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The following film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen, to run in the time allotted and edited for content Part the first, in which a plan is hatched. I've had a bunch of cars, of varying vintages and types. My last classic was a 1969 Ford Torino GT convertible, chronicled here a few years back. That car was sold on, and moved to Australia. Since then, I've occupied myself by working on friends cars - random F body cars, a 1972 Duster, and other stuff. Keeping my hands dirty, without spending my own money. Awesome! In 2012, a friend and I decided to try the Hot Rod Power Tour. Due to other commitments, we could only make the last few days of the tour, so I flew to Kansas City, hopped into his jalopy, and we booked it for Oklahoma to meet up with the Tour.  Here we are somewhere in somewhere, having consumed lunch, and preparing to mount up and head on. We had a great time on the Power Tour, and on our return from Dallas to Kansas City, we began discussion of Next Year. We ran through a bunch of options, with the idea of buying a pinto, doing an engine swap, and using that for 2013 being the front runner. Then Bill remembered that he had a perfectly reasonable 1972 Duster in his garage. A quick perusal of The Internet, and next thing you know, there were parts everywhere, and shazam, we had a 2013 Power Tour ride - finished on Friday evening, and driven to Arlington, TX on the Saturday for the start of the Tour.  A duster gets inspected. So, 2013 was a great power tour, and it was my turn to produce the new ride for June 2014. I had been considering another old ride for a while, and had one particular model in mind- a 1966 Dodge Charger. They were a unique, two year only body style, with distinct differences between the two years. 1966 was the one I wanted. In 1967, they split the console, added turn signal repeaters on the fenders, and lost the dash mounted hood release. So, the search was on. And searching... Found!  Delivered in the dark of night from somewhere in Missouri, where it had lived for a few years, after having migrated from California. Originally a 361 car, the previous owner had had a 440 installed after the 361 went a little bit kerflooey.  Oddly, the previous owner had installed a hood scoop - something I figured would be simple enough to undo with a replacement hood (shared with the Coronet, how hard could it be to find? Ask me now, a year later). Anyhow, a very complete, nice driver. A little minor work, including a swap to a dual circuit master cylinder, and this car is a fun little driver.  I also fixed the cluster, and a couple of other small things. All good, and more than ready to Go The Distance for the 2014 Power Tour. OR IS IT?!
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Sep 11, 2014 03:27
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Oh, crap.  Also, crap  Well, this doesn't look so bad...  Yeah, well, I kind of took that perfectly good car apart. The rear end was first, dropped the axle, swapped in a 4 link setup, and new brakes. Then, time to move to the front.  Looks like that thing fell out. I was never really a MOPAR fan until I spend time wrenching on that Duster. I learned to like certain things about their construction, including the front K frame setup - 4 bolts hold that in (along with the 4 more for the upper control arms) and then the thing just drops out the bottom. Neato mosquito.
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Sep 11, 2014 03:54
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jhcain posted:
Is that the wheel? what exactly am I looking at here?
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Sep 11, 2014 04:29
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It's a rig to check wheel fitment before you actually commit to buying a wheel.
