RR project 700 hp street/strip

Car just got painted and is now in my shop for some work. Engine made a little over 700 hp with a Holley Sniper on top. Car might be a handful since it is a four speed. At least it is getting upgraded to disc brakes, The old drums weren't going to handle the power. Very nice paint job. The hood is fiberglass but it looks like steel. Even the bottom of the hood is smooth as glass.

That is very nice Andy. Beautiful paint with a Jewel under the hood. Whoever winds up with that car is a lucky dude!

Nice looking car, certainly will be a handful with a stick, our mild 10:1cr 695hp '69RR 727 street/strip car (originally a stick) has the 11" drums with manual brakes/steering and is all steel apart from a 6-pk hood, owner says if you keep the drums adjusted well they work ok but boy they are seriously heavy, car weighs 3800@the line, 10.3's@129 with full exhausts to date, drive to station fill up with V-power in the morning up to the track, race and drive home the old school way.

Car looks beautiful Andy. Where can I find specs on the engine?

Very nice!

where did u get the hinges from

I'm not sure where the hinges came from but they are nice. They have a gas strut and they work just fine with the fiberglass hood.

Engine is a 505 with Trick Flow 270 heads and a street roller cam. Compression is mid 10's so it runs on pump gas premium. Intake is ported. Nothing trick, just matched parts and good machine work.

I need a set of those hinges !

me to

Sounds like a really neat, user friendly combo.

What does the top of the hood look like?

Okay, looks like the hinges came from Eddie Motorsports: https://www.eddiemotorsports.com/category-s/211.htm

Impressive as usual. Thanks Andy.

how is the clearance between the distributor and the head and valve cover
what are the rear end gears

The distributor clears the head and the valve cover just fine. I'm not sure on the rear gears, I think they are 4.10.

Top of the hood looks like polished glass. This car was in the body shop for about a year and it was getting worked on, not sitting. I think it took them 2 months just to lay down the paint and then all the cutting and buffing.

Beautiful! Is this a keeper for you Andy, or will you be selling?

It isn't mine. Just in my shop for some work over the winter. My shop is heated so guys with project cars head my way in the winter for help with their projects.

Ah.. Certainly on par with the quality of stuff you put together!

Well he is a pretty good customer of mine. The engine uses a lot of parts left over from my dyno engine and I supplied a fair number of the chassis parts.

That is a beautiful car. Should run good too.

What are the specs on the cam you are using as a street friendly roller with the 270's and pump gas compression?

Very pretty car.

It is a Comp street roller 260/266. Maybe a little too big for a daily driver but made nice torque and power on the dyno. We'll see how it does in the car once things are back together.

Do you have any concerns with that much power, the weight of the car, traction and the four speed? In other words will the transmission live with that power and weight?

My guess is that it wouldn't live very long at the track. It might live for years on the street. This car already ate the 8.75 rearend and that was back when it had a stockish 440 in it. The guy grabbed second gear and crunch went the 8.75. So he is anticipating that the four speed will fail at some point with the new 505.

With 505 CID it will be just fine driving on the street. I wouldn't put any less duration in it for myself!

Andy, it that a progressive Ignition distributor? If so, do you like it? I like the fact the timing curve can be adjusted from your Iphone. Thinking about trying one.

No, it is a Holley Sniper with the matching Holley distributor.

Ok, my mistake. Thanks

Big challenge at the moment is the rear axle placement. The rear tires are too close to the front lip of the fender but all the body work is finished so no mods can be made. The chassis work is also finished with the new spring boxes welded in place. Talked to Calvert about building some custom springs to move the axle back a small amount and they aren't interested so on to plan B.

Front suspension is coming together nicely. Doctor Diff 11.75 brakes, 0.960 torsion bars, 1.250 anti-sway bar and Koni shocks. Should ride nice and firm and go around corners in a respectable manner.

Do you have some more information pictures of the shock "tower" // innerfender support tubing that's visible in the previous picture?

Not sure why using different calvert springs wouldn't work. Thats how i moved my axle rearward to gain clearance in that same area.

We had some Calvert split mono springs that had a 22" front segment and we needed 20". Called Calvert to see if it was okay to re-drill. They said no problem!

We re-drilled them and installed and they work fine with zero issues.

