1972 Charger

[2TallCustomz]

I have this Charger that is Street/ Strip bound. I will have a blown 440 to drop in but I'm having a bit of trouble with the rear end decision. I would like to tuck MT sportsmans under it, but I've never done ladder bar rear ends on a unibody. Can anyone help to start me off on building my first mopar?

[Gibble_75]

what kinda times do you plan on

[dwc43]

Originally Posted by 2TallCustomz

I have this Charger that is Street/ Strip bound. I will have a blown 440 to drop in but I'm having a bit of trouble with the rear end decision. I would like to tuck MT sportsmans under it, but I've never done ladder bar rear ends on a unibody. Can anyone help to start me off on building my first mopar?

That's easy. You'll have to get some sub frame connecters first. Even if it was not blown you would need those. Leave the springs on it for now. That will keep the stock pinion angle correct for now. You'll need to weld in the front cross member. With the rear still in place it will make it easy to use the ladder bar to measure how far away the cross member has to be from the axle.

Once that's in place, bolt the front ladder bar to it and then you can see where the mounts on the axle need to be welded in place. Now bolt that up when you are done welding the mounts in place.

On the coil overs you need to fab a cross member for them too. The stock upper mount is not strong enough to support the weight of the car unless it is tied to a roll cage. You can mount the coil overs at an angle like stock shocks or straight up. I prefer straight up. The more you angle the shocks, the more spring rate and shock rate you will have to have. You'll need a stronger RR shock and spring than on the left anyways to control torque roll.

Alston has the best set up, but CE would work too.

[2TallCustomz]

I wanna be down in the 12's at least.

[Gibble_75]

id run mickey thompsons dot drag radials they only last about 800 miles but they hook up great

[cudabob496]

Originally Posted by 2TallCustomz

I wanna be down in the 12's at least.

Don't need to blow a 440 to get into the 12's. A decent 440 with some performance add-ons, and a good drive train will get you there.

[2TallCustomz]

The 440 is not blown yet but its in the works so. I need to build the car around the engine now. Any good engine recipe's for a blown 440 out there?

[2TallCustomz]

Originally Posted by dwc43

That's easy. You'll have to get some sub frame connecters first. Even if it was not blown you would need those. Leave the springs on it for now. That will keep the stock pinion angle correct for now. You'll need to weld in the front cross member. With the rear still in place it will make it easy to use the ladder bar to measure how far away the cross member has to be from the axle.

Once that's in place, bolt the front ladder bar to it and then you can see where the mounts on the axle need to be welded in place. Now bolt that up when you are done welding the mounts in place.

On the coil overs you need to fab a cross member for them too. The stock upper mount is not strong enough to support the weight of the car unless it is tied to a roll cage. You can mount the coil overs at an angle like stock shocks or straight up. I prefer straight up. The more you angle the shocks, the more spring rate and shock rate you will have to have. You'll need a stronger RR shock and spring than on the left anyways to control torque roll.

Alston has the best set up, but CE would work too.

You were right I love the engineering of Alston's work, would you possibly have a list of all that I need for this 73 Charger, or your recommendations on how you would build it. Thank you very much for spending your time on helping me it is greatly appritiated.

[DartGT66]

If you go over all the trouble of going with a ladder bar/coil over set up, go ahead and build a four link instead. And first of all, read books and study chassis and suspension theories. To be honest, for even a 10 second street/strip car, Ss springs are about all you need.

[2TallCustomz]

Originally Posted by DartGT66

If you go over all the trouble of going with a ladder bar/coil over set up, go ahead and build a four link instead. And first of all, read books and study chassis and suspension theories. To be honest, for even a 10 second street/strip car, Ss springs are about all you need.

To be brutaly honest, I have a bad reading comprehension problem. Reading and understanding is my worst enemy, lol. But if I do it hands on with a coach telling me whats the best way, I do much better. Thanx for the advise.

