“Will the problems ever stop?” How to restore a car was my overwhelming question.
You want to open a can of worms, take a Charger that’s over half a century old, and as a last hurray decide to pull out the tricked out 440 and throw in a roller-stroke 512 instead. Namely:
The neck of the electronic distributor wasn’t long enough to get past the taller aluminum heads – it had to be popped out for a new distributor.
The 750 cfm Holley could no longer provide the required gas and had to opt for an 850 cfm engine.
The new higher flow mechanical fuel pump was a mistake – an electric Holley pump had to be installed, which meant tensioning the cable and installing a larger diameter fuel line.
I found out that the bastards who had previously replaced my transmission had installed a standard stall torque converter, so I had to order a higher stall torque Hughes unit from Summit.
Take a test drive and my Chrysler radiator, the largest they built, couldn’t provide enough cooling power. Researched, purchased and installed an aluminum unit. I had to go through three iterations of electric fans to find the largest pair that would fit. (Kudos to Summit for letting me return two sets of fans without any nonsense – probably because I’ve ordered so many of them over the years.)
The new forged aluminum pistons rattle due to the short piston edges and tolerances. It annoys me so much that I’m having custom hypereutectic pistons made, which of course means I have to pull out the engine and then the heads again so those pistons can be installed.
It was discovered that the rear wheel lugs were too short, so a timeout occurred as the axles were pulled out so longer lugs were pushed in and new seals were installed.
All the tires were replaced, but I already knew that would happen.
The speedometer gauge was twitching because the speedometer cable connection was worn out, and since it would have cost $400 to replace and a temperature gauge would have cost $100, I decided to remove the entire group and install a Dakota Digital unit instead. (The way the indicators light up is really cool.) But power issues keep causing glitches, so we throw in the towel and get a whole new harness – I’m still waiting for it from the harness shop is completed.)
Out with the old alternator and in with the powerful 1-wire alternator.
And since we’re in the process of completely redesigning the wiring, now is the time to start looking for a GPS-enabled stereo head unit so I’ll be ready for the trips I’ll be taking with the Charger. (So help me, I still come to El Mirage for high speed runs.)
So yeah, if you’ve ever seen a car restoration show like “Bitchin’ Rides” where the owner brings his baby and swears there’s only one problem that needs to be addressed and everything else is fine – giggle, giggle , snort, snort – that’s it. I do not like that at all. It’s a whole bunch of falling dominoes – expensive dominoes. And they’re still not done falling.
Well, the car is an absolute blast. It’s worth it.