Tav 1970 Road Runner RM23N0G217270

[cataclysm80]

I've had a few requests for pics of my current project, but it's not an E body.
RM23N0G217270

In the mid 1990's, a friend had several old cars parked out behind his place.  This 1970 Road Runner was one of them.  There was a variety of vehicles there, some 1950's Ford cars, a 1948 Chevy half ton pickup, I think a 60's Ford Falcon, and my friends toy which was a 1969 Buick Special, among other vehicles that I don't remember.

In 1998, I was looking for a vehicle to build, and checked with my friend to see if he had anything available.  The best candidate that he could let go of was the 1948 Chevy half ton pickup.  It was still original with it's babbitt bearing inline 6 cylinder engine and enclosed driveshaft.  I figured I could drop a Chevy 350 crate engine into it and turn it into a daily driver.  He knew another guy that had a bunch of old vehicles out behind his workshop though, so we went to see if anything was available over there.  That guy had a 1970 Challenger available, and he wanted it gone because he was moving his business and couldn't take all the cars with him.  I ended up bringing the Challenger home.
For more info on the Challenger, check out this thread.  https://forum.e-bodies.org/your-restoration-project/10/tav-1970-challenger/704/

After having the Challenger for about a year and learning about Mopars, This 1970 Road Runner parked out behind my friends place started to catch my eye.  Like most cars that sit out in a field, it was in rough shape. It was missing the drivers window, and years of rain and snow had rotted some pretty big holes in the floor, but the air grabber hood had a 440 emblem between the hood mounted turn signals, and I figured anything could be fixed if you worked at it hard enough.  There was a big block engine under the hood, and more parts inside the trunk (which was also rusted through).
I asked my friend about it, and he said that it wasn't available, he was just holding on to it for someone.  He'd known the car for a long time, and it belonged to the same guy that had owned my Challenger.  The Road Runner was special to the owner though because he'd had it since he was 18, and there was no way he'd want to let go of it.  Doing the math, I'd guess he'd probably had it since the mid to late 1970's, but it had been sitting here for years.  Being young, the owner had ran it hard.  My friend told me that he'd helped the guy swap engines in a barn when the original engine blew.  The 440 with auto trans and the air grabber hood had come off a copper colored 1970 GTX.  This auto trans had a B&M racing shifter awkwardly sticking through the manual transmission shifter hole.  The car was originally a Plum Crazy 383 four speed manual trans Road Runner with white interior.  He said the original engine was probably still sitting in the barn where they'd left it all those years ago.  He'd have to check sometime.  It would need rebuilt of course.
The Road Runner wasn't going anywhere, but I found a 1970 'Cuda and brought that home.

Moving ahead to the fall of 2004.  I had loaned some money to my friend, and the owner of the Road Runner also owed my friend some money, so to make everything even, I ended up with the Road Runner.  He said come and get it, so I went and got it.  Unfortunately, the original 383 engine was nowhere to be found.
I was having fun building the 70 'Cuda (maybe I'll make a post about that later), and I was pretty clearly an E body guy by that point, but the Road Runner seemed like an OK thing to have, so I parked it in the yard thinking that I'd eventually either build it or sell it.
After getting it home, I checked the engine numbers to see what I really had, and it turned out to be a 400 cubic inch engine.  It looks like that GTX already had an engine swap before the boys got to it. 

Here's some pics from November 2004 when I brought it home.

[Brads70]

 Your killing me here..... one of my top 5 favorites ! 

[fc7cuda]

 

I'm 70 RR fan too.  Never owned owned one, but hope to someday.

Go on Paul Harvey...

[76orangewagon]

definitely one of my favorite Mopar's also.

[cataclysm80]

July 2005

My neighbor down the road has a 1973 Challenger.  It was his first car, and he's had it forever.  His dad bought it for him.  He doesn't have a very high opinion of the car, but he keeps it for sentimental reasons.  It's basically rotting into the ground.  He's not very interested in ever fixing it, but he also refuses to sell it.   
He was having some problems with code enforcement for having to much junk in his yard.  Knowing that I was playing with old Mopars, he came to tell me that he had 340 engine with a 727 trans attached (not from his car), and it was headed to the scrap yard unless I wanted it.  I went right over and hauled it home.  I wanted the small block 727 for my Challenger, and figured it wouldn't hurt to have a spare 340 laying around since it was free.  Out of curiosity, I decoded the numbers to see what it was out of.  I don't recall exactly at the moment, but I think the engine & trans matched each other and were out of a 1971 vehicle.

