Father/son 1972 charger restoration project

[chargergirl]

Car is sweet! It's gonna turn heads and be a great car to drive ESPECIALLY in high school!

[oldrock]

time for another update... we got it inspected and IT PASSED! 

Now it is ready for driving although we need to do a ton of stuff to it still. Here is probably the weirdest part though... the guy who did the inspection on the car used to own a 72 charger! What are the odds of that. It was a very nice older guy and was very nice. He did mention he thinks we might have an issue with the motor mount so guess we need to check that out next. He also did a "test drive" not just in the parking lot but took off in the car and drove it around the block. Said it really brought back alot of good memories.

So I guess we are going to have to add motor mounts to our list of things to do. It isn't one of the areas I am that familar with so other than looking and seeing the bolts are still there, not sure what exactly to look for. If any of you seasoned charger guys have suggestions, let me know.

[Finn]

He Might be referring to the blocks breaking. Usually guys will just drill them through then bolt it all together.
See this thread:
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,13216.0.html

[oldrock]

thanks Finn and that must be it. I didn't examine the motor mounts carefully but will get under there and check out that drivers side up close to see if it is broken. I don't think we need to bother with the mod considering his motor is just a 318 so we will just order up a standard motor mount at the local autozone and get that put on. If it lasts 1-2 years, that is good enough.

[Finn]

How's the project going???

[oldrock]

Finn: Josh's car is running good and no problems with motor mount that we can tell. We are still slowly woking on items to clean it up but it is very drivable as is. BTW does finn have anything to do with Finland? Just curious because our family is originally from Finland.

Restoration update:
The most recent projects we have done are fix the fuel gauge which isn't a big deal but sure is handy so Josh knows when to get gas without running out. Next is repair to the rear brakes. Rear brakes were making a rattling noise while driving so we investigated and discovered a loose bracket. Looked like previous owner used the wrong size bracket because it wasn't mounted between the sides of the drum brake properly so just rattling around in there every time we hit a bump. A few minutes on a grinder and a re-attached spring and we had the bracket fitted properly. So now brakes are working fine with no more rattles. With new discs up front and properly functioning drums in the rear so car is braking very strong now.

Josh also finally saved up enough money to get a new carb to replace that old carter one with the leak in the throttle linkage. He has a holly carb on order as we speak so looking forward to getting that installed later this week. Should help make engine run stronger since it is a higher flow carb but more importantly eliminates that gas leak which was a safety concern.

Next things on his to do list are work on the floorboards and fixing a leak in the power steering. There are some rust thru spots in the floor which are not huge but do need to be addressed. Probably going to just patch them as a temporary fix since new floorpans are pretty expensive.

Edited to add: forgot to mention The car must be looking better because we have already had our fist person stop by and ask if it is for sale.

[Finn]

Awesome, glad to hear its doing well!
And the Finn handle came from me being a Mark Twin fan as a kid haha. Though there are some pretty rockin' metal bands from Finland...

[oldrock]

bands from Finland... yep I guess it is an inherited trait because both of my sons have music in their blood and are even in a rock band. Josh is the lead guitarist and his brother plays bass. Here is a vid clip from a recent band practice. They are actually pretty good imho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oO4Lygl3Fg

[oldrock]

just a quick update and question for you guys. We got the new rebuilt holly carb installed so no more gas leaks around the linkage which is the good news! The bad news is we still have the same issue with the car hesitating on hard acceleration. Works fine if you apply gas slowly up to about 1/3 or 1/2 pedal travel but if you go past that or if you accelerate hard and the engine just seems to cut out. Checked timing which is fine and have checked basic stuff including new spark plugs and wires, inspected and emory clothed distributer contacts which look fine. Idle is 750rpm which is what specs call for and it idles perfectly so I think that part is gtg.

I was looking at it yesterday and it almost seems like the carb is staved for fuel. When the engine cuts out, you can almost hear air rushing sound in the carb. So now I am looking at fuel delivery and first thought is could it be a fuel pump issue? I have a seethru fuel filter on it and checked that on hard acceleration and fuel is still in the fuel filter but that doesn't necessarily mean it is reaching the carb. Think we should just change out the fuel pump to see if that is it or is there something else to check first? Don't know how much a fuel pump cost for the charger but Josh was saving up for a couple more wheels and this is definately a priority over that so maybe need to buy a fuel pump and see if that helps. Just another thought is could it have something to do with the secondaries since it only does it once you get to that 1/3 to 1/2 throttle position? Any thoughts welcomed. Car is getting better all the time but this hesitation can be dangerous so need to get it sorted out.

[oldrock]

nothing much to update on the charger but I have been working on my own muscle car restoration quite a bit lately. At the risk of being flamed for the non mopar pic, here are a couple shots of my muscle car.

[jaak]

Nice Mustang! You got any before pics?