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Sep 11, 2014 04:40
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Part Two, where the Dodge comes apart, and goes together. So, obviously this Charger went from being an pretty original (aside from the swapped motor) running, driving car to... A set of large parts piles. One pile was pretty heavy:  That's (obviously) the engine, transmission, front K frame and complete front suspension (minus the torsion bars). sitting on some handy Harbor Freight furniture dollies. My scheme was as follows - new suspension on all 4 corners, sourced from the good folks at Reilly Motor Sports. The 4 link with coilovers in the rear, and their "AlterKtion" setup in the front - a tubular K member with coilovers in the front. Now, I thought long and hard about my suspension options, and very nearly went with the Hotchkis setup, that keeps the torsion bars in the front, and adds improved geometry and adjustability to the original setup. But by the time I added up the cost of all those new parts, including reinforcement to the factory K member, a new steering box, torsion bars, the A arms, etc., the price just wasn't that much more to go with the RMS setup... Had I been more sensible, and gone about this in any more step-by-step way (rather than an all at once rip and replace) the Hotchkis would have been the sure winner. So, the new K member goes in for test fitting, and that's pretty snazzy.  The 440 gets torn down, and the various parts go off to the machine shop.  The inside of that engine looked good - it was a very recent install from the PO, and it showed. It was also a very stock circa 1977 rebuild - something like 7.8:1 compression. After some discussion with the machine shop, I settled on a .030 overbore, and had the rotating assembly balanced including converting the cast crank to internal balance. Eagle rods, KB pistons. Calculated compression with the 75cc Edelbrock heads something like 10.4:1. This should be an improvement. A Crane hydraulic roller cam and lifters to operate the pushrods, and a roller rocker setup to transfer that motion to the valves. Yesss....     Bolt all those things to other things, and the view from underneath gets interesting. Sure, one header. It's what all the cool kids are doing these days.  So, part of my plan was to use fuel injection on this 440. I used a Megasquirt setup on the Torino, and I really liked that, so I wanted FI again on this car. This time, opting for something "easier," I went with the FAST EZ EFI 2.0 setup. As it turns out, that setup is way easier (simpler, at least), but has its own foibles. Regardless of the engine management system, I still needed pressurized fuel, so I installed the Aeromotive Phantom setup in a new tank. This is a pretty slick setup - not cheap, but priced about where it makes sense - cheaper than a custom tank, cheaper than cutting and welding a stock tank to include baffling or a sump, and about the same cost as using a surge tank setup like Edelbrock offers. Not cheaper than a number of other homebrew options, but also more simple. So, there it is.  I set the EFI system uses PWM control of the fuel pump to control the fuel pressure, rather than using a mechanical regulator setup. There's a fuel pressure sensor installed on the firewall that monitors the pressure. It's a very slick setup. You can almost not see it at all here, behind the large engine thing.  By now, it's about April or so. I rolled the Dodge into the garage in the middle of January to start this nonsense, with the deadline of the first week of June to set off on a 4000 mile shakedown run on the Power Tour. Plenty of time. At this point, all that's left is... Well, lots.
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Sep 11, 2014 13:02
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Oh man it's like the porno parody version of Slung Blade's thread.  This is great!
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Sep 11, 2014 14:28
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Oh man it's like the porno parody version of Slung Blade's thread. No poo poo! 
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Sep 11, 2014 14:51
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Yeah, god drat this looks great. Your facility looks incredible, and the car is awesome. What's up, 66 B-body buddy?
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Sep 11, 2014 15:49
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Slung Blade posted:Yeah, god drat this looks great. Your facility looks incredible, and the car is awesome. I have my little bay there in this larger facility, and I think I'll never leave. The last couple of cars I built were done in my basement and carport. Turns out, working indoors (no climate control, but it's still indoors!) and with a 2 post lift is where it's at. I'm digging your Coronet build - it's about how I would have done it, were I not some kind of bonkers.
