My '72 Challenger project

Last job of the day was to carefully remove the crank from the block so I can get it sent off for a linish & have it checked out & new bearings ordered..





So now I play the waiting game for parts again… still gives me lots of time to clean the crap off the block & repaint it I guess…

A long overdue short update.. yet again this car has had me standing in my garage staring in pure WTF disbelief at what I was looking at… now I know that the majority of you will know how to strip down an engine, so you can just skip to the money shot of the pistons below.. anyway, on with the show…

So off with the heads..



As this is a flat tappet cam all the rockers are connected on a single rod, so removal of them is only a simple removal of 5 bolts to take them off



With them off it’s time to pull out the pushrods & the lifters out… I found that if I slowly pulled the lifter up the oil suction would pull the lifter out of its bore far enough for me to grab them with my fingers & pull them out





Right now I don’t know what I’ll reuse & what I’ll replace so for now I’ve assumed that I’ll be reusing everything… that being the case I can’t stress the importance enough of making sure you remember exactly which row or rockers is which, which pushrod went with which rocker & which lifter went with what pushrod… there are fancy plastic trays that you can buy that have the perfect shaped holders built into them to hold all the bits as you dismantle them… I don’t have one of them… I do have a lot of boxes that car parts came in, so I opted for that instead… just marked the boxes to know which way facing the front of the block & carefully put each part in its place as I removed them…



The lifter box I packed tight so that they cannot move at all





Then it’s just 10 bolts that hold the heads onto the block… again I decided to ensure that I kept track of which bolt came from which hole, some say it matters, others don’t think so… I may well end up with a new ARP bolt kit anyway, but for now I’ve kept track of the bolts too..

So with the heads off it was time to inspect the pistons, as the crank is out I could slide all the pistons up to TDC to have a good look…





My logic was to inspect the piston tops & if they were fine then I would slide them all the way down the bores & inspect the bores & if the bores where fine then I wouldn’t risk damaging the rings & I’d just leave the pistons in place…. This all started to fix an annoying slow drip from the rear main seal remember… not an engine rebuild as the motor ran well, had good compression, didn’t blow or use oil & pulled hard…… remember that as we go on…. As I cannot for the life of me understand how that was actually possible with what I found… a major WTF moment with this car again…

So how does piston number 8 look…. Hmmm is that a valve mark..



How about number 4… hmmm… not exactly smooth you could say…



Number 3 is kinda cool.. in a hey is that a small chunk missing from the edge of the piston top kinda way… I reckon its 4mm x 2mm



But piston number 5 is the clear winner…. This one I like so much I shall call him Steve & keep him forever….







**** me… that is a massive chunk of piston missing & I mean massive…. That’s not measured in mm but in inches & not just because I like to mix the metric & imperial scales up… but because I’ve seen small animals crawl through gaps smaller than that hole… all I can say is the piston rings on that piston all deserve medals of valor for services above & beyond…

Right… now this is the WTF bit I need help with… clearly this motor had a bad day when the pistons when to play in valve town without permission & as you can see they trashed the place…. So the motor was pulled apart & somewhat cleaned up, I can see hone marks in the bores, the cam is new & the heads are clearly not the ones for this block, they have 360 cast into them so I’m guessing they may be off the 360ci…. Now I could almost understand reusing the old oil pump, assuming they never opened it up & saw the damage… but who in their right mind would reuse those pistons!!!! I just don’t get it….

Well so much for a quick check & reassemble… I’ll get some time in the garage tonight & pull the pistons & the cam out… then I’ll get the block to a machine shop to be checked out, I really didn’t want to be spending big on a rebuild for this at this stage… I guess the big question is do I just do a stock rebuild or do I fit a stroker kit to the bottom end now, reuse my heads for now (assuming they check out fine) & then at a later date pull them off for a set of better flowing aluminium ones…. Hmmm… decisions decisions…

Next up was the Cam, inside the engine it didn’t look too bad, but I really knew that once it was out in the light it would probably be bent or have a whole lobe made of dried weetbix or something knowing this cars history… anyway as suspected its pitted & worn to hell… so not much use, again open to artistic ideas..



