Not a happy owner.....no love here! Long story...large file attached

[Karfever]

Hey Ghost, Thanks for the offer!!!! :laughup:

I am 95% confident that the engine is a crate 360-380 bought in late 1999 with 2-3K miles on it now. I have the puchase reciepts, photos of the engine in the crate and going in the car etc. I dont see where anything has been changed etc. Possibly I should yank out the cam and change the intake to a dual plane??

I am going to wait on the convertor change until I find out about the engine etc. The rear gears are 3:91, enough for the engine I feel. Regarding the timings etc, even at 16 degrees initial, the car starts very easy, hit the key and it fires etc.

Now for Chryco......Florida is nice right now, spring breakers are almost gone...maybe a nice weekend trip is in order? Maybe a bunch of North Florida Mopar guys would like to have a 'tuning for beer' session on a Saturday? The Corvette Forum does this on occasion where we fly in the known Corvette magician and all meet at a buddies garage for aa tuning tech session. Lots of fun and beer and tire smoke etc!

[Karfever]

I want to say this to all the responders....Thanks so much for all the replies to date, this is helping me sort through this. I believe I will get there and earn a minor degree ion Mopar! 

[BB73Challenger]

I dont want to have more than 20K total investment. I probably will never see that value out of the car, at least in the short term. :nopity:

Ughh I would have thought the same - BUT check out the Ebay section in this forum. There is one ( 72-74 ) over 20 thousand right now.

[Mopar73340]

Karfever, that is one sweet looking Chally, I would not sell it and agree with everyone else that most of the work is done. The engine can easily be sorted out.

[Karfever]

Well I called Dodge, and they replyed that they have had no issues with the 360 crate motors which I am describing. I am going to nurse the car to a cruise-in Saturday in Jacksonville and let some of the Mopar folks there listen to it. Also learned that the front suspension is set way too high, that can be seen in the photos. The correct height is 1 1/2, and the car is set close to 3 inches, so I will attemp a torsion bar adjust ment tonite. Maybe that will help in the handling department along with putting some more castor in the alignment?

 :dontknow:

[1973challenger360]

Looks like a very nice car, dont let these guys convince you to make this a BB the 440 is a great motor but its more expensive weights more, takes up more room, eats more fuel, and you can do anything you want to a small block, get it tuned put in a higher converter and a set of 3.55's and run it hard or just screw it and put in a 5spd.

 :thumbs:

[6pkrunner]

There were massive quality control issues over Mopar's crate engine program and that is exactly why it was stopped until they could get the issues resolved. Now whether or not you have a true 360/380 as opposed to a 360 being cleaned up and advertised as one, or you have a lame duck quality control 360, or its broke can really only be determined be a teardown and a blueprint check throughout. I generally am a big block fan, but the 1968 340s were real nice screamers and worked like stink with an intake, carb, headers and a 3.91 rear.
 I also know two guys who have 360/380 crates bought within the last two years or so. These are impressive engines and will embarass a 375 horse LT1. So I would have to surmise that yours has some ills and must be resolved - quckly.

[JS27N0B]

Well I called Dodge, and they replyed that they have had no issues with the 360 crate motors which I am describing. I am going to nurse the car to a cruise-in Saturday in Jacksonville and let some of the Mopar folks there listen to it. Also learned that the front suspension is set way too high, that can be seen in the photos. The correct height is 1 1/2, and the car is set close to 3 inches, so I will attemp a torsion bar adjust ment tonite. Maybe that will help in the handling department along with putting some more castor in the alignment?



 :dontknow:

make sure you get it aligned after lowering it as the alignment will be out.

[dilligaf]

"The correct height is 1 1/2, and the car is set close to 3 inches"
Where are you measuring this?
Dan

[JS27N0B]

the spec is 1 3/16"

This is measured from the ball joint to the floor, and the lower control arm adjusting blade to the floor.the difference between the two is the height.  The adjusting blade always being the greater number.