History
When my two teen age sons came to me and said we should have a muscle car I agreed what a good idea until they advised the plan was that I pay. We finally settled on a very sad brown 1977 CL charger that was at Robe in the south east of South Australia.
The car was very down in the mouth and had been exposed to the sea the wheels were badly corroded and the body while mainly sound had a fair share of rust. The interior had been retimed very poorly and in all it looked very sad.
Until we opened the bonnet and saw the three factory supplied 45 mil Webber carburettors model DCOE55 and DCOE56 being the special factory developed Webbers made and tuned by the Webber factory Italy specifically for the Chrysler Valiant Charger 265 engine on a aftermarket manifold coupled to a 4 speed Borg warner box. We could not believe our luck and the owner just wanted to quit it.
So the journey began.
We agree that we would do a full restore from the shell up and that my two sons would do the work and share the car once it was on the road. I go to pay.
The first task was to stripe it down a task undertaken by my sons and their friends with great enthusiasm. And it was not long and the car was totally disassembled and on its way to be dipped for paint striping. Now we find all the hidden sins.
Now the work started and the enthusiasm started to wain never the less the boys continued to work on the car when it suited them.
We loaded the shell on to a trailer and it went to be dipped and stripped a frighting process that reviled ever sin that had been committed on this car in the last 36 years and there was some work to do which included a new floor in the left front side new side rails new boot floor and many smaller items to deal with. The body work was done by our painter and once this was completed the preparation for painting took place, many hours of rubbing back over and over again. We used a sound deadening paint mix on the underside and two pack painted ever out of the way place before refitting the bolt on panels. Ever bolt was replaced with a 318 Stainless bolt and nylock nut where possible
Finally after the body work and final painting inside and underneath and any hidden or difficult spots including the engine bay the shell came back as a rolling shell only.
While the shell was away it gave us the opportunity to stripe down and rebuild the engine replacing the pistons rings and bearings. When we disassembled the engine we were happily surprised to find that a significant amount of work had been done on the head with extensive porting and polishing undertaken. When the head was rebuilt with replacement valves and seats to suit ULP the engineers advised us that many hours had been invested in the port and polishing and this along with double valve springs became very apparent when on the road.
Before fitting a new 21/4 inch twin exhaust the extractors were sent away to be ceramic coated inside and out with a finish that looked almost the same as the polished aluminium Webbers and inlet manifolds.
With new front and rear suspension bearing bushes and mounts, new brake linings, rebuilt power brakes booster and master cylinder new wheel cylinders and front and rear pads new engine mounts and clutch plate the engine was refitted and now it went back to the paint shop fully assembled and ready for final paint.
The colour was a BMW colour Azure Blue as a two pack with clear over a peal base. It looks spectacular. Time now to fit the glass, and finish the trim inside and out. With all of the stainless steel polished and all the chrome redone including the front and rear bumper bars it was starting to look the part.
The interior and boot space were fitted with Dynamat sound proofing under felt and cut pile grey carpet, in the cabin.
I used a velure grey trim on the seats with a combination of light and dark vinyl trim inside and a felt hood lining resulting in a quitter ride but when you stoke the throttle you are reminded of that deep exhaust note as the taco climbs.
Time to polish the wheels and paint the centre and cut-outs with same two pack Azure Blue clear over pearl base.
The boot became home for the battery and was finished in the same grey cut pile carpet with dynamat throughout and full dynamat and carpeted up both sides.
With all this work done it was time to turn to the engine bay every item worthy of chrome received the attention it deserved with chrome power brake booster windscreen wiper motor all throttle linkages air filter top and bottoms , water pump pulley and even the brake fluid reserve.
Fitted the brake system with synthetic dot 5 brake fluid. Then we started polishing any aluminium we could find including the alternator, thermostat housing inlet manifold fitted a new NOS radiator and dressed ever hose tube or pipe with stainless steel bradding. Then we fitted dual 10 inch thermos electric fan removing the four blade fan. We removed every possible wire from the engine bay leaving only the bare necessities. This is the result
Modifications
265 motor worked to E48 specs including double value springs heavily ported and polished head 50th of the head Genuine factory 45mill side draught Weber carbs
