origonal owner 73 Rallye

[burdar]

The engine assembly is basicaly ready to go in. The only thing not installed is the fuel pump to carb lines and the filter. Fine Lines didn't list a 73 318 in their cataloge. I ended up sending the original lines to them to use for a pattern.
I don't have the original starter restored yet so I have a mini on there for now. I know the belts aren't correct as well as the plug wires. There will be a few things to work on down the road but overall I'm pretty happy with how it looks.

 

[sheetmetaldan]

Wow that is nice! Looks like it was just pulled off the assembly line!

Just looked again and I have a question did the exhaust manifolds come with blue paint on them from the factory? I always thought it was bare metal. Either way they look better than rust!

 

[burdar]

The exhaust manifolds, bypass hose, valve cover grommets, PCV valve and fuel pump were all on the engine before it was painted. The paint on the manifolds just burned off very quickly.

I still havn't decided if I'm going to paint the engine side of the negative battery cable. Big block cables got painted. Small blocks are still being debated. I think some came painted and others didn't. If anyone with a 73 can prove theirs came with a painted cable, I'd like to hear about it.

 

[mikebee]

dang...that car went a long way down and now its came a long way back.looks good...i love the pic of when it was new and then some of that crazy body work that was done on it over the years...butt its lookin good now.

 

[moparleo]

As you said, it cost the same to restore a 70-71 as a 73. It also uses all the same technics to do the body work, suspension, electrical, etc... So I think you are wrong that nobody would be interested in a 73 Challenger. Probably more of us have a 72 to 74 than have 70-71. Put up a trial balloon and see how much interest there is.
Keep up the great job!

 

[toolmanmike]

Power train looks really good! I hope I get a ride when your done.. LOL
TMM

 

[burdar]

The exhaust manifolds, bypass hose, valve cover grommets, PCV valve and fuel pump were all on the engine before it was painted. The paint on the manifolds just burned off very quickly.

Some questions have been brought up reguarding the fuel pump. The fastener guide says the fuel pumps were painted engine color on the SB and BB(except hemi) I found blue paint on a fuel pump bolt so I painted the pump with the engine. Some people have told me that SB's didn't have painted pumps. My original fuel pump was replaced a long time ago so I don't have it to look at. I just wanted to throw that out there so others don't just assume there's should be painted. Look for evidence of paint on your car to be sure.

 

[burdar]

Yesterday afternoon dad came over and we installed the engine. We went pretty slow since we'd never done it this way before. There was only about an 1/8" clearance between the steering box/alternator and the frame rails but it went in.

 

[btceng]

Said it before but still unbelievable. Thanks for the thread. It's a classic how-to manual. Just wish that I had the patience and knowledge to pull something like that off. 70, 71, 72, 73, or 74; who cares when it's done so right? Awesome.

 

[burdar]

Update time again. I had a big setback a couple months ago that has just been resolved. Here's what's been going on...

After the engine went in I installed the torsion bars, hooked up and blead the brakes. I used DOT5 fluid so I wouldn't have to worry about the paint being destroyed from DOT3. Dad came over and helped me install the exhaust system which wasn't fun. I put an initial setting on the torsion bars and let the car down on it's front wheels.

The original radiator was recored, hoses were installed and fluids were added. I went to a craft store and bought some paint pens so I could add the colored stripes back on the vacuum hoses. I nailed down the ends of the hoses to my work bench so they wouldn't move around. Using my finger as a guide, I ran the pens down the length of the hoses. They turned out very nice. At this point the engine was ready to start.

I borrowed a battery from another vehicle and made sure everything worked before trying to start the engine. With the exception of a couple bad bulbs, everything worked and there weren't any shorts. I added gas to the tank...put a little in the carb, and the engine fired right off. It only ran for a second before it ran out of gas. After that we had a hard time getting the fuel pump to prime. I had to take the fuel line loose at the carb and fill it with gas. Only then did I get the fuel pump primed.

Once the engine started up and stayed running I new there was a problem. It was missing very bad and the entire car was shaking. I let off the gas and it back fired through the carb and died. It did this a few times with the same result. I don't have a compression tester so I couldn't look into it further until I could get ahold of one. A friend came over the next weekend with his tester and we took some reading. Cylinders 3 and 7 had zero compression. I took the rocker arms off the left bank and we pumped air into the cylinders to see what was leaking. We heard air out the tail pipes so we knew it was leaking past the exhaust valves. Over the next few days I worked on taking things back apart so the engine could come out. Once the engine was out of the car I took it to a machine shop to have it looked at further.

