08, 16 1:28 pm

Blue wrote:I'd take out the tach, that's an early 60's style and looks about as right as a flathead in a Camaro.....

Blues right... great to have a tach but it has to be younger than the car it's in not older. I just swapped out an older style one for an original 70's Sun tach.

The Superior 500 steering wheel is great... It is probably about 2" smaller in diameter and thicker, grippier than the original and will give you more 'feel' when driving... I'd just change the horn button to something plain.

The car looks really clean