71 GY3 GTX update... Comin' together!

[471_Magnum]

Not a "Charger-story", but for those of you that don't tune into the "Garage" section and are interested, I'll give you and update on the GTX.

Just to recap, I jumped on the opportunity to buy this car when a friend decided it wasn't the car from him shortly after he had purchased it. The car is an immaculately clean (if not "correct") restoration that was apparently completed about 5 years ago. The odometer read about 750 miles. The car has obviously been nothing more than a show pony for the last few years. Really not the type of car I was looking for, but I figured opportunities like this one don't present themselves very often.

The troubles started almost immediately once the car was driven a bit.

First thing that happened was a wiped fuel pump pushrod. In the process of fixing that, we broke off an alternator bolt. Both of these issues were fixed with minimal pain.

First time I refueled the car, gas leaked from the vapor return line that was left disconnected at some earlier point in time. Makes me wonder if it has ever had a full tank of gas.

In general, the car ran like a slug, some of which was due to the Edelbrock 600 cfm carb. I could barely spin the tires. I quickly replaced that with a Holley 770 and it perked up a bit, but it was still no rocket ship. A tune-up did not reveal anything obviously amiss. I dismissed the less than stellar performance due to the fact it was just a stock 440 with some big shoes to fill when compared the stroker in Charger.

The rear pinion seal leaked badly. Took a few trips to the auto parts store, but we finally found a seal that worked and the leak seams to be fixed.

Inspection of the front suspension revealed cotter pins to be missing from many of the castle nuts. On the upper and lower ball joints, the holes were clocked such that installing the pins was a major pain in the butt. 

The radio, cigarette lighter and horn didn't work. All have now been repaired.

Upon completing all of these repairs, I deemed the car road worthy enough to make the 325 mile trip to Columbus for Mopar Nationals.

About 130 miles from home, it put a pushrod through a rocker arm. 

Inspection revealed that whoever assembled the motor used pre-'68 pushrods... installed UPSIDE DOWN.  The narrow tip of the rod quickly wore a hole in the rocker. New rockers and pushrods have been procured.

I removed the intake to retrieve the lifter that popped out and discovered an amateur attempt at port matching on the heads. Initial impression is that someone attempted to port match them on their kitchen table while doing some bong hits.   

The lifter I retrieved was beat-up pretty bad. Clip had popped out part way and chewed-up the lip.

At this point I decided to pull the motor and check everything out. I'm going to check all the bearing clearances. Just too many little issues I've noticed to not dig deaper. Hopefully the poor workmanship does not extend to the short block. It's worth the price of a gasket set to know what I'm working with. If I'm going to drive this car, I need to be able to do it with some confidence.

I'm fairly sure this motor was built to do nothing more than drive this car on and off a trailer, and look pretty.

Last night we got it out with no issues. Tonight I'll get it up on the engine stand. First I'll pull one of the heads. I want to see how far the pistons are down in the hole. Since this isn't the original motor, it's anybody's guess what I'll find.

As far as the heads go (346 castings), I need to give them a closer look. Doesn't look like much material was removed. If I find 2.14/1.81 valves and hardened seats, I might try to salvage them. If not, I've got a set of fresh 452s that I'll clean-up and use.

I'll drop the pan and inspect the bearings. Hopefully there wasn't any damage to the bottom end when the lifter popped out and I lost oil pressure. I've notice it is missing the windage tray, so I'll sandwich one in before buttoning it up.

As long as it's apart, I figure it would be silly not to take the opportunity to upgrade the cam. I've ordered a new Comp Cam Extreme Energy 268H to get the power to a repectable level and give it a decent idle lope.

While pushing the car around, I've noticed a loud grinding noise coming from the rear axle. I suspect a bad outer axle bearing, so I'll be inspecting that at some point. 

Needless to say, I'm not real pleased with the purchase up to this point. I pretty much spent every spare dime I had just to obtain the car. These extra expenses are killing me. I'm going to face a tough decision once I get it back together.

[1972Rallye]

Man... it sure didn't look like a project car!  At least you're getting it all straightened out. 

[471_Magnum]

At least you're getting it all straightened out.

Yeah. The next owner should be pleased.

[1carcrazyguy]

Sorry to hear your having troubles.  Hopefully when you get it back together a quick run through the gears will make it all worth while!! 

[TUFCAT]

Yeah. The next owner should be pleased.

I love that GTX....can I be the next owner??  PLEASE!  Do you take-in trades?

[NYCMille]

Oh man Jim, I'm really sorry to hear that. That car "looked" perfect, I mean really perfect... hopefully you'll get all the bugs sorted out and really be able to enjoy it soon. 

[Nacho-RT74]

wasn't you bored about your old car ? sure this is giving you some fun on the resto hobbie and will keep you busy, so not more boring around 

Just joking. Sorry hear about. After all is just repair stuff and not a BIG WORK like resto body or kinda... Did you check for thick Bondo areas ?

