Magnum Swapped 1968 Dodge Charger Budget Restoration, Tuning, And More!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ย. 2024
- Evan ripped the smoky, leaky 318 with 7/8 operational cylinders out of this car back in early October. It's February now... so things have obviously progressed slowly. But Tom's turquoise '68 Charger is finally just about done! Unfortunately I wasn't present for a lot of the work done on the Charger (something about painting a Barracuda? And mail trucks, or whatever.) But on today's episode, we take a look back at some of the operations that transformed this '68 Charger from a half wrecked, ratty pile to the fairly decent driver quality car you see before you today. If you read this description, tell me in the comments whether or not adding a ~400 horsepower small block to this 318 car turned it into a bonafide muscle car.
Turquoise looks awesome on those cars......
Turquoise with black vinyl may be my favorite color combo on these things. Also that exhaust note is amazing.
Coming right along. We have been building Mopars over 50 yrs, takes alot of time and $$. Just caretakers in our time for these historical cars. Worth it all.
Best looking cars ever. EVER!
Thought I'd mention a little trick I learned to help with the squishy brakes; make sure parking/emergency brake cable adjustment is completely backed off and cable is slack BEFORE you adjust the shoes to the drum. Usually, the cables are stuck (going into rear) and you have to pry back the levers that the cable attaches to on the shoe to get them to fully release. This is often overlooked when the last guy just "threw on a set of shoes" and never re-adjusted the cable. I see this issue on classic vehicles all the time. I typically get several more turns on the shoe adjusters when I un-adjust the E-brake first, then adjust shoes, then re-adjust E-brake cable LAST. This usually results in a much firmer brake pedal feel with less pedal travel, more stopping power, and less drag when brakes are released... I too have a dislike for working on Holley's... Great channel, great content!!
It’s so funny you mention this now, because I *just* learned this on a ‘73 Charger two days ago. I couldn’t get the shoes to seat on the top stud and fit the drum, and it was because of the E brake lever. Had to loosen the cable adjustment. Looking back, I’ve fought the same thing a couple times before and didn’t realize what was happening. Great lesson.
Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Getting ready to do my entire brake system from front to back. This sounds like it may be helpful.👍👊
Arlo Guthrie! That was great😊 You sounded just like him
“You remember Alice. This is a song about Alice…” Haha. Thanks.
I want to hear "Coming into Los Angeles"
Such a lovely shape. Can’t think of a more beautiful car than the 68 charger.
One day in my life, I will drive a 68 charger! That is my dream!! You will have to do it for me for now... love your channel. Cheers!
So glad to see some footage of the farm. I was beginning to think that you lost the farm. A drone shot would be fun.
That’s a slick rig. Tell him the distributor is on the wrong end 😂
🤣 I’ll let him know
I will say it again, these are my favorite cars. Especially when the power gets upgraded. Sounds mean!
Still my dream car! Finding something affordable is the hard part.
Temperamental automobiles..... how we love them with blind eyes and a full heart.
only dodge man iv never seen anyother automobile act the way they do when you first start them
It's a great looking Charger.
You mentioned smelling gear ⚙️ lub, check ✔️ the rear brakes Jamie 😊
We figured it out… one of the axle seals wasn’t bottomed out all the way, causing a false axle end play adjustment reading, and when the seal was destroyed the axles moved around a bunch. That was the clunk at the end too.
Great car. Sounds amazing. Just needs some 15" Magnum 500 wheels with nice white letter tires.
Ha, the old winter trip to the gas station! That was me in the Coronet yesterday!!
How RAD... Them Black wiper blades... Hahaha first thing I attacked on my Dart . Hahaha.. Trico Classics.. here i come.. hahhaa
Those 5-spoke hubcaps with the red Fratzog in the middle are my favorite hubcaps, maybe second only to the wire wheel covers used in the 70's. I ran those Fratzog covers on my '71 Swinger. Love the Charger's color.... used to know a guy with a '68 Superbee in that Turquoise.
I had an '68 R/T this color in the early 70's. The factory name of the color is Bright Blue Metallic.
Love the '68 tail lights but '69 grille.
My dream Charger is that combo with a big block. Could live with an auto or 4 speed. Console shift either way.
