Restoration of an origonal owner 73 Challenger Rallye

[Grec]

Now I'm thinking about the front strut rod bushings.  I reused the original bolt and spacer up front.  It went together fine but isn't as beefy as the bolt/spacer that came with the poly bushings.

I did the same thing, just to keep it as original looking at a glance as possible. IMHO, there's no way it would ever fail, short of slamming the wheel into a curb or some other mishap.

[burdar]

I'm reassembling the engine tomorrow.  If I can find some help, I might be able to install it next weekend.   

My goal is to get the engine together and primed tomorrow.  I really don't want to prime it in the car if I can get away with it.  The last time I rebuilt an engine I got the oil pump drive off by one tooth.  I don't want to deal with leaning over the fender trying to clock the gear.  I'd like to prime the engine, rotate it to TDC and install the gear...done.  I assume once primed it's OK for a few weeks until I can do the break-in?

[ChallengerHK]

Just looked to see where you are. I'd be happy to come by and help, but the distance is a little much 

[burdar]

Ran into a snag on Saturday with the engine.  I figured it wouldn't go smoothly.

I got the heads and valvetrain installed but wanted to prime the engine before installing the intake.  I filled the engine with oil and some Lucas oil treatement with zinc.  I hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge and started priming.  I had great oil pressure but only one side of the rocker arms was getting oil.  The PS had plenty of oil but the DS was dry.  I pulled the rockers back off and found the problem.

Cylinder head that was getting oil.  Notice the oil hole in the right rocker shaft stand.


Cylinder head that was NOT getting oil.  Where's the oil feed hole?
 

These were reconditioned heads from Aerohead.(Indy) They repaired some damage on the rocker stand and didn't redrill the oil feed hole.  THe heads were purchased 7 or 8 years ago so they aren't going to do anything for me.  I'm taking the head to a machine shop to have the hole drilled.  Hopefully they can get to it fast.

Nothing ever goes my way.  I should have noticed that a long time ago.  I'm glad I tore the engine back down to check it over.

[Jocigar]

Too bad it put the brakes on your weekend goal... but good thing you noticed now      the repair shop could have caused you a lot of headaches   

[Grec]

Nothing ever goes my way.  I should have noticed that a long time ago.

It's not you, dude... it's cars (and all things mechanical) in general.

Sounds like an easy fix... and at least you found the problem at this stage vs. after it was all put together. 

[ChallengerHK]

You've been at this so many years, another weekend or two to make things right is worth it. You'll be driving her soon 

[burdar]

The head is at the machine shop.  It should be done in a day or two.  I should be able to finish it this week easy enough.  I'm just waiting on the alternator to come back from Dixie Restorations.  I'd like to have that installed before the engine goes in.

[burdar]

The engine is back together and painted.  I'm planning on bringing it home tonight so I can start dressing it out.  I'll take some pictures tonight.

As far as the oil pump drive is concerned, I'm pretty sure I have it in correctly.  I've read that it should point to the 1st intake bolt on the DS.  I tried it a couple different ways but neither line up with the first bolt.  The slott either runs parallel to the engine, or points to the second intake bolt.  I've got it pointing to the second bolt.  It should be easy to move it back to parallel if I need to do that. 

[burdar]

Well, here's the engine.  I threw a few parts on it quick so there wasn't so much blue.  The exhaust manifolds were originally on the engine before it was painted.  The wire looms, PCV valve, bypass hose and fuel pump were also on the engine before it was painted.

The EGR valve is an NOS piece.  The distributor cap is the original one to the car.(I think)  The outside cleaned up pretty good and the inside looks great.  Notice the copper plated hold down clamp.  The original one was in bad shape.  Most of the copper had worn off.  I had this one in a pile of parts and it cleaned up nicely.  The breather hose is also the original one to the car.  There used to be a red stripe on the inside but it's worn off.  I might try to put a stripe back on it at some point.  I'll post more pics when the entire assembly is ready to go in the car.

These were taken without a flash.  The engine looked like it was glowing with the flash on.  The paint is Plastikote Chrysler blue.  It's a pretty close match to some original paint still on the torque convertor.

[wally426ci]

Looks Nice!

[Jamiez]

Great work.  I know what you mean about photographing that plastikote Chrysler blue.  Are you going to run it on a stand before you put it back in?

[73RallyeChallenger]

Wow, very nice work Darren! Any guess's on the HP/torque ratings?

[burdar]

Any guess's on the HP/torque ratings?

Just enough torque to get it moving and just enough hp to cruise down the highway.    As long as it will do that I'll be happy.  I just want something that gets decent miliage.  The engine is just a stock rebuild of a tired 318.  It's been bored .030 with stock replacement pistons.  The crank has been turned down .010.  The cam is a MP purpleshaft 340 resto cam I had in a 360 for only a couple hundred miles.

Are you going to run it on a stand before you put it back in?

No, I thought about it but it's just an added expense. 
 

[ChallengerHK]

Is the dealer who sold you this car still in business? With the type of restoration you're doing, they might be willing to cut you some deals on parts (or even cars, for that matter) in exchange for displaying the car in their showroom for a while.