I know they offer new rear spring segments to change ride height as well.

Normal Plymouth problems. What size tire?

Tires are 315/60-15 so right at 30 inch diameter. He originally had the Dodge SS hangers in there so the rear was moved back 0.700 but he didn't know it. When the chassis shop put the new rear end in they put it in the stock location since they didn't know it should be moved back. I can fix it with some tricks. I assumed Calvert would tell him no problem and build a custom front segment but maybe they are too busy to deal with one time orders or something.

It is just something that the chassis shop built. A couple of tubes that tie the main hoop structure to the rocker box and the front stub frame.

Cool.

That's a good size for that body style.

Almost looks like another set of holes could be punched in the spring boxes.

Only reason I have got away with 29.5 for a long time is because my quarters are cut/no good anyway.
Looking at replacing quite a bit of metal soon, and am planning to straighten 6-8 inches in the bottom front of the wheel opening, where they always have
the issue.

Not everyone realizes there are pretty big differences between wheel openings of a 68-70 coronet/charger and a belvedere.

I used SS front spring hangers to move the axle back on my '66 Charger and relocated the rear eye to a slider welded to the frame rail. I have good clearance with a 10.5x29.5 MT slick. Maybe the leaf spring sliders are the answer?

Just drill the spring perch for a new spring locator hole -

Tubs are 16 inches wide so they'll handle most everything, only problem is the axle is located just a little too close to the front edge. For whatever reason the guy who designed the wheel wells put a lot of bias into them. I haven't worked on this car before so I didn't know the history with the hangers. Neither did the chassis shop. We'll get it fixed now, just requires some custom fab. Which is why it is in my shop rather than resto place that just does things the way the factory did them.

The interior is nice and clean. I think it is all original sheet metal.

Is he sticking with the original bench seat?

[quote=Transman]Just drill the spring perch for a new spring locator hole - [/quote

I have to do this to all of our a body's, a mill and a tig welder away from perfection.

Not that it matters...... you guys have what you have......

I ran M/T 29.5x10.5 bias ply drag slicks with the stock springs and hangers, and with the MP spring hangers/3400lb SS springs.
I’ve also run a few sets of 9x30 slicks on the car.

None of them ever touched the wheel well opening.

Guess I failed to communicate: that's just the way many 68 to 70 Plymouths are in stock form.....

definitely won't be a super difficult fix, anyway.

May not ever touch, even if very close! But the owner may not be happy with how close it is.

After many years and many passes, the SS springs were shot, and I was ready for some Cal-Tracs.
I used them with some new MP XHD springs.
The MP hangers came with two sets of holes, and I just used the toward set for the XHD springs.
I was running 9x30 slicks with that combo...... no issues.

On the cars where there is contact...... I assume it’s only at speed when the tire grows.
How much clearance does there need to be for it to be “enough”?

I don't want to find out the minimum the hard way, but that's really a great question.

Moparts and FBBO both need more pics of that car.

That's the same tire I'm running in my 69 GTX build. Fortunately I foresaw the need to move the front lip.

The RR is a very similar build to mine. Also street/strip and around 700 hp (713 hp on the dyno) with Caltracs and Gear Vendor OD..

On my Barracuda, half inch is not enough and one inch is plenty. Using a drag radial. I think it really depends on the tire your using.

No, original bench seat is long gone. It has a pair of bucket seats in it now. I looked at the fender tag, not much there. Factory 383 four speed car with a 2 watt AM radio. That is about it. I'm working on the wiring and there isn't much to the dash harness. Probably about as simple as they made these cars in 1969. Once we finish it up it will be even more stripped down. The owner is deleting the heater, radio and windshield washer setup.

How wide of a wheel did you use ?

8.5” wide wheels.

Been making progress on the car but not trying to set any records. Just working on it as time allows and when parts show up. Front suspension is buttoned up with Koni shocks and a 11.75 conversion kit from Doctor Diff. The rear end has been relocated with some custom parts. Went with Calvert 9 way shocks out back. The pinion angle needs to be set and then the car will start going back together.

Very nice car 👍 Coming right along.