Never gonna happen but I can dream......
"tell me in the comments whether or not adding a ~400 horsepower small block to this 318 car turned it into a bonafide muscle car" Yes. Yes it does.
Great news! Haha.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Indeed!
A lot of people don't understand how much time and effort goes into tuning, fixing, and upgrading these cars. And the are NEVER done!
Man,I love a cold Mopar start.Think I'll go fire mine now.INSPIRATION!
Luv that color combo 👍
I love everything about that car. It's funny because I think most folks think 68-70 Chargers require big blocks but I would totally rock a Magnum. And, btw, can't wait for your Magnum swap series! Thanks for sharing all you did to get this road worthy! (Hope the noise isn't a huge deal...but it probably is).
This is one cool car, I hope the new owner appreciates the work that went into it. Also, Fuel injected magnum swap...For SCIENCE!! That'll be a cool video series when it comes out.
OMG! I just found out that ice cream tastes way better while I'm watching your spectacular videos! Oh crap! BRAIN FREEZE!
Wait, really?! I should make advertisements sharing that information. This is going to be huge!
Dammit! I should have saved it for my future channel! (sigh)@@DeadDodgeGarage
That's the thing about the 'near future', it never actually gets here 😄
Jamie thank you so much. How did you possibly know we love 68-70 chargers.
I love your guys channel it's nice to hear from intelligent people
That colour, Jamie. She's a knockout. Its come a long way since the shed it was in after it got the Liberace treatment. Looking and sounding great now and although not perfect, it's something that looks and sounds the part from 10 feet or driving past....and if someone wanted to go the whole hog, they still could. What does a Charger in that condition go for over there? Being several thousand miles away on a little island in the south Pacific, it's hard for me to guess
This car actually ended up going to Germany. He sold it for a bit north of $30k US, but the guy wanted a bunch of additional stuff done, so I think it ended up right around $40k.
I'm gonna have to bring up my 68 to your place and let you take a gander at it . Its one bad Mopar
Beautiful in turquoise!
I don't care if it is a little whopperjawed, the rear view is perfect
Everybodys different: swap the 2.whatevers for some 3.23s and even 500rpm more stall would transform the car to muscle feeling. Those flowmonsterwhatevers would hit the dumpster asap for quiet items with zero power loss. Can a Charger ever be wrong(?) This one certainly isn't. Great job on a great example! A Charger the new owner can drive anywhere, enjoy and not freak out over a rock chip or rain - nice!
It’s not ridiculously loud. It’s really nice as is. They actually might be 3.23s already. I don’t remember. I would’ve insisted on a converter, but it wasn’t my call.
Jamie, That Holley is an engine fire waiting to happen. You know it needs an AFB/Edelbrock to make it right.
It’s not my choice.
Eldelbrock carbs for the non macanicly inclined
@johnkelly8525 Holley carbs, for guys who aren't spelling inclined.
@@bartorlans5390 lm blaming spell check
We have 98 fuel ⛽️ here in Australia great charger . They say the charger 500 handles and raced better that’s great but I love the model your driving in looks 👍🏻🇦🇺.
You got that car running with a holly carburetor. Imagine that!❤
Yeah, but it leaked gas everywhere despite having run just fine a year ago, and doesn’t run quite right, so it’s proving my point about Holleys more than anything 😅
What a fun driver you guys made ! Sounds good too !
Christ , that 68 Charger is , absolutely 💯 beautiful 😍 !!
I was genuinely curious ,
How that magnum engine ,
With a carburetor swap ,
Was going to pan out
Jamie it was very entertaining! That car sure came a long way, good job, but like most it is a work in progress!
Beautiful car. I grew up with these. People talk about fast cars but a 68 Road Runner with a well tuned 440 could beat any car even Hemi’s…. 😊 nice work! (Subbed)
Really nice car. Hope to see it around town. Satisfying video.
weird question , i have a dodge meadowbrook with the flathead six cilinder , could you perhaps measure a dipstick on a flathead 6 you have in your yard or youre work perhaps ? i need to know the length from the cap to the end of the dipstick , many thanks in advance from netherlands
My foot hovers over the brake/clutch pedal for the same reason,can be a pain on a long trip but like you say you don't drag your foot if you know what your doing
Yep. I have to consciously set my foot on the floor.
