My 1971 Road runner

[SureGrip]

installed pic

View attachment 1247705

Is that 'wood grain' black or just a really dark wood color?

Looks great!

 

[T2R9]

Is that 'wood grain' black or just a really dark wood color?

Looks great!

Wood grain. Just a dark pic.

 

[71Beeper]

I worked on getting the steering column apart yesterday.
First, get the main shaft out.

And some of the bits...

Next clean up the main shaft.

I have the power steering column that came with the car.

I'm going to take the mounting flanges from it for this manual steering column.

 

[71Beeper]

Man, it sure is great having a neighbor who has an industrial sand blasting cabinet at his house.

I was able to get the column pieces blasted and ready for paint.

 

[71Beeper]

I finally got a chance to get some satin black on the parts.

Well except the coupling which got some cast paint.
Next step....putting it all back together.

 

[71Beeper]

So I finally got some time this Mothers day weekend to get my engine broken in on a dyno.
Friday night I took the engine off the stand.

And loaded into the minivan.

Saturday morning it's off to the engine shop.
My buddy Al who I went to high school with owns a engine shop in Fonthill, Ontario (about 20 minutes from Niagara falls).
Here's the name of his place.

We unload the engine from the van and get it ready to go on the dyno.
Here's the dyno room.

Here she is on the dyno.

Here is Al setting the rocker arm clearance. .012" on the intakes and .014" on the exhaust.
Next is to prime the oil pump - here's the reading.

Next is firing it up and running thru the heat cycles and doing the break in & that was it for Saturday.

Sunday I'm back up there in the morning and Al has already put the inner valve springs back on the heads.
They were left out by the engine builder (not Al) who said it'll be easier on the valve train during break in as it has a solid cam in it.
BUT......
Al finds a problem.
The underside of the rocker arms hit the valve retainer.

So take the rockers off and go next door to the shop where Al grinds a relief in the area where it was touching.

Back to engine and I assemble the rocker shafts and arms and shim them to align with their respective valves.

 

[71Beeper]

Al does the clearance thing once again then fire up the engine and get some heat into it and get ready for the first pull.
First pull.......423 horse at a touch over 5000 RPMs....I'm lovin it!

Next, Al puts a thin phenolic carb spacer under the 800 Holley - it's about 1/4" thick.
Next pull...... 441 horse...almost a 20 horse gain....Awesome!

Last thing to try is to tweak the timing to get 37 degrees total timing & check the plugs for any detonation.

Final pull....460 horses and 480 ft lbs of torque.......I'm smilin ear to ear!

By the way, if any members here read RPM magazine Al's shop was featured in their June 2021 edition.
Al and his brother Andrew do great work.

 

[ct71rr]

Wow!! Good numbers from your 360!!

 

[71Beeper]

Thanks CT - considering its not a stroker engine I'm very happy with the results.
And with the current gas prices up here in Canada the engine will still be a thirsty one!!!

 

[ct71rr]

I thought it was a stroker!! Feeding it will not be cheap!!

 

[71Beeper]

No sir, its just a 0.030 over 360 with Scat H-beam rods & KB107 pistons.
Block is zero decked.
Hughes solid cam (0.534/0.543 lift on 237/242 duration) with Hughes lifters installed on at 104*
Shaved 'J' heads with a 60cc chamber and has 2.02/1.8 valves.
Air Gap intake with a 800 Holley.
Compression is approx 10.9:1

 

[charger chris]

Nice job on your car.

 

[71Beeper]

Thanks Chris.
Today I had a chance to put the steering column back together.

Put new turn signal switch in as the old one was broken.

The turn signal stalk cleaned up well with some Mothers polish.

All in all not too hard of a job to do.

 

[71Beeper]

I got the pot coupler installed today. I bought some parts quite a while ago along with a new coupler.

Put everything together (with grease inside too).

Finally done & on to the next thing.

 

[71Beeper]

So I got a start on the dash cluster assembly.
First I had to make a new gasket.

And put it in its place.

I bought a used glove box at a local Mopar swap meet.

Got the proper screws ready.

And put it all together.

 

[440jimr]

Dash is looking good!

 

[71Beeper]

Thanks 440jimr.
Today I installed the dash cluster and wiring support bracket into the dash frame.

 

[440jimr]

Thanks 440jimr.
Today I installed the dash cluster and wiring support bracket into the dash frame.
View attachment 1294701View attachment 1294702View attachment 1294703View attachment 1294704View attachment 1294705

Looks brand new

 

[71Beeper]

So today I was going to try and install the wiring harness on the back of the cluster.
I thought I better inspect the harness first.
Since my original harness was hacked up by the previous owner when he turned it into a drag car I better buy another one.
I bought one from a member on Moparts who assured me that there was nothing wrong with it......
Oh yes there was something wrong with it.

Looking at the back of the fuse panel it looks like some excessive amperage went thru that wire.
The heat made the surrounding plastic so brittle that when I tried to take out the fuse it pulled thru the connector.

Also it looks like an additional wire was added and then cut out.

So I dug out the original fuse panel and it looked to be in better shape.

Here's the damaged fuse panel after the connections were removed.

And here's the original one.

In much better shape.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent taking multiple pics of the wiring arrangement then proceed to switch fuse panels.
I decided to go this way as I looked on Year One for a wiring harness and they list one at $650 bucks!!!!

So here's the end result.

I'll try again next weekend.

 

[Nxcoupe]

So today I was going to try and install the wiring harness on the back of the cluster.
I thought I better inspect the harness first.
Since my original harness was hacked up by the previous owner when he turned it into a drag car I better buy another one.
I bought one from a member on Moparts who assured me that there was nothing wrong with it......
Oh yes there was something wrong with it.
View attachment 1298025View attachment 1298026
Looking at the back of the fuse panel it looks like some excessive amperage went thru that wire.
The heat made the surrounding plastic so brittle that when I tried to take out the fuse it pulled thru the connector.

Also it looks like an additional wire was added and then cut out.
View attachment 1298030

So I dug out the original fuse panel and it looked to be in better shape.
View attachment 1298028
Here's the damaged fuse panel after the connections were removed.
View attachment 1298032View attachment 1298033
And here's the original one.
View attachment 1298034
In much better shape.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent taking multiple pics of the wiring arrangement then proceed to switch fuse panels.
I decided to go this way as I looked on Year One for a wiring harness and they list one at $650 bucks!!!!

So here's the end result.
View attachment 1298036View attachment 1298037View attachment 1298038
I'll try again next weekend.

If you take your time and patient, you can fix anything. Great job, persistence paid off. Chances are the seller didn't notice that.