[hemi68charger]

Oh man Jim, I'm really sorry to hear that. That car "looked" perfect, I mean really perfect... hopefully you'll get all the bugs sorted out and really be able to enjoy it soon. 

Like they say, can't tell a book by it's cover....... This really stinks.... I mean, there are way too many things that went wrong to be chalked up to bad luck.. You would thing the effort in painting/detailing the car would have be applied to the mechanical aspect as well..........

Good luck now on whatever you plan to do..........

Troy

[Brock Samson]

sorry for your new can 'o worms...


  Guess it aptly demonstrates an advantage do doing your own resto from scratch which is knowing the car from day one...
not that that isn't without a steep learning curve as well...
  So would you say the car was misrepresented before you bought it?.. 

[471_Magnum]

So would you say the car was misrepresented before you bought it?..

No. I knew it had a pretty cloudy history. I took a chance.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Sorry about what happened with the car but meeting up with you was one of my few highlights from the Nats.   

You'll get it fixed up soon enough.   

[Mass_Mopar]

sorry to hear about the problems, i agree, it looked mint beforehand and still does   Even though it's a major blow I hope you'll be able to enjoy it when you get it all back together 

[Lowprofile]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Bro. I hope you get her together soon and get to enjoy her. Its a sweet looking ride. 

[471_Magnum]

The good new is I got the heads off tonight and the top side looks pretty good. There are 30-over flat tops that are about 90-thou down in the hole. Cylinder walls look good. No major carbon build-up on the piston tops.

Heads have standard-size valves and no hardened seats. I guess I will be using those 452s after some port matching.

Tomorrow night or Saturday morning I'll get the pan off and pull a couple of caps.

[69charger2002]

that sucks man. and i know all you want to do is be able to hop in it and drive.. trouble free. sucks when someone half asses stuff or does certain aspects at "no expense" and then the really important stuff(mechanical/brakes etc) people seem to skimp out on more.. hope it all works out
trav

[BrianShaughnessy]

There are 30-over flat tops that are about 90-thou down in the hole.

Probably trw/speed-pro 2366's.   

Some old '67 915 heads would bump the compression up a bit with those.

[471_Magnum]

There are 30-over flat tops that are about 90-thou down in the hole.

Probably trw/speed-pro 2366's.

Some old '67 915 heads would bump the compression up a bit with those.

With the current 8.6:1 CR, I might want to re-think my cam choice.

[Ghoste]

If you're leaning towards flipping it, I would opt for reliability (because you will drive it hard before selling) and then affordable performance increase (not much more than stock).  But that's just my opinion.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the rest of the mechanicals for you.

[Rolling_Thunder]

8.6 pistons with 915 heads        

working with what you got what are you going to do ?   

[471_Magnum]

Assuming Arrowhead would exchange the 452s, they'll want at least $200 to upgrade to 915s with hardened seats. Then add in the hassle factor (shipping, etc). While those would put me about 9.3:1 CR, I just don't think they're worth the trouble.

I'm now even rethinking the value of replacing the 346s. I didn't spend a lot of time inspecting them last night. They may clean-up with a nice port-match. I need to overlay a gasket and see how much material I have to work with.

The XE268 cam I bought isn't particularly radical, but it certainly won't generate a lot of cylinder pressure at 8.7:1. I'm sure it needs more than 8.7:1 to make really good low end torque. On the flip side, with the stick, I want it to rev. Anything smaller will run out of breath, so I'll probably stick with it.

I forgot to mention, disassembly revealed the transmission is a 23 spline, not the 18 spline that I assumed it had. I'm actually not terribly bothered by that discrepancy. If I keep the car, I'll install a Passon OD gearset down the line, making the 23 spline a moot point.

I'm not really looking to flip the car. Once I get things sorted out, it will probably grow on me. I'm just dealing with some frustration at the moment.

[Nacho-RT74]

I'm not really looking to flip the car. Once I get things sorted out, it will probably grow on me. I'm just dealing with some frustration at the moment.

and thinking those B bodies are more comfortable than earliers as far I have known, then you'll be find when this storm just go away.

[89MOPAR]

Sorry to hear the troubles, on the other hand - now you have really dug into it, turned some furious wrenches on it , and you'll aprreciate it all the more when it is running well.   Thats a great rig, makes me want my old GTX back.   But only so many rigs at a time.   And a new experience and a new car is good.

A true pot smoker would have flow tested those ports with some bong smoke !   
So, yeah that guy was 1/2 assed..

[Charger_Fan]

A true pot smoker would have flow tested those ports with some bong smoke !   

Sorry to hear about your troubles, that definitely takes some of the fun out of a new toy.
Hopefully it's smooth sailing after this little fix.

[Charger1973]

Yeah I really hate to hear that, it looks mint.  I think once you get the bugs worked out of it, you will enjoy the car and it will grow on you like you said. 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

There are 30-over flat tops that are about 90-thou down in the hole.

Probably trw/speed-pro 2366's.   

Some old '67 915 heads would bump the compression up a bit with those.

Thats what I am running with Engles K56 cam