This is epic! While I’m not usually a big fan of some of the weird swaps that folks do, I say if it is your car then do it how you want! With that said, this thing here is a junker and is of no value whatsoever except to have fun. But what’s really great is the fact that Finnegan loves it and wonders what other people think about it. So to find out he’s set up a camera on the car during a car show to see what people say about it.
This is awesome.
Video Description:
Episode 134 of Mike Finnegan’s Garage is a fun one. After a little exhaust system work I drive my car to Caffeine and Octane in Kennesaw, Georgia, to pop the hood and find out how the crowd feels about seeing the legendary Toyota turbo inline 6 between the fenders of the most famous model of Dodge ever produced.
I call this 1968 Dodge Charger, a car that was hidden inside of a barn in Indiana for 50 years before it landed on eBay, the Death Metal Charger. Shortly after it was drug out of the barn I bought it and Tony Angelo and I got together in my basement, put a new drivetrain in the car, and drove it from Georgia to Indiana to show the original owner what we had done. He was unimpressed with the Big-Block Chrysler powered machine and so I stopped caring about having his blessing on the project. Death Metal: Phase 2 came quickly. Phase 2 involved removing the 383 V8 and replacing it with a Junkyard Toyota 2JZ GE engine sourced from a junkyard.
Jay Meagher from Real Street Performance met me and Tony at Kevin Smith’s shop in Gainsville, Florida and together we replaced the NA head gasket with a factory gasket meant for a turbo engine. We also replaced the stock cams with Brian Crower turbo-spec units. The engine received a Precision Turbocharger, an eBay-sourced aluminum intake manifold, and a custom wiring harness to connect a Motec EFI system.
The engine is backed by a Silversport Transmissions Tremec Six Speed Magnum XL transmission and Mantic twin-disc clutch pack. The rearend is a Quick Performance custom 9 inch with a Strange center section. Wilwood disc brakes are found at all four corners of the car and the front suspension is from QA1.
