My eBay purchased 74

[Jamiez]

I have it lifted in that corner.  There is no real room from below either, I can get a wrench on it, but there is no room to rotate it. That header tube really makes access difficult.  I'm going to grab some flex head wrenches and see if that helps...

But I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to loosen the starter so I can clock it or tilt it.... a half inch closer to the engine would let me get a socket on it.

[Jamiez]

Week 51:

I got the wire off the starter.  I had to loosen the starter to cock it to clear the header.  It was at that point that I found out the nut was the ever popular and common 11/32"  Fortunately I had a nut driver that size and with some vise grips for added torque it came off pretty easy.  After that I finished swapping in the new positive cable.  Given the condition of the old cable ... I was living on borrowed time.  mmmm bare wires.


And speaking of bare wires. I discovered my blown fuse issue was caused by the bare wires from the transmission light grounding to the brake booster. I wrapped the wires in electrical tape...only to discover that the two prongs touched  under the tape and now the reverse lights were on in every gear.  I took the wiring apart and wrapped each prong individually and put it all back together.  It doesn't look pretty but it works for now...


Now to get to the serious business of driving the car...

[Street_Challenged73]

Those electrical gremlins can certainly be a pain!   Glad you got it all figured out & operational again...Now go finally reap the benefits of all your hard work & drive that thing!!!

[msbaugh]

I agree sometimes getting to those starter connections are a pain in the ***! It's like my number 2 spark plug with my headers, I go from over, under, left, right anyway you can think of trying to get that rascal off 

[joelson6]

Unfortunately when I took it out, the radio, reverse light, and turn signals were not working.  I'm assuming that I either popped a fuse or knocked something loose while working on the brakes. 

Sigh

i had the exact same thing happen to me with my '72 challenger.  the radio, reverse light, and turn signals all at the same time weren't working. i jiggled the harness at the bulkhead and it all came back on. could be a bad connection at the bulkhead.

[Jamiez]

Week 52:

The only thing I did this week was get a 1974 plate to throw on the car and take pictures

But we all love pictures:

[Padawan]

 

Nice pics of your awesome car, love it!

[MizzouRT]

All nice pix.  The 5th picture with the higher camera angle (and a better / cleaner background) is my favorite.

[Jamiez]

The last few weeks have been a stand still.  I ended up being sick for Memorial day weekend and just not being able to find time to do much with the car.  I did manage to paint an intake for my dad's Impala project, and we went to a pull-a-part to find an air cleaner for his upgraded carb (he's switching from the 2 barrel to a 4).

I did drive the car this weekend, but now it doesn't seem to be starting well.  It cranks for quite a bit before it catches, and then it was idling lower than I'd ever seen it.  It also hesitates when I really give it gas.  It might just be the fact it sat for 3 weeks without running, but as a start I ordered a new set of plugs for it...as they were on my list to replace anyhow.  Probably look at the carb and do some adjustment to see if I can get it running better.

[Jamiez]

I think this would be hesitation or stumbling?  I'm not sure of the correct term.  If the car is at idle and I give it some gas (like normal) everything works just fine.  However if I'm at idle and I put my foot in it, the car sputters and then roars to life.  I took a video of the tac trying to show what I am experiencing.

http://s817.photobucket.com/albums/zz98/j_zahler/Challenger/?action=view&current=0736d20e.mp4

I've also been having rough starts, so I ordered some new plugs to swap in this weekend (no idea how old the originals are or the condition of them).  I'm thinking some carb tuning might be in order to fix this stumble? But I'm hoping for a few pointers from the more knowledgable

[msbaugh]

Can you tell If the hesitation is from waiting for the secondaries to open up? what kind of carb? Vacuum or mechanical secondaries? You can adjust them and make them open up sooner which could help. I'll bet some carb adjustments would get rid of the hesitation

[Jamiez]

I have no idea of the cause, just the problem I've never worked on the carb before.  It is a Holley 3310 750 CFM with Vacuum secondaries.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

The pump shot is probably not enough. You have to be close if normal driving is OK.

If you have a size 31 squirter, try a 33. The technical name is accelerator pump discharge nozzle.

[dodj]

The pump shot is probably not enough.

Or...tooo much. Check how your pump is adjusted. With the lightest touch on the throttle, the pump lever should move. There is a cam for the accel pump that cam be changed as well, adjusts the amount and duration of the shot. 

[msbaugh]

The cam will also adjust when it opens... So maybe getting a longer duration cam that opens a little sooner with throttle will help Holley sells kits do you can swap them out easily and see which one you like the most