Agent Orange

Matt Delaney of Shreveport, Louisiana, builds Mopars--cars that maintain their proud heritage, but with a modernperformance twist.

After creating his amazing Viper-powered Charger GTS and his recent black-on-black AAR 'Cuda, both of which wowed the crowds at SEMA, Matt started thinking about his next project. According to Matt, "I read a letter in Popular Hot Rodding that said the Charger GTS was nice, but nobody could build one at home. I thought about it anddecided to build the best I could with parts that areavailable aftermarket." What came out of that mission is his newest creation, an amazing 1970 Plymouth Road Runner.

At first glance, a non-Mopar junkie would most likely think the bright orange Plymouth is just a cool restored car with a set of slick wheels. Well, that was the idea, but it is far from that reality. In fact, most of the car has been tweaked and modified in ways that all work together to make the car look "just right." Starting with the body, Matt took the vintage Road Runner completely apart and had his shop--Delaney Auto Design--work over the vintage iron. The body was stripped, dipped and then the entire deal was epoxy primed inside and out. After this thorough massaging, the Road Runner was painted in-house by Mike Harris in House of Kolors Ultra Orange Pearl. Vintage-style black stripes help maintain the "it came from the factory like that" look. Other notable features include the '71 Plymouth side mirrors and retro-cool Air Grabber hood.

Now that Matt had a great-looking paperweight, it was time to turn it all into one cool form of transport. To get the whole deal rolling, Matt started with the suspension and chassis. The welded-in subframe connectors stiffen up the chassis while super-stock Mopar front and rear springs drop the car an inch. Other suspension and steering modifications include 0.92-inch torsion bars and aluminum strut rod and tie rod sleeves. Edelbrock shocks on all four corners help the Plymouth over the rough spots while Hotchkis sway bars keep roll to a minimum. In keeping with the high-quality, yet realistic, theme of the project, Matt went with a simple and effective braking system. Twelve-inch discs all around work well with brake calipers that were adapted from a 1977 Road Runner. A Mopar aluminum master cylinder, Fine Lines brake lines and a host of parts from Master Power give the Plymouth plenty of stopping power. Rolling stock consists of 17x8 front and 18x10 rear Intro Vista billet wheels with 245/45R17 Nittos up front and 295/45R18 Nittos in back.

OK, so the Road Runner can turn nimbly and stop quickly, but Matt knows what really makes Mopar fans' hearts beat faster: big-block cubic inches! For this car's mill, Matt contacted the guys down at AMS in Bossier City, Louisiana, and ordered up 520ci of Mopar madness. AMS used a bore of 4.375 inches on the factory 440-cubic-inch motor. A 4.15-inch crank was offset ground to a big-block Chevy size of 2.2 inches and they found a 7.1-inch rod from Eagle that worked perfectly to tie it all together and yield the 4.32-inch stroke. This also gives the big-inch motor a street-friendly 1.64:1 rod/stroke ratio. Venolia Pistons provided the 0.990-inch piston pins that were fitted out with Total Seal Gapless rings. Since the Road Runner was planned as a driver, AMS settled on a very streetable 10.25:1 compression ratio. Hughes provided the hydraulic roller cam with specs of 228/236 along with their double-roller valve springs and rockers. Hughes also worked over the Hemi heads with a thorough port and polish job then fitted them out with 2.19-inch intake and 1.81-inch exhaust valves. To top off the potent motor, they used an Edelbrock six-pack intake with Holley carbs that had been modified by Promax to include billet bases and annular discharge boosters. MSD's new "all-in-one" three-wire distributor handles sparking the fuel. Schmacher tri-Y headers were ceramic coated by Airborne Coatings and send the hot gasses through the custom exhaust system. An aluminum Griffin radiator and Milodon water pump work with an electric fan to keep the big-inch Mopar running cool. All of this worked together to dyno at a very impressive 572 hp at 5,200 rpm and a stump-pulling 630 lb-ft of torque at 2,900 rpm. Did we mention this car runs on pump gas?

Shifting duties took a different route with the use of a 1988 700-R4 transmission with the stock ratios. This prototype system was done by Harrel Lamkin for Keisler Transmissions and is coupled with a Hughes Performance 2400 torque converter. Delaney tells PHR that the 700-R4 conversion in the Road Runner is currently serving as the prototype for a Keisler kit that will be offered soon. A Griffin cooler keeps the 700-R4 in the green zone and the power is sent rearward through a custom aluminum driveshaft. Finally, a bulletproof 1967 Dana 60 rearend with 3.54 gears sends the power to the pavement.

This car was built to be driven, so the interior also got the full treatment. The '70 Road Runner interior plays host to a wide range of parts including 1968 GTX door panels, a 1970 GTX-styled dash and 1971 Road Runner seats finished off in black leather with salt/pepper cloth inserts. A suede headliner and sail panels finish off the interior's soft work. This mix of old and new was pulled off by Pro Trim of Shreveport, Louisiana. One subtle interior item that actually required a lot of work was the gauges. They look stock, but are actually Stewart Warner and Autometer gauges that have been worked over by Redline Gauge to look factory. The speedo is actually electronic and works off the 700-R4 transmission. Summer drive time will be a pleasure thanks to a Vintage Air Super Cooler 2 A/C system. Tunes are provided by an Alpine head unit, a 320-watt amplifier, Infinity speakers and bass-producing Pioneer subs.

When Matt was asked if the car met the goal of the project he said, "I could have spent a lot more money on parts, but in the interest of keeping each part high-quality but not over the top, I stuck to the mission of building a realistic car. What it yielded is a car that is fast, stops good, handles great, has an overdrive transmission for highway trips, cold A/C and a killer sound system." What more could you ask for? Well, usually we like to get performance data on the cars we feature, but since this orange Plymouth was literally finished the day it was photographed, we decided to cut Matt some slack. The trusty G-Tech gave an estimated 1,320 of 11.90 at 117 mph. Until Matt gets it to the track, and he will, that will have to do. As for driving the car, keep your eyes open for it at the 2005 Power Tour, where it will be ready for the road ahead.