@@DeadDodgeGarage l can so relate but when it's ok to drive fast it's one second of added safety
Love it
It has those famous falling off hubcaps like in the movie Bullitt
nice work on the 68 Charger, keep up the good work.
I like running white walls,, except the limited sizing for my Application 14" 215/70R14 out back, 185/70R14 in front,
Found the "Douglas " brand Walmart tire, with USA made in,,
Cheap .. also Crazy amounts of Tire Smoke when, Enthusiasm is applied,,
I wish i could still run them, with current size.. 235/70R14 Cooper's on rear, whitewalls just looked right on my Church Lady Dart.. haha
Mebe the brake shoes need to be arc’ed to the drums. Brake grinding/ trueing. Breath deep!
Question; how often do you need to replace the vinyl top and how can one protect the roof underneath from rusting? I mean yeah sure, don't drive it in snow or rain, but that's not always possible.
Mopars on the strip. Might drive down in my Japanese GTaX.
Hey Jaime, first time commenter! I recently found your channel and being in Seattle I am happy to be a neighbor, maybe! So in high school I had a 1967 Barracuda, sedan, formula S, with the 273 that I watch you poke a bit of fun at, and that car went 140mph on the California freeway! Do you see any of those still on the road? The fastback never appealed to me the way that sedan did, and 40 years later I still remember the license plate #. Love the videos, see ya down the road!
When you say sedan, I’m assuming you mean the two door coupe with the shorter roof line and the longer flat trunk lid. Lots of people prefer that body style, but there’s just something about the fastback. It speaks to me. I can’t say why, but it’s my favorite. I’m not sure where you got the impression I was poking fun at the 273 - I love those things! I have four of them now. I am going to build one as nutso as I can, and find out for myself what Little Magic can do.
You have feed like my dad did. Always used his left foot on the breaks
I developed that habit over years of driving complete garbage. It works for me but it generally isn’t great practice.
Awesome car ! I’d be proud to own it and drive it
Definitely sounds like a magnum
Sounded like a wheel coming loose at the end
I had that thought. It’s making the noise every time I spike the brake pedal. I probably could have made that more obvious.
Hell, I'd be happy with it just the way it is now 🙂
Uncle jamies jiggling jaguar
Did i get it right??? Lol
😅
By far the coolest car on the channel. (I still love your red charger too)
Unpopular opinion: I hate that its going to Germany
Not that unpopular an opinion…
I have watched this video like 20 times.
Sounds awesome, great work
What happened to all the 68 Chargers? DDG has them all! I like the car, it's nice enough to admire, and yet "unperfect" enough to be a fun driver, and something you can tinker on and improve over time.
Sounds strong 😊
Makes me feel a whole better about my 69 Charger with an anemic LA
It's a very nice car ...good content and thanks
Cool cruiser .😎
You should try some octane boost from vp or a 5 gal can of race gas 112 from Sunoco, a friend uses the latter in a mix for his 69 gto ram air 3 and it works great no more ping.
The only difference between the last clip where it pinged and the test drive where it didn’t was premium fuel. More octane would help, but I don’t think it’s worth the trouble in a car that will not be doing race car things.
Subbed for Alice's restaurant.
That cars pretty, she doesn't need any make up to look good.
Cool ride.
I like cars with engines they were born with mostly, but I would love to see a street built, cold weather block 400 put in a base model charger, made out to look like a 383 4BL
A 1968 charger that is
Me too. Yet another reason why I’m anti modern Hemi swaps. Haha.
The cold weather 400 block is so interesting to me, I would love to find one one day maybe
You are playing with me that’s my dream car can I come vist please? I might not have a license but… that won’t be a problem
Its a good start
Awesome as always!👍
Do you have a AFR gauge for it? Sound like like it’s lean from how you describe the pinging and hesitation.
No AFR gauge. It’s absolutely lean out of the hole, it has a 28 squirter which is ridiculous. This carb was on this engine in another car and seemed to work well. I could read plugs. I could mess with jetting. There is a lot more I could do here but I don’t have the time for it.