Not to beat a dead horse...I’ve fitted a new left quarter panel and it’s tight at the usual spot but not terrible.
It seems I could have got away with it easier than I thought.
Will have to wait and see how the replacement quarter fits on the right side...
Might start my own thread at some point.

andy, that's an interesting way you tied the front rails together with the cowl.
what size tubing did you use, and does it close up any available tire room ? i'm sure you researched that issue thoroughly.

Quite a while back I poseted my intention to move the rear axle back in my '69 RR for tire clearance and YOU, Andy advised against it because it would affect the rear shock angle. So I'd like to know what your tricks are that aren't going to have any negative affects

It is a balancing act. We moved the rear end back 1/2 inch which is about as much as it will go without having problems. Shock mounting is one thing to watch out for, axle cover to gas tank is another thing that gets close and you have to make sure the rear brake hose is long enough. Not to mention the driveshaft length. The shock angle wasn't a problem for this car since I built custom shock plates.

We're making progress a little bit at a time. I've built several custom wire harnesses for the EFI system as well as the different systems going into the car. We're making all the new harnesses look like factory ones with vinyl wrap and factory hold downs. Just finished up a bracket to mount the Hyperspark coil on the end of the cylinder head next to the distributor. First version I built had the coil vertical but I decided it worked better horizontal so I redid the design.

That's an interesting pcv fitting on the valve cover. From what I can see it appears to be an 1/8' 90* pipe fitting with a pipe to hose fitting. Are you running a fixed orifice or is there something else to meter crankcase ventilation that's not pictured?
Thanks.

It is an adjustable fixed orifice PCV setup. EFI requires a fixed orifice PCV but nobody makes them for Mopar so I had to improvise. If you own a GM product then you can use the fixed orifice PCV that GM used on a few cars back in the early days of EFI.

Looks great Andy! Have you thought about making your valley plates with a removable center? Wondering if that is the trick flow one?

I was making plates with a removable center before Trick Flow came along. I stopped making them when Trick Flow started to sell theirs.

What brand of plug wire looms are you using? Those are very neat and tidy.

they look like the "made for you" [?] brand.
if that's not the brand, try looking up nylon plug wire separators.
i know they are made in several sizes, at least 7, 8, 8.5, and 10mm.
you can find these on the 'bag, or amazon.

Ya, that’s what I was thinking they probably are.

We moved the front spring eye to the upper hole to see how the car looks. Also added a thin wheel spacer and then lowered the front a couple of turns. The car is starting to look like the owner wants it. Still a work in progress since the glass isn't in the car and the interior is bare. So the car is probably light by at least 200 lbs.

I'm still working on the electrical system. I have a couple of the new wiring harnesses built and have a couple more to go. Looks like the best way to go is to mount a small relay module under the battery tray. The relays will handle the fuel pump as well as both electric fans.

Looks very nice Andy. I would like to know more about the battery. What is it? What needs changed in the electrical system to run it? Since this car will be street driven and not just raced, I am very curious. Thank you.

It is a half sized battery from Braille. Nothing in the electrical system needs to be changed to run it, you just need a good alternator to keep it charged. I use the same battery in both of my cars.

What alternator do you run with it?

I use a Denso alternator on anything I build.

The black out paint behind the grille is finished and the new instrument cluster from Dakota Digital is here.

what is the wheel tire combo upfront
backspacing etc

looks great

What block are you using? I see cross bolt main bolts.

It looks like a modified stock block to me, but I could be wrong.

I believe that's the 514 stock block that was modified the test mule.

Tires are 225/70-15. I don't know the wheel specs.

The block in the RoadRunner is just a production 440 block. Not sure what year it is, probably a late model block. The car is an original 383 car so numbers don't mean anything.

It appears the turquoise one pictured with a white background isn't the orange one installed the car.

I posted the picture of the Duster engine (turquoise) because someone asked about the alternator on that engine.

Got the car fired up the other day, it sounds really nasty. Manifold pressure at idle is 80 kPa so not much vacuum. The EFI system required some special tuning to work at that pressure but not a big problem.

Looks good.

It's getting closer.

