Brooklands American Day

Click on all photos to enlarge

Interior of the Challenger

Dodge Challenger 340 4 barrel

Rear view of the car

Classic American mag June 2019

Classic American mag July 2019

Santa Pod Mopar Nats 2019

New rear wheels

Hi, my name is Mark and here is a website on my Dodge Challenger 340 4 barrel A66. It is finished in Hemi Orange paint with black upholstery. The Challenger is a matching numbers car and has the original 340 V8 engine with a Edelbrook Performer carb. The 340 came as standard with the A66 Performance Pack, which included heavy duty suspension, 340 engine (E55), E60x15 inch raised white letter tires (U82), performance hood, heavy duty brakes, heavy duty suspension (S13), Bumble Bee paint stripe (may be deleted), Scat Pack (bee) decal and the wheel lip moulding were deleted.

The A66 was basically an R/T with a small block 340 engine.

This Challenger has spent most of it's life in the USA and was imported to the UK in 2005.

The car was fully restored in the States, including a body off restoration and an engine rebuild. It is in excellent condition.

September 2018

A service was carried out by Tornado Automotive. They also fitted a new steering coupling and 2 new propshaft U/Js.

October 2018

The Challenger was smoking on start up, so it was decided to carry out a top engine rebuild. After taking the heads off, it was clear the valves and guides were all new so the engine had been rebuild recently. And the head didn't need skimming either. However the valve stem seals were missing when the previous rebuild was carried out, so these were reinstated.

A none disignated side stripe was also fitted. I thought long and hard about it as it's none original to teh A66, but I think it improves the looks.

November 2018

I fitted a high quality Sony stereo to the Challenger, with Pioneer parcel shelf speakers. Sounds superb!

December 2018

Christmas arrived and I was given nice new American Racing alloy centre caps. The look much better than the existing plastic metalized ones.

January 2019

I primered and spray painted the front grill and head lamp surrounds satin black, as I didn't think the argent silver grill suited the car. 4 coats of primer and 4 coats of satin black. The head lamp surrounds were finished in satin black Hammerite to protect them from stone chips.

March 2019

The Challenger was taken to Tornado Automotive as there was a fuel leak. This was caused as the grommet from the fuel pipe to the tank had perished. A new grommet and sender were fitted and no more leaks. New front brake lines were also fitted. The drum brakes also had surface corrosion on them so they were shot blasted and resprayed satin black. The engine air cleaner was also restored. It looks much better now!

April 2019

I took the Challenger to a car show in Surrey called Wheels Day. The car gained lots of attention and was photograghed and shown in the June edition of Classic American Magazine.

May 2019

II took the Challenger to Brooklands Mopar day, a great car show and and Classic American magazine again featured the car in it's July edition.

August 2019

The fuel line to the carb was replaced, as it was looking old and perished.

I took the Challenger to Santa Pod for the Mopar Euro Nationals. A great fun day!

September 2019

I restored the radiator, as the black paint was peeling off, exposing the metal beneath. I used wet and dry sand paper to remove the old paint and then a couple of coats of Frosts radiator paint. It's come up a treat and makes the engine bay look much better.

January 2020

I bought some bigger tyres for the rear of the car, to give the Challenger that 1970s stance. The tyres were 255/60/15s and they just about fitted on the 15x7 Torq Thrust wheels.

However the car has had new rear quarters fitted during it's restoration and the inner wheel arch lips were 40mm deep and hadn't been cut back. So I decided to get this done. The lips were gut back with a grinder very carefully. Then the old inner wheel arch was spot weld to the new arch and then sealed with an epoxy resin. Then the arch was sprayed with a couple a layers of Hemi Orange lacquer and then clear coat to finish. The car is now done and looks much better to my eyes!

May 2020

I fitted some deeper dish Torq Thrust Classic alloy wheels to the rear of the car. The size is 15 x 8 -18mm offset and 3.79" back spacing. Handling was improved and it looks better!

June 2020

I fitted a new fuel filter to the car and refilled the coolant with Prestons.

July 2020

The carburetter was rebuilt and bigger jets and new needles fitted. A phenolic spacer was also fitted under the carb to reduce the heat transfer and prevent the fuel from vapourise in the carb bowl..

September 2020

The fuel vapour smell and pinking noise were atribulted to a vacumm leak in the Carburetor. One of the ports below the carb needed blocking off. This was done and the car is now driving much better with more power.

October 2020

I took the Challenger to STR8 Paint in Wallingford as a small area of paint below the fuel cap have started to lift. This is were the old fuel filler cap had leaked fuel on to the paintwork. STR8 did a great job and blended the Hemi orange in perfectly. Very pleased.

November 2020

The car was given a ceramic coating to the paint by Tom's Valeting. The paint was moped initally to remove swirl marks and oxidized paint. Then a ceramic coating was applied, which gave the car a high gloss, protective finish. It looks really good, the paint has much more depth.

May 2021

The car was given a service, including new spark plugs, oil, oil filter and air filter. There was an oil leak from the transmission, so a new trans filter kit was fitted and new fluid.

May 2022

The car was taken to North American Car Co and I had the rear leaf springs upgraded, as the original springs were sagging. Namco also upgraded the drum brakes with new shoes and brake cylinders. They gave the car a check over and said all was good.

The car sits slightly higher at the back now and has a more 1970s stance to it, which I rather like!

June 2022

The car was running quite rich and there was an issue with the Edlebrock carb. So I decided to fit a Holly carb to the car instead, as the performance was better. So a Holly 600CFI was fitted, along with a new ignition kit, a PerTronix Flame-Thrower 40,000 Volt ohm Coil, a new distributor and new spark plugs. The running issue was resolved with these changes. There was also a noise when changing gear, it turned out the trans mount was broken, so a new one was fitted.

July 2022

The Rear brake lights weren't working. Turns out a fuse had blown, though the fuse it's self looked fine! And the rear fuel sender seal was fixed to stop any leaks.