[DartGT66]

But pay attention to the coach, that he really knows what he is preaching about and doesn't recommend something just because that's what happens to be in his car. Ladder bars is a decent working set up in a drag race car, it does not have too many adjustments and is reasonably easy to understand. Leaf springs have even less to adjust, and work in to 1.3 second 60 ft times in Stockers with 9" wide tires. Until you go quicker than about 10 seconds in the 1/4 mile, the ladder bars/ coil overs will give you no advantage over good leaf springs and good shocks, except a little weight. But there is one reason ladder bars are not recommended to be used in street cars here, and it's because they do not allow the tires to move independently without binding. Four link with a wish bone, watts link or panhard bar is completely different, and will also add the resale value over aldder bars.

[cudabob496]

My 600 hp Cuda just has heavy duty leaf springs which I have clamped in the front part of the spring, a pinion snubber, and subframe connectors. Hooks real well on BFG drag radials. I'm thinking of getting Caltracs, but they are only around $300.

[2TallCustomz]

Your right DartGT66, I want the Pro stock rear end for this, I want this car to be track bound, with the occasional weekend car show. So what do you recommend for this kinda set up?

[DartGT66]

I would build a four link, if you want a "pro stock rear end". Actually, that's what I did the last time out, with zero knowledge about the subject. I first bought this book, and tried to understand something of it, and then started to build. I had only very basic equipment, only a MIG welder, hack saw, wise and a fly cutter, no angle gauges etc, but I got it done with the hints from that book, and so far it has worked ok. I haven't really tuned it yet, tuning would definitely help, but so far the realtively heavy car (3700 lbs) has pulled a 1.31 60 ft at best on wide DOT tires. I bought the "complete kit" from quarter max, http://www.rjracecars.com/
A friend of mine took some pics during the project: http://kuvablogi.com/blog/745/1

[2TallCustomz]

What is the title of the book? I'm very curious to see what it says. BTW, I love the way your car turned out. The color is beautiful. That is the goal for our Charger. You have a great car on your hands.

[DartGT66]

Door Slammers: The Chassis Book. And the author is Dave Morgan.

[2TallCustomz]

Thank you so much for this information, You've been a really big help.

[dwc43]

Originally Posted by 2TallCustomz

You were right I love the engineering of Alston's work, would you possibly have a list of all that I need for this 73 Charger, or your recommendations on how you would build it. Thank you very much for spending your time on helping me it is greatly appritiated.

If it was mine, I'd opt for a magnumforce tube K frame and complete front end set up. I think it runs about $3500. Check it out at www.magnumforce.com

As for the rear, Ladders are much easier to install without cutting up the car like with a 4 link, and they are almost as adjustable as a 4 link. Pretty simple to adjust, want more traction mount the front of the bar closer to the floor and vice versa for less traction. I use adjustable shocks to get finer tuning with my car. The 4 lin works the same way. You adjust the lower bar for major changes and adjust the top bar for finre tunning.

I'd use the Alston set up if I was you and you can pic your coil overs from many different places. Just depends on how much you want to spend. Make sure they adjust in both bound and rebound. Cost a little more that way, but they make a big difference in feel and handling.

Alston also has a good install video you can buy. I think I got mine from Summit Racing when I orderd my first ladder set up. Main thing is your cars heavy, so the lighter magnumforce set up coupled with the much lighter ladder coil over set up will really get some weight out of that heavy car of yours. Rule of thumb is 100lbs. equals a tenth and 10 hp. I know with the mild tunnel rammed 440 in my light weight Duster that the ladder coil over set up was a must. It hooked up good after it was installed, a leaf set up would have never worked. Rides great on the street when I get a chance to run the thing. The new stroker and NOS should make it close to a track car only when it's finished.

There was another guy in town that had a Duster with a tunnel rammed 440 in it too running a ladder bar set up. Last time I saw in in Sept. though he had switched to a tunnel rammed small block for some reason. I took a pic of the engine at our car show and forgot to get an outside shot though.

Let me know if you need any help setting up a ladder coil over deal.