New arrival - Hey Charger

[daward]

Hi

A new Charger arrival. Myself and 2 mates have just bought a Valiant Charger 770 - currently more than a little sad, without engine, averagely resprayed and needing serious TLC.

I was living in Melbourne as a car mad kid in the early 70s so the Bathurst Chargers, 351GTHOs and Toranas left a real strong impression. Done plenty of things with cars and bikes over the years but never scratched the growing muscle car itch. So when a biking mate of mine mentioned that he knew of this Charger needing reviving a deal was swiftly done.

I've been doing plenty of homework but there's still a lot to learn, which I guess is where you guys hopefully come in.

I've been told it was one of a small number (?10) that were officially imported in '73. It seems to be a VH and is badged 770 318. Reg plate is JPM 3L. The original engine is gone (cracked block) and the vendor had sourced another cooking 318 but that has not been fitted. The original colour looks like a metallic type mid blue, but it has a tired black respray. Interior is beige, complete but pretty tired.

It doesn't seem to have a chassis no. plate under the bonnet, only a number stamped into the inner driver's side wing. DVLA have the chassis no. as VH6H29674. The digits don't seem to quite tally with the codes on the Valiant websites... I guess it must be a '72 car as it was registered at import in the UK in '73. The headlights look a little different to most of the pics of VH cars so I'm slightly confused.

Early thoughts are a proper restoration - something that looks a bit like an R/T but with a hot V8 and decent running gear, capable of some track work/tarmac historic rallies etc but OK for regular use as well. Seems not too difficult to source a 360 motor here, a 340 (more desirable maybe with the E55 thing) seems more difficult. I guess a lot of the other bits will need to come from Australia but I have been impressed at what seems to be available over there - just need to sort the shipping...

All thoughts welcome regaqrding plans. Anybody know anymore about the official UK import story? Might be able to get it recognised as a '72 car with the benefit of historic tax? I apologise in advance for what I supect will be a lot of questions (some dumb...) over the next few months

We're planning to get along to Brooklands on Sunday so hopefully might see some Aussie cars there and meet some of you.

Cheers
David

[Steve]

Hi Dave......Dont worry mate....Im the king of dumbass questions so you will struggle to beat me!! Good side of it is that my dumb questions are slowly but surely turning into knowledge and Im becoming addicted to learning how to fix and fiddle with things like timing etc.... Guys on here really know their stuff and you will get tons of generous support and encouragement.

Good luck mate and hope you can find more about the history of your car

[Cannonball]

hi matey
i think your front end is home grown the inner lamps look like
vauxhall vx 4/90 circa 74ish
the outers are also wrong yours should have austin allegro lamps .....

[PaulR]

I think the inner lamps look like they are from a Renault 16TX to me. Good luck with the car. I'm sure Dave999 will be along soon to sort you out.

[MattH]

Another one surfaces !!

Between us we can get you sorted, lots of bits about over here.
Wheels may be factory fit, I have the same on mine, code W35 on the fender tag on the bulkhead.
I would be very interested to see the car as the VIN has SOA on it, which is Special Order Accepted.
The only R/T auto ever built was SOA so there might be something special on it.

[MattH]

Its definitely a VH 770, as Duncan says it should have the allegro/hunter front lights and inner spot lights like mine. The grille surround is correct, but the grille itself looks to be from something else.
Dave 999 has a spare grille, but it may still be a little mis shaped and full of fruit and bits of oasis from his filming antics last year.

[daward]

Thanks for the replies

Looking at the VIN, there is SOA 579 on the end. Interesting thoughts about the lights' origins.