The Cam endplate was also badly worn, so the cam was no doubt floating back & forth as the engine was running..



& the Cam bearings I hear you ask…. Yep, well shagged too…





Now with the block bare it was time to take a rough measurement of the bores & have a good look at their condition… I really wanted this block to be a virgin bore that had never been bored over before… but sadly that’s not the case it’s been bored over at least once in its life..



As for the state of the bores themselves… well as I’m sure you already guessed.. the bore that Steve has been calling home is well gone, you don’t need a micrometer to measure the damage, it’s not a subtle blemish that you can only just pick up running your finger nail around the inside.. you could run your elbow around the inside & feel this one…





Most of the others are not too bad, but this is not something a simple hone will fix.. it would need to be bored over again & I don’t think that there is enough meat left in the walls for that….

So what to do… I could take it to a machine shop in the new year when they open & get them to inspect it & if possible bore it over again assuming that I’m wrong about the meat left in the walls… I guess I could have the block sleeved, but I really don’t like that idea, no real logical reason other than I just don’t… so now my mind is turning towards the quick fix… a crate motor to drop in. Sadly with the cash already outlaid on this project, the XB & the fact that I’m buying a house next year & getting married the budget is tight… so no 572ci Hemi for me.. in fact no Hemi of any size…

The engine I’ve been looking at overnight that I like is a 340 6 Pack stroker motor… its 416ci (6.6ltrs in new money), makes about 470HP & 490FT/LBS of torque.. being a 4 bolt mains small block with alloy heads it’s a couple of hundred KG’s lighter than the big 440’s & Hemi’s & that should mean that the handling is better.. & most important, it fits my budget & if the shop in question has one in the country it can be here in days

Another quick update to this…. So I got a new battery for my calipers so I could measure the bore of the block to see what it looked like, I could tell from the tape measure that it was over 4” but figured I’d double check to be sure to be sure. So the stock bore should be 4.040” according to my research, then I started to research what’s the most the block could be safely bored over.. found stuff for .010” to .040” & then a lot of debate it seemed as to how safe going to .060” over bore would or could be… well long story short my bores are all at 4.1” so they are all .060” over already.. so that definitely in my mind makes this block destined to be a coffee table..



Now sadly the fast easy fix of a crate engine for this car from a shop locally is dead too.. although the crate engine is still listed on their site, they don’t stock them anymore.. so now we are at the get a builder to build a new engine stage, sadly it adds weeks of off the road time I didn’t want, but it is what it is…

Based off a conversation with said builder, it will be a new stroker block & new alloy heads etc…. but we will be reusing my six pack set up including intake assuming it’s all good… so I spent some time on the weekend cleaning bits & boxing them up for shipping..





With the carbs you may remember form a few pages back in the thread that my middle carb is now a Frankenstein carb made up of different carb model parts… well I’ve opted to spring for a shiny new centre carb for the new build…





The old outers that I will be reusing, I just wrapped in bubblewrap & foam & then but into some containers to be boxed up to be shipped off..





Sadly now it will be 6 to 8 weeks I guess before I can even hope to see a new engine come back, built.. run in & tuned on the dyno.. well I guess that gives me no excuse to not have every other little job on the list sorted by the time it comes back..

I’ve been travelling a lot for work again the start of this year, so this has limited my time in the Skunk Works greatly… also the lease on my place is up in April so I’ve been spending a lot of weekends out with my other half shopping for a new house to buy this time as I’m fed up with renting & I really want my own big shed to call my Skunk Works home….

I’m also in the hurry up & wait game again.. the new engine is still a couple of weeks away yet & I figured it was time to check out the front studs so I could order the new ones & then wait for them… So it turns out that Bear now offer the brake kit that I have with two length Studs, one set at 2.25” long & the other ARP ones are 3.5”… so I pulled the front brakes off again to check which ones I had, I was sure it would be the 2.25” ones & I was correct..



