I title this story.. Un****ing what other people have ****ed up..
I bought this car in June of 2012, a week or two after I got married. I had done several restorations on late 60's Mustangs before, and I felt that I was up to the challenge of sailing into uncharted territory with Mopars. The Mrs. gave her approval for me to "pick up a hobby", and I had saved up a decent budget to get done the few things that I couldn't do myself. This Challenger Rallye was on her third owner and was a complete Frankenstein monster when I found her. The motor was currently a 360 out of an 80's van and the rest of the drive train(727 and rear end) was original(as far as what casting numbers I could find). She had some aftermarket goodies like new front disc and some respectable engine mods, and I bought her for a fair price. The paint/body/interior was a solid B, the motor sounded strong, and it drove well(with a definite need of a 727 rebuild though). The electrical I would give a small f at best so I felt it would be a great project to do myself. Unfortunately that fall/winter I became sick and was unable to get to this as I should(although wanted it for the upcoming summer). So I decided to enlist a local mechanic recommended by a friend to "work on it over the winter". The month I gave him to completely replace the wiring(thank you Painless for easy wiring) turned into a grand total of 15 months(an omen to the continued story on this project btw), and included a complete engine replacement due to the original one "blowing up" during gauge testing. Mid 2014 I drove it to our new house and parked it over the winter. She had a major vibration at speed and the 727 was woefully horrible on the highway(70-75mph). As of spring 2015 I felt that the only way to make her cruise decently would be for more gears(and upgrade her to manual to make her more fun). So I've gone with a Tremec 5 speed from American Powertrain and had a highly recommended local speed shop to do the install. My experience with AP has been horrible and includes mis-sent parts, just plain garbage parts(clutch and flywheel to be specific), and the hardest customer service to get a hold of that I have ever had to deal with. Currently I am waiting for another flywheel(Hayes) from Summit because the one from AP has a broken ring gear(spins freely)(who the hell presses on ring gear to flywheels anyway?), and I don't trust anything more from AP. My saga will continue as things progress and hopefully I can get some serious wheel time before the snow flies here(WNY)...
