Charger update---Updated with response about claim

[SG1022]

I'm pretty sure it's been a while, so here's the recent updates.

I had gotten my charger running, and was dealing with some exhaust leak/carb issues. The carb's electric choke wasn't working, and had some dead spots in the throttle. I was daily driving it for about two months, and one day while driving, white smoke came pouring out the exhaust and cowl. I took it to my friend's shop, and then came the bad news. The guy who, "rebuilt" my whole motor did just as poorly of a job as he did on my tranny. Not only did I blow a head gasket, but there were craks between the valves on three cylinders. Ontop of that, the cam was shitty, he didn't have a roller timing chain, the harmonic balancer was off the. . . rubber bushing? etc, etc etc.

Fast forward 3 months(to Saturday). My friend put a new cam in, balancer, lifters, Indy heads, valve covers, intake, double roller timing chain, and entirely new gaskets, and some other stuff. I was having trouble located a decent aluminum 360 intake, so Sunday night after work I drove four and a half hours up to Monroe washingtong(arrived there at 11:30), and bought an intake from a guy off craig's list. I got it down to my buddies shop Monday morning, and he had the car ready to go!

The only thing that didn't get done was the carb. Right now it has a shitty Carter 600 or 650. I have a brand new Barry Grant 750cfm DP, but we had to order a fuel rail for it, so it won't get on until next week.

It is an entirely new car! The old motor was a dog, but this new motor sounds incredible(the old motor didn't even have a lope), and really puts you in the seat, ontop of looking much better.

Before:


After:

[Brightyellow69rtse]

looks good nice job man!

[SG1022]

About 11:00 this morning I went out to get some coffee. I was heading back, and right before I passed under I5, I heard a HORRIBLE gutwrenching screeching of metal. I headed up the road to Tualatin, OR to get it on a lift and see what broke.

The damage is as follows:
-Two header tubes completely crushed flat
-Cut out wires torn from motor on driver's side
- right side exhaust horrible mangled
  -headers wrapped around starter
  -headers wrapped around transmission
  -whole driver's side moved off center, towards passenger side
-Shifter cable melted from being moved onto the header
-Trans cross member driver's side bolt sheered off and member possibly bent
-possible bent torsion bar
-oil pan dented by headers
-transmission pan dented by header collectors
-massive exhaust leaks at block due to bent header flanges
-maybe other stuff?

In that spot they are doing roadwork, and have a manhole that is exposed. The concrete triangel around it sits higher than the surrounding(yet to be paved road), and the actual steel manhole sits even higher above that. There were a few cars infront of me, so I couldn't actually see the road  ahread of me. Ontop of that, there were no warning signs or marking to alert driver of it coming up. Regardless, even if it had been posted; it seems unsafe.

I talked to city hall, and it's a state project, and state property. I will be seeking compensation from them.

[SG1022]

And the damage,

[SG1022]

She was looking and sounding pretty good before it all happened. . . 



Not but 3 minutes prior to the accident. . .


I just got the back seats in

[Darkman]

Not sure how it works in the US, but down here we must reduce speed limits if there are roadworks occuring and if there are any hazards in the road after they reopen it.

You do have a claim against them.

I used to manage a road profiling company and we would have been strung up by the short and curlies if we left things like that. Sometimes things like that cannot be fixed in the same shift, but with us if it couldn't be finished, we would have made a temporary ramp to avoid this and removed it when we came back. If damage was caused due to our works at the time, we had to pay for repairs.

Good luck with it!

[SG1022]

Not sure how it works in the US, but down here we must reduce speed limits if there are roadworks occuring and if there are any hazards in the road after they reopen it.

You do have a claim against them.

I used to manage a road profiling company and we would have been strung up by the short and curlies if we left things like that. Sometimes things like that cannot be fixed in the same shift, but with us if it couldn't be finished, we would have made a temporary ramp to avoid this and removed it when we came back. If damage was caused due to our works at the time, we had to pay for repairs.

Good luck with it!

Thanks!

Does that look unusual to leave something like that so exposed?

[Darkman]

Does that look unusual to leave something like that so exposed?

Not unusual. It does happen. But we have to do everything possible to make sure the public is safe

[Fred]

Maybe they figured the minium clearance height would have been sufficient for cars not to hit it. But if your car or any other car is lowered beyond that I don't know if they'ed be willing to pay compensation.   

[myk]

I can't believe that your car is so low that it struck that piece of road.  Chargers are pretty low, but not as low as some other cars so I can imagine other cars hit that piece of road as well?  Is your car significantly lowered?  It doesn't look like it.  Don't fret too much, 'OP; your car will be back on the road soon enough...

[BrianShaughnessy]

Wow. that sux bad 

That road hazard needs to be fixed but at the same time...   Keeping headers tucked up underneath is why I buy TTI's.     

[ACUDANUT]

Sorry for the bad luck. IMO I think your car must be sitting to low for that to happen.  That manhole cover looks to sticking up only about 2 inches. 

[SG1022]

Wow. that sux bad 

That road hazard needs to be fixed but at the same time...   Keeping headers tucked up underneath is why I buy TTI's.     

YES. TTI's will be my next purchase.

It was really hard to photograph the road hazard. I'm not sure if you can see it from the pictures, but not only does the steel portion sit above the level, but the asphalt sits another two inches above, and the concrete, even further above that. That, combined with it not being at all a gradual change before that.

That being said, Hooker headers are the BIGGEST PIECES OF SHIT I have ever used. The driver's side sits INCHES LOWER than the passenger side, by design. Horrible, horrible design. That's not even mentioning the thin exhaust leak prone flanges, and poor access to header bolts. No headers are particularly easy to work on, but these are far worse than the rest.

[myk]

TTi's are the obvious choice but I heard Dough Thorley headers are supposed to be a virtual copy of TTi's designs, and they're also cheaper; just a thought if you're running out of money like me...

[Silver R/T]

Nice 3rd gen, sorry this happened to you.

[Darkman]

Maybe they figured the minium clearance height would have been sufficient for cars not to hit it. But if your car or any other car is lowered beyond that I don't know if they'ed be willing to pay compensation.   

Again, not sure how it works in the US, but here in South Australia, our cars have to be a minimum of 100mm (4") from the lowest part of the car (including exhausts) to the ground surface to be road legal. This is not a lot of clearance, so as long as the car is legal, then the owner should be compensated

[ACUDANUT]

We have a law called inherent road dangers.  It's keeps people from going after trucks that can sometimes throw big enough rocks that can crack your windshield. I hope they don't throw that law at you and the damaged charger.

[Darkman]

Yes they have that law for "uncontrollable events" such as stones etc on the road. However they can't make that law stick if the hazard is controllable (or man made)

[aussiemuscle]

it's still the sexiest car in the parking lot!! 

[myk]

F**k man.  I almost feel like I shoulda chosen purple instead of orange...

[Dino]

Wow that sucks, I hope you get some compensation although I honestly doubt it.  I have headers like that and I need to go at crawl speed to cross even the tiniest of speed bumps as the driver's side collecter flange sits low like yours.  Found that out the hard way.   

[1974dodgecharger]

LMAO on the bumper sticker....

[will]

I'd go get some measurements before they pave. Once they pave it, how are you going to show the height?

[elacruze]

What if it was hit by a motorcycle?

Clearance isn't the issue, traffic management through a construction zone is. Pursue compensation.

Raise your torsion bars if necessary to get legal clearance.

[68blue]

Sharp car, it looks good in that color! Sorry to hear about the mess, good luck getting compensation.