I was happy to see that the ones I have are the 2.25” as now I can order the 3.5” from Bear & be confident that the knurl diameter will be correct & they will fit when then turn up… so they have been ordered now..

I had ordered a new set of longer studs for the rear, they were supposed to be for a stock Dodge 8 & ¾ rear end… but when they turned up they just looked too thin to be honest, so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place & pulled one out to measure up so I can order a set that will fit.. So I removed the rear brake setup & measured the rear studs to see just how long/short they are



The new ones I’ve ordered are definitely a great length… but look too thin…



So I got my trusty knockometer & belted out one of the studs, they are so short that I can know them out with the axle still in & then remove them through the access hole that lets you remove the axle retaining nuts..





Yep… way too thin, they slide through the stud hole.. interesting that they are sold as being for a stock rear end…





So now I’ve measured the actual knurl diameter that I really need & I have now ordered a new set of longer studs that have the correct knurl diameter, again now it’s a wait to have them delivered..

I scraped all the paint off to get a bit of a clearer idea of just how bad this rust is, it’s interesting to note that this area has been patched before… so given the quality of the work done by previous owners of this car I was starting to get a sinking feeling about what I was going to find here… this is a key structural area of the chassis rail, this is where the shock tower joins the rail, where the lower control arm joins the rail & where the K frame connects to the rail… so in my mind this area is the area that is under the most stress under load…



So we cut the face off the rail… it was just full of rust & crap inside…





What I found inside I was not impressed with at all… there is a support brace inside the chassis here that is folded on 4 sides & should be braced to all sides of the inside of the chassis… mine is pretty much nonexistent, completely rusted away



Also the rust on the inside of the rail has almost eaten through the outside face of the rail… this is really bad… but the car did live in the UK & Ireland for years & the weather is really good for rust there… also the UK use a lot of salt of the roads so that probably didn’t help…

Now as I said at the start of this update, I’m having to move soon… so my plan is to just swap out the studs when they get here & put the wheels back on but then stop, so that the car is transportable.. as I have bought a new house & I have new permanent home of the skunk works & the move date is the end of March.. so once I’m in in April then I’ll start to strip the front off the car & hopefully my parts turn up not long after that & then it’ll be a pretty big update to rebuild the whole front end.. & here I present to you my new Skunk Works…







It’s 9m deep by 14m long, has aircraft hangar style doors & the walls are 4m high, so it’s got to be close to 7m high in the middle of the roof… I’m not posting pics of the inside as I didn’t take any as it was full of the previous owners stuff when I inspected it, it’s described as an 8 car garage & you could probably squeeze 8 in… but I’ll want shelves, parts storage & some work benches etc….

I wish I had a real update, but I’m just waiting on parts…

The new engine coming along fine, the short block is finished now & it’s just the heads that we are waiting on… then we can run it up on the dyno & see where we are at, unlike the engine in the Ford I’m not chasing mad big numbers here.. somewhere in around 450HP will do me fine.

My intake has been checked & cleaned, I also had it hot jet coated & I think it’s come up a treat… also had the carbs all re-coloured so they look the same, you may remember that the center carb is brand new.. well I’ve had the outers rebuild & re-jetted to match now



The engine should be done in a week or two now… not that it matters much as the front end sheet metal I think may have gone by boat & not air as they had suggested it would, so I can only imagine that that means many weeks of waiting, I’ll call them tonight & get an update as to where they are & how long realistically the wait is going to be…

Other than that this weekend will be spent packing up the garage for the big move next week to my new house & the new permanent home of the Skunk Works… it’s a sad reflection of my sickness to continually work on my cars that only one of the 4 muscle cars will be able to be driven to the new house… everything else must be trailered, well one is at the panel beaters still so I can’t feel bad about that I guess…

Also because of my sickness & the fact I have no parts to play with my mind has been free to wander & wonder on what to do next & I’ve been doing a lot of research into a Gear Vendors Over/Under Drive unit to bolt behind the 727 in the Challenger now.. this would convert my 3 speed auto into a 6 speed auto by giving me an overdrive for each of the 3 gears…. I’m most interested in just the final overdrive & the reduction in RPM’s that that will give me cruising on the highway. Today with the 3.55 gears in the diff the car runs at just under 2900 RPM at the speedlimit & that gives some very crappy gas mileage & on long drives Mr’s XB doesn’t find the load exhaust as intoxicating as I do.. so dropping about 800RPM’s at that speed would not be a bad thing at all….

