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My '72 Challenger project

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    In preparation for my big brake kit that should be here any week now…. Or so I’m told by the supplier, I decided to order the last part of the brake system that hasn’t been changed out yet… so now I have a new brake booster to go in the car.

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    Until the brakes turn up, I’ve run out of things to do now, but I guess that will give me time to focus a bit more time on my XB project now…


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,532 ✭✭✭JohnBoy26


    Your working late :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,778 ✭✭✭sebastianlieken


    Love this car! Awesome project to have!


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Hey Guy’s, just a quick update on this project…. It’s just been lots of driving the last few months which has been great.. but no I feel it’s time to do some more upgrades/repairs to the old girl.

    First up my Baer Big brake upgrade finally turned up… this has been a bit of a long process to actually get them, but long story short the first kit I’d chosen (Wilwood) turned out not to be street legal in Australia.. so I upgraded to a Baer setup.. first batch wasn’t right & had to be redone from memory.. 2nd set was shipped out of Sydney but went missing in transit.. but the 3rd & final set made it to me & they look great… BTW quick shout out to Ray Jnr at Pentastar for being so good & easy to deal with through what became an almost comical list of issues..

    The front & rear kits look like this..

    IMG_2001_zps8ef06dcd.jpg

    The fronts are a 13” crossdrilled & slotted rotor

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    The calipers a 6 piston set up

    IMG_1998_zps5715e20a.jpg

    The rears are a 12” disk which has the drum handbrake built into the rotor

    IMG_2003_zpsea80ef25.jpg

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    The rear calipers are a 4 piston set up, these rears are the spec that Baer recommend to balance the front set up

    IMG_1999_zps7e28cfe6.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I’ve also found some other things that I think it’s time I fixed.. the bottom of my exhaust headers are badly smashed from years of what I can only assume was Dukes of Hazzard style jumps, so I ordered a new set of ceramic coated one to replace them

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    Also both of the engine mounts are showing signs of wear & cracking so I’ve ordered a new set of upgraded mounts now..

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    Finally the engine it’s self has started to develop several oil leaks, the works from what looks to be the rear main seal, so I’ve ordered a complete engine gasket kit & a full set of frost plugs & I’ll pull the engine out & replace the gaskets to fix any leaks, replace the mounts, the exhausts & from the sounds of it the harmonic balancer sounds likes it’s on its way out so I’ll probably swap that & give the engine a good once over to see what if anything needs to be done..

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    I was so tempted to start ripping the brakes off this weekend & fit the new ones, but I’ve opted to wait for all the above parts & do all the work at once…


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    So most of the new parts I’d ordered turned up last week… it looks like the weather will be nice on the weekend so I’ll get a few miles in cruising before I take the old girl off the road & pull the engine out.. so I now have a new set of ceramic coated performance headers to replace the badly battered & rusted ones on their now…

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    I also have the gasket kit, which is of course the main reason I’m pulling the engine as my rear main seal is buggered now… I also have a full set of frost plugs for the block..

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    I also have a new set of uprated engine mounts to replace the badly worn ones in there now..

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    I’ve not been happy with the wear on the shafts on my center carb for a while now & if you read this thread all the way through you may remember that the metering block is not the correct one, it was one I pulled off another Carb I had laying around… so I opted to buy a new 500cfm center 6 pack carb..

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    Another think that has been bugging me lately is that the external balancer on the engine has started to wobble about & make a very crappy sounding rattle at idle now, so I ordered a new one to swap out whilst I have the engine out

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    I also ordered a new chrome dual pulley crank end… for no reason other than the old one is dented on one side & it’s something that I notice every time I look under the bonnet & it annoys my OCD..