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Sep 11, 2014 22:42
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Onward! So, we're about to April, the engine is assembled and things are coming along pretty well. I'll take this time to bore you with minutea, interspersed with some pictures to make it less boring. Now for some commentary on parts, part manufacturers and vendors. There have been very few parts on this project (or any of my previous projects) that actually perform as advertised, were delivered when promised, and came with excellent support. The RMS suspension setup fits that tier - it's well thought out and crafted, and Bill Reilly will talk to you on the phone and share information until you can't possibly screw it up. In addition, when I talked to him to order the parts, they were subsequently produced, billed and shipped as promised. A small item left out of the shipment was overnighted the next day. Worth It.  Also in the top tier is the TTI Exhaust system and headers. If you've installed headers on any old iron, you know there are a baffling number of setups that just don't fit well - how is it possible to buy a set of headers for a big block '68 camaro and they DON'T FREAKING FIT? They've made what, a billion of those cars? Anyhow, TTI does exhaust and headers for vintage MOPARs. The exhaust systems are reasonably priced (I think) and fit perfectly. The headers are sublime - pricey, but they fit precisely as advertised. Buy both, and you get a system that is actually "bolt on." Awesome  Braking - I'm a fan of Wilwood brakes. I'm also a fan of large brakes on heavy cars. Wilwood has been switching over to radial mounted calipers for their big brake setups, and they're pretty snazzy.  One PITA was the front setup - because of the way the caliper mount attaches to the spindle, there's no way to shim it for perfect clearance to the rotor, inward/outward. I had to grind a bit of the mounting boss on the spindle to make it fit. Wilwood, they don't really care. Reilly Motorsports send a new pair of spindles with slightly adjusted mounting pads, but I still ended up doing a little grinding. This is the "before" picture, showing the difference in gaps on either side of the rotor. They don't have to be completely identical, but the inside edge was too narrow for the pad to fit!  Another great product and service experience is from Hydratech braking. They custom made the mount I used on my Torino for hydroboost brakes - for this car, I just called them up, and they already had done them for the B body, so the mount was no issue. I told them what power steering pump I was using, and about the power rack and pinion, and they sent the right stuff. Satisfying. The guys there know their stuff. For random speed parts, I can't say enough about Barnett Performance here in Atlanta. They're down on Memorial drive, about 20 minutes from the shop. Summit is about an hour away. Summit has a bigger selection, but for pure "speed" parts, Barnett has most everything, and cheaper, if you order online from their somehow secret secondary web presence, that they or I will gladly tell you about. And, every time I placed a large order with them (things like the wilwood brakes) I got... A phone call, thanking me for my business. How about THAT? Amazing. So, back to the Dodge. Got a "perfect fit" AC system from Classic auto air. Naturally, it barely fit at all. The main unit is fine, it fits, but the controls were wrong, especially the fan switch - I had to call several times, they sent a total of 3 switches, and I ended up making my own. The mount for the compressor on the engine is like most aftermarket engine driven accessories - it works, but takes a lot of annoying grinding. Original switch on the left, 3rd switch from Classic Auto Air on the right. Hmm. Something here isn't quite right, 'eh?  I'm once again weary from typing, so I'll share more later. Perhaps after a cocktail or three. Let me know which parts are the most boring, and I'll skip that stuff going forward.
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Sep 11, 2014 23:18
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Loving it all so far - many thanks for taking the time to post this. You're committed now. We want it all!
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Sep 12, 2014 00:16
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The protagonist in a Lawrence Sanders detective story, paraphrased, once expressed amazement that he was on a stakeout, driving a Dodge Shadow. This is my little story, I'm allowed to interject that, because I've found it funny for 20 years.
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Sep 12, 2014 02:07
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This is an awesome project! Thanks for sharing it 
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Sep 12, 2014 02:23
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Holy crap, two '66 mopar B body threads at the same time  My dad had one of these Chargers when I was a kid and I loved it, can't wait to see what you've done to this one!
