Decided to take a few pics of the Chally today...

[JRoss22]

 :picture:Sorry for the amount of pictures just felt like showing them off as its not to often I take pictures of my car

[Rev-It-Up]

  Keep her forever!!

[TKat13]

MAN! those floorboards look awesome!!!

but the baseball on the shifter had me 

btw, that carb did stand out as well, that thing is pretty!


nice car, I wish mine was that solid.

[RusTy/SE]

  Keep her forever!!

Seconded

[JRoss22]

Thanks TKat13 ya that was one thing I noticed about the car when I ripped out the carpet was how great of shape my floor boards where in... As for the baseball shifter it was the ingenuity of my uncle back when he used to drive the car the shifter handle would keep falling off so as baseball practically corses in the veins of my family he felt it natural to use a baseball for a ****er knob..... Ya I really love the carb also brings out the engine bay lol... hopefully soon I can get a job and dive back into working on the car....

Rev- For as long as I live I will never sell this car... Even if I was hurting for money I wouldnt sell it there is just to much history with this car my grandma bought it brand new from the factory and it is staying in the family... I have had offers up to 15k for the car and turn them down every time.... Someday I hope to have my car looking as good as yours until then I am going to just enjoy the car for as it is....

[Super Blue 72]

Nice pics JRoss!  Nice car with a nice history!  Love the baseball!

I noticed the orange paint on the engine.  Is it the original engine?  Is your car an early production '72 or something with a left over '71 engine?

[JRoss22]

Yes it is the original engine and it is and early production '72, as my grandma bought the car in '71.... I am thinking of keeping the baseball on the shifter even after I am done restoring the car but I will still buy the correct shifter handle to install for shows and what not...

[Super Blue 72]

With the orange paint on the engine, assuming it's from the factory, I wonder if it's got the higher compression?  '72 engines came in the blue that's also on your engine.

The '71s came with, I think, 10.25:1 ratio while the '72s came with 8.5:1 ratio, and about 35hp less for the '72. 

[JRoss22]

What numbers would I be looking for on the block to see if it was infact a '71 engine and not the '72?

[Super Blue 72]

Good Question!  I'm not exactly sure.  Someone else may know how to tell.  I wondered that on my car too since my build date was 8/17/71.

It seems all the casting #s on '68-'73 340 blocks (Except T/A and AAR cars) are the same.

I think there's a # stamped on the front drivers side of the block just below the cylinder head that may give some info.  Mine says HM 340R, R= regular gas.  I read that somewhere...

Also what's your date of manufacture on the fender tag?

[JRoss22]

heres the whole fender tag... R11 V7X 26 EN2 M42 N23 N41 N42 L31 M21 V1W U B51 C16 C56 C11 FE5 B6XW 000 922 232555 E55 D34 JH23 H2B 167756

[Super Blue 72]

Hi, JRoss,

I'm no decoder pro but it looks like your car maybe was manufactured on Sept. 22, 1971.  Yes, it is an early car.  If you still have the sticker on the door it may read 9-71 for the date above the VIN.  I don't know what's the date of the 1st '72s made but I would suspect early August.


From the fender tag I can't tell much else about the engine except the fact that from the factory in the "H"  (2nd digit in VIN) cars the 340 was an optional engine ordered that way from the tag.

I'm sure there's someone that knows how to tell the high and low compression engines apart by looking at it externally. 

They both possibly had "J" heads but the "J" heads I think had both the large and smaller valves in them so that's not a good way to tell.

Starting in '72 they started using Electronic ignition on the V-8s but I guess they could have put Electronic Ignition on a '71 engine.

I dunno?!?! 

[JRoss22]

Thanks for that info there Super Blue 72... I will go take a look and see if the sticker is still there on the door and if it is and indeed the car was made on the 22nd of September it puts more meaning into the #22 in my name other than just my lucky number ... I guess I will have to wait and see if anyone else might possibly know about the whole engine deal for my car.... but thanks for the help again...

-Justin

[RusTy/SE]

Justin, you're in for a bit of good news about the date 

Since i can't produce physical evidence just consider the following an opinion    but 340 motor color changed from orange to blue in like April 1971. Seems one of the major Mopar mags featured a clean 71 e-body with a blue 340 recently and the owner made mention of how the motor color changed during the model year.

[JRoss22]

 :dogpile:That indeed is good news to hear that my engine is one of the higher compression engines.... and I just went and check the door sticker which is still there and it has the production date of 9-71 ... I am just wondering why it got the 71 block instead of the 72 though?