My New Toy ... 73 SE

[73Charger340]

I was never really a Mopar guy and then I ran across this 1973 Charger in a trade deal I made.  The car is growing on me and I am really enjoying looking at the low wide stance.  I have decided to keep it and restore it.  Going for a street rod resto as the original engine is long gone along with it's value.  Interior is gold, no cracks on dash pad, all interior parts work.  Body has wheelwell corner issues and one small spot under driver seat, but never wrecked, dented, etc.

Original Engine was 318 but previous owner swapped in the 340/727 from a 68.  I still need to remove the PS pump to get the block code to see if it is the 10.5:1 340 or not.  Edelbrock Air Gap manifold, Edelbrock 600cfm, Purple Cam (not sure which one,  but LOPEY idle!).  If anyone wants to do an even swap for the air gap, I am looking for a Performer or Mopar Perf dual plane due to hood clearance issues.  Can't get carb tuned, but I think I have fuel issues.  Cheap inline electric pump running off low voltage side of ballast resistor ... LOL!  Some people should not be allowed to work on cars!  Swapping in a hi-flow mechanical this week.  Also has a cheap 5psi regulator on it now.  Plan to replace with a Holley adjustable ... what is the best psi for the Edelbrock Performer carbs?  Also plan to put the electronic dist back in it and toss the 68 dist, add full-length headers (has brand new manifold back), remove the vinyl top and louvered opera windows, install satin black rallye wheels and paint it Plum Crazy!

Or is it I who is Plum Crazy?

ANyway, here are some pics of the car today.  Wish me luck and I look forward to utilizing this board as my technical reference ... hope y'all are up to speed on your Charger trivia!   

[b5blue]

Nice starting point! 

[lisiecki1]

... what is the best psi for the Edelbrock Performer carbs? 

edelbrock recommends no higher than 9 psi of feed pressure, and in my personal experiences the carb will start leaking at the step up rod covers between 10 and 12 psi.

welcome to the site and the charger addiction!!!

[Dans 68]

Good luck, and welcome to the site!

Dan

[lisiecki1]

also, you may want to change out your air filter, with those style filters the filter material would come apart and get sucked in to the carb.  I don't know if this issue was ever fixed or not.

Randy

[73Charger340]

also, you may want to change out your air filter, with those style filters the filter material would come apart and get sucked in to the carb.  I don't know if this issue was ever fixed or not.

Randy

Funny you mention that!  The foam on the filter when I got it was gone in the center.  I bought new foam and after running it for a few minutes, it started melting the foam so I'm guessing lean backfires ...

[Ghoste]

Welcome to the site, the Mopar crowd, and above all, the Charger cult.  (there is no escape  )
Nice car btw.

[69*F5*SE]

Welcome and good luck with your Charger   

[Beer]

Plum what?




Working on it!

Yours is pretty close to a twin to what I started with.


How did you get the airgap intake to clear the stock hood (pics of carb/aircleaner)?

[73Charger340]

Plum what?

Working on it!

Yours is pretty close to a twin to what I started with.


How did you get the airgap intake to clear the stock hood (pics of carb/aircleaner)?

Using the cheap lousy Edelbrock foam air cleaner is how it fits but still rubs the underhood insulation ... I want to put a round air cleaner on it, but it won't fit, so that is why I want to trade it for a dual plane.

Any body pics of that 73 in Plum???

[lisiecki1]

Plum what?

Working on it!

Yours is pretty close to a twin to what I started with.


How did you get the airgap intake to clear the stock hood (pics of carb/aircleaner)?

Using the cheap lousy Edelbrock foam air cleaner is how it fits but still rubs the underhood insulation ... I want to put a round air cleaner on it, but it won't fit, so that is why I want to trade it for a dual plane.

Any body pics of that 73 in Plum???

a round cleaner won't clear even with a drop base on it?

[chargerjy9]

welcome to the site. I am with you on the looks of the 73 with it's low, wide body,long hood, sexy, curvy lines, compound surfaces etc. I have an unrestored survivor . with a 400 4 bbl. if you need photos of any area let me know

[73Charger340]

Plum what?

Working on it!

Yours is pretty close to a twin to what I started with.


How did you get the airgap intake to clear the stock hood (pics of carb/aircleaner)?

Using the cheap lousy Edelbrock foam air cleaner is how it fits but still rubs the underhood insulation ... I want to put a round air cleaner on it, but it won't fit, so that is why I want to trade it for a dual plane.

