The Chargers quest for 9's

[Shadow]

Loading up and realized it has not been that long since the Charger cruised to the cabin. Went out most every year before 2019 and def remember being at the track with her in 2014 when Jacquie ran her Dart.

Crazy what 4 years off can do to memory, Thanks Covid!

So cpl pics of loading up, mostly because l wanted to stare at the subtle differences going from 205/45/16’s on front to 215/45/16’s on rear.

When l dropped new tires on ground beside old Nittos it looked like they would be a full inch wider, but that all changes on 6” rims. 🧐

So maybe 1:4” taller, slightly more tuck/ bulge on sidewall which l like, and about 1/2” wider over all

[cordes]

Looks great. I love the 16" pumpers, even if they are only 6" wide. I have a set on my Lancer Shelby now, but I think they look great on any of our cars.

[Shadow]

Looks great. I love the 16" pumpers, even if they are only 6" wide. I have a set on my Lancer Shelby now, but I think they look great on any of our cars.

Thanks, and yeah, guess l’m the same as l have the pumpers on the Charger and had them on the Spirit as well.

Funny how many ask me when l’m going to buy a proper set of A/M rims for the Charger, as if the pumps are so much plain factory nothingness. lol

Before buying the 215’s l debated again the possibility of running 17’s or some other rim. Looked around for a few days and came to the conclusion that l still liked the white pumpers better. 😀

["Top Fuel" Bender]

that looks sharp with the white pumpers

[Loudexploder]

Loading up and realized it has not been that long since the Charger cruised to the cabin. Went out most every year before 2019 and def remember being at the track with her in 2014 when Jacquie ran her Dart.

Crazy what 4 years off can do to memory, Thanks Covid!

So cpl pics of loading up, mostly because l wanted to stare at the subtle differences going from 205/45/16’s on front to 215/45/16’s on rear.

When l dropped new tires on ground beside old Nittos it looked like they would be a full inch wider, but that all changes on 6” rims. 🧐

So maybe 1:4” taller, slightly more tuck/ bulge on sidewall which l like, and about 1/2” wider over all

Car looks great man. Glad to see it out and getting some love..

[Shadow]

that looks sharp with the white pumpers

Thanks, and great to see you posting! Wish I could run the CS center caps, but the dang studs up front are too long!!

[Shadow]

Car looks great man. Glad to see it out and getting some love..

Yeah me too, been Way too long and this wknd trip showed me why I need to get some seat time and shake er down before any Serious sessions.

The trip to the cabin was just enough that on the return and heading through Winnipeg I had gone through first full tank of fuel. (was driving in vac pretty much whole time just to get rid of any old fuel before boosting)

Filled er up with 91 premium and started climbing into some easy boost to see if I could find my min now with new lowered W/G actuator.

Felt a little funny as this was the first semi aggressive shifting so far. Kind of choppy. Then hit the open hwy and through the first 3 gears shifting at 15psi because it seemed like it would climb higher, then Nothing! Lost the shifter, just wobbling around in my hand.

Coasted to the side of the hwy and popped the hood, really hoping I didn't snap a cable because a buddy of mine just went through that a few weeks back.

Everything under the hood looked fine, but when wifie moved shifter back and forth, nothing at trans. Lifted the front of console and shifter cable end just a hoop with no grommet.

The grommet has disintegrated and looked like it had just dried up and fell apart.

So Good news, as it's a simple fix and not too far from home. Slipped the loop end over the shifter pin and interestingly enough, the trans shifted pretty decently like that. All the way to 4th, but try to go 5th and pin slides out of hoop and floppy shifter again. So I nursed it home in 4th which wasn't too bad.

The surprise was no poly bushings in shifter cable ends, but I quickly remembered why. I had installed them on the trans side back in 08 maybe? Whenever the 568 went it, but I couldn't for the life of me, get them to go on the shifter ends.

Now I've since installed poly bushings on several other applications and don't remember it being a big deal. Not sure if any were 568 though.

I grab my bag of bushings and decide it's a good time to get these installed right this time. Dang, same deal! I tried for 30min to get that bushing to pop onto shifter pin and no dice! Even used a C clamp to try to press it on and couldn't do it. Ended up just replacing with another good OEM bushing and prob not so bad because I noticed the shifter pin slightly loose from all the track runs and hard shifting over the years. Will need to pull in out and weld it up, so that will be the time to get poly bushings installed on Both shifter pins.

So has anyone else run into this? Am I just using the wrong bushing? Looks like I have 2 different kinds. Booger bushing and Poly bushing. One has slightly larger hole, but is almost rock hard. The other has smaller hole and softer where I can feel a slight give when pushing on pin.

I believe the shifter in Charger is a STS from SRT-4. Maybe I need poly cable bushings for SRT-4?

[cordes]

I have had trouble with them before, but I think it was a matter of being sent (or accidentally ordering) the wrong bushings. When they work, I am always able to easily "snap" them into place with a pair of pliers.

[Aries_Turbo]

ive always squeezed them on with a pair of vise grips.

