And the restoration begins,

[kkritsilas]

There are similar things here, but not in the condition of the vehicles they were driving. If you get a vehicle, you can drive it on anohter vehicle's plates for two weeks after the date of purchase on those plates, if the previous vehicle was the same type (i.e. car-car, or car-light truck, light truck-light truck). Under no conditions would you have been able to dirve a motorhome on car plates. And the Charger was never licensed, and they expressed some doubt about the origins of the car. After pulling them over, cops up here would have run plates (if they existed, and VIN) just because of the smoke that the Charger was putting out. if the VIN had shown up as a stolen car, it would have been impounded/confiscated. The Pierce Arrow would have been pulled over for being unsafe, and would have been towed/flatbedded to the impound lot/yard.

Kostas.

 

[My imp]

California has some of the strictest, if not the strictest laws in America. They have been known to use mirrors to inspect semi's when they pull into weigh stations, & if they find leaks, they're not allowed in the state. So I doubt that they'd let all that slide. That maintenance crew should've radio'd for a trooper to impound the vehicles. Production values.

 

[R/T Mirada]

Engine back in its home, still have everything else to do,wiring plumbing etc But at-least it is not in the back of my truck bottoming it out over every bump I hit. And of course the hobby shop is again closed till the 2nd. Gives me time to catch up on my shows.

Wish it was as fresh on the inside. Hopefully It is cured of marking its territory, and I wont get so dirty working in it from now on

 

[bremereric]

Looks good. If you ever have to do it again jack the rear of the car up as high as you can get it.

 

[alf44]

that roadkill episode was kinda funny,, but for 2 guys that are supposed to know about cars,, i would NEVER let those friggin idiots anywhere near my cars. that they drove that motorhome and charger on the streets like that, they should of been sitting in a crowbar hotel

 

[R/T Mirada]

Yea, I know what you mean, you would figure that the editor of Hot Rod Magazine would be more mechanically inclined. Kind of like watching a pair of monkeys trying to F%#k a football. But I can't stop watching them. Maybe they are the the mechanics version of Honey Boo Boo

 

[My imp]

Production values, gentleman. Remember when Steve Magnante (another H R editor) did a straight forward mechanical show? About as exciting as watching toat brown or your hair grow! & he's a Mopar guy! No one would watch it otherwise. It's their shtick.

 

[kkritsilas]

alf44:

Testify, brother, testify. The exact points I was trying to make. If it wasn't for the video cameras, I would think the DOT would have done something other than lend them an axe.

Kostas

 

[Mr.Lopar]

You guys just put way to much thought into it

 

[R/T Mirada]

Maybe they are just following the same formula that has made Top Gear so popular. They have got to be smarter than they act. I have seen some videos that they did that were straight informational, these are far more entertaining.

 

[kkritsilas]

Mr. Lopar:

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what the intent of the video was. If it was for comedy, then yes, I put too much thought into it, and didn't underdstand the intent. If however, it was intentded to show how a good car could be put together for minimal dollars, than this fails in a big way, and they are idiots. If they second, they are stupid for the amount of wasted time and effort. They were inefficient iin terms of money wasted, amount of damage done to a potentially useful car (the Fury, because they couldn't be bothered to shift the 440 around, they ruined a potenitally good fender that may have been useful to somebody), and the end result (they lived out a Dukes of Hazzard fantasy by driving the car off road, but with some additional effort, it could have been a fully street legal car, and a daily driver). I don't expect them to come out with a show car (Overhauled style), vut with some effort, it could have been a good street car.

Kostas

 

[Mr.Lopar]

the fury was already wasted as they used it as a 24 hours of lemons car, the quarter panel was already damaged beyond repair, and the blew up the engine during said 24 hours of lemons, thus why they didn't use that engine. and like they mentioned, older mopar powered motor homes can be had cheap, i sure as hell wouldn't want to stay in that thing any longer then they did. they planned on cutting it up to get rid of it, so they got the dumpster, but ended up finding someone else to haul it off for them. as for the charger itself, it can still be made into a good street car, and im sure it will be, but as it is, there is no title to the car and it is roadkill, so that's what they used for that episode

 

[My imp]

People who have never had to use or work on rust bucket cars destroy perfectly good sheet metal without realizing what they're doing, as if everyone has rust free replacements lying around. Like Marie Antionette, "Let them eat cake". There are enough straight mechanical shows that've been taken off the air, it's Hollywood shtick! Would you watch it other wise? How'd you hear about the show? "did you see these 2 a-holes?" bla, bla, bla?

