I May have waited too long. A cautionary tale.

[Lord Warlock]

Jacksonville Florida, south part of town near St John's river.   

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

Sorry to hear of this. The most expensive thing in life is the cost of regrets. 

Again, sorry.

[ws23rt]

Hey Lord Warlock
I've been keeping up with your postings and am moved by your circumstance and motivation to get your car going.
I am 64 and have had back and neck surgery in the last several months. My condition is not intended to be compared with yours but it does give me a wake up to where I am in the life cycle as you are feeling.
My cars and projects have been with me for at least 45 years of my life. My work has provided for me where I am today but has cost me plenty in times lost with family.
Today I have a son (recently married) and a daughter and son in law with two grandsons. They are moving forward with their lives and If I wait --one day-- I will miss something. My cars however just sit and wait unchanging.
I have no specific point to make. Just an understanding about moving forward.
My next big decision is when to retire and give up my work. I like my work. I am needed where I work. When I stop working at what I do I will need a physical and mental push to keep me out of the chair. ---Maybe my cars are for that?
Don't put off anything that you need to do with family. They are moving on with life and it's a one way trip for all involved.

[b5blue]

  I'm deeply shattered for you my friend. I wish I could help you get that Charger on the road somehow but it's just too far from the Tampa bay area for me.    I realized several years ago just what your caution urges and am just finishing a hard push repairing my car and home to my acceptable standards. (Not restoration, "repair".) I've "cut corners and lowered standards" just to reach operational done across the board and am very close.
  Just last night I fired up the 70 and put a couple miles on it as it had sat waiting while I sorted out home repairs. Do a punch list for operational and focus just that goal because driving the old pal beats everything else!  If I can help in any way don't hesitate to PM me! Had I seen your fuel supply problem sooner I'd advised you to get a sucker gun from Harbor Freight. About 5.00 and the size of a grease gun you attach it at the line that feeds the pump. One pull and fuel is sucked from the tank to the pump safely with no worry.   
   

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Truly sorry to read this LW but you are absolutely right in what you are saying to people. I lost my first wife 10 years ago on October 15th at the young age of 38. It started as breast Cancer & after having her breast removed & enduring chemo & radiation we thought she was out of the woods. Sadly she began having terrible headaches which were caused by the cancer getting into her menigal fluid(it's around your spine & brain). This is a death sentence & she passed within a few months back in October 2005  In her last weeks she told me to go and get that muscle car we always dreamed about so that's how MYOCTANE was born. Sadly it can never replace her but every time I look at my Charger I think of her. So everyone get out there & grab your dreams if you can! I hope to read some positive updates on your condition WARLOCK..take care

[472 R/T SE]

Jacksonville Florida, south part of town near St John's river.   

So we're on opposite ends.  We're in Vancouver, Wa.   

I know for a fact I/we could get your hot rod up & running with my network of Mopar friends.   

[Lord Warlock]

Well, I did make a little progress on the car, I got fuel from the gas tank to fuel pump, so now I'm pretty sure when I start cranking it fuel will feed the carb like it should.  Started checking wiring in engine bay and found one of the red wires from the battery is unhooked, only thing I've unhooked was the connection to firewall where the fusable link attaches, had to replace that. it is the thinner of two wires off of the positive terminal, and is just long enough to reach the firewall, so may be the starter relay wire from firewall, I probably removed it after frying the fusable link wire. 

still have to work out the wires that attach to alternator, my car has the stock fuel regulator on firewall, but appears to have a one wire alternator...which is confusing, it didn't even have a brush connector to the fld connector on the rear side, there is a ground connector there but no fld connector to attach to, and its been that way quite a while because I can't remember when I replaced the alternator last, probably in the 80s.

This coming week will be another trying week to deal with, tomorrow I have to get up and hydrate, then go give a blood sample so they'll have my latest readings for infusion 3 later in the week.  Tuesday I go to the radiation oncologist...not sure why, he isn't treating me anymore.  Suppose its better to keep the line of communication open since I may have to use them to radiate somewhere else once it gets deeper into the bones. Wednesday I go see the medical Oncologist to see what he has to say about progress of treatment, wife will go to this one with me.  Then Thursday I have my 3rd Infusion, and my troubled child is coming to visit for the weekend, so I'll likely have to buy a set of tires for her car and spend time at the shop as they install them.  My dad said one of her tires is marginal on tread so she'll get at least 2 tires, but if I only get 2 she'll put off getting the other two till she has a blowout.  Once that is taken care of, I can wander back to the garage and play mechanic again...if I feel like it, first 3 to 5 days after an infusion is usually a challenge to deal with as it cycles through the body.  My feet are still peeling from the last treatment, my hands lost a layer of skin on both hands.  

