My eBay purchased 74

[Jamiez]

Always nice to read what you are doing Jamiez.

The compression tester looks good. Should do that on mine to, as I have been told I have "some" blowby in the cylinders.

I wish I'd have so much time and the space to do so much on the Challenger. Just have my A/C heater box at home and redoing it and converting the 5V voltage limiter of the dashboard to a new electronic one in the original housing...

Glad you get something out of the thread.
Doing a compression test was one of those things I had been dreading.  It's a pretty simple test to diagnose the overall condition of the engine.  Even though the engine is running fine, I was worried the test would uncover some hidden (and probably expensive) issue.  Fortunately it all turned out okay.
I think all of us weekend mechanics wish we had more time, space, money and tools   I really wish I had some sort of lift so I could put my car up and try and track down a few of the small leaks it has.

Maybe some day

[Jamiez]

I picked up a tool roll off ebay so  I can put some stuff in the trunk and have it look decent.




Because I needed a reason to buy more tools.....

You can find the details here:
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=90420.0

[brads70]

Colour is pretty close for your car  too!

[wiging19]

I was wondering with all the work you've done on your car has the gas mileage improved.  I thought I'd mention you want to have your care tires aligned after you change the shocks.  I didn't do that and my tires wore out sooner than they should as a result of not doing that.  Just trying to save you a little money if you were not aware of that issue.

[Jamiez]

I was wondering with all the work you've done on your car has the gas mileage improved.  I thought I'd mention you want to have your care tires aligned after you change the shocks.  I didn't do that and my tires wore out sooner than they should as a result of not doing that.  Just trying to save you a little money if you were not aware of that issue.

Honestly, I didn't drive the car enough before to get a feeling of where it's milage was at.  I probably have less than 200 miles on it. But even that is questionable because the speedo cable was partially melted and the incorrect pinion was in when I got it.

 When the weather is nice and I have the choice between driving it and wrenching on it...for some reason wrenching on it usually wins

But since before I rebuilt the carb fuel was spilling out onto the intake and pooling up on it so the fact that I am actually burning the fuel and not just letting it spill out everywhere has to be a milage improvement

[Super Blue 72]

Very cool tool roll!  I like how it says 1974 Challenger on it. 

[Jamiez]

With the temperature finally climbing into the 50s, I fired the car up for the first time in a while.  Took a bit to get it started but then it ran nice and strong.


Hopefully the snow (and salt) will stay away until this weekend and I might be able to get on the road and see how the new shocks work.

[burdar]

You've got a great summer of cruising ahead of you....ENJOY IT!

That tool roll is awsome!  Do you have a link to where you bought it?

[Jamiez]

It's been a while since I could actually do anything with the car,  the past week the weather may have turned but the roads are still to salty to venture out on.  I did fire up the challenger and do a little "pre-flight" check.  And of course I found some minor issues:

First the horn was dead.  At first I thought it might be the relay, but a little deeper digging showed the problem was actually the wiring.  I'm not sure what the stock horn wiring looks like, but I'm guessing it wasn't like this:

Here's what it looked like when I removed it:

Those bare wires on the ends were randomly grounding to the frame or just providing bad connectivity.  I put on all new connectors and wrapped it all in electrical tape so it's all functional once more.  In the future I'll have to see about getting something more stock in there.

I also discovered that the heater hoses were rubbing against the alternator pulley/belt. 

I'm worried they'll burst under pressure so, I'll have to order a replacement set of hoses, and I might as well replace the upper radiator hose as well, pull the intake and clean/paint it.
Originally I thought it was rubbing because  the plastic tie which held the hoses to the fender had broken.  After some research I quickly discovered the real problem, the missing heater hose bracket.   I picked up a repop one and installed it.

Once it was in place I rerouted the hoses and put the correct strap on the fender.:

Here is the way they were routed:

[Jamiez]

Since I am going to have to drain the coolant system to replace the damage heater hose, I've decided to do some clean up work on the top end.  I'm still waiting for parts to show up, but the upper radiator hose showed up.  My old hose was kind of squishy especially where it makes the sharp bend.

I'll save it as a spare and throw it in the trunk just in case I have an emergency need for it.  And speaking of stuff for the trunk, somewhere along the way I picked up a set of Mopar Spark plugs.  They'll look nice next to my tool bag.

[Jamiez]

I tackled a small project this week.  I got the correct screws for the center console. I also replaced the U nut that was missing from the spot closest to the dash.  You can see the difference in the fasteners (the chrome is correct).  Hopefully that will kill the annoying rattle.  The correct parts really make a difference!


Then it was on to the engine.  I drained the cooling system and prepped the intake for removal.  I then carefully masked off the top of the water pump and sprayed it.  Not my finest work but short of pulling the engine it was the best I could do.  Look back a few posts and you'll see what it looked like before.


I pulled the intake cleaned it, prepped it, primed it, and sprayed it engine color.  Unfortunately I'm out of clear coat so it still has the masking in place. But here is what i looks like mocked up.


I also decided I like the look of the gaskets that were on the car better than the ones I had laying around, so I decided to order a set.  Hopefully I'll be reinstalling everything next week.

[Jamiez]

This week I put the intake back on the car.  I went through two sets of gaskets and a tube of sealer getting it back in place, a lot of stupid mistakes on my part:



After I put it all back together I had a minor fuel leak as I forgot to tighten one of the clamps, but otherwise everything seems to be holding pressure and/or not leaking.  I did a quick bleed of the cooling system and everything seems good.  I need to run it longer and let the heater cycle a few times to make sure it's all bled...then I might actually be able to drive it....

[Jamiez]

Took it for a quick spin after work with the GoPro3 mounted on it.  I didn't have a lot of time and the camera is a little crooked....but still was great to have her on the road again:

First Ride 2013

[dutch]

car is looking better and better   

[walkAbout]

Took it for a quick spin after work with the GoPro3 mounted on it.  I didn't have a lot of time and the camera is a little crooked....but still was great to have her on the road again:

First Ride 2013

Nice ride, unfortunately no sound.

CU

walkAbout