What did you do with your ebody/Mopar today?

[jimynick]

An update on the endless misery of trying to get my stroker running- right. After Nick and I took it out to see if the oil baffle was the culprit, again after a few miles it started to blow smoke! OMG, is there no mercy? We took it home and later Nick called to say that he and a friend had experienced some intake sealing issues that allowed the engine to inhale lifter valley oil causing smoke. Since we'd also discovered that the Right Stuff maybe wasn't, at least in my case, since both china walls seemed to have seepage. Today I pulled the intake, again, and may have found the culprit WAS the intake gaskets not sealing correctly as they were both oily at their bottom edges. Buy stock in Fel-Pro boys, because I seem to be singlehandedly supporting them with my continued $60 intake gasket consumption program.     Amazon is on the job and in a couple of days I'll have another opportunity to screw it up- again. Looks like the hot rod tour is going into the ozone, but if I can cure this recalcitrant old SOB I'll still be happy. 

[ec_co]

Front end coming along. Rebuilt lowers,
rebuilt uppers with offsets, torsion boots, disc kit - about 70% done

[cuda hunter]

I had my lower radiator hose blow off while driving around town. 
After putting a ring on the aluminum radiator outlet and double clamping the outlet to make sure it can't slip off I was double checking everything and noticed that my electric fan was not coming on with the switch on my shifter as it should.  Track car, designed to turn the fan off for the run down the 1/4 mile.  Seems that there is a relay that is not working.  Of course the relay is from jegs from 10 or 15 years ago and is no longer available.  I've found relays that I believe will work but don't have any corresponding part numbers on them.  They do have the correct amp's for the 5 plugs so I'm gonna shoot in the dark and order a few (3 pack on amazon).  Oreilley's actually have a few that should work but will take a couple days, same as amazon.
  Hopefully I can get the fan running as I don't want to run it down the road without a fan again. 

[soundcontrol]

For the first time I got all my 5 cars in the same place, my messy garage. Still working on it. Some year soon I will have time to start working on the actual cars again. At least I can drive the Hellcat and the Barracuda. Panoramic picture, looks a bit weird.

[jimynick]

Doesn't look weird at all and I'm a nice Kelly green with envy! Good on you! 

[jimynick]

Took my apparently too wide intake over to our friend the machinist Harold, and he said he'd trim it 30 thou on each head surface, which hopefully will give the intake gaskets a fighting chance to seal and hopefully cure my smoking issue. Please God!

[jimynick]

Son Nick picked up the now narrower intake and after yet another round of cleaning and de-greasing we got out the old Right Stuff and I sure hope 3 times is the charm. The bolt holes aligned better and my fingers are crossed! While the intake was still off, we ran the valves one more time and I hope that's the last time. I know the sealant says you can use it and run the vehicle right off the bat, but I'm going to give it overnight regardless. Nick and I reassembled the engine - again and he made a funny comment that it seemed that we like a race team; to which I said "not F'n likely" as we'd be Johnny-come-lately for sure. It figured that I wouldn't get the engine together until the last day of the Ontario Hot Rod tour and I hope the other good folks had a great time. God willing- next year. It'll be hard to sleep with my fingers crossed and I hope tomorrow works out well! 

[YellowThumper]

After A rollercoaster ride this past week, the "today" statement is I did nothing with car today.
1 week ago I had a semi-reasonable tune. Car ran well overall but would not idle below 1300.
Mid last week, I made some simple adjustments and all hell broke loose and it would not run. Would only start with floored pedal for a few seconds. Reset tune back to before adjustments, but it remained worthless.
Stuck at the bottom of a sloped driveway, it took 20 to 30 creative startings, wheel chocks and emergency brake to walk it into garage at about 1 foot distance per cycle.
2 days later I loaded an even older tune and it fired up as before.
OK but not proper and still no idle below 1300 rpm.
This last weekend I "found" another setting that is supposed to improve idle by smoothing out the air/fuel ratios. It's trigger level to turn on was the same 1300 I was stuck on.
Turned that "help" off and poof, I was able to drop to a consistent 900 rpm idle.
Saved this tune to keep as the current benchmark.
Sunday I took it out for around a 60 mile round trip. All went well.
Went from kinda okay to wholly sh.. failure to I have reached a zen space all in a single week.
With this current win, regardless of any further improvements, I have reached the "it is good enough" stage to embark on the Big Bear mountain car show in August.
Will put more miles to confirm all remains proper, but as of today I am in my happy place.

[jimynick]

It must be the season, as per Yellow Thumper. I got the old gal out of the garage and washed it to get the 1/8' of shite off it. Then I took it out for a run. I'm liking the 2 turnover starts but it sounded today like the new mini starter isn't disengaging well and it took 3-4 attempts to get it going without the starter hanging on. Jesus! Once I got it running without the starter engaged, it seemed to run well. I'm still a bit paranoid about smoking and leaks, but, touch wooden head, it seems to be pretty much back to normal. The non-normal part is when you step on the loud pedal and it spins the tires! I'm not used to that with the old, tired (like it's owner) motor, and that and the new idle are putting a smile on my face, despite the dough it took to get here. I might (with CAA card in pocket) take it up to my old home town to meet friends for lunch- if it doesn't rain that is. Wish me luck! 

[blown motor]

J @jimynick Glad to hear some positive things. Will that starter release better as it gets worn in a bit?

[jimynick]

One can only hope Murray. It only did it once today, as I took the old gal on a 160+ mile run up to my home town for lunch with old mates. She seemed to run pretty good and the smoking seems to've stopped. Thank God! Now to track down and solve some other petty issues. It never stops, does it? 

[dodj]

It never stops, does it? 

Sometimes you get lulled into a feeling that everything is fixed and running great......

[jimynick]

Murray and Doug and respective spouses all drove our Challengers to Elmira to Rural Roots brewery for a couple of pints this afternoon. It looked like a Mopar dealers yard back in the day with three of our similar cars in a row. The starter played up again and R&Ring it might be in the future. The piss off is that it's brand new, never before used! Grrr

[Jay Bee]

The starter played up again and R&Ring it might be in the future. The piss off is that it's brand new, never before used!

Ian, FWIW, I briefly used a brand new mini starter (bought from local Carquest) that would not properly engage with the ring gear every time when starting the car. You know that metal on metal grinding noise when two gears don't align and are trying to mesh. I replaced it with a rebuilt big block OEM one (thanks Murray) and no more issues since 2022.   

[ec_co]

I needed a breather cap for the a833. more sound deadening installed. Finally heard from the machine shop, engine will have to go .020 over