Not long afterward, I received a phone call from another old friend who is an engine builder.  He was looking for a 340 block, and was having trouble finding one to build.  I happened to have the one my neighbor gave me, and he asked me what I wanted for it.  Well, I have this 70 Road Runner here, and I guess it's going to need an engine at some point.  It's originally a 383 car.  He had some 383 blocks that were buildable.  He said he'd pick one out, build it to stock 383 Magnum specifications for me, and swap straight across if I'd drive the 340 block up to him (Florida to Kansas, so it was quite a drive).  DEAL!
His shop helper painted it Chevy orange instead of Mopar orange though.      Oh well, I can repaint it.

On the way home, I stopped by a Mopar junkyard and bought a 1970 aluminum bellhousing and a 4 speed manual transmission to go with it.  Seemed like good things to round up into a pile.

After arriving home, I checked all the numbers on the new engine & trans.  By some amazing coincidence, both were from 1970 cars built in St. Louis, just like my Road Runner.    Judging by the VINs, they must have both been built several months before my Road Runner, but I figured that's about as close as I could possibly get to having the right stuff for the car.

[cataclysm80]

September 2006

Like I said, I'm an E body guy.  This B body is just going to sit around for a while.

[anlauto]

I'm an E Body guy and this sits in my shop today....

[cataclysm80]

December 2007

Time to move the Road Runner off the grass and into a different part of the yard with gravel.
I mounted some old tires onto a set of Crager unilug wheels that I had laying around.  I needed something that would hold air for at least half an hour or so, and the car would look better with matching wheels.
Man these lug nuts are really stuck.   OH, they're still the original left hand threaded lugs. 
While I've got it jacked up, is the Sure Grip unit any good.   No, it's not.

I did manage to get it moved over to the other part of the yard.
I also managed to round up an air grabber dash switch & vacuum canister since they didn't install any of that during the hood swap.
I traded the 440 Air Grabber air cleaner stuff for 383 Air Grabber air cleaner stuff.
I got a factory tinted drivers window out of a junkyard to replace the one I was missing.
Hardtop (23) door glass is different than Coupe (21) door glass.  Something to do with the B pillar I suppose.
I had a factory Go-Wing leftover from my 'Cuda build, and checked the Road Runner trunk lid to see if it had spoiler cutouts.   Yep, the Go-Wing was optional on Road Runners built after Jan 1st 1970.  This car was built in April, so the trunk lid was ready.  I ordered a pair of reproduction spoiler brackets, and set the Go-Wing in the back seat with the other new parts.

Still not quite sure if I was ever going to actually build this car, but it made sense to round up all the parts because whoever did build it would want them.

[cataclysm80]

February 2013

Did I mention that I'm an E body guy?   Still sitting...
It had been over 5 years since I even took a picture of the car.
In the meantime, I got married, bought a house or three, etc. etc...

[cataclysm80]

August 2013

Ok, the Road Runner has gotten really dirty from never washing it.  This is what 9 years without a bath looks like.
I really should do something with this soon.  Maybe I should sell it?

[cataclysm80]

March 2015

Ok, it's finally time to do something with this Road Runner.
I aired up the tires, loaded it up on a trailer, hauled it to a local car show to put the word out, and parked it by the highway with "For Sale" written on the windshield.
I also cleaned up the engine and applied the Mopar orange paint.  (That's my 70 'Cuda in the photo with the engine.)
It was for sale for a few weeks.  Some people stopped by, but no serious offers, just a guy who wanted to take it off my hands for dirt cheap so that he could rat rod it.

It had been a few years since I spent much time working on cars, and this was kind of fun.  I had some money in the bank and an empty space in the garage.  I decided to build the car and keep it.  I don't like selling cars, it's more fun to keep them.
I removed the Air Grabber hood, and pulled the 400 engine with 727 trans.