David

[Dave999]

if you get onto Dr hemi on the moparmarket forum he can probably tell you what that SOA number is

he seems to have access much of this stuff

yes wrong lights and grill cut to fit

the wheels are Wolfrace UK made slot mags these came in 14 and 15 inch if they are 15 inch you will have a much easier time getting tyres

your grill is correct for a 770 but has been trimmed to fit the inner lights in.

i have some grill parts so when you get round to doing the lights we can see whats there that might be of use


try this
http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw= ... m270.l1313

any VH valiant grill will do. all they did in the factory was cut off the bars for the inner lights with a pair of shears


Its are early car would expect it to have been built late 1971 to mid 72

it has the early pop out rear windows

you can get the seal on the back of the door strip
but you can not get the seals around the pop out rear for the back and bottom

these were a metal/plastic/rubber seal and as of yeat nobody has tooled up to make new

and later frameless pop out windows have a different seal which looks a bodge if you use it

I'm guessing yours will also have the mid 71 to mid 72 igntion lock

its a flat topped lock for the igntion key with the positions engraved

these are robust but the switch beneath it has not been availble new since the mid 70s and are pretty impossible to get, later ones do not fit

if it is suspect in any way i can put you in touch with a man who has 4 new old stock ingition locks with brand new early unobtanium switches with original keys + the key tag for re cutting

these appear to be production line cast offs i.e paint is really poor like they had been handled by greasy fingers before paint applied...

i had a set off him with matching door locks last year....cost me 300 bucks but well worth it....mine currently running a Bodged late model switch which is held toghether with tape and paperclips when it fails the NOS one will go in.

excellent to see another

Dave

[Dart Vader]

Dave, lift your rear bench seat and see if the broadcast/build sheet is wedged under the springs of the seat. If it is it will be very brittle so handle gently. Dont be surprised if its gone mind, they dont always remain with the car

You can decode your car from this in a bit more detail

[Dave999]

no idea on dates for import

belive approx 200 chargers came in

we had VC- VJ valiants 2000+ cars i think the hillman rootes group sites have the full story usually tinged with betterness about the loss of humber

body shapes including Utes wagons CH hard tops Chrylser By chrylser 4 door limos VG VIPs regal wagons

2 and 4 door VF VG

i even met a man on saturday who had owned a Bathurst tank VG i.e it was in the UK and it had the 35 gallon racing fuel tank

we had 2 RTs one was special in as much as its chassis number was odd and it had a auto trans

we had 1 E55

shed load of 4 doors

i have UK dealer parts book and service manuals for the VK range howver never seen anything later than VJ

the intention was there but the oil crisis in 74 killed off sales

any official UK import has X35 on the comp plate

most popular model in the UK seems to have been the VE

I belive all came in with out radio and with no acid in the battery

some had the aussie buttons on the dash i.e words lights wipers etc

some had the Fiji/Japan symbol buttons

some also had UK/japan spec VH orange indicator lenses (or hens teeth as they are known)


Dave

[Ivor]

Welcome aboard David, great project!

[Dave999]

Dave, lift your rear bench seat and see if the broadcast/build sheet is wedged under the springs of the seat. If it is it will be very brittle so handle gently. Dont be surprised if its gone mind, they dont always remain with the car

You can decode your car from this in a bit more detail

won't be there

if you want to know what it had

stand on year head in the footwell and look up under the dash...

scraped into the paint in chalk there should be a list written on the inner of the top of the dash panel

repeated on both sides

take out the glove box and stick yer hed in the hole if necessary

this is a list of options that should match the VIN and drivers inner fender

however if yours had an Option pack under 1 code you may find it explicitly stated as sperate codes under there...to keep the production line guys right.

you may also find stuff that was never on the car

mine has E37 under there.....this is an error mine was never a sixpack car becsaue it has H51 aircon and the two can't exist together
mine also never made it to the perosn who orderd it and ended up languishing unwanted in a Mopar car holding facility...possibly due to not having the E37 option which i guess was requested by the dealer in error with H51

Dave

[VGVIP]

G'day Dave.

Another Charger, another Dave.... not stereotyping at all.

Good to see another one surface and sounds like it's in good hands to get it back on the road.

You are in the right place, do check here first for parts before going back to Oz for 'em. You may be surprised as to what is available through contacts on the MMA.

May catch you at Brooklands if I make it.

Cheers
Steve

[daward]

Great info so far thanks

Hopefully we will be able to start stripping the body soon, so could I try a few questions...

Assuming the blue in the engine bay is original any ideas what the colour is? Can I tell a paint code from the VIN?