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    I’ve also ordered some other new parts that I will need for the big brake upgrade… but more on that when they turn up & I start that work


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Well… I wish I had a big update of work done to the old girl, but I don’t really… I’ve been doing a stupid amount of travel for work & that combined with some B’days & a Wedding thrown in I have had little to no time to take the car apart, so I’ve just been driving the wheels off it every chance I get & aside from the front ride height having finally settled about a quarter of an inch too low now & the one of the steering bolts just slightly rubbing the header on full left lock all the mods to the car have been a big success… I have a couple of weeks leave coming up next month so I suspect that I’ll pull the engine & swap out the brakes then…

    I bought a new toy for the garage, having the 4 poster is great… but it’s been a pain to get the wheels in the air whilst the car is on the hoist to get them off & as that will step one of operation swap the brakes I decided that a solution was needed … so now that problem is solved…

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    The last part of my big brake upgrade was picking the right size master cylinder for the job… there is some detail math that should be used for working this out taking into account the number of pistons front & rear, size of said pistons, pad size & what sort of pedal feel your after to work out which of the different bore & stroke master cylinder size you should get…. I opted to call the nice people at baer brakes in the US & as it’s their brake kit I simply had them work all that out for me. Now sadly Baer didn’t make any that I actually liked the look of… but Wilwood do make a nice one that I like that comes with an optional front/rear bias adjuster on a bracket that bolts nicely in place… so that was the model I was after. It came done to a choice of two for me a 15/16” bore & a 1” bore size… the 1” would have given a slightly harder pedal feel with a slightly shorter pedal length… so I went with the 15/16” bore in the end as I want my GF to be able to drive the car too

    New Master

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    Adjustable front/rear valve

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    Bracket installed

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    The bracket is on the fender side of the master cylinder so I’m hoping that it fits in without touching or I will have to adjust the bracket slightly to get it to fit… but the engine will be out at that point so I’ll have lots of room to get in & work out how to fit it.

    The other thing to come from my long chat with the guys at Baer was that I will really need 18” of vacuum to run these brakes… & at best my cam makes me 8”…. Now I have a vacuum tank fitted already but of course it can only store the max vacuum the cam can create.. so I ordered an electric vacuum pump for the car also… these are used on hybrid cars today to provide the vacuum for the brakes when the car is running on battery power.. so I’ve ordered a Hella unit that I will wire in & plumb in-line with the tank that way the tank will always have at least 20” of vacuum..


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    So I was out driving on the weekend & I ended up in a nice area close to the beach that had a LOT of speed humps & I’ve come to the conclusion that the header design that Hooker make for this car is just plain dumb… the headers on there now are smashed to hell anyway, but the new lower stance on the Hotchkis suspension is making it really bad…

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    So what’s really dumb in my mind is that the header actually runs underneath the steering arm, so it’s inches lower than it needs to be..

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    Now I had bought a shiny new set a while ago & I hadn’t really though this through.. as I’d just bought a new set of the same Hookers..

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    But now I’ve decided that I will not be putting these on the car as I will only end up with the same ground clearance issue & smashing shiny new headers isn’t something I want to do… so I did what I should have done in the first place which is some research & I found a few options that allow for tighter fitting headers that run above the steering..

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    The only issue with these headers is that you need to run the Mopar performance mini starter or they will foul, so I’ve ordered that too…

    Also I had ordered the Hotchkis Quick Ratio Idler and Pitman Arm Kit upgrade for my steering to a quick, 12:1 ratio from the slower, factory 16:1 ratio… I’ve never been able to fit this as it fouls the headers, so a quick call into Hotchkis confirmed that they too are running unmodified Dougs headers on their E-Max Challenger so now I know I’ll be able to add that too


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Ok, so I continue to be very time poor in the garage lately & with what little time I did have I’ve been working on mates cars who needed to borrow my hoist… so I’ve got so little done on this…. But I have a few hours Sat & all of Sunday this coming weekend to cut my fingers, bust my knuckles, drop spanners & say f&@k a lot… so looking forward to that…

    Now what has happened is that my new shiny ceramic coated Dougs headers that run above the steering arms have arrived… & they look great..

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    You can clearly see the difference to the other set of headers that I had bought….

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    Also my Mopar performance mini starter turned up too…. It’s very compact & should allow for the installation of the Dougs headers without any fouling.. I think I’ll wrap some heat shielding on this when I install it

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    Now one of the things I’ve been doing whilst driving the car the last few months is trying to get the suspension setup the way I wanted it for handling without being spine snapping on the bumps & I found that I just could not get a good feel from the QA1 adjustable shocks that I fitted what must be 4 years ago now back in Dublin.. so I decided that since every suspension part on this car is the same as the Hoskitch E-Max challenger except the adjustable shocks perhaps the simple answer was to fit the exact same shocks that they run on their car… so more new shiny parts are here… these have 24 points of adjustment as opposed to the 12 on the QA1 shocks & they have been tuned by Fox for the E-Max Challenger… so hopefully that will make the difference I’m chasing..

