My 1970 Super Bee 383 A31 car

[71RRHI]

Vin stamped on bottom passenger side just above the oil pan.

 

[davek]

should be numbers next to the oil pan.

 

[DeltaV]

There is no idle stop solenoid.

Hit 95 on the HWY 20 bypass just now. No problems. Fixed the fuel leaks and idle problems. Incremental improvements seem to be making a big difference so that's great.

Local speed shop guy is trying to say rebuilding the original block isn't worth it to achieve a numbers matching car because they deck the numbers. I think he's wrong. Aren't they on the passenger side on the side of the motor?

There is a pad on deck towards the front and near the distributor.

Pictured below is mine with the following stamped into the pad:

F 383
5 13
HP

My original engine is a "383"
I'll assume the proceeding "F" is because my Charger was built during the 1970 model year.


"5 13" looks like a date like May 13th.
Note: My Scheduled Production Date was 523...as in May 23.

HP designates high performance ...Magnum in our Mopar parlance.

My Charger has 77k miles on it. Maybe it doesn't need decking? Maybe it does? Maybe it's within normal production tolerances? Only my machinist (when I have one) will know and I'm not turning it into a race motor.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over the loss of these pad stampings if the block needs decking for some good reason. I'll have plenty of better pictures for documentation...someone always asks.

 

[DynaBro]

There is a pad on deck towards the front.

Right but it's not the ONLY way to verify the numbers, right?

 

[DeltaV]

Right but it's not the ONLY way to verify the numbers, right?

Correct. What's important, especially for those concerned about "numbers matching", is the partial VIN stamped on the pad above the oil pan.

 

[DeltaV]

My 70 charger PB drums had very little loops in the lines

View attachment 1726932

Ok, I have 11" manual drums. My MC and lines. Never been touched after leaving the factory as far as I can tell.

 

[DynaBro]

Ok, I have 11" manual drums. My MC and lines. Never been touched after leaving the factory as far as I can tell.

View attachment 1727070View attachment 1727071

Still makes more sense than my mess!

 

[DynaBro]

Day 2: Me, mechanic.

Neutral safety switch wire snapped at the 23rd hour. Meaning I had to catch a plane shortly after and was stranded an hour outside of town and still had to store the car. Of course I didn't know such a thing existed. Or what it was called. Solved it using only a phone light and a lockblade. Figured whatever it was it either went hot or ground. Had to battle the grommet through the fire wall and then grounded it to the mount for the wiper fluid lines because that's all the stingy old wire could reach. Car started. I win. Looks like I'm going to be in for a long ride.

 

[DynaBro]

Some other stuff I would be interested in:

Networking with members Around the MN WI border (I'm near Red Wing). Especially 70 Super Bee guys.

383 rebuild stories and threads to look at. Eventually plan to rebuild from my original block.

 

[DynaBro]

Some previous owner also did an awful job repainting the red stripes on the tail panel. Any threads where a member did a good step by step with a successful restoration?