Any body pics of that 73 in Plum???

a round cleaner won't clear even with a drop base on it?

Never even tried one because I had heard they interfere with electric choke?

[73Charger340]

So out of curiosity, I had a rockcrawler I was asking $4k for and I took this car as an even trade for it.  I know NADA lists it around $7k but assuming it was all original which it was not.

Being a Mopar newbie, would $4k be a reasonable price for this car?

[lisiecki1]

Plum what?

Working on it!

Yours is pretty close to a twin to what I started with.


How did you get the airgap intake to clear the stock hood (pics of carb/aircleaner)?

Using the cheap lousy Edelbrock foam air cleaner is how it fits but still rubs the underhood insulation ... I want to put a round air cleaner on it, but it won't fit, so that is why I want to trade it for a dual plane.

Any body pics of that 73 in Plum???

a round cleaner won't clear even with a drop base on it?

Never even tried one because I had heard they interfere with electric choke?

I used to run one on my 360 and didn't have any choke interference problems.....

[lisiecki1]

also, i think 4K would be a good price for a good condition, running 3rd gen....

[GN]

She looks solid !

[RD]

congratulations on the 3rd gen.. looks like my twin sans the on the column shifter.  beautiful car.  could you put up pics of it from a 360 degree viewpoint?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i was able to fit a K&N air filter with drop down base aftermarket housing, all atop a 400ci in a 3rd gen with a edelbrock performer RPM intake manifold without it hitting the hood. that is with a 1" spacer between the carb and the bottom air cleaner housing (chrome aftermarket air filter housing).  on two different occasions, it was with a edelbrock carburetor and a demon carburetor with both fitting w/o hitting the hood.

[Beer]

[

Any body pics of that 73 in Plum???

Not yet, final paint will be in Sept/Oct I have a thread in the body paint section with progress pics.

Jim

[mopar73]

Great looking car   I hope you enjoy it like all of us other charger people do   Drive the heck out of it now before you do any kind of resto.

[73Charger340]

So last night I spent about $200 on a new alternator, battery and Voltage regulator and still no charge!  I searched the forum and my next attempt is the drill out the firewall connector mod for the large battery/charge wires.  The bad connector makes sense since with no load on the system and car off I measure 12.2 volts at the alternator terminal, and with car runningI only have 8.9 at the ballast resistor 12V side!  I'm dropping voltage under load through the crappy corroded contacts.

Next step is a new mechanical fuel pump, Holley regulator, fuel pressure gauge and filter.

THEN ... once it is charging and getting enough fuel maybe I can drive it and break it in properly!   

BTW - Thanks for all the comments!

[lisiecki1]

have you had the dash out and checked the condition of the ammeter terminals?  Mine burnt up once upon a time.....

[73Charger340]

have you had the dash out and checked the condition of the ammeter terminals?  Mine burnt up once upon a time.....

That's on tonight's list along with installing a temp & oil pressure sender ... would be nice to know how the engine is doing!   

I guess the previous owner didn't have the same concerns! 

[73Charger340]

Update ...

I did some investigative work on the engine since I cannot for the life of me get it tuned properly!  I decided to dig a little deeper to see what I really have!

- Block is a 2536030-318
- Heads are 4027596 360
- Intake is an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap
- Carb is a 1406 600cfm Electric Choke
- Cam is a Mopar Purple but NO IDEA which one!
- Trans is 727, shifts feel stock, no idea on TC stall

Anyone know how to ID the cam without removing it?  Stall speed determination?

Also, how do I ID the rear axle?  It has a rear diff cover (not 3rd member) and cover is round/oval shape vs. traditional Dana shape.  Gear ratio tag reads 2.71 which explains the lack of get up and go!

I went to check the timing and cannot see the timing marks!  They are blocked by the radiator hose.  It looks like he put an early-style water pump on it with driver hose.  I need to get the correct pump so I can time it and then also swap out the PS brackets.  That answers the riddle of why the PS pump was mounted so high!

So ... I am a bit bummed about the engine!  But, I guess I can't complain cuz now the engine is a 318 which was the original engine displacement which will help the value.

[jaak]

Sweet car! looks like whoever painted your engine and mine had the same taste....heres a pic of my engine when I got the car....



Here's a pic of it after a little elbow grease and paint....



Heres a link to my 73 thread, it has a write up on installing my interior, installing new clutch and painting my engine bay and engine http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,56964.0.html

Good luck with your car and keep us updated on progress/work you do to it!

Jason