Black Widow 1969 charger project

[lucky13firebird]

Allright, like the title says its a 1969 charger, something I have always loved and it happens to be my wifes dream car. She's been more than helpful and patient and as many of you know we lived in a hotel room for 2 years to save money for our 1968 daily driver firebird parts... that firebird is the car we brought our youngest son home from the hospital in and has always been an unseperable part of our family... and i missed one of our anneversary dinners because i was dragging home a rusty pile of garbage 1967 fastback mustang to build MY dream car, a 1967 shelby gt500... and yet again she put up with my hot rodding antics when the trailer hitch was stuck and then sprang up splitting her chin to the bone and giving her a concussion while we were dragging home our 1967 gto clone 800 miles with our 461ci monster firebird...

Well, we had the money and the timing seemed right, so i figured the most amazing woman in the world deserved her dream car.... at least she wasn't asking for a minivan right? I couldn't find a 1968 charger in our price range so we settled on the next best thing, a 1969 charger.... besides, she prefered those wide tail lights anyway.

We'll as is normally the case with us we bought yet another car nobody else in the world would dare tackle... i mean every single worthwhile part had been sold off this thing to pay for $4,000 worth of fiberglass panels and install a crazy strong subframe connector setup and a full roll cage with not just one but FOUR door cross bars... one of the previous owners was building a drift charger and needed it to be as light as possible and to take 90 mile an hour side impacts apperantly....

Well the guy we bought it from owed some money to some people and had the intentions of replacing the fiberglass with all the factory or reproduction parts but didn't count on the factory 69 grill being over 2,000 dollars, never mind the $400 for taillights, thousands for a full interior and glass... and the time and effort to cut the cage out and buy doors and so on and so on....

We have no such intentions, re inventing the wheel is how you lose money, besides, theres a reason your average 68-70 charger is well north of 40,000 bucks restored or restomodded and in good shape...

our plan is to build a race charger with headlights behind a mesh grill, and taillights and turn signals, my wife is fully ok with having to climb over the doors into the charger dukes of hazzard style... and its getting aluminum seats and 5 point harnesses and plexiglass side windows and real glass front and rear... i like how clearly you can see through real glass...

Anyways, heres what we have so far, ih btw it's getting 4 link suspension, tubbed, and 4 wheel disc brakes. I want a road race car we can drag on the weekends for 10 bucks and drive to the track... And its getting a 440 and 727 and nitrous... because soccer moms need nitrous... ;-)
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[Nicks67GTO]

So after watching the vids I thought.....I wonder if this guy has a facebook group.....sure as hell, there it is.

So I "liked" your page

[Crestronwizard]

I love Chargers. One day I'll do one. Subscribed.

[lucky13firebird]

Here's some pictures from when we bought it and after mocking up the quarters and doors and cutting out the grill.

[1965gp]

Looks tough. I just finished my (relatively) budget General Lee- PM me with any questions. These parts are insanely priced new, but you can get nice used stuff at dodgecharger.com in the classifieds. Most people building 68-70 Chargers only want new, nos or restored parts for their cars. Driver quality parts are much cheaper.

[lucky13firebird]

I love how you put "relatively" in there... because there is nothing cheap about the mopar crowd... love the look of those cars but not sure if i'll ever drink the mopar coolaid... so i'll try and keep things simple and fast. And you're right, I was able to get the taillights for cheap (39 bucks) because of the cracks in them. Not external cracks that are visible but cracks none the less.

[HELLCAMINO]

I recognize those vids and cars. I commented on your one when you upgraded from LS to Vette brakes on the Firebird and had the mounting brackets on wrong from the start. Nice mix of cars you got going on.

[1965gp]

Nothing cheap about a 68-70 charger but with some patience you should be able to find what you need to build the car your looking for. Loud fast and scary...

[lucky13firebird]

Starting to fit the hood... going to be a lot of work
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[Gil]

Awesome !
Crazy project, Flintstones Charger...
Gonna be one hell of a racecar
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

sure is... thanks brother

[lucky13firebird]

mocking up the front end so I can eyeball the brackets and start making a plan on hard mounting the front end... looks good. The doors btw are just duct taped on for now so ignore the huge gaps, I'll line them up and work on hard mounting them after the front end is mounted permanently and the hood warp has been addressed.

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[lucky13firebird]

mocked up the front end, hood still needs lots of work and front end needs all the brackets to hard mount the front

[lucky13firebird]

Well, we spent $4 and painted it black to kinda get an idea on what it'll all look like in black. Still lots of welding to do... also we scored a set of '70 taillights for $39 so we fixed a couple cracks and tossed them on there. So far so good....
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[Gil]

Very nice score !
Rear valance panel now !
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Yup... and then miles of sheetmetal to fabricate the floors and make brackets for the front end... and fix the rust by the back window.