    IMG_2060_zpsca299779.jpg

    The front shock is simply adjusted for firm/rebound with a knob on the top easily accessed from the engine bay

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    But the rear is adjusted by a knob on what I would have called the top of the shock & not from the body..

    ]IMG_2062_zps130e97b1.jpg

    Now this is the exact opposite as to how the adjustments are made to the AQ1 shocks which have the adjuster on the body end of the shock..

    IMG_2058_zpsba20059e.jpg

    So if I installed the new shocks in the same orientation then the adjuster knob will be tucked way up in the back of the car & not really accessible unless the car is up in the air like this..

    IMG_2059_zps8495ad18.jpg

    I did a big of google research & I found a pic of the rear of the E-Max Challenger & it does indeed seem that they have the rear shocks mounted what I would have called upside-down…

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    So I think I’ll call them tonight & have a bit of a chat as to which way they should go in as there are no destructions to follow & they are very friendly & have happy to help with my stupid questions thus far…


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Oh & I did make one small step forward in next phase of this project to pull the engine out to fix the leak & replace the mounts, headers etc… whilst I had a mate here we did pull the bonnet off & bugger me is that thing heavy!! But not that that is done I am no longer at the mercy of needing to find a mate with some free time to help as I have all the tools I need to get the gearbox & engine out on my own… so until the weekend this is how she sits awaiting me to hit it with hammers…

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I got to spend a very brief bit of time in the garage this Sunday… not as long as I had hoped or planned but enough that stage 1 of operation remove the engine was achieved.. so the gearbox is out again… Now, I’ve skipped the usual detail of how such an event occurred, but I figured that as this is the second time I’ve removed this box, you can just go back & reread that part of this thread…

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    Now for a pic of the actual issue that prompted me to pull the engine the very annoying oil leak…

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    What do you mean you can’t see it?... look closer…

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    Ok.. so it doesn’t look like much, but this drip leaves a 1cm pool of oil a day under the car & that is more than enough to add up to a mess on the garage floor is the car sits for a week or more & I figure that the oil is better off in the actual engine too… so next weekend it’s coming out.

    I also removed the old bonnet hinges, they used to be very wobbly & didn’t have a very smooth action at all… on closer inspection I see that the drivers side one has cogs & the teeth are well worn & very rounded off… so this clearly explains that. Getting the bolts out was fun… as much as I’m glad that there was as much rust protection sprayed under this car as there was to protect against winters in the UK & Ireland…. Undoing bolts that are coated in this crap is hard work…

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    The worn cogs..

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    And the straight cut new ones… hopefully the bonnet will have a smoother action once these ones are on..

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    Now if you cast your mind back a post or two you’ll remember that I’m switching headers from Hooker to Dougs now to gain back some much needed ground clearance & as such I need to fit a new mini starter for the Dougs to fit… well I was expecting the old starter to be a bit bigger that it actually was… it’s not exactly huge compared to the new mini one

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    Also the terminials are slightly different between the two, the old one is a twin post setup

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    The new one is a single post & a blade connector so a little bit of rewiring will be needed, but looks nice & simple thankfully

    IMG_2074_zps7a9109ef.jpg

    So that’s it till next weekend when I pull the motor & start to replace any & all seals or gaskets that are leaking & replace the buggered mounts etc…


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I got a bit of time this weekend to make a bit more progress on this…. So the transmission was out & next up was to remove all the engine accessories & then the engine…

    The first thing that I removed was the vac tank & once this was out I strated to ponder where I’m going to install the new vac pump that I’ll be running… first thought was just to leave the vac tank out.. but then I started to think if I should leave it in..

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    So I guess I’m in two minds now… as I’m going to install an electric vac pump for the brakes, do I need this taking up room in the engine bay…. Technically I guess I don’t, but as the pump will be controlled by a vac pressure switch I guess if I don’t have the holding tank then the pump will be running constantly.. but with the tank still in place once the tank is full the pump will turn off until the level of vac drops again….

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    The next steps where pretty simple really.. I removed the Alternator, the PS pump, the clutch fan… then drained the radiator & removed that from the bay..

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    The parts pile as it started to build up..