Having to dismantle the hoist & move it around has made me extra happy that I’m now a home owner & not a renter… so it’ll be bolted permanently into the Skunk Works & never moved again…. But it’s in now, as is 90% of my stuff.. just one more XB shell & some spare panels & interiors to come from a mates place yet…





SO the Challenger is back in its natural habitat… on the hoist…



First job in the new garage, fix the now newly broken door handle…. I’ve never removed the door cards before but I had always noted that nearly all the screws attaching it are different… first set are metal self tappers…. Probably not Dodge installed…





The bolts that attach the internal handle & the door lock are very specific & I’m just happy that they at least seem to be legit







I’ve always wondered why my remote adjust mirror has never works… well ok I haven’t I always knew what I was going to find here…. Someone cut the adjuster wires…



]

I guess I’ll order a replacement set & fix that now… just unsure if I should keep the mirrors body coloured or get the chrome ones…

I also ordered replacement upper & lower rad support panels as my lower one has been bashed about a fair bit & the upper one has some extra speed holes drilled in it for god knows what that is no longer installed in the car…





So now she sits on the hoist for me to start to dismantle the front end, hopefully I’ll get a few hours one night this week & some time on the weekend to have a good crack at getting everything that’s bolted on the front end off…



I know that removing all the brakes & suspension bits will be easy as they are all new & I put them all on…. The front panels will be more of a challenge as all the nuts & bolts underneath are well coated in shultz & I’ll have to try & get a wire wheel in to clean off the threads so I can get them all undone…. I suspect that this will probably bugger a lot of them so I’ll look to order replacements for all of them when I’m putting her back together…





Perhaps of more concern is that all the top bolts that hold the front fenders on are also painted… over… so I’ll have to cut the paint where the bolt/washers join the fender to minimize the cracking damage to the paint when I undo them… again all new hardware will be needed I suspect when reassembling begins..







Well that’s it for now… back up to date again, hopefully I can get the front end off by the weekend & then get my panel guy to come over & help unstitch the chassis legs & inner fender panels… never done a job this big before… so wish me luck…

I got a few hours on the weekend to spend some time in the garage pulling the front end off…. All things being equal this actually went quiet well, there was only 1 bolt that snapped off, only 1 that needed to be cut off & only 1 part that made me want to kill the person that assembled this car last….

So first up I went & got some longer bolts for my torsion bar removal tool, so that it would fit on the thicker bars I have installed now…



Once the tool is on & tightened up, just smack it with a hammer… only after you have removed the retaining clip from the rear of the bar of course… & it should just slide out nicely..





Once they were out the rest of the lower suspension was a breeze to remove as it’s all so new & still well-greased…



The pile of parts is building up now..



With the upper arms removed now the last bit to come off was the K-Frame itself… I expected this to be a big job as I figured the bolts would never want to move… there are 4 big bolts that hold the frame to the chassis legs & one tiny bolt that attaches up to the lower rad support.. that bold snapped as soon as I touched it with the socket… luckily I have a new lower rad support to go on so I don’t need to even bother to drill out the section of the bolt left in the captive nut..





I’d soaked the 4 K-Frame bolts with penetration fluid the night before, so I was hoping that these wouldn’t be a bugger to remove… I slid the transmission jack under the frame to take the weight & got the rattle gun out…. All 4 came undone with little fuss, just needed to wait for the compressor to give full charge to the gun to get the bolts cracked off… happy days I had images of me spending an hour under here heating he bolts & busting my gut to get the frame off.. but it was really a piece of cake… happy days…