Lookie what $5000 buys you....

[Kern Dog]

A lot of the work and parts have been done with low cost in mind. I'm not a cheap *** but I do enjoy looking for ways to "repurpose" parts where I can. Some things you have to get new because it makes no sense to use a used part. Gaskets, crusty wiring, fluids, brake lines and other obvious things.
I have sold parts to fund this project from the start. There is a small part of this car that was actually paid for from my savings. I parted out cars and sold off some of my 64-66 Valiant parts stash to fund this project. I sold a 65 Valiant Convertible for $2000, the buyer still owes me half of that. In the last 18 months, I've sold a few 8 3/4" axles, a 340, 383 and 440 engine, small parts through online forums and in total..... I have just under $7500 in this car with about $1800 of it being from my own account.
In the late 90s, I made a couple of video movies using my family and friends. The plot centered around me being an amateur Bounty Hunter driving a 73 Duster. I drove it much like the Duke Boy's General Lee. Dirt roads, paved roads, through shallow creeks and tall grass. It was THE most fun that I have ever had in my life aside from with women.
My red car is too nice to drive off road throwing rocks everywhere. It isn't a dedicated show car....It is a great street performer that looks nice but I find myself restrained in how I drive and enjoy it. There lies the trouble with restoring a classic. You spend so much time making it nice, it prevents you from driving it without worry.

 

[Kern Dog]

Chipping away at the wiring and lights.
The right headlights lit up along with the center bulbs in the taillights.
I connected a few terminals and....

There was no lamp in the right side of the valance until.....

I went out to the shed and found 2 headlights and the mounting rings and screws.

SCORE ! The left front side marker isn't lighting up. I changed the bulb. I'll check to see if the terminals have power.

I soldered in 2 good used taillight bulb sockets and was able to get the middle and outer bulbs to work.

The inner bulbs are single filament 1156s, right? The right side was really bright and caused the middle and outer rh bulbs to dim down. I just pulled the 1156 bulb and let the inner edge stay dark.

The rear side markers have corroded sockets. I have them soaking in Evaporust.

The headlight door motor doesn't open but I may not have tried the headlights with the key ON. The lights come on with or without the key on but the door motor is on the accessory circuit.
There is a headlight door relay behind the gauge panel. I've heard of guys using newer, modern relays instead of the factory one:

Wait....Is that for the headlights or for the headlight door motor?

 

[Kern Dog]

Today's efforts cost me nothing.
I just love being able to get stuff going with parts that I have stowed away!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Chipping away at the wiring and lights.
The right headlights lit up along with the center bulbs in the taillights.
I connected a few terminals and....

View attachment 1017381 View attachment 1017382

There was no lamp in the right side of the valance until.....

View attachment 1017383 View attachment 1017384
I went out to the shed and found 2 headlights and the mounting rings and screws.

View attachment 1017384
SCORE ! The left front side marker isn't lighting up. I changed the bulb. I'll check to see if the terminals have power.

I soldered in 2 good used taillight bulb sockets and was able to get the middle and outer bulbs to work.

View attachment 1017385

The inner bulbs are single filament 1156s, right? The right side was really bright and caused the middle and outer rh bulbs to dim down. I just pulled the 1156 bulb and let the inner edge stay dark.

The rear side markers have corroded sockets. I have them soaking in Evaporust.

The headlight door motor doesn't open but I may not have tried the headlights with the key ON. The lights come on with or without the key on but the door motor is on the accessory circuit.
There is a headlight door relay behind the gauge panel. I've heard of guys using newer, modern relays instead of the factory one:

View attachment 1017386
View attachment 1017387

Wait....Is that for the headlights or for the headlight door motor?

Your schematic appears to be for the motor.... If it is correct the motor has an internal ground, it does not reverse power & ground... And the motor must have internal travel stops that turn the motor off...

If that is all true then you could temporarily just jump power from the battery to the motor to open & close the headlight doors to prove the motor is good....

 

[Kern Dog]

Thank you. I know many of the things that I ask about....They are just locked away behind memories of chicks and construction jobs that I liked!

 

[Kern Dog]

I did jump the wires and the existing motor would not activate. I could open and close with the knob so it isn't locked up inside.
I looked into my stash and found 5 headlight door motors. 2 of them tested good so I installed one of them.
I may need to mess with the internal stops. It won't open the doors until I turn the knob to take up the slack where the doors start to open. It closes the doors just fine though. Maybe the other good one would work as is. I may look into having one rebuilt. I need a 3 speed wiper motor too.