Brian

[Shadow]

ive always squeezed them on with a pair of vise grips.

Brian

Yeah, the ones I've done and worked, I think vise grips or even channel locks IMS. I will have to look further into why it doesn't want to go on the Charger. Looked at the web site and only 2 options for buying. Pretty sure I always get the set with the one larger bushing for cross over cable on trans.

Pic of bushing after trying to squeeze it on with worm gear C clamp. Clamp round end dug right into the end as that bushing should be completely flat and smooth.

Looking at a few shifter bases, noticed that the head of the pin that retains the bushing can have larger (same size as pin diam) or smaller head on it.

I wonder if this has anything to do with why it won't go? The Charger shifter has the larger end.

[Warren Stramer]

Rob, I will give you a custom modified factory shifter and cables I made with steel spherical ends. I would have to dig up the cables from storage but get rid of the rubber bushings.
Are G body cables to long for an L body?

[cordes]

Rob, I will give you a custom modified factory shifter and cables I made with steel spherical ends. I would have to dig up the cables from storage but get rid of the rubber bushings.
Are G body cables to long for an L body?

I would love to see photos of this when you dig them out.

[rx2mazda]

Not a fan of Pumpers. Big ugly and heavy lol. Get a set of spare center caps and drill out the holes where the studs come through.

[Shadow]

Rob, I will give you a custom modified factory shifter and cables I made with steel spherical ends. I would have to dig up the cables from storage but get rid of the rubber bushings.
Are G body cables to long for an L body?

Prob seems crazy that I've been using so much stock stuff at this point. lol Just never gave me any serious issues till now. (plus the upgrades would go in!)

Pretty sure G body cables still go, but this is for a 568, so yours may be 555?

[Shadow]

Not a fan of Pumpers. Big ugly and heavy lol. Get a set of spare center caps and drill out the holes where the studs come through.

I had actually considered that! Wanted to look up rules on studs first though. Can't remember how many threads have to make it through lug nuts? Was thinking I may be able to cut them down just enough so caps go on.

I painted those pumpers back in the late 90's. They were for the twin turbo and are actually golden tri coat pearl white. Although even I can hardly tell now.

Maybe I will shine a light on them and see if the golden pearl is still visible, as they've always just looked white to me. lol

I had 6 rims painted and ready to go with Nitto 555 I believe Extreme, 4 regular and 2 DR's to swap up front. When the Charger fell into my lap, just made sense to make use of them.

Have to admit, they've grown on me over the years and seem to suit the car from my perspective.

[Warren Stramer]

Prob seems crazy that I've been using so much stock stuff at this point. lol Just never gave me any serious issues till now. (plus the upgrades would go in!)

Pretty sure G body cables still go, but this is for a 568, so yours may be 555?

Nope mine was for a 523, same as 568 as I recall.

[Shadow]

Nope mine was for a 523, same as 568 as I recall.

Wow, that would be nuts!

LMK if it surfaces!

[Shadow]

Update on the shifter situation;

Drove into Winnipeg on Friday and the bushing I had just replaced came apart while in the middle of traffic. Ended up driving through town in 2nd gear to brother in laws.

Tie strapped the cable end to shifter for return trip. So even bushings I had stored in zip loc bag in shop have obviously dried up and lost their rubber characteristics.

Makes me wonder how many are coming apart on vehicles as we speak?

Anyway, poly install round 2!

This time I removed the pass seat and took the console out so I could get to everything without fumbling with holding console up.

So this is the funny part. I didn't try the slightly softer set because the hole was smaller. So I grab that set and a bit of lube and the snap right into place! I changed both so that should be the end of it.

I don't know what those other bushings are, but they are shiny black and very hard. The ones that worked had a slight powdery look on the surface, as if a black bushing got dusted with baby powder.

Anyway, was able to take the Charger out and finally test the new W/G actuator I modded for lower boost. Cpl pulls and just under 15psi where I was hoping it to be!

Long time since I've felt WOT in the Charger and was curious how only 15psi would feel, but when it hits, 2nd gear still starts to Peel lose!

[86Shelby]

Glad to hear you got it resolved! Those issues are always satisfying when fixed.

[Shadow]

And that’s the plan for this whole summer, whether l realized it or not. So much stuff we changed in the heat of the moment, pressing for a goal and not taking the time to really go over things.

Like the Wilwood brake set-up. We went with one of the mildest pads in rear and one of the most aggressive up front and Charger brakes were so much better than stock that l never even bothered to “tune” the adjustable prop valve. Looking at brakes now, the rears look like they hardly have enough on them to clean the rotors off from storage.

So l checked valve and it was 10 1/2 turns out, which is Full out lowest rear setting. Changed that to 5 turns out middle and what a difference in braking stability and feel!

So some things that were working like the stock shifter bushing just got forgotten about, and other things that were upgraded just never got optimized.

That’s my goal over the next few months. To drive and enjoy the Charger and take the time to get everything working as well as possible before moving forward 😀