Hello Andy , can you give a run down on the specs , HP & EFI components used . And any reason for going with that throttle body versus the 4500 super sniper . Different dist etc: I am wanting to change over to this set up & need info . Mine is drag only though , 700 HP auto . Thanks Gary

The engine has a Sniper XFlow on it which is good for 700+ hp. For a dedicated race car I'd probably use the 4500 version. I think the 4500 version would make more power on a 4500 type intake than the smaller XFlow that we used on this engine. Might not be a big difference but I wouldn't be surprised if it picked up 15 to 20 hp with the bigger intake and bigger throttle body.

You need to work with an experienced EFI person to sort out a Sniper on a race car. The Sniper software is designed for street use so a few things need to be tweaked to make it work on a race car. Not a big deal, an experienced EFI guy like Rich at FAST Man EFI can do it in 20 or 30 minutes. Rich is a good resource to work with if you want some help buying and tuning an EFI system for your race car.

Thanks Andy .

Start up video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNeBSOqpO40&lc=UgwDGpesISk_nuvKPF14AaABAg

Got it out in the sun for a few pictures.

Nice looking car.

Looking good Andy, nice work.

Love it.

Figured you would like this car. How is your car coming along? Still doing sheet metal work or did you get that part finished up?

I'm still on sheetmetal.

Left quarter + inner (new amd 3" wider) and outer wheelhouses are installed,
a little custom clearance work done to the lower front lip, entire trunk floor replaced/1 piece,
front fenders are replaced, reworked and ready for 320 blocking, hood is reworked/painted and ready to be installed,
right front inner fender replaced, the front inner fenders/underside prepped and painted black.

Last week I cut off the right quarter and am repairing everything behind it.

Thinking about doing a roof skin too...freshen up the whole exterior.

Lots of time spent making things fit.

I've been filling a memory card on an older device with tons of pics and rather raw video, it's been suggested to start a youtube channel, but need to go to school for editing etc or have somebody else do it.....I thought about starting a build thread here, but it kind of seems like talking to myself and there's not much participation here lately.

Forbbodiesonly has a little bit higher rate of participation, I do like that site (I'm Rich H. over there) but feel like I have more friends here, so I haven't taken the plunge. So for now I am just dumping most of it to a Fakebook album for FB friends to check out if they want, and to have a dump/free storage location in addition to the memory card.

Yeah, that is a huge amount of work to take on. Way more work than I'd ever be able to get done myself. I have a couple of buddies who are body guys and they do stuff like that all the time but I've never tackled it myself.

It's way more than I thought I would ever do.

A couple years ago I asked around, looking for someone to help with body repair.
The answers were either "no", or crazy high prices, or "come see me 2 hours up the road and we will talk".

Didn't care for any of that, so I didn't do anything about it.

Then Covid came along, work from home started, and what better time to chase some old pipe dreams.

Hope things are good with you and yours. Feel free to text me sometime, or something

You've added a ton of skills by tackling that project so that is cool.

Looking good Andy, and no doubt Rich has added a ton of skills doing it himself. Doing a fine job at that.

Here is a shot of the other side of the car. The paint is so shiny that it is a little tough getting a good picture. I need to shoot it on some artificial grass or something that doesn't reflect so much.

Beautiful car!

I chuckle when people say body work needs to be perfect if it's Black. No it needs to be perfect for any color, and this shows what perfect body work looks like. You can tell that car is arrow straight, and someone spent a lot of time on it.

Means alot coming from a guy with Mad Skillz such as yourself. Thank you.

Super Nice. The bodywork and paint just leaps off the screen.

One sleek machine right there. Kudos to the paint/body guys!

This is what it looked like before it went to the body shop.

Wondering whats the story be hide this?

Andy can you show how you ran the accusump to the trunk ?

I'd like to see that too! Must be an extra two quarts in the lines !!

Hard to get pictures without having the car on the lift but basically used AN hose wrapped in fiberglass sleeve material and ran it along the frame. Used bulkhead fittings where we had to go thru the frame. Took a few hours of nasty work with various hole saws, uni-bits and nutserts to complete the task.

Very nice work .

Mark

I corrected your spelling in the quote.

Ok, first thing is Andy F knows me from another forum as well as this one, and I have THE UTMOST respect for him and I've been blessed with his advice. Having said that, I am devouring this thread as Andy knows I have been posting about my 70 V-code Roadrunner and doing a powerful stroker motor for it.