 

[Kern Dog]

The speedometer cable is in, the wiring is sorted and soon, my camshaft should be here. I made a deal with a FBBO member for a good used Mopar Performance 280/474. I know that there is no "perfect cam" for any engine but I liked this one when I ran it in my first 440 back in 2001. This cam comes with the original lifters in the original position. Lately, it seems that every flat tappet hydraulic cam is a gamble. As strange as it may be, I feel more comfortable with a 15 year old cam and lifters that have already been broken in than something new.
I don't expect the 383 to be the only engine that I'd use in this car. I am thinking that I just want to get the car up and running and have some fun with it. I probably should get off of my *** and get it registered and insured so when it does run, I can drive it legally!

 

[biomedtechguy]

The wire plug for the panel dimmer had some ugly on the terminals. Can that be enough to stop the dash lights from working?

Probably.
The dimmer wheel is a big problem area.

 

[Kern Dog]

I have a spare dimmer in the stash. It turns well and looks better than the one that I used. Maybe I'll soak the terminals in Evaporust and see if the spare dimmer makes the difference.

 

[CoronetDarter]

A lot of current passing through the dimmer switch. I've rebuilt the Coronet switch twice - once during the resto and again several months later because the connector wasn't fully plugged into the back of the switch and fried the switch. Devin Duke rebuilt the switch the 2nd time and per his instructions I jumpered the terminals with a fused wire and by-passed the switch. The dash is LED's anyway and don't dim the same as OEM so I don't miss it.

 

[Kern Dog]

Good idea. I would run them wide open for brightness anyway.
The switch in my Red car is just for show since I replaced the stock gauges with an aftermarket set with an external dimmer.

 

[Kern Dog]

I had a case of Sticker shock when I checked the price of the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake....Summit Racing had it listed for a butt slamming $354 ! I know the B series stuff can cost a little more due to more people building RB series engines but holeeeee crap!
I was expecting it to be around $250. I had figured to also buy a Firecore electronic distributor too, that is another $170 give or take.
In keeping with my penny pinching, money stretching ways, I looked around and found an electronic B series distributor in my parts stash.
It was missing the reluctor wheel but was otherwise complete.
This engine will not have a really wild cam but it is bigger than stock. Even the stock engines had more pep with more initial advance than the stock specs but doing so always puts the total advance beyond the range of safe operation.
Knowing that the stock Mopar distributors have approximately 26-28 degrees of mechanical advance in them, the old school trick is to modify the distributor to allow for less advance. I've only done this once before so it took me a little bit to get this one done.
First up, disassembly.

 

[Kern Dog]

This one was a little dusty.

A few seconds with a wire wheel.....

The top part requires some finesse to get the wire snap ring out.

Those didn't work, I ended up using 2 small screwdrivers.

 

[Kern Dog]

The rectangle shaped slots measured .047.

When assembled, the amount of travel the weights can move is .023.

This tells me that in .023 of travel, there is approx 26-28 degrees of mechanical advance. I have heard that most iron head big blocks seem to make the most power around 34 degrees total advance. Since I want to have around 18 degrees of initial advance at idle, that means I need about half of a stock setup so I closed up that .023.

Doing the math, I closed up the slots by about .010".

 

[Kern Dog]

The goal is to end up at 18-19 degrees of initial advance and top out at 34 degrees. I'm going to be at 9.2 to 1 compression so 91 Octane should be sufficient. If the changes here don't provide enough advance, I can file the slots open a little more.

The advance at idle:

The advance topped out:

 

[Kern Dog]

Since starting new engines is risky, I have started testing for spark before starting up a new engine. For my last 2 Cam swaps in Ginger,
I used solid lifter cams and Howards EDM lifters that oil directly to the lobe. The cam for this engine is a common hydraulic flat tappet.
To test for spark, I took the MP electronic ignition instructions.....

Rigged up the new MSD coil and the recurved distributor....

One plug wire had a spark plug at the end of it, just hanging...

I turned the ignition key on and walked around and spun the distributor shaft. I have S-P-A-R-K !!

This FREE distributor is a great score. Now I don't feel so bad spending the money on that Intake!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Next time weld the inside of the slots... It'll put a slight amount more tension on the springs which slightly delays the point where the advance starts, so instead of advancing at around 900 rpms the advance doesn't start to come it till 1000 rpms... It reduces the likelihood of the idle doing goofy stuff..

Oh, I believe it's Crower that sells hydraulic lifters that lube the face of the cam... Extra protection..

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Crower Camsaver lifters..

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cro-66031x3-16

 

[Kern Dog]

I just checked that out. I can't see a hole in the bottom of the lifters in the picture.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I just checked that out. I can't see a hole in the bottom of the lifters in the picture.

There isn't one.. What there is is a very slight flat area machined down the side of the lifter from the oil ring to the base....

On a hydraulic a hole through the bottom would cause the oil to bleed out & the plunger would collapse causing the lifters to rattle at every startup & you know a few wouldn't quiet ever down...

I've been running these for three years now, never had any noise, the cam survived initial break-in well & I've spun it up to 6500+ on many occasions...