My "Free" 68 Road Runner

[jm8881]

I found a transmission from someone here on the forums, it's been rebuilt, has a shift kit, and a deep sump trans pan. And the price he charged was way under budget so now I'm way ahead for the next problem that needs benjamins thrown at it.

I still need a converter but the research I'm doing online has me a bit confused. As the engine sits it doesn't have a great deal more power than stock but it does have a cam who's powerband is 2,600 - 6,300 rpms. However the plan is to swap out the old 452 heads for some 440 source heads down the road with an edelbrock performer rpm intake. I believe the rearend has 3.55 gears but who knows what's in it until I look into it. It will ultimately become a 90% street / 10% strip car.

With my future plans in mind and how I plan to drive it what should my converter stall be? I was thinking about 3000 however I have very little knowledge in this area.

 

[Ron 73]

I do hope you get the info you need for the converter, im not to knowledgeable myself with them, i have one hear that is "supposed" to be better then the stock one in my 73, i haven't put it in and i think its called a thunderbolt, you may want to look that up and maybe get some information that would help you... With a shift kit and everything it should work great with the right converter!!!

 

[HawkRod]

So mind you, I am no expert by any stretch, but here is what I believe as it relates to stall speed on a torque converter.

The stall speed is the maximum RPM before any driveshaft movement is generated. So a transmission with a higher stall speed will mean that the engine will spin to a higher RPM before the car starts to move. In a race car, this is desirable since you will start moving the car with the engine already in the power band where it builds the most horsepower. So a high stall speed converter is good for racing. The down side is that for street driving, it will always force the engine to rev higher leading to poor fuel economy. Now I'm reaching here, but too high a stall speed might also cause heat issues if you are driving at a RPM where the converter is slipping a great deal.

So the big question is: Do you want better manners on the street or more performance on the strip? I think the stock stall speed is typically in the 1000 - 1500 range, so a 3000 stall speed seems to be a strip based torque converter. For the street, I would think that would be on the high side.

I am sure I will be corrected if I have misspoken or missed key details...

Hawk

 

[Photon440]

Just for a baseline, here are the stall speeds from the 1970 Plymouth shop manual:

 

[HawkRod]

Never knew that was in there! I also am surprised at how high some of the factory stall speeds are set at.

Thanks for sharing - learned something!

 

[jm8881]

Was just browsing ebay today and found a grill and headlight bezels for a 69 roadrunner for $40! I know it's a year off from my car but I couldn't pass a deal like that up!

 

[Basket case]

pics or it didn't happen! got any new ones of the car?

 

[jm8881]

Well I don't have the grill yet, just bought it but here's the auction: eBay Auction

Also I've just been gathering items for the car, haven't been out to it in a little while so no new pics.

 

[Basket case]

cool...you could always flip it to get $ for the car. or make one of the ultra rare '68 1/2 road runners!

 

[GetX'd]

This is a great thread. I just tapped into it and went thru the whole thing. Pretty interesting way to acquire a muscle car. I'd thought I'd read some of it when you first posted. Then lost track. You ought to get some kind of award for the most buried project accepted by an FBBO member. Seems like you're going about things in a very pragmatic way. You'll have a lot of stories to tell about this one when its done. Another Mopar saved from the crusher.

Continued good old luck and I appreciate the pics and the commentary. I learn things on this thread.

 

[jm8881]

It's been a little while and I don't really have any updates on the car but my apartment is starting to look like a junkyard! I've got the engine, transmission, torque converter, grill, 3 row champion radiator, summit fan shroud, trans/engine mounts, carb, etc. and I'm just waiting for the weather to break so I can go spend a few days standing around in the sun to at least drop the engine and trans into it. I'm thinking about renting a storage unit to keep the car in so that I can do a bit of work on it there instead of driving 40 minutes one way to go work on it. However I don't know how that will go over with the storage place.

I've been looking for a place to redo the seats but the best quote I've gotten is $2,200 to do both benches. That might not be in the budget for the foreseeable future so does anyone know of, I know it's sacrilegious, seats that fit well that I can get from a modern pick a part? As much as I'd like the original bench up front I'd be fine with some modern buckets to hold me over until later when I can get the interior done proper.

 

[Basket case]

I've been looking for a place to redo the seats but the best quote I've gotten is $2,200 to do both benches. That might not be in the budget for the foreseeable future so does anyone know of, I know it's sacrilegious, seats that fit well that I can get from a modern pick a part? As much as I'd like the original bench up front I'd be fine with some modern buckets to hold me over until later when I can get the interior done proper.

depending on what all needs done to the seats, try them yourself. I recovered a rear seat, my first time, and it turned out pretty good.

 

[superfragl]

So mind you, I am no expert by any stretch, but here is what I believe as it relates to stall speed on a torque converter.

The stall speed is the maximum RPM before any driveshaft movement is generated. So a transmission with a higher stall speed will mean that the engine will spin to a higher RPM before the car starts to move. In a race car, this is desirable since you will start moving the car with the engine already in the power band where it builds the most horsepower. So a high stall speed converter is good for racing. The down side is that for street driving, it will always force the engine to rev higher leading to poor fuel economy. Now I'm reaching here, but too high a stall speed might also cause heat issues if you are driving at a RPM where the converter is slipping a great deal.

Hawk

Here`s my understanding of stall speed..
The stall speed is the speed that the converter will limit the engine to with the drive wheels not moving. The car will move long before the stall is ever reached. The MAXIMUM stall you should ever use is the RPM that your engine reaches its peak torque. If you want to use the car on the street then the maximum stall speed should be at about 10% lower than your cruising RPM / speed on the highway.

 

[jm8881]

I feel like this is becoming a trend with how infrequent the posts are getting. :icon_cry:

The car has been in storage for about 2 months now. The spiders are all finally dead and I can safely crawl around/in/under it. I had a neighbor who runs a pest control truck spray it and the unit. And with the holidays finally over I got around to turning a wrench on it finally.

The engine color is a mishmash of old paint and rust and shiny new stuff that I couldn't find used for a decent price. I'm going to clean it up a bunch but I think I like the sitting for 20 years look. It's hard to explain but I guess it survived so long in such a harsh environment that it's like a time capsule or a testament to... something.

 

[Matts68bird]

awesome thread here. congrats on the car

 

[Basket case]

don't sweat it. you CAN post for other reasons that "I got something done on my car"......just pop in so we know the mother ship hasn't picked you up....:ufo_2: and we all know how real life interferes with these old cars....it's been three years, and I'm still in primer.

 

[Dieselholic]

Looks good! I know it can be hard to find motivation or time to work on project cars, but looking through other peoples project threads usually get me motivated to work on mine some more

 

[jm8881]

I wanted to do the brakes over the weekend but stopped short after I got the power brake booster out. The one that I bought appears to be the correct one but the one that was in there looks much different. I just want to make sure I'm not replacing some rare brake booster option with a lesser part.

Also I found these:

They seem to be bullet holes.

 

[Basket case]

I've never seen a master cylinder cover like the one you took off the car. all the '68 and '69s I've had, even some '70s I've seen have had the bolt on cover. so I'd say the new one is correct.

 

[69b3rt]

If your car is equipped with power drum brakes, you are doing things correctly. Taking the wrong parts off and putting correct parts on.