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    The radiator seems to be in great condition, but that said I think I’ll take this opportunity to have a rad place look it over & give it a good flush.. I’m also thinking that when I put all of this back together that I might look at running waterless coolant rather than going back to old school coolant..

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    Then once everything was disconnected from the engine & the only thing holding it in the car was the two engine mount bolts.. I connected the engine lift to the engine & took up the weight as the block was leaning rearwards as the transmission was no longer holding it up.. with the weight off the mounts the bolts just slid out..

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    Then just slowly jack the motor up & out

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    Out & free… sadly right now it’s sitting on a tire & not bolted to my engine stand as I didn’t have 4 bolts the right thread & length to attach it to the engine stand that I have… I’ll get some bolts today so I can put it on the stand & then I can start tearing it down..

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    I can see clearly now why even after new header gaskets there was always an annoying header leak… more of the exhaust ports where leaking than not.. the headers themselves where no longer flat..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Next step was to remove the driver’s side header that runs through the steering… I opted to just cut the pipe open rather than unbolt the steering at this stage..

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    Now that the drive train is fully out I’ll take this opportunity to clean back the bay & check both front chassis rails for any rust as they are a known week point on these E bodies I’m told & they are the only sections of chassis that I haven’t been able to fully inspect yet..

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    Now there are a couple of tasks to be done in whilst the engine is out, so one of the first will be swapping the rear drum brakes for my new shiny Baer disks… so I’ve laid out all the parts & I reckon I’ll try & get an hour or so one night this week to do the swap… looks simple enough..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Just some updates from the weekend… this update may be a little pic heavy, so sorry if you’re on a slow interwebs connection..

    When I pulled the engine out last weekend I didn’t have the right bolts to put it on my engine stand as the bolts that hold the transmission to the engine where too short & the long bolts that I had for the stand where for my ford & didn’t match the thread pattern, so the first thing I did was get the correct bolts & now the engine is on the stand & the crane is packed away again.. happy days.

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    This update is all about the Baer brake install so the first task was a very simple one… remove the master cylinder from the car as I’ll be replacing it anyway & this way it will limit the amount of brake fluid that will be able to run down the lines when I disconnect them as I swap out the old brakes.

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    As you would expect the next step was to pick an end to start at & jack it up & remove the wheels.. I opted to remove the old drum brakes first as I figured if I was going to run into issue that required any addition parts of part modifications it would most likely be at the rear with the drum to disk swap so I wanted to have as much time on the weekend to source bits if needed..

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    Now of course whenever you’re looking at bigger brakes you need to check that the wheels will fit on & not bind on the calipers.. so the first thing I did when I had the wheels off was to sit the new setup into the wheel to check said clearances.. so the rears have heaps of room as you’d expect as I’m running a 17” rim & they are only 11” rotors & 4 piston calipers..

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    Then I sat in the fronts which I figured should also be fine as the kit suggested that it fit all 17” rims & some 16” rims… & it’s fine on my 17”s but I’m not sure how it would fit any 16”s as the gap is pretty tight, if it fit a 16” I reckon you’d have a gap from the rim to the caliper that could be measured with a feeler gauge..

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    So once I knew that the wheels would go back on (never doubted it, but it’s a 20 second check) I decided to test assemble the rear kit to be 100% sure that I knew exactly how the backing plates, part shoe assembly, caliper brackets & the actual caliper all went together.. again I’d rather do this clean on the bench than learn that there is some weird way of assembly that needs to be conducted whilst covered in old brake dust & fluid, axle grease & diff oil

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    The kit instructions talked in depth about shimming the calipers when they are installed to ensure that the pads sit an equidistance from the disk face on both the inside & the outside, according to the tech guys at Baer.. skipping that step is the number one cause of unwanted brake noise

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    Now that I was happy with how the whole new kit went together & I’d read the install instructions to ensure that there was no line that said something like “make sure you don’t pull this bit off” or ensure that you have some extra part that the kit doesn’t have in it.. so time to remove the old drums

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    I discovered on the passenger’s side when I pulled the drum off that at some point the lower spring had come undone & the bottom of the shoe had been dragging on the drum.. there was a lot of brake dust to be cleaned off..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    With all of the springs & shoes removed it then just a case of sliding the socket through the access hole in the axle flange & undoing the 5 retaining nuts that hold the axle in place