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Sep 12, 2014 02:54
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So, my choice of engine management systems was provided by FAST, their then new EZ EFI 2.0. It's a very nicely integrated fuel injection system; in particular, the TBI unit itself is a near marvel; including air flow of something near 1000 CFM and 8 injectors capable of providing fuel or alcohol injection supporting very high HP figures, it also has integrated MAP, air temperature and throttle position sensors. This leaves only fuel pressure and coolant temperature as trailing sensor leads when wiring the system. Oh, and of course a trigger for ignition. One option there is just ganging the coil (-) from a stock distributor which gives a trigger to the fuel injection system, but does not control the ignition. Or, you can spring for the FAST dual sync distributor, which has a neatly integrated reluctor/pick-up. Well, heck, let's get THAT one. With this configuration, the FAST setup can control ignition timing, as well as the fuel system. Yessssss.... Here's where I am going to be both optimistic and critical. The system WORKS. For the most part. If you follow the instructions completely, to the point of nearly leaving the realm of realistic possibility, it works perfectly. Power to the system is VERY sensitive to noise - as instructed, connect those wires only to the battery, directly. OK, no problem. To control the ignition, the system requires an ignition control box, nearly exclusively an MSD type box. I chose the 6AL. Factoid: Ignition boxes are notoriously noisy; they emit nasty amounts of EMI, manifesting itself as radio noise, and sometimes even audible buzzing from the actual box. Factoid 2: I hate MSD boxes. Or, rather the appearance of them - usually screwed haphazardly to the inner fender of a Nova, with wires dangling, taped to whatever is nearest. Blech. So, I contacted FAST directly with some questions specific to the wiring and position of the required MSD box. Based on this specific information, I constructed a mounting plate for the FAST ECU, a new fuse panel and the MSD box.  Yeah, well. Turns out, that MSD box is too close to the ECU. I'll spare the grisly details, but it was too close. I moved the MSD over to the passenger side of the firewall, ran completely new power wiring to it around the complete other side of the engine compartment, and we're all good. YES! This is not that startup, but it's still a 440 with open headers, and everybody likes that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9PNANlP0A So, it's all running, and driving. ... ... !
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Sep 12, 2014 02:59
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 Out and about  I think this is HARD PARKED.  And here we are, rolling with weeks to spare before the Power Tour. This crap is just Too Easy.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:05
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Gotta say, AI has the best project threads. I wonder if there's a an easy way of isolating/shielding that noisy box, interference can be a bitch. I guess if relocating the box fixed whatever issues you had, it's good enough, although I'd probably keep playing with it until I found a way to isolate it.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:23
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So how does it ride now compared to stock? That's still a heavy car, but it must handle pretty good with that setup.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:35
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I would much rather drive a coil with a 4 pin HEI module than put one of those MSD shitboxes in my car. I've used 4 pin HEI modules in a bunch of cars. Hell, the Volvo sees 35psi with one driving a single coil and no spark blowout. Triggered by MSnS, letting the HEI module control the dwell. I've never seen one of these old chargers up close, but man do I want one now! mafoose fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 06:15
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Calipers not lining up with the rotors is horseshit. I have put plenty of brake kits on plenty of cars - brembo, project mu, AP racing, alcon, stoptech, etc, and they have all been perfect. The only ones I have had problems with are wilwood and that loving brakeman garbage. One wilwood car had a rotor shatter on track, and it was a stripped out n/a s2000 with huge 6-pots.
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Sep 12, 2014 07:02
