What did you do to your Mopar today?

[sawdoff]

Broke a bolt off. I finally gathered enough matching brackets and pullies to correctly install my power steering pump. Last guy had pressed the pulley on about a 1/4 inch and spaced out the brackets to get it on the wrong crank groove. So as soon as I put the wrench on the bolt thru the water pump housing the bolt snaps. So I laid down my tools and walked away. That way I don't have a big dent in the hood too.

 

[joel snyder]

Is it a BluePrint Engines 408? I've been eyeing those.

i recently had a 408 blueprint engine put in my '69 dart gt. it runs like the proverbial raped ape!

 

[Richard Cranium]

Not long home now from a day out to fix something that has bugged me for a while now. My new engine had a harmonic vibration at certain speeds, and I could never figure out exactly what it was.....didn't want to start a thread with lots of advice that would make more confusion.

So after sifting through many pages here, FABO and various other forums and websites, I figured out the problem. Turns out I had been led into installing the wrong flexplate on my smallblock 408. I had everything else correct, except the flexplate. This new-to-me information surfaced about 3 months ago, and I immediately scoured the web for the right part. Eventually I found one at Mancini Racing - must have been the only one they had, as the "No longer available" image went up after I had paid.

Package arrived about 10 days ago, and today was the first chance I have had to get it installed. Took it out to my bud's shop...... at a steady but slow pace, and got into it. Job took us a few hours due to high humidity and the sun beating down on the roof making conditions oh so 'wonderful'.
Lost about two litres of tranny juice, which we topped off later on. It was nice to see that it flowed clean and red like it was new. It was a slow job to begin with as the transmission casing was still very hot. So we worked around the other parts as they cooled off.

The road test around the block and eventual drive home proved the problem has been solved. No vibration at all now. And all for the sake of the wrong part.
That'll teach me to take note of veterans of the Jalopy Journal and such papers....



Measurements taken today were made in 'Eagle Beaks' and 'Washing Machines' (12 x Eagle Beaks to the Washing Machine)View attachment 1766900


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New flexplate #10242 is 9/64" thick - and the #10236 @ 1/8" thick (for pre-Magnum)
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You can see below the difference in the 'bite' out of the #10236 flexplate - that's about 3/8"
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What's the electrical connector in the pan for?

 

[kiwigtx]

What's the electrical connector in the pan for?

Temperature gauge for the transmission fluid.

 

[Todd Millican]

I looked at her, up on the lift, she's sad, with 8 vintage motorcycles waiting for service sitting beneath.

 

[Triplegreen500]

This is why my motorcycle shop (and lift) are in a different room than the cars....

 

[Don selleck]

finished the wheel housing surgery on the cuda. glad thats over!

 

[HawkRod]

I'm working on some Mopar Stage VI heads for my buddy's 67 GTX with a 440. The heads are brand new from the early 90's, but have shelf wear from sitting around all these years. Having said that, and as usual, CHECK EVERYTHING. Turns out the never used valve guides were OK, but the seats were not aligned well with the guides.

We did some light porting of the heads, but in the end, decided to redo the valve job to make them right. Ideally the valve seat should be off by less than .002" from being perfectly centered with the valve guide. A couple were off more than .010", one at .017" - yikes!
Here is one of the heads in the head machine.

While doing the valve job, we wanted to open up the passage below the seat a little bit, especially the area where the pointer is showing. Ideally, the throat of the passage below should be about 88% of the seat. Don't ask me why, that's what my father-in-law taught me. This helps flow the best.

After cutting the valve seats, there was a ridge (see pointer in below picture) where the cutter didn't cut. This was later cut with another tool (don't have pictures of this). By the way, exhaust seats should flow away from the seat without angles. Intakes should have multiple angles, like a 3 or 5 angle valve job. The angles help keep flow turbulent and fuel atomized. That's not needed (or wanted) for the exhaust seats.

The below pictures may be hard to see. But to verify that the valve sits exactly where it should be, it is lapped into the seat to see where it is contacting the new seat. To start, I always start slightly small so more can easily be cut out without sinking the valve seat. The more shiny ring (may be hard to see) at the end of the valve should be no more than .005".

For my second cut, I nailed it. Again, the pictures may make this hard to see, but there is a tiny little shiny ring at the edge where the seat did not contact, and it is less than .005". Now the cutter is set and the rest of the seats can be cut.