About a week later, someone came by who was seriously interested.  He has a Lemon Twist 1970 GTX with a 440 four barrel.  He's had it since the early 70's.  He's the second owner, but it's a northern car and really rusted out bad.  It's rusted enough that the body is sagging and holding the doors closed.  He wants to find a good body to fix his car with.  To late, I'm keeping this one.  He gave me his contact info in case I changed my mind.  I visit with him occasionally.  He's getting pretty old, I hope he can build his car someday.

[cataclysm80]

August 2015

Project Analysis.  This car was rusty when I got it, and sitting around all those years didn't help it any. 
It had the typical B body rust at the lower corners of the rear window, and that rusted out the trunk floor.  Need new package tray, all the window corner pieces, lower rear window channel, filler panel, trunk floor, and rear crossmember.
The trunk lid itself was also pretty rusty at the rear lip.  This is a one year only Plymouth B body trunk lid, and they're getting sort of hard to find.  There was also a mid year change for the spoiler cut outs, so when you do find one, there's about a 40/60 chance it's the wrong one.  Luckily, I knew where to find one, but it was 5 states away.  I drove to get it.  It was dented pretty good, but repairable, and it wasn't rusty at all.  This is a part that they need to start making reproductions of.
It had the typical lower quarter panel rust.  Need new quarter panels, outer wheel wells, and trunk extensions for both sides.
It had the floor rusted through from not having a window all those years.  Need new full floor & driver's rear seat footwell.
The battery tray was rusted.  Need one of those.
The bottom of the Air Grabber hood had also gotten pretty rusty, so I ordered a new one of those also.  Even though the Air Grabber isn't original to the car, it's an option I want to keep.

There was also some metal that needed replaced due to a previous accident.  The car had been hit behind the drivers wheel.  (or maybe it slid sideways into a pole or something?)  The damage had been "repaired" back in the day, but there was still some hidden damage that needed fixed.  I knew the car had some damage in this area when I got it, but wasn't aware of how extensive the damage was until the car was disassembled.  The drivers front frame rail was bent.  The drivers rocker panel had been pushed in also, enough to slightly bend the torsion bar crossmember.  The driver's kick panel sheet metal had been crunched in front of the door hinges, and that also crunched that end of the firewall.  The upper cowl was also damaged.  The driver's inner fender had some issues too.
I ordered all of that from AMD, and a passenger inner fender also.

The K frame was tweaked a bit when the frame rail was bent, so I was hunting for a K frame.
The doors had some repairable rust in the corners, but they also had large tears in the jamb around the latch mechanism.  It could probably be fixed, but would be more cost effective to replace them, so I was looking for a good pair of doors. 
The car fenders were ok.  The driver's side just needed some minor work.  (I'm sure it was replaced during the accident.)

The car did originally have a front sway bar, but it didn't have any torque boxes or factory frame stiffening. 
The plan is to build a very nice car, but it won't be a trailer queen.  This car will be driven on the street and enjoyed, so I wanted some suspension improvements.
   
I ordered the four factory style torque boxes, all the leaf spring mount reinforcements, and the pinion snubber reinforcement from Resto Rick and Harms Automotive.  If you haven't heard of these individuals, you should look them up.  I highly recommend both of them.  These reinforcements were all part of the factory Extra Heavy Duty Suspension (Hemi Suspension) that was standard on Hemi & 440-6 cars. 
I also ordered a lower radiator support reinforcement from XV engineering, to tie the front of the front frame rails together better.  I've enjoyed every part that I've purchased from XV.  For this car, I prefer the design of the XV piece over the US Car Tools part.  The XV lower radiator support looks more like a factory frame rail, while the US Car Tools part is full of lightening holes and looks more like it belongs on a race car.  I'm sure they both function fine, but I wanted a less radical more factory look.  Something that people might not even notice.

[Cuda Cody]

    

[cataclysm80]

October 2015

The new metal has arrived.  Time to get to work!
Removing the rear window revealed some additional rust at the top and sides of the window opening.  Luckily it was repairable.

The cars in the background are a 70 440-6 black on black Road Runner and a 71 440-6 red Road Runner.

[1 Wild R/T]

I'm waiting patiently to see were your at....  Aug 2015 was a couple years ago, you might be driving it by now...... 

Helped build this one 15+ years ago....