 

[kkritsilas]

Actually, I like the straight mechanical shows. I learn a lot about repairing, and even restoring cars. These shows, as exemplified by the Roadkill show that was linked to, are nothing but a poor comedy/drama with a car restoration backdrop (take out real information, add tons of yokel speech and forced yokel humour). I liked "Two Guys Garage", most of the shows in the Power Block, Stacey David's Gearz (even though he went over the top with the hero worship when some guitarist would show up), Overhaulin (even though the cars end up being over done somewhat), Chop, Cut, Rebuild, etc. The Roadkill series is nothing more that the Discvoery Channel's chipper shows, just with cars instead of choppers. Overhyped drama, cheesy comedy, with no regards for the what should be the object of the show, the chopper/car, or the amount of damage caused in the process in the case of the car shows. Car Warriors is almost as bad. Since when is completing a custom built car in 48 or 72 hours ever representative of the real world? And the yahoo running the show Johnny Shines is really completely unqualified to judge, neither are the guest "judges", Half the cars on Car Warriors would fail safety inspection, and all of them, with a few exceptions, are gaudy, brain dead excuses for a real car. And by real, I mean something that can go, stop, and turn like a factory car, or close to it, and can be driven day in and day out.

Contrast these shows with the guys on this board. They take a measured. well though out approach to bring back to live their cars. They ask questions, they take advice, and try to do it on a reasonable budget, while respecting other's efforts, and the cars that they are working on. On Car Warriors, because of the need to create drama, there are occasions where one team's member bothers the other team, along with the forced interpersonal conflicts within teams.

Kostas

 

[My imp]

As do I, but all shows are nothing more than 1/2 hour info mercials for Locktite, LS1, Edelcock, Holley, & the list goes on. Why do you think they put E's Performers, or Summits carb on near every motor? Advertising $$$. I'm waiting for an LS1 powered lawnmower next. An LS1 powered Superbird? Sacreligious! When I saw them build a stroker 400 Mope, I didn't know whether to sh*t or go blind! Finally! Serious Mopar power! Then 'Ole Vic goes & hamstrings it with a 6 bbl! Cool looking, but out of the box, a decent single 4bbl would clean its clock. I've never seen them use multi carbs on any other similar project. They talked about building that motor on the cheap, almost any budget. Not my budget. Maybe when I was working, but maybe not. They used to garbage pick Chevy parts & throw it on the dyno, now I feel like I'm watching a NASCAR race, " the Viagra, Preperation X, Trojan, Chevrolet was runnin reeeel guuud tuuuday". Nothing more than infomercials. I still watch Powerblock, even though I'm sick of seeing what they can cram an LS1 into. What's up with Musclecar? Lou Santiago was hands down the best guy they ever had on that show. While even he admittedly said he wasn't a body/paint guy, every other host combined couldn't match his skill sets (or level). Along with Rick Bacon, that wouldve been the best combo. Now Lou's & Stacy David's incessant cackling gets on my nerves, both have incredible amount of info crammed into a half hr. I believe Stacy actually does the work, because it seems to take him 5 yrs. to finish anything! lol horsepower usually gets 30 sec.'s. as soon as I hear LS1, I'm Netflix bound. If Mopar could get its head out of its ass & donate engines to these shows, or cooperate instead of suing the aftermarket, they'd be making a lot more $$$. Everyone knows you have to spend money to make money. What about 52 weeks of what they can cram a HEMI into!!!

 

[R/T Mirada]

Well its been a while since my last update. After getting the engine installed and all hooked up again.

I couldn't get it to crank over, after a few hours of checking everything I finally went home and reviewed my service manual and realised the wire to the starter relay on the firewall was off.
Now its cranking !, But I don't have spark, looking over manual again and using a test light on the connectors that I thought were to the old "Lean Burn" were actually the two connectors that needed conecting to power the solid state ignition.
Now I have spark (Yea!) but It is still not firing, thinking I had fuel soaked the plugs with all the cranking I had been doing, I let it sit over night.
The next day I tried again, spark but still no fire.
Finally got the 4bbl kick down linkage I needed and installed it