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leica posted:So how does it ride now compared to stock? Depending on how the springs and shocks are set, the ride and handling varies. I still don't have it set up perfectly - I'm swapping in heavier springs in the rear after putting some miles on it. That said, the ride is very nice, not at all harsh (if the shocks aren't set too stiff on compression) but it does handle very well for such a large car. It's heavy, but not as heavy as I always imagine it to be - large, but not packed full of HIGH STRENGTH STEEL SAFETY CAGE or 12 POINT AIRBAGS or really anything other than lap belts. So, it's quite a bit lighter than my Cadillac, for instance. I plan to put it on a set of scales after this latest round of work to get the balance right, and find out what it actually weighs. One of the Real Racecar guys on the other side of the shop has a set, so I'll just wander over there and borrow 'em. mafoose posted:I would much rather drive a coil with a 4 pin HEI module than put one of those MSD shitboxes in my car. Yeah, I seriously considered swapping to either an HEI or TFI module, but ended up just relocating the MSD box, and CARRYING A FREAKING SPARE IN THE CAR, just in case. Stupid MSD. I hate them. Humorously, FAST now sells their own fully compliant, compatible ignition box. I wish they had just integrated the coil driver into the stupid ECU, like they should have. Morons. And yes, you want a 66 or 67 Charger. They are serious bargains for what they are, generally unloved by the Charger fans. They're seriously engineered carefully detailed machines, expensively built, for the day. For instance, there are 2 layers of factory insulation between the headliner (one piece!) and the roof panel. There's thick insulation behind each kick panel. The interior carpet set is something like 13 pieces. When you buy one, just make certain it's complete - this isn't a "everything in a catalog from China" car like a mustang or camaro, or even a later Charger. If you have a missing part, there's a pretty good chance you're screwed. The tailights are now reproduced, but plan on 600 to 1000 bucks for the 3 piece lens set, for instance. That said, everyone should go buy one. They're awesome. Meanwhile, let's talk abou that engine, shall we? The engine. So, I built a sweet 440. Roller cam, decent compression, sweet aluminum heads, roller rockers. Nice. One extra comical bit - the Edelbrock heads are, for some reason, substantially larger than the stock Chrysler heads - they have square corners, rather than rounded, sort of. So, I had to GRIND the heck out of the corner of the new, shiny, expensive aluminum passenger side cylinder head, as well as the underside of my new, shiny expensive FAST dual sync distributor (also slightly larger than the regular Chrysler unit) so that the damned thing would fit. Nice planning, idiots. So, after futzing with the timing to get it synced correctly to what the ECU expected, the motor was running well. Tons of power, and the thing likes to rev, for a big block. Tweaking the timing curve and AFRs only made it run better. Then, one day (this is like a week after it was assembled) on startup, along came a clattering. A tap tap tapping. A rattling knocking. A Bad Sound. A Very Bad Sound. A very depressing sound, with 3 weeks or so until the 2014 Hot Rod Power Tour, my engine is sounding very sick. I shut it down and went home. I wasn't prepared to deal with it, mentally, after having spent so much time and money on the car in a very short period of time. After a day or two, I went back to the garage, fired it up again, and listened, again. Shut it down, and removed the drivers side valve cover. There, like some kind of lovely little jumped pushrod, was a jumped pushrod, jammed against the base of the rocker. Well, that would be it, then.  Even after very careful assembly and adjustment, I must have left that pushrod loose, and on a cold start, it just hopped out of its little cup. Put it back, fired it up, and whammo, fixed. Isn't that SPECIAL! Day later, fire the car up, and it's running like poo poo. Like crap. Like really bad. Like a jumped cam chain bad. Rough idle, rougher rev, random backfiring, general awesomeness. Oh, cripes. WTF now? Again, shut it down, went home. Next day get in the car, and as I'm preparing to fire it up and listen to The Badness, I notice a wire. A cable, really. The lead from the distributor to the ECU - it's laying down below the dash, next to the power lead for the MSD box. Freaking MSD bullshit. Move the wire, problem solved. Whew. We're now like 10 days off from the Power Tour, and things are going well. Car is reassembled, AC system is charged up and blowing ice cubes, and I'm feeling pretty good. Took the car home for the weekend, figured we'd put a few miles on it. Saturday night, the wife and I hop in to head to dinner and.. Won't start! Hilarious! Cranks, but no fire. HA HA HA HA THIS IS AWESOME YOU GREAT CAR I LOVE YOU! Back in the house, swap keys, and let's take the Wagon, shall we?
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Sep 13, 2014 00:11
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man, one day I'm gonna make it to the Power Tour you beautiful bastard
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Sep 13, 2014 00:14
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jhcain posted:HA HA HA HA THIS IS AWESOME YOU GREAT CAR I LOVE YOU! New thread title
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Sep 13, 2014 01:41
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leica posted:New thread title seconded! I can HEAR the combination maniacal/sarcastic laughing and yelling from here.
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Sep 13, 2014 04:04
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I'm a little disappointed 66 Charger parts are hard to get too. I have no idea what we are going to do to get Coronet tail lights other than do a bastard swap to a later year. Or buy a parts car to use as a winter be... Oh no. Oh no no no. Edge of my seat for the next updates.
