1972 DODGE CHALLENGER
The Challenger was both my first
Mopar and my first car. It was purchased by me at the tender age of seventeen
for $1200. This was back in 1982.
As purchased the Challenger came factory equipped with
the 340, auto trans, dual exhaust with chrome tips, rallaye hood, and slapstick
shifter and 3.23 open rear end. A previous owner had installed headers.
To this combo I added an Edelbrock LD340 intake, Holley #3310 750 cfm vacuum secondary carb, 90/10 shocks front and 50/50 shocks rear and a 3.91 Sure-Grip center section. This combo was only good for low 15 second quarter-mile times.
To go faster, I yanked the 340 (which I foolishly sold to a friend for $200) and began to prep the Challenger for the 1965 426 Wedge which I had purchased for $700. The 426 Wedge came with used 1968 906 heads and a tunnel ram. I sold the tunnel ram for $200 and purchased a used Edelbrock Torker for $75. Another $300 was spent for new bearings, a distributor, a high volume oil pump, and a timing set. I decided to keep using the same 750 Holley that was on the 340. Compression ratio was guestimated to be around 10 to 1 - the car ran fine on low-grade pump gas. The stock 5/16 inch fuel line was still used along with a street Holley electric fuel pump at the tank and a mechanical fuel pump off of a 440 6-Pack motor at the engine. The cam was a solid lifter unit of unknown origin and lift. All and all a pretty thrown together package.
A tranny from a junkyard was purchased for $15 and a friend
went through it and added new clutches, a used manual valve body, and a
used Turbo-Action 3800 stall converter. 
The
stock slapstick was replaced by an aftermarket B&M shifter.
To get the chassis ready for the extra power I added 3600 lbs. Super Stock springs, subframe connectors, and a pinion snubber. The first time at the strip I ran skinny 15 x 3.5 Centerlines and frontrunners in the front and some 9 x 30 inch slicks mounted on 15 x 6 inch steel rims in the back.
The first time out this combo was good for a 13.36 et at 105 mph. The stock 5/16 fuel line did end up causing some vapor lock problems. A front-end with over 105,000 miles, disconnected power steering belt and slicks mounted on narrow rims caused some very scary wandering on the top end.
Before
the next time out a manual steering set-up from a junkyard Dart was installed,
a stock slapstick was put back in, a Hurst line-lock added, and I found
some used 10.5 X 30 Goodyear slicks on 15 x 8.5 inch Weld wheels. ET dropped
down to 12.81 @ 107.52.
The car still spun out of the hole all the way through first gear. In retrospect the 3600 lbs. Super Stock springs were way too stiff and hindered traction. A steeper gear was needed as well. Overall it wasn't too shabby for a daily driver with only a total of $3,000 invested.
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