496 stroker project begins

[General_01]

Time for some body color while that motor is out...   No more GM look... 

That's the plan.

[PocketThunder]

You know i just had a great idea.  Instead of buying the old 383 from you i should just take the other one and then you dont have to pull this one!  Then you can put the fan and other misc items back in tomorrow and you'll make the Charger picnic this year for sure. 

Whaddya think?      

[General_01]

  .............nope!

[firefighter3931]

Nice progress....excellent opportunity to detail the engine bay. 

Paul....lmao  You get an "A" for effort and being such a nice guy. 



Ron

[BB1]

Love it.  hmmmmm

[General_01]

Today I was hoping my cousin could help, but  he had some things come up and wasn't able to help me today. I did make some progress with my two helpers though.

[General_01]

Here are my two helpers. Look, one of them got their finger dirty!

[General_01]

  :RantExplode:I hate brake boosters!!!

I started trying to take this out on Monday. I spent about  1 hour just trying to get the nuts off the studs. I spent about another 45-60 minutes working on pulling the cotter key from the pin that holds the booster rod to the brake pedal. No luck so I quit for the day.

Tonight I stopped and got a couple more tools to do the job. The great part is I worked on it for 30 minutes and didn't use any of the tools I bought tonight. Finally got the thing out. Tomorrow I will unbolt the wiper motor and get busy cleaning the dirt out and Maybe Friday and Saturday I will sand it down and prep it for paint.

Here is the booster and MC. I will be looking for a rebuilt setup to put back in.

[werner]

I know what yo mean about the booster. Just changed mine in 69 charger. What a pain in the @#$%.Used lots of swivals and 3/8's extensions.Ended up taking out front bucketseat to get under dash. Great posts, keep them coming.

[General_01]

Well, I did a crappy prep job and painted the engine bay. I am running out of time and inspiration on this project, but I can't just leave it sit because I need the garage back. It will do for now and when I get the car repainted down the road, I will just pull the motor and have it done again. My cousin also came in and installed the flywheel and McLeod Street Twin clutch.

[firefighter3931]

Don't be so hard on yourself....the engine bay looks great for a quickie scuff n paint. Nice work ! 



Ron

[oldschool]

Don't be so hard on yourself....the engine bay looks great for a quickie scuff n paint. Nice work ! 



Ron

  it will all be worth it when you mash the gas and feel all that torque!

[General_01]

If all goes well this weekend I may have the bellhousing and tranny bolted to the engine and maybe even dropped in.

Thanks guys. I need to get this thing going and shift some gears.

[General_01]

Well, I have not gotten far since my last post. I changed the power steering hoses and then went to work on the 4 speed. Didn't get far at all with that. I pulled the stuff out of storage to clean it. I put the stuff away 12 years ago. I started cleaning the bellhousing and found cracks and spider webbing around the top bolt holes where the tranny bolts to the bellhousing. Looks like I need a new bellhousing. Probably go with a Lakewood. More money. WooHoo!!!


Off to go shopping. If you don't hear from me in a week, call the police. I think my wife killed me.

[General_01]

I got the Lakewood bellhousing and got it almost mounted. I will have to finish bolting it up to the block tomorrow and get a starter and mount that as well as the tranny. By Sunday night this thing should be ready to drop in the car.

I did find that it looks like I may need to do some grinding because it looks like the headers hit the bellhousing. I will do a mock up tomorrow and get that taken care of as well. Here are pics of the bellhousing so far.

[General_01]

Got some mockup work done today. I did not get the starter. I can get that during the week and put it on next weekend or during the week if I get time. I had to do some grinding on the passenger side of the bellhousing to get the headers on. Here are some pics.

[General_01]

I also found I need to grind down the ball needed for the Z-bar that attaches to the bellhousing. The hole is there, but they did not allow enough clearance behind the bracket to allow it to screw all the way in.

[firefighter3931]

Looking good General !  You must be getting anxious to get this beast up and running. 



Ron

[General_01]

I was actually doing all right, but now that it is this far I want to try and at least fire the car and take a short drive in the car before I park it. If I can get the brake booster and master cylinder on in short order this week I may have a shot at starting the engine this weekend. A long shot, but a shot none the less.

[General_01]

Well, I doubt I will get a chance to drive the car this year, let alone fire it up. I did get the wiper motor and the brake booster/ master cylinder on the car today. The wiper motor took about 10 minutes and the booster took the rest of the day. I even had my 11 year old Cynthia trying to start a nut on the booster because her hands are small. She tried for a good half hour before I told her she could stop. This means the motor will go in the engine bay tomorrow and the headers will be bolted on.

Boy, am I sore. Laying on your back under the dash trying to bolt a booster back in is not very fun.

[69_500]

Looks like your finally getting close to dropping the engine in the car and going to be able to enjoy it.

Troy did the same swap on his power brake booster back in September at Geno's shop on the friday night before the Monster Mopar show. It was quite amusing with the 3 of us trying to get it into his car so that he could drive back to the show the next day.

[General_01]

  Wish i had three guys helping me. It probably still would have taken all day, but at least I would have had somebody to talk to during breaks.

Made more progress today. The motor is now sitting in the engine bay with headers bolted on. At least it looks like I am getting there. I still need to bang the header tube in next to the power steering gear box. The header is resting on it so it won't drop all the way down. That won't take to many more hits. I have already done it a bit. If I had two or three guys here next weekend I could probably fire it up. I think with just me it will be a few more weekends and we will probably have snow by then.

[firefighter3931]

Good progress....keep at it Bud ! 


Ron

[General_01]

Still kinda looks the same, but I actually did get more done.

I got the engine to sit down so I could put the engine mount bolt in.

I got the Z bar in and the clutch hooked up. Still have to adjust it.

I bolted the shifter to the tranny.

I bolted the crossmember up and bolted the tranny to it.

I bolted the power steering pump in.

I put the water pump pulley and fan on. I have to take it off and put a spacer behind the pully because the groove does not match the groove on the crank pully.

I bolted the radiator in.

I bolted the exhaust to the headers.

I put the carb on top tof the engine for a pic. It is back in the box. There will be a 1" spacer under it when I bolt it on.

[General_01]

This weekend I bolted the carb and spacer on, took out the under dash spring, adjusted the clutch, bolted up the electric fuel pump, hooked up the battery cables, ran the engine harness wiring, the coil, voltage regulator, ECU, hooked up the throttle cable, bolted in the alternator and wired it, put in battery tray and battery.

All I need to do now is:
- hook up radiator hoses
- hook up spark plug wires
- finish hooking up the fuel line
- hook up the shifting rods on the 4-speed
- run the power wire for the electric fuel pump
- run wires to the tranny for reverse lights
- fill up the fluids
- start car 

No pics today. The memory card in the camera is screwed up and I did not have time to go get a new one.