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    Undo the nuts but not all the way off.. depending on when the last time the axle was out & tight the fit is you may need some force to pull the axle out & the last thing you need is an axle to the face

    IMG_2125_zps4ebc7820.jpg

    Once the axle pulls out to meet the loosened nuts then you’re home & hosed, simply & gently slide the axle out… at this point if you have a smaller garage than mine hopefully you’ve measure that you have enough distance to your closest wall to get the full length of the axle out, they don’t bend too well… diff oil will pour out so when you are pulling the axle free of its seal have a basin or catch can of some sort to take the oil

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    With the axle removed the drum backing plate just pulls off, be aware that there is a metal gasket behind this that need to be checked too & replaced if needed… sorry forgot to get a pic of that

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    It’s a no brainer to check your bearings & seals at this point for any wear & replace as needed… I had the axle bearings & seals redone not so long ago & they still looked fine

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    Now it was finally time to start putting on some new shiny bits, with the drum backing plate gone the new backing plate bracket for the kit needs to be installed.. the studs on the driver’s side didn’t really line up for the plate to slip on so they needed a gentle tap with the knockometer to line them up nicely

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    With the studs now lined up correctly it was time to bolt the backing plate to the park brake shoe assembly & then attach both to the diff housing..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    With all of the springs & shoes removed it then just a case of sliding the socket through the access hole in the axle flange & undoing the 5 retaining nuts that hold the axle in place

    IMG_2119_zpsb7fd8e6b.jpg

    Undo the nuts but not all the way off.. depending on when the last time the axle was out & tight the fit is you may need some force to pull the axle out & the last thing you need is an axle to the face

    IMG_2125_zps4ebc7820.jpg

    Once the axle pulls out to meet the loosened nuts then you’re home & hosed, simply & gently slide the axle out… at this point if you have a smaller garage than mine hopefully you’ve measure that you have enough distance to your closest wall to get the full length of the axle out, they don’t bend too well… diff oil will pour out so when you are pulling the axle free of its seal have a basin or catch can of some sort to take the oil

    IMG_2126_zps87fda80e.jpg

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    With the axle removed the drum backing plate just pulls off, be aware that there is a metal gasket behind this that need to be checked too & replaced if needed… sorry forgot to get a pic of that

    IMG_2127_zps35253f50.jpg

    It’s a no brainer to check your bearings & seals at this point for any wear & replace as needed… I had the axle bearings & seals redone not so long ago & they still looked fine

    IMG_2129_zpsf19031ca.jpg

    Now it was finally time to start putting on some new shiny bits, with the drum backing plate gone the new backing plate bracket for the kit needs to be installed.. the studs on the driver’s side didn’t really line up for the plate to slip on so they needed a gentle tap with the knockometer to line them up nicely

    IMG_2130_zpsc2dc04f9.jpg

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    With the studs now lined up correctly it was time to bolt the backing plate to the park brake shoe assembly & then attach both to the diff housing..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then you gently slide the axle back into the diff, being very careful to hold it straight & level as you do, remembering that the end is splined so you’ll probably never get the splines lined up so you have to gently turn it as you slide it in the last two inches.. make sure to tap is fully home.. they do not recommend using the nuts to tighten & pull the axle in, just a tap of two from a rubber mallet did the trick for me

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    Then simply torque down the nuts to lock the axle back into place again

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    The new park brake assembly is supposed to hook up to the OEM park brake cable, so I hooked it into the holding bracket to see just how true that was…

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    And not very was the answer… my brand new OEM cable is a too long, the return spring too long & the end is a ball style where it needs to be an eye to attach to the pull hook for the new assembly, so some mods to the end of my cable are clearly needed

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    The kit also comes with a new bracket to hold the join where the new flexi hose from the caliper will join the hard brake line.. the bracket is fine, but their supplied method of attaching to the diff of using a jubilee clip is not something I’m fond off so I’ll sort something a bit better for that, I don’t know if I want to weld it to the diff… I’ll see

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    Then I simply slid the new shiny disk onto the axle studs

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    The caliper requires a bracket to be installed between it & the backing plate, so that was a simple two bolts

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    Then you just bolt the caliper to that bracket with another two bolts & then the job is almost done..

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then it was time to start the shimming process.. to do this you need the wheel nuts to be with some spacers to hold the disk tight to the axle just as they would be with the wheel on..

