Getting ready for Spring Fling 2011

[Kern Dog]

Hey guys and gals. Who is getting their cars ready for this years Van Nuys Spring Fling?
New member here. I've heard of the site but just joined tonight. I'm planning on driving my Charger to LA for the first time, a trip of just under 390 miles each way.
I bought my 1970 in March of 2000 . It was a 500 model, green on green with a tattered white vinyl top. 318/904/8.25 , 4 wheel drum brakes and hubcaps for the sum of $1700. I think that the seller was drunk or hung over, because he was asking $2000 and I took a chance that he would go for a low ball offer. I drove the car for a month to work each day, 140 miles round trip, since I was rebuilding the motor in my work truck.
Within 2 years I had repaired the rust around the rear window channel and the trunk floor. Amazingly the quarters and everywhere else was solid, not even surface rust. I traded body and paintwork with a buddy: I built his 2000 sq ft garage and he did the equivalent of a 10K paint job. Although F8 Green has gained appreciation over the years, in 2002 I wanted red, so I went with a the color of my new truck...2002 Dodge Ram Flame Red in basecoat/clearcoat. I always liked the Bumblebee stripes, so I went ahead and made a tribute R/T car. I'd already swapped in a std bore 440 with new rings and gaskets and a MP 280/474 cam. I also upgraded to 12 inch brakes from a Cordoba and an 8 3/4 from a 66 Coronet.  Year one got lots of calls from me along with about $2500 for seat skins, door panels, carpet, headliner, package tray, sill plates, you name it. I thought that I was finished.
Now here it is, 2011 and in the years since the car was first "done", I have added a better 727,  rear disc brakes, improved the suspension and in 2004 I swapped in a 440/493 stroker. I had 2 camshafts go bad, and this, along with a pig rich BG 850 carb, led to increased oil consumption and smoking. I pulled the motor to douche out the debris and hone the cylinders for new rings. The motor is almost back together, just waiting for a few parts from Mancini and Hensley Performance. The Spring Fling is in mid April, so I need to get some seat time in the car to shake out any bugs that may occur. If you see a red 70 with a black BB stripe on 18 inch wheels, thats probably me. I'm looking forward to meeting other Charger enthusiasts there. One year I met TRIPLETS that were at the show that EACH had Chargers... Thats cool.

[Ponch ®]

Welcome to the site! Nice story on your car.. any pics?

See ya at the Fling...I'll be there both days working the show.

[Kern Dog]

As soon as I learn how to load pictures, I will gladly post them. Thanks for the kind words.

[472 R/T SE]

So why do you suppose the cams were going bad?   Some of that new reformulated oil?

[68X426]

Welcome Red 70. 

Pics please. Love to see your beast. 

390 miles away? Are in Northern California? You may be close to me and several DC members.

Arizona? Baja?

[Kern Dog]

Hey guys...
I live near Sacramento. I will be leaving either thursday or friday for the trip. Some guys in my local Mopar club want to head toward Monterey in hopes of meeting up with others heading south from washington and Oregon. The tentative plan is to caravan down HWY 1 then cut over to the valley. Sounds like fun, as the Charger actually handles quite well.
The stories I have on 440s with this car can fill a small book. If you care to know, read on!
#1 was a 77,000 mile standard bore 440 from a New Yorker from a pick n pull yard in Sacto. I had it honed and decked, then had the heads milled .050 to raise squeeze to about 9.5 to one. I ran 1 7/8 headers, a Holley 750 and a MP 280/474 cam. The car really scrammed for minimal cash. I bought a 73 Challenger to flip for some bucks and decided to use the 440 in that car. I got a 76 440 from a police spec Coronet and had it bored .030. This time I bought six pack pistons and Edelbrock aluminum heads. I also stepped up to the 284/484 cam. That mill ran great until I threw a rod on the freeway at 3700 rpms. The #6 rod broke in the middle and stuffed the piston into the head, taking out both valves and guides. It still ran and since I was in a scary neighborhood, I actually drove it 4 miles to my moms house! I  thought that the block was AFU so I bought a 74 440 and went to work on #3. Its .030 with a 4.15 stroke, 10.8 to 1 forged Ross pistons, the  '509 MP cam and 2 inch TTI headers. I had it tuned at a chassis dyno shop where it peaked at 370 HP and 452 lb/ft tq. Those #s seemed low, but this is a net number. The consensus was that the drivetrain losses equate to a 25% factor, so the flywheel rating theoretically would have been 494 HP and 603 TQ. I would have expected the motor to have equal HP and TQ numbers, but the dyno operator surmised that the 4 degree advanced cam setting led to lower rpm power. He also suggested a more modern cam for better driveability and performance. This is where things started to go awry.
I got a Comp Cams 285 HL and swapped it in. Yeah, I used ALL the cam lube on the lobes and lifters. It was hard to start due to the distributor being 180 out and the carb running dry. It ran hot during break in and I had to shut down to let it cool. A month later it wiped a lobe. I sent the cam back to Summit and the actually covered it under warranty! The second cam install and break in went better, but a few years later, THAT cam crapped out too. After 2 bad cams I started researching the cure. I found out alot about the lack of protective zinc in modern oils that I'd been using. I also felt burned by Comps products so I reinstalled the used '509 with NEW lifters, this time with the cam installed straight up. I also switched to Valvoline VR1 oil with a zinc additive. When I pulled the motor apart last month, the cam and lifters look great. The oil must be working now.

[472 R/T SE]

I was always told the .509 cam was good for manual tranny set ups.  I say that since I ran one with a 727 behind it & everyone told me my set up was whack.  I had the gears but never enough stall to keep the rpm's up.

