Anton's 68 Charger - 2012 Update

[Rich]

very good solution.. LED`s are the way to go..

[Jules]

and honestly how long are the reverse light in use for.
Anton

If it was on a tank belonging to the italian Army? Constantly!

Didn't they nickname it the chicken tank or something ?

[ANTON]

Having spoken to Glen68 I decided to go down the same route with my disc brake conversion. I brought a set of disc brake spindles off Glen69 and a set of 11inch discs off JohnR and i found a set of Land Cruiser calipers off E-Bay and brought a st of new brake pads from my local motor factors. First off I cleaned and rebuilt the calipers and painted them to make them like new. I used M.D.F to make a template of the caliper bracket so I could give them to an engineer friend to copy in stainless steel. It took a few tries till I got the bracket just right and then had them made in Steel. I brought All new high tensile steel bolts for the calipers and brackets. I had the caliper to bracket holes taped so i could mount he caliper to the brackets with-out nuts to make it look nice and tidy. I also modified the brake pads in order to get full pad contact on the discs. This involved cutting the brake pad bake plate and the bending the and re welding them. I also had the new spindles powder coated to match all the stuff I did at Christmas. I got a disc brake master cylinder off Clivey which I rebuilt and re-painted. With all the parts prepped and ready to go on the car i need to wait for a full day so I could fit then.
So last Saturday i decided to fit the disc conversion and it all went very smoothly and all was done in a day.
I also fitted a line lock to the rear brakes at the same time and i also fitted a proportioning valve which I mounted to the back of the transmission cross-member. once all the components were in place I bleed the system and checked all was well and took the car for a test drive. The brake where not perfect but that was soon improved with the installation of a new brake boost one way valve from Derek and I also improved the brake power by modifying the re-drilling the brake pedal rod in a higher position to give me more leverage which also made the brakes more powerful. I still think that I may need to replace the Brake boost in the future as I think mine is not working perfectly. All in all I'm glad I have fitted the disc brakes as now I feel alot more confident to drive it fast as I can now stop quickly.

[Anonymous]

Very very nice job Anton and a very resourceful approach. Let us know what she stops like now the upgrade is done.

I had to yank mine up quickly yesterday evening.I wouldnt say she stops on a sixpence but I was VERY impressed at how good the anchors were. Boosted my confidence no end.

[Dave999]

excellent

nice brackets as well.


Dave

[Cannonball]

nice job, but you should have shoved the brake bias knob up through the floor so you can adjust it easily,

[Ivor]

That looks like those calipers were almost were made for the job and the brackets look pretty simple and straightforward too.

Did the engineer do it with CNC, so he could produce some more?

[ANTON]

Ivor they where manually machined. All it is is a lump of steel with a rebate in it and 2 holes drilled and 2 holes tapped and I did all the radiusing and cleaning up.

Thanks for all the comments
Anton

[Ivor]

Fairy nuff!

I thought if they were a difficult bit of milling he could have run up a few more for anyone else that wanted to do the conversion.

[ANTON]

With the help of Scott and John I took the engine out of my Charger tonight in order to fit my new cam,lifters, valve springs ,ported 318 heads and replace the big end and main shells in order to cure the oil pressure fluctuations.
Once we got the engine home I proceeded to strip the engine to see what size shells where in it. Once I stripped it I found that the main shells had scores in them and the big end shells where a copper colour all over (I don,t know if they started life being silver colour). I also found that I had 1 seized lifted and a very worn cam lobe to match. the lifter had a lovely recess in the bottom and couple of chips to boot.
I hope to pick up the shells on saturday from real steel and i should finish porting the heads this weekend and them it can all go back together.

[Cannonball]

your bearings would all be the silver color, thats the white metal coating,
thats your oil pressure problem, if i were you i would put a new oil pump in as well, not an easy job on a smallblock later,
also get someone to check your crank out as well with any luck it will be within specs and maybe needs a polish,

[ANTON]

Thanks Duncan.
I'm going to check the crank and I will get it oil Polished.
I put a new oil pump in the engine back in January to try and cure the oil problem but that didn't work and now I know why.
Can you look at my other post (engine Section)and see if you can help with the bearing size.
Anton

[Cannonball]

Thanks Duncan.
I'm going to check the crank and I will get it oil Polished.
I put a new oil pump in the engine back in January to try and cure the oil problem but that didn't work and now I know why.
Can you look at my other post (engine Section)and see if you can help with the bearing size.
Anton

have posted for you,
also strip and clean your pump then maybe a light oil stoneing on the rotors, check the relief valve and spring are ok and free,

[ANTON]

thanks for the info.
Buy the way Duncan that transmission switch you sold me solved the problem I had with the car starting in any gear. thanks for that
Anton

[Cannonball]

thanks for the info.
Buy the way Duncan that transmission switch you sold me solved the problem I had with the car starting in any gear. thanks for that
Anton

great stuff, good luck