6 years of storage, and it still runs

[Lord Warlock]

The old charger has been languishing in storage in the backyard garage for the last 6 years (in Florida) the last time it ran was when i backed it into the new structure six years ago, well the next door neighbor who also is into cars chided me into seeing if it would start as he'd never seen it actually run the entire time he'd lived next door, so we disconnected the fuel line to the pump and stuck it in a 5 gallon gas container, hooked up a battery, and filled it with water, then it proceeded to leak water and antifreeze all over the garage floor, so i spent a half hour removing the thermostat housing and the stat, resealed it and reconnected the hose, filled with water again, then proceeded to turn it over for about 15 minutes.  Lo and behold the old beast fired up and actually ran on its own for about 20 minutes before we shut it down to let it rest and let the garage air out.  Appears i have to fix a valve cover leak, probably from a broken stud in the head. 

Its always gratifying to hear the old 440 turn over and start after  along period of storage.  I've been focusing on the body and paint for way too long, and finally getting to a point where I'll be finished with it soon, and have started to pull out the chrome trim and decide what i need to replace and what i can save, the LH mirror and door handles have to go, but the RH mirror and vinyl roof trim will stay, as will the wheelwell trim and side moulding along the bottom of the doors.  There are alot of small pieces i still have dig out, clean and repaint prior to reinstalling, but at least we are starting to see some progress after way too long of seeing it sit neglected. 

Mechanically the motor is sound,  but once the body is done, i plan on taking the motor down to the shortblock, and cleaning and repainting all the engine pieces for a clean looking engine bay.  It may work, but it looks like a dusty mess for now, luckily I know it is all here, somewhere.  Time and effort will go a long way, but really think the money thing will be required to remedy the suspension, brakes, fuel lines, fuel tank  etc.  The grille went back in a couple weeks ago,  i expect to see it start looking like its old self soon. 

[TK73]

Mustard felt good!!

[charge69]

Nice that it got to run after a 6 year sleep. Keep at it (the restoration) and thanks for the story !

[nvrbdn]

great. its alive....... now wheres the pic?

[Ghoste]

Good feeling isn't it, you have to admire the old tech and its reliability.  Any chance your valve cover leak is just a dried out valve cover gasket?

[tan top]

 hey man  been wondering how your charger was going

 good feeling , when you hear the ole 440 come to life  

i remember we spoke about tan tops  good few years back  ,  thought this would be of interest , they repop them now , still got black on my though !!  

http://www.legendaryautointeriors.com/page/131/boar-grain-vinyl-tops.aspx

[bakerhillpins]

 

I bet it felt good to get that thing started up.    I suspect it felt a lot like when I started mine up this spring after putting it away for the winter with only 2 months of drive time on her.

[Lord Warlock]

i'm pretty sure the cause for the leak is a broken off valve cover screw, that snapped off in the head right side, lower rear, I may be able to seal it with silicon and a new gasket, but have to get the old screw out of the head first and that is gonna be a fun trick,  I'd prefer to pull the head and take it to a machine shop but don't look forward to trying to get the factory exhaust manifolds off, they were hard enough to bolt on when i swapped the shortblock a couple decades ago. 

I bought a new tan top for the car probably 8 years ago,  its ready to go on the car, as soon as i finish the right front fender (rebuilding the body line atop the wheel opening) and repaint it, the top will be the next thing to get done, mainly so i can have the glass put back in. 

I'll try to get a few pics to add into the thread in the next couple days.  Any progress is good progress, and at least we're moving forward finally. 

[Ghoste]

i'm pretty sure the cause for the leak is a broken off valve cover screw, that snapped off in the head right side, lower rear, I may be able to seal it with silicon and a new gasket, but have to get the old screw out of the head first and that is gonna be a fun trick,  I'd prefer to pull the head and take it to a machine shop but don't look forward to trying to get the factory exhaust manifolds off, they were hard enough to bolt on when i swapped the shortblock a couple decades ago. 

Yes of course, that does make sense.  When I first read it I wasn't thinking about the valve cover studs.

[Lord Warlock]

digging through old smelly boxes of bolts trying to figure out pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,  found what i think is the grill/hood latch and release handle tonite, strangely it looks very similar to the trunk latch, not sure how the two connect to each other though, probably a long rod, but i did figure out how the handle that goes through the grill itself attaches, this is kind of fun figuring things out (think i may plastidip the handle itself before installing it, just for looks) .  Wish I had done a lot better job of labelling pieces though,  i have several baggies with screws labelled for trim, but looks like alot of it will be hunt and find.  May have to go to a car show or two to figure out how they go together, don't want to put the latch on till i know exactly how to undo it or else the hood would be shut long term...lol.  

I do think i have a replacement valve cover gasket hanging on a wall somewhere, and an extra valve cover (and an extra head)

[Cooter]

Good to hear! Course, if it'd been mine sitting for that long, it woulda surely locked up, or blown a rod through the block. 

[hemi68charger]

That's great.....   

[Lord Warlock]

surprisingly, the 440 has endured several long stints in storage without getting started or run.  Its first storage while i went away for my first year in college, we had it running in its storage garage, and just poured oil slowly down the carburator until it started chugging and coughing and finally quit,  that lubed the car as well as protected things for a year, sadly the original 440 didn't survive long after it was pulled out of storage a year later, it died on a trip to an oil rig job, due to a piece of teflon from the timing gear that worked its way into the oil pump and snapped the shaft off.  It then got a 383 for a year or two, until i bought another parts car green charger r/t that danced with a telephone pole and lost, I swapped the motor and tranny (only 69k original miles) and it still has that motor today.  It sat for 10 years under a temporary tent garage in the same backyard and started on the first try with only a fresh battery, new plugs and clean points.  I never thought it would sit this long after i built the garage to house it.

