TIII Shelby Charger

[cordes]

I will follow this project with great interest. Thanks for taking the time to post the pics.

[TheCanadian007]

Great work, Rob! What other bracing is needed on Turbo'd L-body vehicles? What gauge metal did you use to box the rad support in?

[Shadow]

I will follow this project with great interest. Thanks for taking the time to post the pics.

Just happy to get a log going on something. I think it's a great idea to have a section for this, it was just too late for my own Charger as it's already built.

Great work, Rob! What other bracing is needed on Turbo'd L-body vehicles? What gauge metal did you use to box the rad support in?

1/8th inch thick galvanized plate steel. This is all I've done to the chassis and it's worked well. If your really launching hard on slicks, with a solid bobble, you might want to consider welding an extra plate of steel below the crossmember. The Charger is slowly pushing the whole center of the crossmember down. (around 1/2-3/4" so far)

[TheCanadian007]

Wow! I wouldn't have thought the thick metal on the crossmember would deform that much.

Have you tried making diagonal braces going from the fender to the upper rad support (Much like what is seen on the older Camaros / Mustangs) or perhaps fabricating a brace that ties the control arms together? (Bolts to the front 'nut' on the control arms. I believe Johnny from PolyBushings has something similar on his auto-x Omni...)

Cheers, TheCanadian

[Shadow]

Wow! I wouldn't have thought the thick metal on the crossmember would deform that much.

I launch the car pretty hard sometimes!

Have you tried making diagonal braces going from the fender to the upper rad support (Much like what is seen on the older Camaros / Mustangs) or perhaps fabricating a brace that ties the control arms together? (Bolts to the front 'nut' on the control arms. I believe Johnny from PolyBushings has something similar on his auto-x Omni...)

Cheers, TheCanadian

The car launches flawlessly and smooth.....no wheel hop. Not looking to mess with anything else unless I find a need to do so. I haven't even run a strut brace yet.

[rich tideswell]

Before you go notching the frame, have you thought about using an electric power steering pump? i know the new gm 3.5l v6 has one. could probably mount it in the cowl

[Shadow]

Before you go notching the frame, have you thought about using an electric power steering pump? i know the new gm 3.5l v6 has one. could probably mount it in the cowl

For the shear simplicity of "notching the frame and everything works", I really haven't given any other options much thought. We (Glenn, myself and Brent) all agree that this is the most simple solution, with no downside.

[Shadow]

Gonna order some Ti retainers from FWD to lighten the spring preasure on the V/T. The mtr itself is in very nice condition. Under 50,000 miles and the head/top end is in the best shape I've ever seen! This is the first TIII I've pulled apart that still had ALL of the lifters "tight" in the rockers. (usually at least a couple fall right out)

Other than that, I think we're going to do a little port work, head studs with stock gasket, drop the B/S and put in a nice windage tray, do the altered timing belt routing, maybe some adj cam gears and call it a day. I'll see if I can get some pics of the mtr up soon.

[iTurbo]

Are you guys running the Scirocco radiator? I'm seriously thinking of ordering one but not sure what to get. They have nice 3" thick ones complete with dual fan setups/shrouds...not sure if any of that would even fit though. At 13" high it looks like they could duck under the intake runners and possibly allow me to keep the npr intercooler. Want to keep it because it fits the car so nice other than the intake clearance issue. This is actually the last major hurdle for me, otherwise I'm stuck with the GLHS setup for now.

I'm doing a lot of the same mods. Got a ported TIII head and manifolds, Ti retainers, and already sent the brackets off to Jackson for the idler mod. Turbo is just a little 60 trim t3 for now.

[Shadow]

Are you guys running the Scirocco radiator? I'm seriously thinking of ordering one but not sure what to get. They have nice 3" thick ones complete with dual fan setups/shrouds...not sure if any of that would even fit though. At 13" high it looks like they could duck under the intake runners and possibly allow me to keep the npr intercooler. Want to keep it because it fits the car so nice other than the intake clearance issue. This is actually the last major hurdle for me, otherwise I'm stuck with the GLHS setup for now.

I'm doing a lot of the same mods. Got a ported TIII head and manifolds, Ti retainers, and already sent the brackets off to Jackson for the idler mod. Turbo is just a little 60 trim t3 for now.

Prob going to do the same rad that I'm running in my Charger, the griffin "scirocco" style and run it right under the cradle. (I really like how much room it frees up in front of the mtr) Also looking at the HE351 turbo for some nice pump gas #'s.

[rx2mazda]

I'm also gonna be running the same rad in my GLHT.

[iTurbo]

Awesome thanks. The Griffin radiators do look nice and they even have one with the i/o on the driver side which looks like it would be easier to incorporate. Lookin at the 22x13x2 unit for my car.

I'm not sure about the filler neck though. Should I get it with or without? It will be mounted down low probably sitting down low just underneath the NPR i/o if I can get this to work. If I get it without the filler neck do I have to get a pressure capable reservoir and mount it up high with a cap on that instead?? Sorry for the newb question but I've always run stock radiators before.

[Shadow]

Awesome thanks. The Griffin radiators do look nice and they even have one with the i/o on the driver side which looks like it would be easier to incorporate. Lookin at the 22x13x2 unit for my car.

I'm not sure about the filler neck though. Should I get it with or without? It will be mounted down low probably sitting down low just underneath the NPR i/o if I can get this to work. If I get it without the filler neck do I have to get a pressure capable reservoir and mount it up high with a cap on that instead?? Sorry for the newb question but I've always run stock radiators before.

I'll try and take some pics of my Charger this week. I bolted mine down to the lower cradle with the 2 lower mounts that come on the rad. The filler neck is on the driver side and low enough that I can open and fill it without problems.

[CDNTurboZ]

I remember five years ago going to the shop and seeing that car just sitting there, glad to hear that its coming together finally !

Edit: We really have to get a meet going this summer..

[Shadow]

I remember five years ago going to the shop and seeing that car just sitting there, glad to hear that its coming together finally !

Edit: We really have to get a meet going this summer..

LOL I should post some pics of when we first brought it down! With everything else going on in the shop, it's been a squeeze to slowly get it to this stage. Things should move along nicely now!

Deff going to call a TD meet this summer for sure! Should be 3-4 very minty L-bodies cruising around, including this TIII and a very scary 2.4! lol

[CDNTurboZ]

very scary 2.4! lol

The 2.4 car is almost done? That is one that I really want to see complete

[Shadow]

The 2.4 car is almost done? That is one that I really want to see complete

SHHH.....We'll take that one, one step at a time, but yeh, we'll be back on it soon.

Some pics of Glenn's car when we first brought it down.

[CDNTurboZ]

Seeing those pics makes me want to find another one to redo LOL

[Shadow]

Seeing those pics makes me want to find another one to redo LOL

You were smart to start with a rust free car. There is a ton of work and time involved in fixing a car right when there is a lot of rust preasent. This one was borderline, but we had the rust free parts and we fixed'er!

[rx2mazda]

There is a ton of work and time involved in fixing a car right when there is a lot of rust preasent.

I found that out over the last two weeks messing with my GHLT. My car has very little rust but the little stuff that is there took more time than I would have thought to fix right. Cleaning, scraping, cleaning, brushing, cleaning, grinding, cleaning, cutting, cleaning, welding.....notice a trend? lol. Very time consuming so, I hope I never have to do it again.