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Sep 13, 2014 16:07
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That Charger is loving boss. This is actually the first time I've really ever seen one of that bodystyle. Like, genuinely never saw one before this thread. I dig it
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Sep 13, 2014 22:30
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Let’s see here… Where were we? Let me pour this Fuller’s ESB, and I’ll get back to the story. And let me see what I can find for pictures to share – this is mostly just a verbose history of about 8 days of Super Fun. Done. So, the Dodge is dead in the driveway. Charging… nowhere. So, naturally, the next morning (a Saturday morning, now that I recollect the events) I jumped in the car and zipped on down to Barnett Performance, and procured another MSD box. The car was acting like there was no spark (I had heard the fuel pump priming with KO), so I figured the POS MSD was dead. Procured, zoomed home, swapped it in and… Of course there’s no change, car won’t start. Sweetness. Terrific. Sitting, pondering, I wandered around the car, staring and pondering. Ponder. Ponder. Finally, stroke of genius, I decided to ask someone smarter than me. The computer. Paged to the appropriate screen on the LCD handheld doodad connected to the EZ EFI 2.0 ECU, and it told me there was a MAP sensor voltage low error. Huh? Dead MAP sensor? Uhhhh… Ok. Research, research… Internet query… No sign of a generic part number for the MAP sensor, only a FAST part ID. Went out, took the thing off (it’s under the front fake fuel bowl on the Throttle Body, and damned if it didn’t look familar. Like it was on pretty much every recent GM engine. Read the part number off it, crossed it to another part, and it’s off to Autozone. I was IN THE ZONE. THE AUTO ZONE. Return home, install, reassemble, twist key, and… Fires right up. Huh. Baffling. Dead part? Bizarre. Car is now running like el champo again. Tear-assing around the village, terrorizing villagers, burninating thatched-roof cottages and whatnot.  I haven’t told you about the overheating issues, have I? Well, there were some. It was a real treat. Running pretty warm, getting up to 235 or so, and not wanting to cool back down. That was pretty awesome. After pulling my hair out for a couple weeks on that one, convinced that something sinister was going on, I ended up swapping back on my mechanical fan. Problem solved. This, after trying a 2nd pair of electrical fans. Yes, I had a shroud with the electrical fans. As it turns out, many electrical fans, regardless of specification, are crap. Check the amperage draw, as well as the CFM. If your million CFM fan is only drawing 5A, it’s crap. I ended up with Yet Another Pair of fans, no shroud, and the thing was cool as a cucumber regardless of ambient temperature. That little problem, solved. After swapping thermostats, water pumps, and generally being very happy about the situation. But then it was fine. All fine. So, we’re creeping up on the ol’ Hot Rod Power Tour. 2014 was a big time year for my compatriots and I – we had a plan to have our own little group of 4 cars – the aforementioned Duster, my friend Michel and his 68 Camaro, a lovely 1974 Lincoln Mk V and of course, this Dodge. This Damned Dodge. The green turd, as I had taken to calling it. Oh, and a couple of passengers, for me – The Wife, attending for the first couple of days before jetting back to ATL to return to work, and our friend Tim, who was to finish the tour in alternating vehicles, depending on who could put up with him. So, now we’re running well, with only random (every time I turned the key) worries that it might throw a pushrod, or simply not start. Perfect for embarking on a 3500 mile road trip. Perfect. One other minor issue – if you jumped on it from a standing start, there might appear on the passenger side of the firewall, and that header, and that head, some engine oil. Blowby, I presumed, from the breather. I swapped in a PCV valve and hose to the intake, and for the most part this problem left. Perplexing, but it went. Mostly. For peace of mind, and curiosity sake, I installed a moroso catch can in the hose between the PCV valve and the intake. Let’s just see what’s what, there, shall we? Now it’s 2 days from Power Tour departure. Bill and Cy are on the road from Kansas City to Concord, NC. I did the sensible thing, and thrashed on the Charger to install a stereo with ipod connectivity (under the seat!) and a pair of sweet 6×9’s in little boxes thrown in the back. Also connected to the custom 2 speaker mount in the dash, to get a little bit of sound up front.  Also in this time, I got a new driveshaft and installed the Gear Vendors Overdrive. Installed the switch and indicator lamps in the ashtray, because I'm cool like that.  And stopped in to Gran Turismo East to get the alignment tweaked. I had done it myself previously, with my tape measures, turn plates and fastrax camber gauge, but wanted to ensure all 4 wheels were actually facing the same direction. Turns out, the rear was a tiny bit off, and I had an extra 2 degrees of caster in the front, but everything was pretty close, for a hack like me.  I also did a quick clean/restore on the trunk medallion. We must look our best for our fans! Did you know that triangular doodad is called a "Fratzog"? Well, it is. Now you know.  So, it’s the morning of. The Big Day. Time To Roll! Tim arrives, we load up his crap. Throw the last of our crap into the car, fire it up, and off we go! All the way to the stop sign at the end of the street! Where I stop, throw it in reverse, and head home! HA HA HA YOU AWESOME loving CAR YOU ARE MAKING THAT NOISE AGAIN! I am super calm, like some kind of calmness jedi, or a monk. Or maybe a koala bear. I am the calmest motherfucker you have ever seen. My blood pressure is normal, pulse rate even. This isn’t even An Issue. I know what has happened, and how to fix it. I am a Man On A Mission.
