Perfect 10

by: Jim Koscs

Photos by: Jerry Heasley

"Buh-klang!" Recognize that? It's the sound your B-body trunklid and hood make when you shut them. Matt Delaney really hates that sound. So, for his 1968 Charger, he had his body man drill out all spot welds in the hood and trunk panels, take them apart and squirt the gaps full of body caulking before welding everything back together. Now when Delaney closes the hood, it makes a nice solid "thunk," like his Mercedes E500.

The fact that he's closing the hood over a Viper V-10 is, of course, no smaller matter. But trust us-banishing the "buh-klang" is one of the biggest clues you'll get to the level of detail Delaney lavishes on his project cars. Your second big clue is that Mopar Performance was so impressed with this Viper-powered Charger that they made it part of their exhibition at this year's SEMA (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association) show in October. Delaney is even advising MP engineers on how to make V-10 conversions easier. His car is that good. (Good and expensive.)

A long-time Mopar big block devotee, Delaney has been converted to the V-10 religion. "It's the ultimate street motor," he says. "Coming out of the gate, you just drop the clutch at 1,600-1,800 rpm to make the car come out as hard as a Hemi car would at 3,500 rpm. But with the V-10, there's no violence, no clutch slip. The back tires just barely come loose and it rockets."

Of course, the ladder-link rear and massive rubber help with traction, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

It's not just raw power that Delaney seeks. With an engineering background, he can't help but admire efficiency-as in getting 25 miles per gallon while cruising at 80 mph with the a/c on in a car capable of easy and consistent 11-second quarter mile blasts. And instead of a fancy power-adjustable lumbar support like his Mercedes seat has, Delaney relies on V-10 torque to press his lower back against the seat.

Air conditioning and torque, in fact, were among Delaney's big reasons for building this Charger. He lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, so sweating in his expensive cars is not an option. He could afford a Viper, but it doesn't have room for his wife and son. And besides, everybody's got one! However, after test-driving a Viper, Delaney knew that it would forever be his benchmark for torque. He immediately bought a Viper crate motor for a 1968 Charger body that was supposed to be a parts donor for a Hemi Charger restoration. He did all the homework and paid for all the hard work, and now you can learn from his buildup.

Part 1: The Engine

Not much to say here. It's the Viper crate motor, period. The engine is stock, needing only reshaped headers to fit in the Charger. The custom-made exhaust system uses an x-pipe and AeroChamber mufflers, a setup Delaney figures gives him 20-25 horses up on a Viper. He had the whole system ceramic-coated inside and out by Airborne Coatings in Oklahoma City.

Electronic hookup in the pre-computer era muscle car was a snap-literally. The Viper crate motor comes with the computer, wiring harness, and a detailed schematic. "You just add two oxygen sensors and fill it with oil," says Delaney. "It fired up and ran perfectly on the first shot."

A dyno test showed 442 horsepower at the rear wheels. Delaney had just finished the car the night before we photographed it at the Nats, so he hadn't run it yet. The Moroso Power/Speed Calculator says it should be good for a low-11 second ride.

Part 2: Setting It Up

Delaney had Brad Emmons of B&M Performance in Bossier City, LA install the V-10. The first trick was figuring out how to make the long, tall motor fit. After lots of study, Emmons moved the firewall back 2.5 inches. He then crafted custom engine mounts and a K-member to go around the oil pan.

Delaney wanted BMW-like handling to go with the Viper-like acceleration, so the torsion bar/leaf spring undercarriage got the heave-ho. In its place, Emmons used Magnum Force upper and lower control arms and coil-overs in front. In back, he built up a ladder link setup with a diagonal link and coil-overs. Dual-adjustable (compressions and rebound) shocks from Strange allow suspension fine-tuning. After trying different combinations, Delaney settled on variable-rate springs front and rear (650-lb. front, 400-lb. rear). He's got the shocks adjusted 60/40 front and 50/50 rear.

The rear has been narrowed and the wheel wells widened by 2.5 inches to accommodate the massive rubber (more on that later). A custom aluminum driveshaft connects to the Mopar Performance 8-3/4" aluminum rear that houses 3.91 gears.

Emmons braced the unibody with subframe connectors to add the rigidity that Delaney expects from a modern car. "If you put the car on four jack stands on an uneven surface, one corner should come off a stand. That's how stiff the car should be," says Delaney.