[Gil]

Finger in the nose ! :poke:
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Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Well... i got a little work done finaly. I bolted up the doors and lined 'em up perfect with the body lines. Now i gotta build up the framework to hang the front end on it.
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[wfo guy]

Is your workspace the area between the trees? You've taken on a serious project!

[lucky13firebird]

Yes, pretty much building a car from scratch... BUT... the hot rod stuff, like a roll cage and super light fiberglass parts and frame tie ins are all there already, so its just a matter of drivetrain and suspension for me.... anyways, finaly got the partial structure built for the front end, and it looks cool as can be. I will however be going to a flat hood later on, this chevelle style hood is too funky for me.


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[linkstar69]

Good on you for saving this one. Looks like lots of work there to keep you out of trouble.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Good looking setups!

[lucky13firebird]

Thanks, yeah itll keep me busy for a while. Gonna be a super light setup, kinda like the twin turbo ls powered 67 camaro i saw at the demoines goodguys show....roll cage and fiberglass is all it had it seemed like. I'm pretty excited now that the body lines all line up and it actually looks like a charger...

[Centerforce]

Subscribing to fill the Charger void in my own personal life. It looks The Business.

[lucky13firebird]

Thank you, we work hard on it. Just got the stripe on it, and its finaly got the personal touch it will carry forever.... project "black widow" has her signiture look! Although there is still much work to do, the red stripe and black widow spider will be her mark forever...

Btw can anyone tell me how i could possibly change the title to this thread without having to start a new one? Because clearly project "black widow" deserves its own title, not to be under "deathproof charger" .... back when the thread started i had no idea what direction the project would take, but now that it has its own identity i really wish there was some way to change the title....

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[Gil]

Nice ! I like it !
Keep up the good work
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

I will indeed, thank you. Hopefully can mount the 67 coronet headlight set up soon...

[lucky13firebird]

Got most of the framework built and hung the lights, they look good. Making another video today, gonna wire up the lights and jump them with the firebird to see what they look like on... for now heres the pictures and a video from yesterday... slowly its coming along.
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[lucky13firebird]

Added some more bracing, now you can safely sit on the front end if you're under 130 lbs or so... or normal sized people can lean against it without worry.... oh and almost forgot, i painted the framework black so you can only see the headlights and the chrome rings themselves through the grill...

[72BBSwinger]

I love the concept of a car you dance on the roof of. What are plans for the engine? A tunnel rammed 440?

[lucky13firebird]

Yes, i do have a 440 block, was thinking more along the lines of a 440 with a 950 cfm 4 barrel or bigger and a wild set of heads to bring me up past 650 hp or so.... and with all that weight gone it'll fly, and maybe even stand a chance doing some corners...

[dangina]

sweet ride! are you going to add a crash beam or bomber bar behind the front fiberglass just in case you get into a front end collision? I'd do something like this, something you can bolt on and off. https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[72BBSwinger]

That is one NASTY looking LS engine ^^^^^^

[lucky13firebird]

Yes actually, a simple "u" shaped piece of tubing inside the bumper that has its legs tied in with the front frame rails should be all the protection it really needs. I do still have the radiator support and such, so its some protection for the engine at least, and the fiberglass itself isnt a big deal because its easily replacable as a whole front piece.... ;-)

[lucky13firebird]

So I have been very busy. I now have a real glass front windshield for project "black widow" and a lexan rear window with aluminum bracing. I have not welded the 9 inch together yet but i do have the rear disc brakes sitting in a box waiting for a set of custom 31 spline axles.

I also managed to engineer a bracket that allows me to use 13.2 inch disc brakes and calipers off of a 2014 mustang GT.

Long story short, I got massive brakes for chump change.... $150 not including the adapters i made.
Still need a 4 wheel disc master cyl and to make or buy some racing seats and all kinds of other things.

OH, just remembered, my 400 that i bought turned out to be a 440 and i got it turning over by hand, so hoping to get it running without spending too much. Got the engine mounts and headers in the mail, and today i got the center sump oil pan.

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[1965gp]

Keep at it.....

[Gil]

Very nice !

[lucky13firebird]

Ok, well, this is the brake setup I'm gunning for... not sure if I'll ever scrape up the cash but... its 15 inch front 6 piston brembo brakes and 13.8 inch rear discs. Original equipment for 2013-2014 gt500's...

I already have the 13.2 fronts and 11.8 rears. But bigger is better... why not go all out? The only other charger I know of that has 15 inch brakes is the one that has a camaro front sub frame from DSE and it has 15 inch brakes off a vette...

[lucky13firebird]

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Finally got the 440 and 727 into the charger. Now need to get a radiator, u joints, a steering wheel and a whole lot of other odds and ends...