 

[burdar]

The machine shop was busy and wouldn't be able to look at the engine for 3 to 4 weeks. In the mean time I decided to get some work done on the interior. I started with the door panel inserts. The original woodgrain had started to peel on the edges. After trying WD-40 and paint stripper with very little luck, I used my wifes steam cleaner to remove the decals. The steam cleaner took them right off. The black paint around the woodgrain was still in very good shape. One of the inserts just needed a little touchup.

Next, I cleaned the door and rear interior panels 4 times to get them ready for paint. I used the same process that I used on the A-pillar and kick panels. SEM Adhesion Promotor per the instructions finished off with a couple light coats of SEM Landau black. The panels do have some scratches but the paint does a good job and hiding them. New panels are on my list but these should work for now.

I wasn't too impressed with the Legendary arm rest pads. The originals have a metal core...the replacements are made of wood. The fit is poor. When I get new door panels, I'll try and save the original arm rest pads.

 

[burdar]

The machine shop finally got around to looking at the engine after about 5 weeks. The first thing they did was do a leakdown test. Cylinders 3 and 7 were leaking 90%. That cylinder head was removed and dissassembled. What they found were two sticky exhaust valves and valve seats that were excessively cut. The heads were purchased from Aerohead Racing 8 years ago so there was no way they were going to warrenty anything. That head needed new guides, two valves and all new seats. The other head was working OK at the moment but would have had the same poor machine work performed on it. I decided to bring in the original heads instead of fixing the other ones.

The machine shop also checked the original intake manifold and found that it was cracked. The crack went all the way from the choke thermostate to the EGR opening. Luckily I had a spare intake that checked out OK. This new intake is a little different then the original one but it's close.

I picked up the engine on Tuesday the 31st.

Cleaned and painted it on Wednesday the 1st.

Dropped it back in the car on Thrusday the 2nd.

I worked on it Friday night and all day Saturday. By Saturday night it was ready to start again. This time I filled the fuel line with gas right away. It fired right up and sounded decent. I took a short video of it running while my wife ran the gas. I was tired and didn't throw a timing light on it. Once it's timed and the idle is adjusted I can stand back and really listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKhYa6QDfc&feature=g-upl

 

[moparleo]

Sounds great but I hope that the cam and lifters were broken in before this start up. First 20 minutes the most important time of your engines life.

 

[burdar]

Yes, this was a used cam I had in a 360 for a couple hundered miles before switching to a MP 484 cam. I did another breakin just to be safe.

 

[moparleo]

Happy to hear it. Almost there!

 

[burdar]

The reproduction Polyglas tires arrived last Thursday. I decided to go with white walls since that's what was on the car originally AND you rarely ever see people put those back on. They look kind of fugly without the trim rings. I set a trim ring up to the wheel and they look good. The rings will stay off until after the alignment is done.

I also installed the rear bumper assembly. A member from Moparts sent me a really nice pair of rubber bumper guards. I still need to figure something out for the fronts. Both pairs of front guards I have are all pitted.

 

[btceng]

This is one of those threads that you just can't get enough of. I love seeing the progress but will miss the anticipation when it's done. Again, great work!

 

[moparleo]

If you haven't driven on bias ply tires before, take it slow on the corners. Bias ply tires have about 1/2 the road grip as modern radial ply tires do. Also the toe in needs to be set with the max of toe in, as radial tires track straight and bias ply tires try to toe out. Run the max tire pressure, cold 32 PSI. Don't go by the door sticker on this one. Back in those days tires wore out quickly and the vehicle manufacturers were more interested in ride quality than tread life. Bias ply tires have a stiff sidewall which gives the car a much harder ride than radials, which were just becoming available in the early seventies.
As you know, if you want the classic look but with the ride and safety of modern radials, Coker tires has a line of modern tires using old classic tire molds.

 

[burdar]

The car is almost done. I'll have a few things to work on over the winter but not much.

For the front bumper guards, I talked to a few bodyshops and they recommended spraying them with high build primer to fill the pitting. It worked out well. I sprayed them with SEM trim black once the pitting was sanded out.

Front bumper is on...

The interior is in as well. I put the seats in before I had them recovered so I can put some miles on it before winter. They'll come back out for re-covering in a month or two.

I set the ride height on Saturday. After double checking the fluids and making sure the lug nuts were tight, I drove it around the block. The brakes worked nicely and it drove nice and smooth. It was only around the block but I was excited. The alignment is this Friday and the front/rear glass is going in on Monday.

 

[sfort]

This is a fantastic thread! I recently bought a 73 Rallye Challenger as a father son project for me and my youngest son. This is great info you have provided. If you put out a cd count me in.