Engine (originally a 318) - Thinking about a 360 as it's been suggested a 340 will be difficult to find? I gather engine mounts should not be a problem going from 318 to 360? If it is a Magnum 360 is that still OK?

Headers - any UK based options, or do they have to be imported (or fabricated)?

Transmission - can the unit in the car be uprated to cope with what I hope will be at least 400bhp? I have no experience of "manual valve" conversions - any thoughts on those? Am I stuck with a 3 speeder or is there a 4 speed option? How about a manual?

In general are things like suspension bushes and all the general ancillary bits available in the UK, or do I need to start working out how to get stuff here from Australia?

Cheers
David

[Dave999]

aussie colours were all Berger Paint mixes and its on the vin
the paint colours were aussie interpretations of the US high impact colours

i.e hemi orange is hemi orange

aussie hot mustard is Dodge butterscotch or Plymouth bahama yellow

panther pink nd Aussie magenta are an example that dosn't work very well

the aussie colour was truely brain damaging in the sun

believe any small block will bolt to your small block bellhousing 904
when it comes to 360s i get lost, magnum or not...but i guess as long as you can fuel it and ignite it no probs

your 904 can be uprated with parts from the US to survive a whole lot of abuse just depends how deep your pockets are

number of gents in the club can advise and a smaller number rebuild transmissions for fun, racing or its their buisness.

no UK headers as the US type that are the usual import to the Uk hit the steering box

suggest block huggers or a kit of parts from castleauto headers in Aus

for a cheap option or go the whole hog and spend a lot on PaceMaker headers from Oz

Roger in the club runs Monkfish performance importing stuff for modern holdens

check pedders.co.uk

he has a pedders suspension franchise who supply most things from 1970 onwards

lower balljoints are aussie specific. the angles on the tie rod link are different from US

pitman arms have the master spline in the aussie poistion
the idlers possibly swap

trac rod ends may as well just stick with aussie or you will have to cut back the sleave on one of the track rods to get enough adjustment

all the bushes are same as US up the front provided you can work out which model to get.

steering boxes are saginaw design in a RHD case most all parts swap over US to Aus and vice versa unless thay are handed..ballnut and worm screw parts are only handed in relation to the teeth on the ballnut. if its appropriate the ballnut can be put on backwards to make a LHD ballnut and screw RHD

rear end had two different sizes of spring eye bush

its worth sending dimensions

trans mounts are the same as the late 60s US A body one

motor mounts are the flat buiscuit type, if they fit a first year 360 in the US 1971 ???? then they will fit an ausie one

later round spool type mount weird stuff wasn't used in Aus

your car will have pin slider girlock disk calipers like those on a 66 mustang and VG VH valiants

or it may have had a swap to later VJ design sliders with a clip and half head thicknass bolt holding the caliper sliding head onto the bracket.

both look the same from the under side
take off a wheel and see if there are clips or pins before ordering pads

or swap to landcruiser calipers....do a search and you will find me chuntering on to nobody in particular about the conversion

DBA and PBR make disks and drums and pedders of course can supply stuff but not sure who makes all of it

the rear wheel cylinders are kinda universal you just need one the right size and with the right mount

rear brake design is universal across all Mopars you just need bits the correct size.

rear axle is Aussie Borgwarner (60s/70s) BTR engineering (80s/90s Spice axle australia(2000-> today) M78

if you are lucky it will be a Cone LSD if not it will be an open version
open versions break easy cone versions good to about 300Ftlb in standard form...yes they can be rebuilt..

you can uprate it with the internals from a Mk111 camaro IROC Z or holden commodore VL to first version VS and custom 28 spline axles from moser they last surpsingly well and have much lower parsitic losses than 8 3/4 dana or 9 inch but obvioulsy much less robust


or add quaife tru trac style centre for a morgan aero 8....need to confirm this fits just not gone down to quaife with a standrd centre to check

Morgan used M75 7.5 inch and M78 7.75 inch BTR axles

I can help with axle advice or i will come and take your axle away if you go A body 8 3/4

your car could take a 727 small block box if you wanted to but not a US A-833 manual without floor surgery and hydraulic clutch or mangled combo of US and Aussie bellhousings.



Dave