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Sep 17, 2014 01:10
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I am not looking forward to that kind of bullshit. Pretty sure I'm going to get someone else to build my motor so I can blame someone else when this kinda thing goes down. How'd you end up liking the overdrive unit?
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Sep 17, 2014 06:02
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jhcain posted:
I've always loved that front end. It's all like "gently caress you, air resistance".
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Sep 17, 2014 12:07
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Slung Blade posted:I am not looking forward to that kind of bullshit. Pretty sure I'm going to get someone else to build my motor so I can blame someone else when this kinda thing goes down. Yeah, I had built motors before, but I think never again. As it turns out, there are some peculiarities to the RB MOPAR motors. Very peculiar... As for the overdrive, it's awesome. You can choose the "auto" mode, and it kicks on automagically at 47 MPH or so, but I just leave it in manual, and use the little foot switch (it's just another high beam dimmer on the floor over the high beam switch) to engage cruise-itude when I hit the highway.
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Sep 17, 2014 20:01
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Is that the 727 replacement tailhousing overdrive unit? I was look at that online the other day.
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Sep 18, 2014 14:41
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Mighty Horse posted:Is that the 727 replacement tailhousing overdrive unit? I was look at that online the other day. Yup. The stock tailhousing comes off, the GV supplied unit slides on, and the actual overdrive unit, roughly the size of a human head, attaches to that. The 727, with its bizarrely long tail shaft housing, makes the thing look extra goofy. There's a version that substitutes the shorter tailshaft and tightens up the entire package, but this one works just swell. 
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Sep 19, 2014 14:12
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Great job on the car. My dad and I are doing a couple of 68's right now. I had a thread going for it but I didn't keep it updated and it archived. His is almost done and I'm about to put the drive train together on mine.
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Sep 19, 2014 16:16
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jhcain posted:Yup. The stock tailhousing comes off, the GV supplied unit slides on, and the actual overdrive unit, roughly the size of a human head, attaches to that. The 727, with its bizarrely long tail shaft housing, makes the thing look extra goofy. There's a version that substitutes the shorter tailshaft and tightens up the entire package, but this one works just swell. So is that unit just a separate planetary that toggles between direct drive and overdrive, with solenoids or something to operate the friction materials? I'm not familiar with separate OD units.
