After 6 year Hiatus… it’s time to restart! 71 Charger 500
Well 6 years have come and gone since I last turned a wrench on this thing. She’s been a great dust collector but now I’m getting the itch to dig back in. I was working to get it from “semi roadworthy” to “somewhat reliable” replaced brakes, brake lines, upgrading engine electrical(poorly), new Radiator and trans cooler, troubleshooting body wiring and piecing back together the interior when catastrophe hit, some how on a short test drive after the new radiator/trans cooler, cylinder five’s exhaust valve decided it didn’t want to open anymore. And that was all she wrote, I parked it, fully intending to get back on it but as we all know life happens. Job changes, kids, home reno, everything else seemed to take precedence…
here I am, ready to restart,
not sure WHERE to restart.
But here we go anyway…
The car is a 1971 Dodge Charger 500 It has a 340 small block (from a 70 challenger) A 727 trans (from a 72 dart) And a 8 3/4 rear end ( from a 70 dart) The body is in good shape, no major metal work needed, floors intact and little rust to speak of. the rear has air shock suspension and the front is torsion bar both of unknown age and possibly original, Steering box and components also look pretty tired and original. According to all my records the chassis has 79k original miles but drive lines miles are unknown.
I’m probably going to start with the camshaft and diagnosing the cylinder five fiasco first, as much as it pains me I would like to avoid pulling the motor totally if I can but it’s not off the table, if that goes smoothly I’ll move onto freshening up the ignition system before working my way through the rest of the driveline, the ignition system is one corner I originally cut trying to save money with an eBay electronic distributor and eBay ignition system. This time I’ll opt for something a bit more reputable and most of all reliable…
I’d really like to keep myself accountable on this project so that’s the main reason for the post, being able to show my progress as I go will certainly encourage me to keep at it and she’ll maybe even see the road again before winter hits. If I get this thing back up to snuff mechanically we can start trying to make her pretty again. Anyway thanks for popping in and I hope to update yall soon!
Cheers! DrWalkway