@@DeadDodgeGarage I get that. Our carb tuning guy was also our number one build tech so scheduling dyno time was hard. I ended up doing a lot of it before I moved to SC. I was decent at it, learned a lot more with his help.
Another great video
very cool
I would like to know what type of mufflers you run to get that awesome sound.
It’s whatever the buyer asked us to put on there. Tom says he thinks they’re Flowmaster Super 50s or something. I don’t know what those are. Haha. But it sure sounds good.
Thanks.@@DeadDodgeGarage
Yeah all chargers are cool. ❤
bought some MORE swag.... LOL.... needed a hat.... like a hole the head..... Thanks friend....
Haha. Thank you!
@@DeadDodgeGarage just keep making me smile and laugh.... great content.... Thanks buddy....
Yes it's a muscle car now. Mostly because it is carbureted. Was considering a magnum for my Challenger, wasn't sure if the crate magnum has provision for mechanical fuel pump. Not fond of the whiney sound of electric fuel pumps on vintage street muscle. The aesthetics of the intake/air cleaner looks 1000 times better than the airbox FI manifold combo on vintage muscle. Some folks love plastic...I'm just an old school metal head lol.
P.S. if this 68 has an electric fuel pump hope it has a external pressure regulator otherwise that Holley fire starter carb is gonna spew like a pressure washer....
No, mechanical pump. The crate engine apparently did have the provision for it. I don’t think anyone has been in this one.
Sounds and looks great :)
AWESOME vid kiddo. Love the drive along. Chargers are great, Challengers ar better....MOPAR 4 EVER.
It's all done......
Not even allegedly :-)
I have a car that came from your area it’s a 70 Coronet it was burnt Orange now it’s Sublime green I know it’s a long shot but maybe you know something about it
No idea. Sounds cool though.
Sweet
Needs a Thermoqaud lol
Beautiful ❤
Good old BBC Dodge in Burien !
I just realized he drives an automatic with both feet.
You’re not the first to notice. I’ve discussed this before (possibly in this video?,) but basically, I’ve been reviving and driving absolute garbage for decades, so I’ve mastered the double foot technique. I don’t even think about it.
Why do you drive with your left foot on the brake?
Explained in another comment, but basically, years of driving garbage helped to develop my two foot technique.
The guy on vice grip garage has a old desto that's in that's in the trees he might want to sell that he said on old podcast that you'd like to get your hands-on an old himmy
SAY NO to fuel injection............
I agree, but if it’s going to be EFI, I’ll take the factory Magnum system.
Germany! Gawd help the MBs & Porsches & VWs on der autobahn....
What mufflers are on it?
Tom said the new owner requested Flowmaster 50s. I’d never heard of them, but they are a welded muffler. I sure like them - great sound, no drone or resonating inside.
Should’ve install the hellcat engine hemi
Ridiculous
I would give my 84 dodge d150 prospector with 30k miles and a 413 motor and granny thats been forged and stoked to a 512 for that car
That car was sold for an impressive amount of money and went to Germany.
Was the 318 the original engine?
It probably was. I’m not sure we ever verified that.
5.7 swap? 5.9!!!!
My favorite of the two, by far.
My guy… your distributor is on the wrong end of the engine lol
You might think so 🤣
Germans buying classic Mopars? Someone loves “rolling coal” on the Greens.
We’ve sent a good few over there, funny enough. There’s a decent following for classic Mopar in Europe. Who knew
Maybe you would be surprised how many classic MoPars we have in Germany. Very nice guy who bought it, he's a real MoPar enthusiast. Vintage MoPars rule! Best regards from MoPar-Germany 🙂
Love the ramcharger, love all your video,s if you want to sell any ramcharger parts, or truck parts let me know getting ready to restore my 1975 dodge ramcharger I,m the second owner my school teacher order it new, with the 440 SE, let me know on the parts, THX,man AW.
We really don’t have a lot of extras with those trucks to sell, but if there is something specific you’re looking for, you can always reach out to Tom at tom@rocketresto.com. He’s the parts guy. Thanks!
Sounds great thats man,AW.@@DeadDodgeGarage