Part 3: "Minor" Details

Pedals presented a minor obstacle. For an accelerator, Delaney says an E-body pedal with a one-inch extension works perfectly. Using the original brake and clutch assembly required sectioning out two inches and welding it back together to keep the pedals in the stock position. there's less clutch travel, but with a hydraulic clutch, you don't need much anyway.

Delaney loves the look of the Mopar pistol grip shifters, but not the feel. So he had Gunslinger make a custom pistol grip for the B&M Ripper shifter. "I now have the shortest-throw pistol-grip shifter in the world," he says. "You just have to flick your wrist to shift." The emergency brake now resides in a custom floor console.

Part 4: Roadblocks

Delaney wanted power steering but could not find an aftermarket power rack and pinion setup that met the specs. The Viper engine is so long, that chassis builder Emmons had to mount the rack in front of it. "That presented interesting geometry problems," he says. The new setup needed seven inches of travel, and all the aftermarket kits Delaney could find provided just five and a quarter. Then he found BRT in Reddick, Illinois, where the proprietor named Jay said "no problem!" Delaney got his custom-made rack for under $600.

Wheels, of all things, threw up another road block. Delaney wanted wheels that looked like those he'd seen on Viper road race cars. But he found that once you go past 12-inch width on an 18-inch diameter rim, you're down to five wheel manufacturers. He says nobody offered the four and four and a half bolt pattern-nobody but Kinesis in California. That is, who offered to drill any bolt pattern for their three-piece wheels. "You can't even consider using the Viper six-lug pattern unless you're also thinking of grafting on Viper suspension," says Delaney, suggesting the insane expense and work involved with that option.

Delaney wanted the 18 x 12s both for handling and to give the car the "proper" stance. (He's as particular about a car's stance as he is about stiffing the rattles.) The big wheels allow huge 345/45/18 Michelin Pilots on the back and 245/45-18s on the front. Delaney-who's owned enough new hardware to know-figures his Charger might pull in the neighborhood of 0.8-g in handling. We'll put that claim to the test once the Mopar Action skidpad has been repaved and the sheriff takes the padlock off the front gate once the back rent has been paid up.

Part 5: Diet

Like any engineer, Delaney sees weight as the enemy. The result is a V-10 Charger with a/c that tips the scales at 3,450 ponds-more than 500 off a stock big block Charger.

The aluminum Viper engine with accessories weighs 550 pounds, a substantial drop from an iron Mopar big block. The new front suspension, Wilwood disc brakes and custom K-member chopped off 125 pounds. Then there's the aluminum driveshaft and aluminum rear. The Viper motor's a/c compressor weighs about one third of the Charger's original, and the Vintage Air a/c box inside weighs 30 pounds less than the original piece. The new seats from Scat reduce weight from the originals. Also helping to cut poundage, the body was acid dipped before painting.

Despite the focus on the weight reduction, Delaney admits he could have knocked off another hundred pounds if he hadn't put in so much Dynomat insulation. But then, he wants the a/c to work right-and you already know how much he hates rattles and those maddening "bluh-klang" sounds. Everything's been undercoated for sound absorption and rust prevention, too.

Part 6: Body & Interior

Delaney chose not to alter the classic Charger design. The Charger had perfect quarters but needed new floors, a trunk and roof skin. Our bodyman, who specializes in getting those subtle (and not so subtle) Mopar character lines just right, did all the metal work.

All exterior trim is NOS, expect for the original wheel lip moldings. The car has been rust-proofed throughout, including the braces under the roof skin and the insides of the rocker panels. Eagle Paint and Body painted the car Viper silver with a Viper-red bumblebee stripe.

Automotive Custom Specialties in Shreveport brought the interior closer to Delaney's more modern cars. They redid the back seat to match the front seats and built the custom console. Velour carpeting (like a Mercedes) helps to raise interior quality, too. All the original knobs and switches have been restored and all work as new (maybe even better). The custom gauge panel is stuffed with AutoMeter gauges and sports a high-tech graphite face from Precision Auto Trim in Rhode Island. With the foot-operated emergency brake moved, there was room for custom kick panels that house 6.5 inch main speakers and tweeters.

Conclusion:

After all that money and work, Delaney says he'll probably sell the car and build something else for next year. Hint: it'll probably have a Viper motor-and then some. In the meantime, Mopar Performance seems committed to making these conversions easier so they can sell more engines. And we're committed to writing about it so we can sell more magazines.