[Moparfury]

Hi, I joined to ask your opinions.
Here is the deal. I have a basicly new 2010 Hemi/automatic I needed to put into something.
I looked for a cheap project to swap this engine into....ended up buying a 1974 Charger Rallye. Thing about it is...

The guy I got it from claimed to be the origional owner.
It sat in his garage sence 1986.
Has 56k miles on it.
Is blaze yellow with black stripes, top, interior.
Buckets.
318/auto.
Buldge hood without black out.
Built at Lynch Rd.
Has 2 fender tags.
It is quite rusty being a MI car, which is why I got it, I can fix that and that made the price good. The floors and trunk are good, just all the outer panels are rusted out from the bottom up. The guy said that even though it sat, he did drive it in the winter alot before parking it. The garage was not weather tight.

So....I can find some info saying there were around 100 rallyes made that year, and fewer I am sure with the 318, but I don't know. Now if it were a survivor car with these options, I would restore it to stock... being that I have to do so much bodywork and that it has the 318, I figured on ploping the hemi in it.

What do you all think? Maybe kinda rare but it is a 74 with the 318 who cares, go with the restomod? Or does the 318/ralley make it more rare so keep it origional? BTW a restored gold 74 rallye 400/auto sold at auction for 31k last year as did a 318/auto repainted regular 74 low mile survior.

 

[Sir Moses Wellington]

It's a really hard call. 74s were so late, I don't think too many people would care even if you took that car and sold it for it's worth in steel to recycle. There are tons of rare cars no one cares about, or even wish had never exsisted. I'd say go for the restomod, but to be careful.

 

[Dragonoake]

It's a really hard call. 74s were so late, I don't think too many people would care even if you took that car and sold it for it's worth in steel to recycle. There are tons of rare cars no one cares about, or even wish had never exsisted. I'd say go for the restomod, but to be careful.

Being rare doesn't nessessarily mean popular or valuable - a 59 Edsel and a 73 Nova SS are pretty rare, but not particularly valuable. OTOH, the market has been known to change: In the 80's, you could buy all the 1st gen Camaros and VWs you wanted for $500 a piece because nobody wanted them

 

[TWX]

I wouldn't be too ashamed of replacing a 318, especially on a car that will require as much body work as you describe.

Please look into '75-'81 B/R body bigger brakes while you're at it though...

 

[dana44]

The nice thing about the restomod is the ability to take and save the original engine and replace it if you wanted to to a resto later. The Hemi will require some oil pan change ( I think they have them for installations into B bodies), and the wiring harness stuff, if you have only the stuff necessary to run the injectors and components (get rid of the headlight stuff and gauges), use the stock oil pressure and water temp sensors and everything in the dash will be fine, and the last thing is the motor mounts, which is the same as the oil pan, they are available, so nothing is cut, maybe a couple extra holes drilled to mount the computer. Last thing to add is going to be an inline fuel pump and probably route the return fuel line, which should be part of your B body so not an issue. Maybe a fuel pressure regulator for accuracy of that. Not sure if you are going to use the Hemi transmission, so you may have to alter the transmission crossmember (they are available, too), but the floor tunnel needs to be altered to clear the transmission, all of this is not an issue if you stick with a stock 727 auto, but kickdown would need to be changed to a cable kickdown system, something Bouchillon (I believe) is available.

 

[Moparfury]

Well you guys pretty much are thinking the same as me. I am going to do the restomod, I just wanted to thow it out there before I rip into this car. I only considered doing a stock restoration because I found those 2 other 1974 chargers that sold for a lot just because of their rare option combos.....and I keep watching Graveyard cars. I forgot to mention mine has power steering, no a/c, disc brakes up front but no booster. I would rather let it sit in my yard than scrap it tho....I know a guy that scrapped a 1970 fury gt 2dr and got around $300...a shame for sure.

The way I see it is this.... if it were so rare like one of say 30 cars built that way it may bring what the others I found did, 30k. (if you found one of the few people who care about that sort of thing) A good restomod could bring that too and the market is bigger and the car is more fun. Not that I am going to sell it.

Dragonoake, I agree and I do think the market is changing on the late mopars, I do keep seeing them at auction go for a more, some times alot more, like the 2 I mentioned, just they have to be rare and right. As this one may have fit that bill, I had to get more opinions. I always mod my cars so this one will be no different. Plus like like dana44 said, I still got the original engine and what not. So no down side.

I make a living in the auto body world so it will get done, just needs time. It is my first hemi swap but I have most of the stuff and have researched it for a while now. Thanks for all the info dana44! I hope to start on it in a few weeks and get it driving by mid summer.

 

[dana44]

Pictures! This is one of those swaps for the 5.7 I have read about many times, exactly where to get the parts may not be difficult, but who knows, there may be a one stop shop that has all the parts (pan, mounts, etc.), so pieces don't have to be shopped from different places. This is not a difficult swap, it is actually equivalent to the size of a SBC, smaller than the Magnum/LA engine from what I have read, so now it is time for you to ask little questions if you have them, but a short few words at a time as to this or that out of the ordinary may be helpful to all of us, including me.

 

[valiant67]

Being an original 318 car will always hurt the value. If it had a 360-4 or a big block it might hurt to deviate from stock but for the 318 it may be worht more lightly modified.