I'm writing that because it's REALLY HARD to stop reading, BUT I am a HUGE FAN of the PROGRESSION IGNITION and I can't wait to get one, so I had to stop and say GET ONE!! I've DREAMED of having an ignition system that allows the kind of control the Progression Ignition does! Watch the videos on their website. I downloaded the free app to my phone to control the distributor even though I don't have it yet, so I could "play with" the programming by choosing the "work offline" option in the app. You have to turn Bluetooth on your device, even though you are just "playing". I entered the basic information the app asks for, and it generated a timing map based on those initial values. ONE example of how I can use the flexibility of timing programmability is my 440 6bbl idles around 900-950 RPMs because I have a choppy cam. I recently added air conditioning, but I've had to increase my idle to keep it from dropping too low when the AC is turned on. Similar to putting an automatic transmission in gear. I could rig a solenoid to increase the idle speed, but with the Progression Ignition I can advance the timing just in the narrow RPM range that it slows to, say 800-900 RPMs, and that will bump the RPMs back to "normal idle" speed! Certainly my main reason for wanting it is the absolute control over the timing curve, but the example I just gave, the "ignition disable" security feature, are just a couple of the bonus benefits of the Progression Ignition!!

I use my car mostly for cruising to local and "near state" car shows/events (2-5 hours each way drive, like less than 2 hrs to The Battleship Alabama or about 5 hrs to The Wellborn Museum) and the MAIN EVENT for me each year is a solid week of cruising up and down the Mississippi Gulf Coast for Cruisin The Coast, stop and go traffic, burnouts, 1st and 2nd gear "street sprints" and what has been a lot LESS "Test and Tune" 1/4 mile events at Gulfport Dragway. The main reason why I haven't been running my car at the track was no off the line traction, and a big reason for that was worn out factory leaf springs. Bad brakes and a wish list longer than my arm to address the launch, replacing the brakes with a 4 wheel 6 piston Wilwood disc brakes setup, PREPARING my Roadrunner for the POWER of the 541 stroker motor: USCT subframe connectors, front and rear torque boxes, Strange Engineering chromoly steel everything from the slip yoke to the pinion yoke, Calvert split mono leaf springs and sliders, Andy's AR Engineering plates front and rear to strengthen the front leaf spring mounts, Viking XS Warrior triple adjustable rear shocks, McLeod RXT dual disc clutch and pressure plate, hydraulic throwout bearing conversion and the HitMaster launch control for my Passon Performance 5 speed. Complete new front suspension and K-member from QA1.
I'm listing all that because it took care of problems I was having, improves the performance I have now, and lays a STRONG, RELIABLE foundation for the FIVE HUNDRED FOURTY-ONE cu in Bill Mitchell aluminum RB block I've bought.
IT MUST HAVE A 6 BBL!! I've taken a lot of grief over wanting a "street/strip" car with a manual transmission and that much power, but here's a thread MY HERO and MENTOR ANDY F has started with almost EXACTLY WHAT I'VE DREAMED OF AND HAVE FINALLY MADE STRIDES TOWARDS HAVING: a manual transmission equipped 700 horsepower "street/strip" Roadrunner!
That's it, I hope you get the Progression Ignition! I'm getting one asap. I'm concerned about clearance of the distributor with the TF 270 head and my fabricated aluminum valve cover, so I'd love to see any posts from anyone with TF heads and the Progression Ignition.

Here is the car today. I stopped by his place to look over the tune in the Sniper since he has been putting some miles on the car. While I was there I walked around it with my cell phone and shot a quick video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGiFuOuBnvQ

Car is so similar to our ‘68 road runner it too is running a 505 pump gas but with Indy heads I had fast68plymouth (Dwayne) work back in 2008, 4.10 Dana, 9x30 Hoosier drag radials. Looking forward to see what this car runs. I am running a brake in the 727 so dumbed down power (MSD Grid) at the hit it has been 10.18 at 131 but turned it down a bit and keeps a consistent 10.30-10.40 range at 128-130. Car has been shelved for many years and bringing it back up to speed once again.

That's Nice

I so need to get mine done. 69 GTX clone with a TF270 headed 505. 713 HP 709 torque. Street and strip. It’s all there awaiting assembly ….

Looks super clean Andy, nice progress indeed !