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    They provide a wealth of differing thickness shims to cover just about any circumstance that you could come across I reckon.. if it’s out by more than they give you shims for you’ve probably got the disk on one car & the caliper on another..

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    The process is pretty simple, you can do this with the pads installed by using feeler gauges to measure the top inside & top outside gaps between disk & pad & also the bottom inside & bottom outside gap between the disk & pad

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    Or you can remove the pads & use a Vernier calipers to measure the top inside & top outside gaps between disk & pad & also the bottom inside & bottom outside gap between the disk & pad… this is their suggested method & as I had the right tool this is the way I went

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    The idea is to measure the top inside & outside distances from the caliper inside face to the disk.. then subtract the smaller number from the larger one. This gives you how far off the worst side is, then half this number & that is the width of shim you need to place either between the caliper & the bracket move the caliper outboard or between the bracket & the backing plate to move the caliper inboard.. I need to move the caliper outboard about 1mm

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    Shim installed & gap set, the disk spins freely

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    Then simply repeat the process on the other side & then you end up with a disk rear end… happy days…

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then I bolted a wheel on to see just how little of this beautiful sight can be seen through the wheel openings… to be honest I’m happy with the look, you see just enough to know that there is some substance behind the wheel but not enough to be too blingly

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    They look pretty good from the back side too

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    It was at this point that I felt all of this was going way way too easy for my car… & then I noticed that the wheel studs don’t sick out anywhere near enough now… I never measured them before, but now I only have 8mm of threads for the wheel nut to thread onto… I never thought to measure them before I started for comparison so I have no idea how long they were… but I measured the fronts before starting on them & they had 12mm.. so I’ll have to order some new longer studs & then remove the brakes & the axles again to swap the stock studs out for longer one…. sigh

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then it was onto the fronts to see how easy they were as all in all the rear swap was way less painful that I had any right to imagine given how so many previous owners have bugger this car up over her life, so up in the air the front went

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    These are the old single piston disks that she’s currently running

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    Disconnected the brake lines & unbolted the old caliper off

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    Old single piston caliper vs the new 6 piston job

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    Then remove the dust cover off the front of the old disk hub to reveal the cotter pin & the retaining nut

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    Remove the pin, remove the nut & gently slide the whole assembly off the spindle being very careful not to let the bearings fall out

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    Once you’ve done this inspect your spindles to be sure that they are not badly worn… mine are fine as I only checked them a few months back when I did the suspension swap of the front end..

    IMG_2167_zpsf51667ae.jpg

    Baer say to remove the old dust shield as it only gets in the way of proper cooling

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    Then you install the new caliper bracket using the old caliper bolts, the kit doesn’t supply replacements for these bolts… the bracket doesn’t fit, they clearly call this out in the instructions & about 2mm of the spindle frame had to be ground away to make room for the bracket

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Once the grinding is done, it all lines up nicely

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    Then you install the new hub

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    They supply a nice little billet end cap that screws on to protect the bearing

    IMG_2174_zpsc61ab4e3.jpg

    Then they say that when you install the new disk to bolt it in place using the wheel nuts & some spacers right away to stop it moving & scratching the painted surface of the hub.. also unlike the rears which happily sat on the studs with no assistance these fronts are a little heavier & wanted to slide off

    IMG_2175_zpse7f06110.jpg

    Then bolt the caliper onto the bracket & start the measurement process again to determine what level of shimming is required to get the caliper centered on the disk just like with the rears

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    Then repeat on the other side & there you have it a 4 disk Challenger… can’t wait to get the other bits I have planned for this little overhaul done so I can get out on the road & feel what a difference these make to the stopping ability… this will probably be a few weeks away yet.. although as my other half pointed out on Sunday if I didn’t stop every 2 minutes & take pictures I’d be done by now.. hahaha… so I blame you lot

    IMG_2179_zps00186e55.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 314 ✭✭Darraghmh91.


    I really like this project
    Iv never seen a thread on one of these cars before
    Gas monkey style waaaw


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I really like this project
    Iv never seen a thread on one of these cars before
    Gas monkey style waaaw

    Thanks mate.. Sadly family commitments have kept me out of the garage for the last 3 weeks... Hope to get back into this on the weekend now..


  • Registered Users Posts: 314 ✭✭Darraghmh91.