So I finished cutting the rest of the seats. Then there will be some final slight shaping done by hand to smooth out any transitions. Finally, I will cut the head surface about .005" to clean up some of the shelf wear. Then it will be time for spring selection and head assembly.

 

[Chongo 68]

Installed B&M shifter, hooked up the linkage and kick down on the 62”, decided to see what the new shoes would look like too…getting close to test drive if the weather holds out.

 

[Tony Tee]

Put R134A in my 2000 dakota today. Was moving rocks today and worked up a sweat. Turned on the a/c and no coolness. What the F#@☆ ! Lost ALL Presure. Wouldn't hold a vacuum. So I pressurized the system and discovered a leak. Replaced the o-ring and done!
It's not winter here in Florida just yet! LOL!

 

[Triplegreen500]

It's not winter here in Florida just yet! LOL!

Keep it warm for a few more weeks, I'm headed there to visit family! Going to st Augustine but have fam from Ocala, too...Chambers, Hart...uncle Bill (Chambers) was quite the surgeon in the day...

 

[Tony Tee]

Keep it warm for a few more weeks, I'm headed there to visit family! Going to st Augustine but have fam from Ocala, too...Chambers, Hart...uncle Bill (Chambers) was quite the surgeon in the day...

I'll try to keep it warm. But no promises. LOL!
Any relation to Jim chambers the hot air balloon pilot? From ocala?

 

[Triplegreen500]

I'll try to keep it warm. But no promises. LOL!
Any relation to Jim chambers the hot air balloon pilot? From ocala?

No, no Jim. Bill, Bill jr, Michael, Beth, Susan...lived across from the HS for years.

Work on that weather, thanks!

 

[Toxic Orange 493]

Put the first piece of glass back in my car after 14 years with out it.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Put the first piece of glass back in my car after 14 years with out it.
View attachment 1773957View attachment 1773958

I hope I'm around in 14 years to see that you've put the 2nd piece of glass in.

 

[chargervert]

I took my 2010 Challenger R/T for an inspection sticker,forgot that I had stored it with the battery disconnected,and it failed the emissions test,because of the disconnected battery. I had to drive it about 100 miles before it would pass. Then I put my 71 Charger R/T in the enclosed trailer for the winter,so I could make room in the garage to put my wife's 2009 Challenger R/T away for the winter.

 

[SlingLow]

Picked up my 64 Polara seats from the upholsterer with brand new Legendary covers. I'm real happy with the results. Ordered last January, received in October, installed in December. Less than a year.

The rear frame had issues:

They welded in some new metal, a little paint and voila!

$750 all in. New burlap, foam and backing board. I have more work coming his way.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I shuffled cars around & got the tractor to the front of the garage.

 

[Stereolab42]

Recently went to fix the heat on my 70 Duster. Blower was blowing but seemed to be coming out the back instead of the vents. I assumed there was some big hole so I spent half the day pulling out the box, cutting and capping off hoses, dripping coolant everywhere, and so on, only to find out the previous owner had just mixed up the control cables! Should have been a 15-minute fix. "Never underestimate the incompetence of the previous owner."

 

[HawkRod]

Update from post What did you do to your Mopar today? where I was working on Mopar Stage VI heads:

As I said, these heads had some shelf wear from sitting since new. NOS does not mean new condition! So I set these heads up to cut .005" off the surface and clean up the scratches.

Here is where I am getting them set "flat" (or parallel to the cutting head) in the machine. The dial indicator is mounted to the cutting head since that is what counts when you cut. It measures to .0005", and I got these heads to within about .0002" side to side and front to back. This is what takes time - the cutting is fast!
By the way, these heads were about .003" thicker in the center, so it was good they got a nice clean, straight cut.

Here is a picture as I am starting the cut. I color the head in with black magic marker on the beginning of the head. The cutting head is then lowered down until it turns the black magic maker gray. When it does that, you know you are at your "zero". From there, I backed off the head, added .005" to the cut and then let 'er rip. The picture below is as it the machine is starting the cut all the way across the head. This is automated so all the hard work is done at this point!

Here is the head after it was cut. All the scratches were cleaned (cut) off and the surface is now super smooth and ready to mount on the short block.

I then found a good set of springs that will work well with the .506" lift roller cam. This was a tough setup to find good springs for, since the installed height is fairly small at 1.650". But I found a nice set that will work well and these heads are now ready to put together and installed on the block.