Scoured the garage to find a new set of SE emblems I'd stored, took about 5 hours but finally found them, still in the box from year one.  So it looks like i'll be ready when the vinyl top goes back on. 

unfortunately, i'll have to get the old stealth r/t started (also down for 3 years) just so i can move the charger out of the backyard once i finally get it to run again.  I'll have to take it to a shop to have the brakes redone (need new rotors for front, and contemplating a disc conversion in the rear) or may just have the Aspen disc kit put on up front as i have the rotors and calipers, and lines for that still in boxes from back when i thought that was the only option, as i couldn't find anyone to rebuild the original calipers anymore.  (have a new set of original calipers now, but the lines are gone)

[Lord Warlock]

one step forward two steps back,  realized today that the paint was a little thick on the door jamb and it cracked when i opened to the door,  now i have to rework the front edge of the door and the rear edge of the fender again and repaint it again.  Shame too, since the paint on the door was great, front fender was iffy but was close to getting done. 

[Dino]

one step forward two steps back,  realized today that the paint was a little thick on the door jamb and it cracked when i opened to the door,  now i have to rework the front edge of the door and the rear edge of the fender again and repaint it again.  Shame too, since the paint on the door was great, front fender was iffy but was close to getting done. 

You win some, you lose some.  It looks like you're doing more winning though.  The fender had to be painted so not too much of a disaster that the door needs paint as well.  If it's a metallic it's even mandatory.

It'll be running and leaving tire marks in your area before long.   

[Lord Warlock]

Door and Fender repaint is completed, and has survived the wetsand and compound stage of buffing without cutting through any spots, actually looks pretty good now with a little shine to it and no orange peel in the surface. 

I had the tan vinyl top installed by a friend who has done them for 30 years, it looks awesome, yesterday i put the chrome trim back on around the top to give it a finished look, now if i can only find a few more speed nuts for the arrow pieces and rear quarter chrome and bolt them down tight.  The hardware store didn't have any when i looked for them yesterday, although i did find 3 in a baggie  i'd set aside.  Was a bit disappointed today when i tried to install the repro SE emblems, turns out the post for the speed nut isn't long enough to get the speed nut on it from the inside, will have to figure out another solution. 

Still waiting for a set of door handles I ordered over a week ago, and haven't gotten yet. 

I have a few pictures of the top going on, I'll have to load them from the laptop since that is where i download them from the camera. 

Buffing the trunklid and rear fenders today to prepare for the stripe reinstall.  Will have to readjust the lid slightly before i put the stripe on, has to be done before the stripe or it won't line up properly,  now that the arrow chrome from the top is in place i know how far back i'll have to adjust the lid so it clears the chrome. 

also, need a clip that holds the door lock in place from the inside of the door, have one from the other side, but can't find one of them.

[tan top]

   looking forward to seeing pictures 

[Lord Warlock]

I had to upload the pics to photobucket as they were too large to attach otherwise.
first a pic of the installer in progress

finished, but blurred from drivers side

[Lord Warlock]

Now i have to get some pieces rechromed, buy some trim clips for the rear glass, install the mirrors and wheelwell trim, and install the bumpers (both of which need rechroming) and then i can start focusing on the drivetrain and suspension.  Brakes are the foremost concern suspension wise, will need to re-do both front discs, then determine whether to keep the rear drums, or convert them to discs, buy a new fuel and transmission lines from rear to front, then pull the heads and remove the front accessories to have them all redone prior to getting it on the road again,  but at least its progress, and the long haul on the body and paint is finally done.

[Indygenerallee]

Wow that is a unusual color combo!!! I like it!!!! 

[Lord Warlock]

that's the reason why I've held on to it all these years.  I've never seen another like it, although there are a couple on this site with similars, its always been unique, and the top keys off of the interior while the black stripe is a strong contrast to the pale y3 yellow.  The v21 hood treatment is the only non stock addition to what it was when i bought it in 78, I figured if I had ordered it myself, I would have ordered that option too, even if it wasn't actually available until later in the year.  I do remember suffering serious glare off the hood when it was driven daily back in the day, the black should help with that.

The upper interior trim above the door panels was always a different shade than the door panels, i'm currently trying to pick out the right brown shade that is darker than the seats and door panels, but not too dark, haven't found the right color yet though.  I figure i ought to get all of that done eventually. 

today i had another boo boo on the trunklid, buffed through the top coat while taking off compound.  right now its a small spot, too small to shoot with the standard paint gun,  unfortunately, the stripe won't cover the spot or i'd just cover it up with the stripe.  Knew I should have stuck with the foam pad instead of the wool, just thought i had more coverage in the valley in front of the rear trunklid lip.  Oh well, I have the paint to fix it, just really thought i was finished painting finally. 

[elacruze]

What part of FL are you in? I'm an hour north of Palm Beach.

NM, I see JAX.

[Lord Warlock]

south part of Jax, near 295

[hemi68charger]

What part of FL are you in? I'm an hour north of Palm Beach.

NM, I see JAX.

Palm Beach, my neck of the woods growing up....  

[hemi68charger]

   Very attractive combination.......