    Daved_XB wrote: »
    Thanks mate.. Sadly family commitments have kept me out of the garage for the last 3 weeks... Hope to get back into this on the weekend now..

    Yeah family always comes first over car/bike projects .. How much are these kinda cars goin for now in good condition


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Yeah family always comes first over car/bike projects .. How much are these kinda cars goin for now in good condition



    Well, I’ve always been of the belief that with cars they are only ever worth what someone else is willing to pay….. I can tell you that the prices are very different between the US, Australia (where I am now), the UK & Ireland.. the price for muscle cars in Ireland is still well under the market value IMHO & there are some great bargains to be had


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I got a few hours in the garage this Saturday so I started to clean the worst of the thick crap off the engine..

    IMG_2188_zps5b3277ed.jpg

    Some of the oil & grime is so thick that I’m going to need something stronger than the store sold degreaser in a can to get it off, but I got a fair bit off before I decided to just start pulling bits off the engine… first up was to drop the oil pan off

    IMG_2191_zpsd8901437.jpg

    Then I unbolted the intake off the top, the bolts where very loose, only took a tine turn on them before they became finger loose & when I had them out they look a little short, can’t be more than a few threads holding the intake on to the block… also they are covered in liquid silicone & crap.. the amount of silicone I found holding this engine together is crazy…

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    With the intake off I was able to have a good look at the cam & the lifters… they look good, very little wear on them, although I expected to find that as I had been told that the engine had a cam put in it sometime in the past

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then I spun the engine over on the engine stand so I could have a close look at the bottom end & see if it looked as clean as the top did

    IMG_2199_zpsb2e4b8f0.jpg

    When I looked inside the oil pan I was happy to see that there was really no metal at all inside it on the magnet, when I took the windage tray off it was spotless too really, as was the end of the oil pick up screen

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    I then decided to pull one end cap off to see how the bearing shell looked & then to take one big end off & again inspect the bearing… I’m glad I did as the bearings where showing signs of wear, so I pulled all the caps off & they were all bad… so I’m now resigned to pulling the crank out & getting it cleaned up & checked before putting new bearings back in.

    IMG_2207_zps37491719.jpg

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    I also had a good look down the bores of the cylinders & they looked good, you could still see the hone marks in the bores & they all feel smooth & the pistons look fresh too.. so looks like bearings are the only bad bit so far… well except the oil pump


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I decided to crack the tip off the oil pump & have a look at how the internals are as the oil pressure runs a little lower than I’d like, although that could indeed be the gauge not being very accurate… but with the top plate off you can see the shiny signs of wear

    IMG_2209_zpsd9b57599.jpg

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    I then pulled out the internals to have a close look..

    IMG_2208_zps1e806966.jpg

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    Now it’s hard to see in the pics here, but at some point in its life this oil pump sucked a heap of metal through itself… there are lots of gouges & scrapes all inside it, its badly worn.. the rest of the engine is so clean & lots of new parts I wonder if the motor was rebuilt after a failure some years ago but the oil pump not replaced… very odd

    IMG_2210_zpsf5fbc133.jpg

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Pulled the water pump of to see how the internals look, the blades where fine but the amount of scale on the inside was a bit more than I wanted to see, so I’ll fit a new one

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    ]IMG_2222_zps566311ea.jpg

    IMG_2224_zps6e0265f3.jpg

    Then I pulled the harmonic balancer off the front of the engine as I knew it was no longer any good.. I had assumed that the rubber section was cracked, but it actually turns out that the metal is cracked where it slides onto the crank end

    IMG_2221_zps6c838662.jpg

    Luckily it doesn’t seem to have damaged the crank end, but I’ll get it checked anyway

    IMG_2225_zpse8560680.jpg

    Next job was to take the timing chain off, so I spun the engine over to get the number 1 cylinder around to top dead center

    IMG_2226_zpsd6e10094.jpg

    Oddly when I did that the timing marks did not line up at all… not even close

    IMG_2227_zpse73d52ed.jpg

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    I tried again double checking that I had number 1 at TDC… but nope not lined up on the timing marks… so I opted to line the timing marks up & then see where the engine was at.. seems that with the timing marks lined up the engine has number 6 sitting at TDC… not sure why as the engine runs really well… need to do a bit of research on that clearly..


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