Can someone point me to a thread explaining how to adjust the hood properly?  I know how they attach, but there has to be a list somewhere of what each adjustment does.  My hood is attached so the springs hold it up and open, but if I close the hood the right rear corner (as viewed from drivers seat) does not settle flush, and sticks up about an inch in that one corner, other 3 corners are ok, I thought it might be a worn spring and replaced that side but the replacement spring/hinge does the same thing as the original did.  So must be an adjustment.  There are no rubber bumpers currently holding the hood up in the back so know they aren't pushing it up from the bottom, just feels like spring isn't settling into the right position.  I can push the corner down further, but it never shuts clean.  I also adjusted the latch in the front today, haven't checked to see if it holds hood shut though, it wasn't latching on it before.  I moved the latch a little higher.  

[b5blue]

My hood did similar, loosen hinge fender bolts and lower as much as possible down. Pivot pin wear had mine peeking up by spring tension against slop. I had to replace the hinge to get it down all the way the last bit. (Use a Sharpie to mark bolt locations before starting.)
Can you post pics of ALT. setup?   

[Lord Warlock]

I'll try to get alt setup soon,  I took off the replacement year one harness as it appeared to be shorted somewhere and the battery wire was fried.  took the original harness I took off months back and spliced in newer connectors from new to old, and then took it out to the car, but just sat it on top of motor and sat down to rest.  Didn't get done.  I just got a replacement fan shroud that has been missing for decades, and looking at that I'm trying to figure out how to get it on without scratching it unnecessarily.  Looking like its easier to pull the radiator out than undo the fan, will give me a chance to check and see if I put the thermostat back in.  Always one way to delay is to refocus on something else.  I'll get the wiring harness and shroud back on probably next week.  Just had my 3rd infusion of chemo (every 3 weeks I get another infusion) and been kind of out of it last few days.  

Had a spending spree last week, bought several items I'd been putting off for a long time, and a few items i'd noticed I couldn't find anymore, hose guard for heater hose for one, two seat belts for the front seats, aftermarket ones for front have originals for the back seat, fan shroud, and glove box liner.  There will be more i'm sure, considering a new alternator just to be on the safe side, At least i'll know if its single field or what.  Pretty sure old one is a single field since its a roundback model.  I have an old squareback on the shelf also but its nasty looking. 

[cdr]

Thanks for the update, 

[Lord Warlock]

Got the harness hooked up to everything, after swapping some connectors from new burnt harness to old original harness.  Have to put the voltage regulator back on car, but after watching the YearOne harness turn to smoke on me and short left and right, I'm getting gunshy about hooking the battery up.  I made the step this afternoon to briefly attach the battery and look for shorts, the old harness may work after all.  I still have to connect the regulator and one of the fields on the existing alternator which will be replaced within a week, I will probably take it out of the car tomorrow.  Spent about 150 bucks on small items off ebay yesterday, and decided to get a tuff stuff 1 wire chrome alternator, squareback style.  Cost a ton but I wanted chrome, and the roundback I needed was on back order.  100 amps may be too much for what I need, but i'll be investigating how to hook it up while waiting for it to arrive.  In the meantime I get to watch contractors pour a new driveway this week.   Should be interesting.

[b5blue]

Good Luck! 

[DixieRestoParts]

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Saying prayers for your full recovery! I got my Green R/T SE in '82. So, I know about keeping one for the long haul. I too got side tracked. Life will do that if you let it. Thanks for posting your story. Hopefully, it will help some fellow Charger owners.

[Lord Warlock]

I can only hope that the current treatment, or an alternative in the future can reverse things a bit, I'd like to see some type of remission, just haven't seen much movement backwards, just see progression.  I doubt the current treatment is going to do me in, it isn't fun to go through, and I always wonder now if I can recover to what I was like a year or two ago, doesn't seem like it as I work through chemo.  At least my dad's chemo was for a set number of treatments, mine doesn't seem to have an end, they keep trying till something works...meanwhile I get to deal with the results.   

First week after treatment tends to get harsh side effects, 2nd week it starts to calm down, 3rd week I feel like I can go out and do stuff, so I get a week each month to work on the car do yardwork or some other task.  Most of the charger stuff is tying up loose ends, nuts and fasteners, I think I may crawl under the gas tank again and locate a fuel leak I can smell in the garage, then try to secure the line better in the rear wheelwell. While under there I have to figure out where to mount the grounding strap, since the tubing is larger than stock the strap doesn't really fit on it But I have to put it on, will piss me off to have to do it later on. 

[polywideblock]

think you should look into some of the " alternative ' remedy's to your chemo symptoms 

a few members here "grow there own" so to speak   including yourself       http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,119195.0/all.html

  its supposedly  great for the nausea and lack of appetite  amongst other  things 

[Lord Warlock]

That is one of the forms of alternative medication that I do take regularly.  It'd be a lot less stressful if it were legal in my state, the vote for medicinal was very close last time, if they figure a way to make medical possible without becoming a free for all we could probably decriminalize it here.

Just for the naysayers, it does assist with Nausea, lack of appetite, and pain, so it could be a benefit for those like me in chemo or other harsh treatment.  My biggest problem is the wait between harvests, I usually get enough to last through the next grow, but it doesn't always age well, and it dries out too fast inside the garage.