If it hadn't been for this site I would have never known about the oil being reformulated.

Good luck with your trip.   

[Kern Dog]

Lots of guys run or RAN the '509 cam in cars with 727s. I have a 3000 stall converter and 4.10 gears. The car should be capable of very low 12s or high 11s if I can learn how to launch it.  I may get to the track this summer to see what it will do. Of course I'll need different tires for the drags. The 18 inch rims and low profile tires handle and stop great, but certainly not optimal for drag racing. The long stroke crank probably doesnt need as much gear either. A 3.55 could work.  The Mopar Action Bold Beeper had a Ray Barton built 493 that ran 11.30s without full tuning using 3.23 gears.

[Kern Dog]

I'm getting closer to the motor install. I have the heads on and torqued. Earlier while installing the rods and checking clearances, I found that #1 rod passed REAL close to the block where the oil pickup tube screws in. The 4.15 stroke adds .400 to the stroke, just over 3/8". The consensus is that you need a minimum of .060 clearance from the block to any rotating mass. I first built this engine in 2004 and ran it for around 3000 miles with no problems! I just noticed it for the first time yesterday and there was maybe .12 of room. I took a file and shaved the block oil boss down to get a clearance of .070.  I looked at a 440 short block on another engine stand and saw that there was plenty of clearance there. Thats probably because that engine is a stock stroke mill.

[Kern Dog]

The motor is in and I was almost ready to fire it up today. I had a problem wth the spark plugs on #5 and 7. They wouldnt thread in. I may need to chase the threads. 
Heres the car .

[ChargerSG]

Looking good

[Kern Dog]

ITS ALIVE !!!
I was able to use a thread chaser to clean the threads and get the final 2 spark plugs in. I had some trouble getting spark. The ECM crapped out, as did the distributor. Who knows why. I safely stored them in the trunk while the motor was out. I now have a stock RV distributor in, but the curve is all wrong for the motor. I'll have to have my MP distributor fixed.
ZERO leaks, which is nice but unusual for me. I'm going to drive it tomorrow and probably peel out some.

[grdprx]

ITS ALIVE !!!
I was able to use a thread chaser to clean the threads and get the final 2 spark plugs in. I had some trouble getting spark. The ECM crapped out, as did the distributor. Who knows why. I safely stored them in the trunk while the motor was out. I now have a stock RV distributor in, but the curve is all wrong for the motor. I'll have to have my MP distributor fixed.
ZERO leaks, which is nice but unusual for me. I'm going to drive it tomorrow and probably peel out some.

  Right on!

[472 R/T SE]

"peel out some"  

It's been a year or two since I heard that.    

Remember, we need video or pictures of any suspicious activity.   Engine bay looks sharp. 

[Kern Dog]

UPDATE:
This is really getting annoying. Spark yesterday and nothing today. Maybe you electrical gurus here may have an idea of what the heck is wrong...
I had it running yesterday after 2 hours of testing parts on another car, checking everything with a test light, trading parts, all of that stuff. Sometimes it would get spark but still not run. The battery had run down some so I charged it for 2 hours then put it back in. It fired up and ran great!  I shut it down and walked in the house with intentions of driving it today.
Today I tried to start it, but it just spun over. NO spark. as before, I tested everything with the test light. Power to both sides of the ballast, power to the coil and the ECM. I pulled the bulkhead wiring and cleaned the terminals too. At times it would get spark to the plugs, other times it didnt. It wouldn't start either way. These exact same symptoms happened yesterday. This sort of thing is really annoying, especially when it just starts working on its own and I cant figure out why.
I am lucky to have other cars here to test parts. I just have a hard time understanding how a part can work one time and fail just moments later.

[Kern Dog]

ITS RUNNING again!
Waaahooooooo! One thing that I find most annoying  in cars is when something either works then quits, OR isn't working then just decides to do what it is supposed to.
Today I did pretty much the same as I HAVE been doing... checking with the test light, unwrapping the harness looking for damaged wires, etc. I tested 2 other distributors using the existing wiring of the car, and in BOTH cases, they worked, then moments later they didn't. Wierd, huh?    It had to be a loose connection or negative ground issue. The wire plug to the ECM wasnt fitting properly and the ECM didnt sit flat against the body. I know that these ECMs need to be grounded to operate, so I used a different ECM after scraping paint from the firewall where it mounts. I replaced a terminal end on the ballast resistor-it wasnt in terrible shape but it didnt look great either. The car fired up and ran great. I went for a drive and at about 1/2 throttle, the pedal stuck! I popped it loose and kept it under half throttle for the remainder of the drive.
It runs great, sounds great and feels more responsive than before. It feels more streetable than before, as if all cylinders are firing evenly and more balanced. I guess 493 cubic inches have a way of taming the '509 cam! I plan to put the hood back on soon, then I can move on to the other areas I need to work on. The motor was the biggie. After this stuff, the other tidbits should be easy!

[Kern Dog]

It feels nice to be able to get in and drive the car with no worries. No slow cranking when the motor is warm. No overheating. NO SMOKE! Nice.

[Kern Dog]

I just pulled the 4.10 SG diff and put in an open 3.23. For some reason, the axle shafts are too long now. I tightened the flange and the axle wouldnt spin. I have Green bearings so I'll be able to cut about 1/16" from each shaft to be okay.
Heres a TIP: the 70 Charger uses a throttle cable that is identical in design and length as a SLANT SIX A body from 70-76. I had to replace mine and checked it against my A body parts stash. SCORE!