MORLEY’S WORKSHOP
decade or so, my workshop has been making space for a Limelight VH. Unlike your current project, however, mine was started with a view to building a tarmac rally car. By the time I realised the thing would never be made to handle well enough to satisfy me, the stock 245 had been replaced by a pretty wild 265 and the three-speed was gone and in its place sat a single-rail four-speed. Yes, I could have fitted a T5 five-speed or something more modern but, like you, I didn’t want to throw away the essence of the 70s that this car represents. The other thing I realised after a while was that good, clean, original Chargers were suddenly too cool to cut up, which I gather is your concern now. In the case of my car, that’d mean pulling out the modern race seats and refitting the tombstone buckets (which need a re-trim) and scuttling any plans for race dashboards, roll-cages and El Swisho paint jobs. Luckily, the changes I did make were all aimed at producing a period-correct tarmac-rally car, so the 265 and four-speed can stay.
Unlike you, my plan is to finish the car as a hottie VH Charger, whereas you and your lad are looking at producing an E49 replica. That’s a much harder ask as getting it pitch perfect is nigh-on impossible in this day and age of forensicallyaccurate restorations (Which, personally, drives me insane. The thought of having some still-livingwith-mum expert approach me at a car show to inform me of where I went wrong with my car makes my skin crawl.)
The point is, I wouldn’t be at all worried about changing something, especially if it can be easily returned to standard. As for welding the brake proportioning valve in place, I say go for it. Just bear in mind that some jackoff will probably tell you that you used the wrong grade of welding wire (or some such nonsense). Feel free to punch him. And give him one for me.
As for the cut-and-shut on the trans tunnel to accept the four-speed, you’re in luck, because that’s exactly the conversion I carried out. An interstate buddy of mine bought three single-rail gearboxes online and did a deal with me where I’d pick them up (they were in my home state) and deliver one to him and keep two for myself. And while I was doing the pick-up, I got even luckier, because the bloke selling them threw in the exact bit of trans tunnel that I needed to complete the conversion on my car.
After you’ve cut away the minimum amount of metal (and it’s not a whole lot) to get the single-rail shifter into the cabin, you simply weld the new hump into place. The hump creates a cubby-house for the linkage housing which is in a different (lower) spot on the three-speed box. I even smeared a trail of