All the while I was wondering why I wasn't getting any oil pressure or any oil at all to my new mechanical oil PSI gauge.
Researching over night I learn all about Chrysler's legendary oil pump priming difficulties. Crap! now what?
Well, I tried cranking the crap out of it, No pressure,
Pulled the plugs out of it and attached a booster battery charger and spun the piss out of it, No dice!
Ordered the specific oil pump priming rod and waiting several days for it to be delivered and then tried to pull the intermediate shaft to access the oil pump, It wouldn't budge well that was a waste of time and money.
Even tried to pressure the crank case by shooting air into the engine thru the oil dipstick tube but the rings are so worn it didn't even come close to building pressure.
Tried to prime the oil pump through the oil pressure gauge sender hole, After 2 quarts of oil down the hole spinning the engine with the starter still no pressure! ARG!!!!!!&^%#%^&*^%$!!!!
While considering my oil pump woes I changrd the idler arm in the steering and the sway bar end links.
Time to drop the pan, DAMN!

while down there, replaced the oil pump with a new high volume one which by the way was identical to the existing pump but cleaner, packed the new unit with pertoleum jelly and got the pan back on just in time to clean up for the day.
Well the Hobby shop is closed sunday and monday and I have school all this week so I will probably have to wait till friday to see the fruits of my labor if there are any.

Oh Yea, I forgot mention the intermediate shaft for the oil pump, that would not come out, I had to use a hammer and punch to drive it up and out due to the varnish build up on the shaft. Maybe I can use that oil pump tool I paid for this time.

 

[NoCar340]

If you had to use a hammer & punch to remove the oil-pump shaft, you might have something wrong in there. That shaft shouldn't be that difficult to remove, regarldess of mileage.

The only difficulty, actually trick, to priming a Mopar V8 engine of which I'm aware is that it's a two-man operation. One guy runs the drill while the other slowly turns the engine over by hand using a large ratchet on the crank bolt. The Chrysler's cam oil ports are timed and have to be turning to get oil to the top end. You should've gotten oil moving while cranking with the starter, but it's not like you're going to see much, if any, reading at the gauge with the engine turning that slowly, particularly on a tired engine. Taking off a valve cover will let you know for sure; if there's oil on the rockers it's moving oil.

I had this problem with a big block once. It turned out the machinist had left an NPT cam galley plug out... the main one. The drill would spin and spin, but never drag down. The pump was primed, but the oil was just draining back into the pan behind the timing cover. It took me the better part of a very-cold day to find the problem. You didn't get that far into the engine, so I highly doubt you've got a similar issue.

 

[Mr.Lopar]

If you had to use a hammer & punch to remove the oil-pump shaft, you might have something wrong in there. That shaft shouldn't be that difficult to remove, regarldess of mileage.

The only difficulty, actually trick, to priming a Mopar V8 engine of which I'm aware is that it's a two-man operation. One guy runs the drill while the other slowly turns the engine over by hand using a large ratchet on the crank bolt. The Chrysler's cam oil ports are timed and have to be turning to get oil to the top end. You should've gotten oil moving while cranking with the starter, but it's not like you're going to see much, if any, reading at the gauge with the engine turning that slowly, particularly on a tired engine. Taking off a valve cover will let you know for sure; if there's oil on the rockers it's moving oil.

I had this problem with a big block once. It turned out the machinist had left an NPT cam galley plug out... the main one. The drill would spin and spin, but never drag down. The pump was primed, but the oil was just draining back into the pan behind the timing cover. It took me the better part of a very-cold day to find the problem. You didn't get that far into the engine, so I highly doubt you've got a similar issue.

my dad had this same problem with the 340 he has in his challenger. he originally put it in his 5th avenue, fired it up and didn't build up pressure, as soon as he saw that he pulled it out and gave it back to his friend (they did a trade) and he brought it back to the machine shop to get the plug installed. now that 340 is in my dads challenger and has seen a lot of Rs

 

[R/T Mirada]

The engine has yet to fire since reinstallation. I believe that the absence of oil pressure has caused the hydraulic lifters to pump down preventing its firing off and since I have yet to get any oil to even leak out the oil sender hole so far Leads me to believe the pump isn't pumping.

The whole engine inside and out was crud covered with coked oil and varnish, Check out inside of valve cover

The engine ran reasonable well for as tired as it is, so I am hoping it was just crud holding it in place.

I polished it up by chucking it in a drill and spinning it while using scitchbrite to shine it up

Anyways I am hoping this engine will hold out for a few years till I can get my garage built, then I will redo the 94 5.2l magnum motor ans A-518 OD trans I have stashed away

and this whole current thing started just because I wanted to change out my trashed transmission.

 

[NoCar340]

The lifters not being pumped up will not keep the engine from firing. They will still lift the valves. The engine will run without an oil pump installed, in fact. Just not for very long.