72 Rallye Project

[YellowThumper]

Looks great and I agree when in doubt align it yourself.

[PatO]

Thank you - I've increasingly been giving more thought to doing my own alignment.

Summit Racing has an alignment kit; Supposedly can do camber, castor and toe.  I'd welcome some suggestions.

[RUNCHARGER]

This is what I use with ceramic tiles under the tires for plates. It seems to work quite well.

https://www.manciniracing.com/facacaga.html

[nsmall]

Dude, your car looks amazing.  I absolutely love the stance.  How about posting like 30 pictures so we can really see what an outstanding job you did?

[PatO]

@RUNCHARGER  Thanx for that tip    I think I'm going to get that setup and then maybe the toe plate extensions.  Much appreciated.

@nsmall    Complements are always welcome, thank you.  I'm going to try to get some pics with my regular camera and not the cell phone and then post some more.

I did do the strobe stripes on this car ,  in matte black.  Picture below.

I'm wanting to do a custom hood blackout also. A bit of a strobe effect like the sides and maybe incorporating some lettering.  Haven't decided yet, but have some ideas to work on during the winter months.

I also have the wheel well moldings that are in pretty good shape.  trying do decide if I want to put those on or not. I may polish them up and tape them on for a look see.  Does anyone know how to tell the re-pops from original. Mine seem fairly sturdy and there are still those small rectangular paper sticker on them but the lettering has faded0

[nsmall]

Your paint looks killer, I say pass on the moldings if they were not already mocked up before paint.  Looks like you already have a nice assortment of chrome/moldings in my opinion.

[YellowThumper]

Agree with leaving off the moldings. You are already far enough away from "stock".

[RUNCHARGER]

I agree: Quite a bit of flash there with the wheels, it is just fine without the WOM I think.

[PatO]

Thank you for the input on the moldings.  Obviously I like chrome.   I was looking at it again last night  and my sense was that the wheel well moldings would add "clutter" to the side of the car. A bit more than I would like. That and add another area for dirt and moisture to collect.

Thanx for the reply's 

[RUNCHARGER]

It's looking nice. I would stick with the stock body coloured gas cap as well. The colour really looks good on it.

[Dynamo]

Thanks for posting the pics & it's looking great. The photo of the rear finish argent silver area confirmed my thoughts of the correct parameters to be painted. My 72 will done the same way but still working on how to get the correct texture is what I can't figure out. any help would be great. in the photo of the right rear wheel well I see a single fuel line & should be a second line to the vapor canister. If you are not using the canister what type of gas tank vent will be used? Thanks

[PatO]

@Dynamo   On the rear tail I used Totally Auto's touch up sprays - Dark Argent.  46 years ago, my first 72 Challenger had the light argent tail panel finish.  To me the texture seems pretty decent. I don't have anything to compare it to but I was pleased with it.  Just take your time, light coats to avoid runs. I sprayed mine multiple times over a 2 day period.

Your right, I don't have a vapor return line.  The line was there when I bought the car but no canister and what not up front.  I just refurbished the separator at the front of the tank, bought a small fuel filter, capped 1 end, drilled a couple of small holes in it's side and connected the top hose from the separator to the macgivered fuel filter and mounted it up above the tank.  See pic:

[PatO]

Well, back again.  Continuing to work on small things on the car . . . . .  when I have time.    Early on after I had the engine running, I would find a couple of small oil spots right under the dust cover on the front of the transmission. I'd wipe them up and keep on about my business but wondering what it was.  It had been almost a year between the engine being completed and it's first start, so I  was thinking maybe a seal had dried a bit, as in the rear main. After a few drives around the neighbor hood, the leak got worse.

Over the course of a couple of months, I took off the starter and transmission dust cover about 3 times to inspect.       The oil was only running down the front of the dust cover, right behind the pan seal.  The inside of the transmission was dry and as much as I looked I could see no oil up higher. Each time I cleaned up the oil at the rear pan seal and the dust cover.   

Afterwords, after driving the car, I would check underneath and the garage floor would be clean, but about 2 days later there was that dang spot again.    I checked the top back of the engine multiple times looking for a leak from the oil sender or the rear of the intake. Nothing!

Well over a couple of days, last week I put about 15 miles on the car.  The next day, I had an oil spot about 2 inches across, and then I spotted a smaller oil spot a few inches in front of the first and a bit to the left.  OK now what??

Jacked the car up completely all the way around and started to look closely,  Oil on the front of the transmission dust cover as usual, oil from one of the pan bolts by the starter, oil on the bottom of the fuel pump, oil on the bolt flanges for the motor mounts.       What was making this hard to see was my engines is freshly built, new paint and not dirt at all on it to help me identify the path.

Taking my cue from other postings on this site I went and bought some dye and an ultraviolet flashlight.  I cleaned up the engine as best as I could with soapy water/rags and paper towels.  I added the dye per the instructions and went for another short drive. Using the flash light I believe I found my problem.  Below are a few pictures of the front of the engine. Two pictures are of the left front (drivers side) and on picture is of the right front.

[PatO]

The oil is actually originating at the 'v' where each corner of the intake manifold meets the top of the block and the head.  I wasn't able to show that with my cell phone camera.  Any how, the left front is the worst side of the two.  What was so interesting to me was after I jacked up the car on stands for the umpteenth time, by using the ultraviolet dye and flashlight I could trace the path of the oil. On the right side, I could follow down the front of the engine to the top of the oil pan, the oil tracked all the way back, along the seam/oil pan gasket back to the dust cover. I could see where it ran across the back of the oil pan, intercepted the rear pan seal and then trailed to the low spot in the center and then down the face of the dust cover.  On the left side, it does the same thing, only it doesn't make it all the way back, it rolls off the pan seam/gasket and dripped off the oil pan bolt.

The leak at the back of the engine - originated at top front of the engine.  Go figure!

[PatO]

I'm going to pull the intake in the next week or so.  Is there a consensus on a good sealant that I can use on the ends of the intake manifold instead of the regular gasket?

thank you!