Jason

[ACUDANUT]

 Okay here it goes. Fast back Mustangs are the ONLY one's worth fixing. 

[oldrock]

I used to have a 1969 fastback back when I was in high school (long time ago hehe) and agree they are nice. I didn't want to dump that much money in a "just for fun" car though so thought a 69 coupe would be fun. Also for a coupe mine is pretty rare. It is actually an S code with the 390 4 bbl. According to the reports, less than 900 were made.

And about Josh's charger, we are still having issues with his new carb. Car idles fine but bogs down when accelerating off idle. After a couple seconds, will usually throttle right on up but really need to get that issue solved. Got a buddy who is more of a carb tuning guy than me to see if he can tweak it for josh this week. Oh and here is a shot of the motor on the stang.  


stock the 390 puts out 325hp but with the mods I have on her, it is around 400hp and my goal is 500hp

[ACUDANUT]

 Ford 390's are a great Motor. I actually know a little about Fords myself.  A buddy of mine has a 427 side oiler in a Torino.

[FlatbackFanatic]

Nice Mustang, I like those years(1969-1970). 

[Tilar]

And about Josh's charger, we are still having issues with his new carb. Car idles fine but bogs down when accelerating off idle. After a couple seconds, will usually throttle right on up but really need to get that issue solved. Got a buddy who is more of a carb tuning guy than me to see if he can tweak it for josh this week.

If the carb is right it might be something in the vacuum advance, especially since you have the same problem with two different carbs. Not everyone reads these types of threads but do the others. You should ask this in the General Q & A or the performance corner forums.

[oldrock]

thanks for the suggestion tilar. We posted the problem on the engine section and looks like you were right... it was a vac advance issue. Someone told us the port we had the vac advance plugged into was wrong and sure enough, we tried it as he suggested and vac doesn't kill the engine anymore. Haven't tried retiming it yet but should be just a matter of resetting the timing now and we will be in business! At least I have fingers crossed that is all it was. I doublechecked the before pics I had taken of the old carb and we hooked it up the exact same way it was when we bought the car. Interesting that the previous owner had it hooked up wrong but I guess that is why it had a hesitation problem all along and the new carb just made it alot worse. Will know for sure tomorrow. We are going to reset the timing when Josh gets home from school tomorrow. Hopefully we have this issue licked!

[alcusswhen]

thanks for the suggestion tilar. We posted the problem on the engine section and looks like you were right... it was a vac advance issue. Someone told us the port we had the vac advance plugged into was wrong and sure enough, we tried it as he suggested and vac doesn't kill the engine anymore. Haven't tried retiming it yet but should be just a matter of resetting the timing now and we will be in business! At least I have fingers crossed that is all it was. I doublechecked the before pics I had taken of the old carb and we hooked it up the exact same way it was when we bought the car. Interesting that the previous owner had it hooked up wrong but I guess that is why it had a hesitation problem all along and the new carb just made it alot worse. Will know for sure tomorrow. We are going to reset the timing when Josh gets home from school tomorrow. Hopefully we have this issue licked!

I've learned over the last 40 or so years that a stock small block runs best at 10 btdc vacum unhooked.

[1969chargerrtse]

Real nice Mustang.

[oldrock]

thanks and the charger has been a good learning project for Josh. Bottom line is old cars need work sometimes and this one is no exception. We just had the starter go out on it so are now shopping around for a reasonably priced one to replace it. Oh and thanks for the compliment on the mustang. I don't make a big deal of it on here because I know it is a mopar site but am having fun restoring the old mustang.

[oldrock]

just a quick update that we ended up going with a rebuilt napa starter and it works fine. Was a big hassle to get it installed though with the headers. Had to loosen the header bolts and do alot of jiggling to get it installed but we got it done. Here is a shot today of Josh out washing his charger. We did a test drive around the neighborhood to make sure we didn't cause any problems when we jiggled the headers to get that starter installed. Seems to be working fine so no harm done.


washing up "the beast" as Josh calls his car. Notice the matching wheels/tires. New fronts are his early Xmas gift.

[mikesbbody]

Looks Great!  the wheels and tires go well with the rear stripe 

[Beer]

That looks great! 

[ACUDANUT]

 Yea, Nice looking car.

[oldrock]

I know Josh's charger is nothing special compared to some of the very pro level restorations you other guys have done but he has put alot of hard work into the restoration so is very proud of his 1st car. I am very proud of him and think the charger has come a long way considering Josh is only 16 and considering what the car looked like when we started with it 6 months ago. I doubt there are alot of teenagers that would take on a restoration like that at age 16 these days. There are tons of things Josh would still like to do to the charger but bottom line is the charger is tagged, inspected, insured and driving. It is a very cool first car and one I hope he will remember the rest of his life! I am glad I got the chance to share the restoration experience with him and hope one day he does the same thing with his sons.