Road Runner gone... but not without a fight

[471_Magnum]

Sold the Road Runner this past weekend. I've had it on the market for six months or so. It just wasn't getting used as much as I wanted. These days my time is better spent with the kids and their extracurricular activities. Seeing it sit in the garage tormented me, and there was a lot of money tied up in it that could best be utilized elsewhere. Lots of projects around the house that have been ignored or neglected. Typical story of the process of raising a family taking priority over maintaining my hobby.

My young, almost 4 year old son was a little distressed to see it go, but the rest of the family is handling it okay.

Anyway, it went to a buyer a couple hours away in the Clarksville, TN area.

I offered to deliver it with the help of one of my friends. Yesterday, my friend loaded it on his trailer, picked me up at work, and we headed south. We arrived ahead of schedule and I met with the buyer to take care of the paperwork while my buddy worked on unloading the car in the 25 degree cold and fading daylight.

Came out after finishing our business to find the car still on the trailer with the hood up. Wouldn't start. No spark. Ran next door to Autozone and bought a trouble light. Determined there was no voltage to the coil, but there seemed to be voltage going to the MSD Streetfire. The indicator light on the MSD would just flicker once when turning the key to start. I knew either there was a wiring issue or the MSD was dead.

Regardless, it was too dark, cold and awkward to work on the car up on the trailer where we were parked. And, since it was a relatively short trip, we neglected to bring anything in the way of tools. So we decided to head to the buyer's garage.... 35 miles away. In anticipation of the possibility the MSD was dead, I ran back into Autozone and bought a stock ignition ECU.

We got to the garage, rolled the car off the trailer and I commenced to trouble shooting. Couldn't find anything wrong with the wiring. 12+ V going to the MSD so I knew it wasn't a low voltage problem. I disconnected the distributor pick-up and the LED on the MSD would come on. Thought for the moment I had a distributor problem. Then the LED wouldn't come on next try. At that point my best guess was the MSD was toast.

When I installed the MSD, I did it in such a way that I didn't cut the engine harness in anticipation of just this type of situation. Switching back to stock was just a matter of removing the MSD, reattaching coil power wires and plugging in the ECU and ballast resistor. Time consuming, but it didn't require special tools.

So sure as sh!t, the car fired right up with the stock ignition. Major relief for everybody, and I'm feeling like a genius for wiring the MSD the way I did.
Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed to be selling a car that breaks down riding on the trailer, but I'm glad this happened in my presence and I was able to fix it for the buyer. He was pretty cool through the whole ordeal.

Got home around midnight, about three hours later than planned, to an empty garage.

I'm going take myself out of the game for a while. I've already sold off my engine hoist and stand as well as many of my Mopar parts. I'll be working on clearing out the remaining parts in the coming weeks to further open up garage space for the growing fleet of kids' bicycles and whatnot. I'm sure I'll get another hobby car down the road. Maybe a year from now. Maybe sooner if something really catches my eye. Pretty sure it won't be a Mopar muscle car though. After being submerged in nothing but old Mopars for the last 19 years, I'm ready to try something different. I've got an enthusiasm for performance cars of all sorts.

I've pretty much been in lurk mode on all the Mopar forums for the past year or so, and there won't be much change there. I still intend to visit, so this isn't "goodbye".

[Ghoste]

It's been a good run. 

[1974dodgecharger]

Sad story but hope things get can get better......  have fun with the kids.

[firefighter3931]

I'm sure you'll be back at some point so enjoy your time with the kids....they're only young once. 

Little sidenote ; the torque thrusts from your old 69 are sitting on a current members car and the Nitto DR's are mounted on a set of black steelies waiting for a track day.   

Your insight on tech stuff is allways appreciated so don't be a stranger 



Ron

[Ghoste]

And there is a set of your old Magnum 500's on a 67. 

[polywideblock]

good luck in the future and again thanks for the link to this site from back at the roadrunner nest   

its been great to find a site where everybody doesn't take themselves to seriously  like on some of the other  forums,  a real breath of fresh air so to speak

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Good luck Jim in your next adventure.  Like others said, dont be a stranger!

[troy.70R/T]

find a RR or charger project now and buy parts as time and money allow. 20 years from now you will be glad u did. It can also turn into a father son/daughter thing in the coming 15 years. A good way to stay in the hobby and pass it onto your kids. why tell them a story of how you sold your RR when you can reminisce about how you built a car with them.

[hemi68charger]

Take care and remember to NOT fill the garage with too much stuff......... You never know when the urge to get something again my spring up or you run across something you "just gotta have"......... As the kid(s) get older, they may want to join you to car shows ( or not )............

Best regards and wishes in your new "hobby chapter".....