It's HEMI time !!! Compliments of NJSteve

[Verne_Frantz]

Smart move............

[njsteve]

Since I haven't done anything to the car in a while, other than drive it, and I was itching to fiddle with something, I thought I'd try and figure out why it was running hot (allegedly).

When driving around, the factory gauge was hanging in the middle of the gauge around 200 degrees (or so I thought) Even the fancy, shmancy Stewart Warner electrical temp gauge that I installed a few pages ago in this thread was saying a similar temperature, so me, being the trusting type, believed them.

The problem was, that the car never really seemed hot.

So like a good husband, I waited til wifey-poo was out shopping (which usually takes up about 8 hours a day). I went into the kitchen and borrowed (stole) her most expensive Food Channel autographed Emeril Legasse meat thermometer and popped the radiator cap and stuck it in the radiator opening. It read 160 degrees compared to the 200 on the two gauges.

So, it turns out the Charger wasn't running hot after all. It's the standard, multi-voltage Chrysler electrical system.

Just for giggles I pulled the radiator and brought it to the guy that recored it 12 years ago. He said it was already spotless inside and he didnt believe there was a temp problem but said he'd reverse flush it out anyway. He only charged me $20 for his time.

The reason I never installed a mechanical temp gauge for all these years was that I could never get that damn steel 3/4" pipe plug out of the water pump housing to install it. So I pulled the water pump housing and we tried to get the thing out. It had molecularly fused to the cast iron housing and basically stripped out the housing upon removal. Wonderful!

So I decided to buy the Mopar Performance alumimum housing from Mancini racing and a real Stewart Warner mechanical temp gauge with the 96" long capillary tube. I also bought a new 160 thermostat just for the hell of it.
I had dreaded trying to find a large enough, factory stamped hole in the firewall to run the capillary tube and nut through, but I was able to find one and it just eeked through.

Got it all installed and guess what? The car runs at about 155 degrees.

Turns out that the damn thing has been running cold all the time but the standard schizo dash and electrical system in this old Mopar has been throwing off the gauges for all these years.

Anyone who has ever had a mid-60's Mopar knows exactly what Im talking about. At night, the faster you drive, the brighter the headlights get. The readings on the dash gauges (as well as any device connected to the fuse box) all depend on what RPM you're running. It's like their readings are all an extrapolation based on the alternator's speed and engine's RPM. These cars use a non-adjustable, sealed, electronic voltage regulator. The only problem is that is regulates the voltage to a somewhat liberal range...oh, like between 1 and 14 volts.

So in the end, it's running fine. I celebrated by going to the local airport and buying 11 gallons of 100 octane leaded, avgas for about $41 (about $3.75 a gallon).

Here's the new aluminum water pump housing installed. The mechanical temp gauge fitting is in between the two heater hoses. The one other difference between the Mopar aluminum housing and the original cast iron one is the location of the factory temp gauge sender at the top right of the photo, near the power steering pump. On the cast iron housing it's below the alternator triangle bracket.



And here is the new, accurate mechanical gauge. Too bad I don't really need about 1/2 of the numbers on the right side:

[njsteve]

Spoke with Steve Martin, the second owner again this week. He had some new info from when he was bought the car back in 1977. I was able to corroborate a lot of what he said with the stack of original receipts from when he rebuilt the engine in early 1978 and had that one piston installed backwards on the rod. I even found the receipt for the original set of pistons bought on 02/16/78 and the replacement piston bought on 04/27/78. Steve said there was only one guy with him when he was rebuilding the engine in his garage, one of the Wickberg brothers, who has since passed away. Steve sold the Charger (to the guy I bought it from) in January of 1979.

When Martin bought the car, the rear suspension work had already been done by the first owner: the rear leaf springs had already been moved inward with the Direct Connection spring perch kit and the rear wheel wells were already radiused at the inner flange and moved inward. The work was done by a guy named Blake Klickner at a shop called Heads Up Performance. Martin did buy the 3800 lb. Direct Connection Superstock Springs (I found that receipt too, by cross referencing the part numbers on the receipt) and he installed them in place of the stock springs.

When Martin bought the car, it had the hemi out of it already and a 318 along with a small block K-member had been bolted in place of the hemi K-member. The first owner had already sold off a lot of the original parts and the speed parts he had with the car, including a set of 13 to 1 pistons, a rat roaster intake and the trans and Dana rear. Martin then spent the next 2 years locating original replacement parts for the car such as the hemi K-member, the correct double banded 18-spline transmission and the Dana rear. I think I have a bunch of these receipts in my pile of documents. There are so many of them and a lot are just part numbers and prices on sales receipts from Central Jersey Speed on Route 22 in Greenbrook, New Jersey dated from late 1977 to late 1978.

As for the race on I-287, Martin says the original engine was blown in a neighborhood incident when the first owner ran it out of oil. So that begs the question whether the original engine was blown up once or twice. If Martin has the original block then that would be proof positive that there was a single engine failure and not the catastrophic failure on the highway as reported by the original owner and several other people I have met over the years. Wow, this is like a paradox and it is making my head spin.

All I know is that I have met a great bunch of interesting people over the years, through owning this car. Each one had filled in another amazing chapter in the never-ending story of this car.

[njsteve]

Steve Martin relayed a great story from the early 70’s:

“At the time, I had a 70 Chevelle 454. One night we were all hanging out in South Plainfield on Park Avenue. Two guys from Plainfield showed up with a fiberglass nosed, Ford pick up truck. They wanted to street race on Park Avenue where we all raced, just off of Oaktree and Park Avenue. These two guys walked into the wrong crowd. We collected the cash and got ready to race. After the money was taken by a neutral guy, Wickberg showed his hand when someone from the crowd yelled out that the car had a Hemi. With two minutes to go before the race, the slicks came out of the trunk of the car and the next thing you know, the two guys took off for the hills when they heard this was a smoking 13:1, cammed, hemi car. Wickberg would never show the motor to anyone, which to my satisfaction drove everyone completely crazy.”

[68427caprice]

Love this story! I am not even a Dodge guy...

[njsteve]

I've been looking for one of "The 500" Superior Industries red metal flake wheels for a few years now. I always thought it would look nicely vintage on the car. It will also save the wear and tear on the original factory wheel's delicate woodgrain finish that my 200 or so miles a year have put on it over the past quarter century.

The early Father's Day gift arrived yesterday and I immediately installed it. Only took about 10 minutes with the still-available Grant adapter kit and horn button.

There's nothing like what a vintage hunk of 40 year-old, metal flaked, rubber and chrome will do to irritate the stock-o-philes.

We have our first cruise night tomorrow. We'll see what the reaction is.

[mockingbird812]

Nice touch Mac! Your photo lighting even makes it look like a retro vintage shot!

[MrsBillyBobcat]

[ QUOTE ]

There's nothing like what a vintage hunk of 40 year-old, metal flaked, rubber and chrome will do to irritate the stock-o-philes.



[/ QUOTE ]

LMAO!

VERY COOL Steve!

[Verne_Frantz]

I can't park my car next to yours anymore......

PS: What about Tues???