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Sep 20, 2014 03:15
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So it's Power Tour Morning, and the Dodge is Dead. Not dead, but making a Bad Noise. Not surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures - I was busy. Rolled it back down the driveway, popped off the drivers side valve cover and there it was; the same rocker arm with the pushrod jumped out. I loosened the rocker arm shaft, and managed to lever the rocker arm up enough to pop the pushrod back into place. AND WE ARE OFF! With only a couple of extra stops to attend to a LOOMING issue with another vehicle in our little group, we make it to Concord, NC for the start of the Power Tour.  I'm going to cut this way short. The Dodge burned oil. Lots of it. Here's a spark plug with about 250 miles on it.  That ain't good. I was adding 2 quarts every time we stopped for fuel, about every 150 miles or so. Some discussion between the Wife and I, and random bar patrons, and a decision was made. Soldier on. Oil is cheap, and if the motor kicks the bucket on the way, so be it. So, I picked up some extra plugs, a case of oil, and we're off. None of our group would drive directly behind me, because of the fog, but I was going. This car was making power, too. Pulled like a freight train up the mountain roads at 80+. Unfortunately, the Camaro in our group was suffering from braking issues. The rears were dragging, heating up the fluid, and causing random mayhem. At our stop in Knoxville, Michel, the owner of the Camaro, had some family - one of their neighbors had a set of rear calipers, and they performed an after dinner swap so we could be back on the road in the morning.  Well, that didn't work out. I'm not going to go into the details, but we ended up burning up two days in Nitro, West Virginia waiting for parts, and ended up having to turn home; now too far behind to catch up without a very long overnight drive in the rain. So back to Atlanta, saddened. And annoyed to miss the last couple days of the Tour.  So, I hopped a plane to Chicago, and from there to Moline, IL, where I rented a car (no taxicabs!) to get to the Hotel Blackhawk to meet up with the remainder of our group.  We made it to the Wisconsin Dells, finished the tour, drank plenty, met Freiburger in the hotel bar, and then hoofed it back to Kansas City, and flew home from there. The End. Moved the Dodge back to the shop, and there it sat for about a month while I decided what to do.  After this annoying update, we're back to the unbuilding and rebuilding of the Charger. Hooray!
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Oct 4, 2014 23:22
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Isn't the overdrive unit a 2 speed and gives you basically 6 gears?
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Oct 5, 2014 02:27
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G-Mach posted:Isn't the overdrive unit a 2 speed and gives you basically 6 gears? The overdrive is just that - an overdrive. You can indeed "split shift" and have a 6 speed. In fact, the GV folks sent along some really snazzy gaudy "6 SPEED" decals that I guess I'm supposed to slap somewhere on the car. I put one on my tool chest.
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Oct 5, 2014 14:37
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WTF, how do your rockers and pushrods keep wandering out of place? That sucks, man. I can't think of any sane explanations aside from the valvesprings being too weak to keep a load on the pushrods when the valve closes, or the bolts backing out of the rocker mount. Or the valves seizing in the bores at high temp but that seems unlikely...
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Oct 5, 2014 14:47
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It happened twice, both on the same cylinder. Springs were selected carefully, with the assistance of Comp Cams. Rocker arm shafts torqued appropriately. The only thing I came up with was either the lifters leaking down (only happened on cool/cold startups, not at running speeds) or not quite enough preload when I adjusted the lash. After the second instance, it never happened again; I also gave that one an extra 1/4 turn of preload. The real reason is, of course, The Devil. Or perhaps some other evil spirit. Regardless, after leaving the car parked for a few weeks, I went back to the shop and tore the motor down. Rod bearing journals slightly damaged, but no other apparent issues. The best that all consulted experts could point to is excessive oil in the valve covers, caused by the over sized oil passages in the Edelbrock heads, combined with the pushrod oiling from the aftermarket valvetrain. Valve cover fills with oil. Engine sucks it in via the PCV hose, burns it. The worst fouled plugs were the two fed by the runners on the intake closest to the PCV fitting on the baseplate of the throttle body. Combined with the troubles from the FAST EFI setup, (did I mention the 2nd popped MAP sensor?) I decided that the 440 experiment was over. I had intentionally diverted from my original powerplant choice because it was "too easy," and frankly too much of a copy of what a friend had done before. I wanted to be Different. Ok, now I'm different. He's got a 6.1 in a Duster. I've got a 6.4 in a Charger. 
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Oct 5, 2014 15:18
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| # ? May 6, 2024 12:31 |
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jhcain posted:
  This is the moment where the thread has gone from pretty cool to amazing.
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Oct 6, 2014 19:54
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