MA MOPAR BIT ME AGAIN or SO MANY MOPARS, SO LITTLE TIME

[1967 'cuda]

The power went out right after my last post and came back on a minute or so ago. I think a lightning strike must have taken out a transformer. I had to pull the manual release cord on the garage door in order to close it. I was soaking wet from when I was unbolting the truck box from the cart out in the rain so I ran a hot bath and waited for the power to come back on.

My plan tomorrow is to bring the Charger back here from the farm. With the thefts we've had out there I'd rather have it close by. As soon as the Express is finished and I have a chance to tune the Roadrunner, it will be next in line for work. If the city gives me a hard time for having it here I'm likely to have a bit of an attitude with them after all I've had stolen.

 

[1967 'cuda]

My son called me up around 9:30 p.m. The Roadrunner died on his way here. He pulled over on I-680/29 about a half hour east of Omaha. Luckily the rain has let up for awhile. I hooked the Ford to the trailer and headed out. It was a 2 and a half hour trip each way. I didn't run into much rain along the way so maybe it's done for the day.

I think that while my son's washing/detailing the Challenger I'll push the truck out of the garage and get the Roadrunner inside. The fuel injection works awesome when it works but we've got to figure out why the computer keeps going haywire. From the sounds of things the problems start showing up when it's warm. I've never had a decent chance to troubleshoot it since it went to Iowa. I'll probably use it as my own daily driver so that I can watch the screen readout and narrow down the issues. I suspect that it's going to be related to too many grounds. I had read a post that described multiple grounds creating an antenna effect. - And that screws with the ECU. We did our best to isolate the power feeds to it and I know we routed our wiring away from all ignition electrical sources. This thing DOES run great. But the glitches are still there.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well the weather behaved the rest of last night. After moving all the vehicles around again it was time to look at the Roadrunner.







We put the battery charger on the Roadrunner first to make sure we'd have proper voltage to fire FAST's ECU. While we were waiting we did a cursory inspection of the ignition components. We found that the coil was bad. The one we were using had a male coil wire post and the tip was broken off inside the boot. The inner windings were loose from the housing too. We replaced it with the ACCEL Super Coil that was meant for the Charger.





Next we checked the plugs. Numbers 1, 2, and 7 had quite a bit of carbon build up and they were all sooty and wet. The thing I hate most about having a computer control fuel mix and timing is that things seem to be taken out of your control. We had another set of RJ12YC's in the toolbox so we swapped them out.

When we tried to reprogram the FAST controller we began to hear some clattering/hammering from the engine. Spooked by the noise we decided to change the oil and look for shavings. I stretched an old T-shirt over a pan so we could filter the oil and see if there was any metal. The Royal Purple Synthetic was awfully dark even though it wasn't overdue for a change. I'd been told by some others that it had a tendency to break down early in their motors so I'm not sure what's going on. I know that the plugs suggest that the car's been running rich. Maybe it's making it past the rings. We ran a magnet over the shirt to find any metal filings that might have been caught. We found a few.







After a short discussion we decided against dropping the oil pan. We pulled the valve covers instead.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE!!! The baffle inside of the left valve cover had a large chunk broken off. There was no sign of any trauma that would have caused it. It seems as though the metal was defective when the part was stamped.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well on day 1 of the Roadrunner we found a bad coil and replaced it. When we replaced the coil we also had to replace the coil wire because the ACCEL coil uses a male wire end. We got lucky and were able to get one from a parts store that was open while the owner was cleaning the carpets.

We changed the oil. I think that the purple color of the ROYAL PURPLE oil tends to make it appear on the dark side. Because we had a case of it here we refilled the crankcase with it again.

We found and removed a chunk of valve cover baffling. While the covers were off I took a quick look at the rocker assembly. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. We were able to salvage the cork gaskets and sealed them back up with some Permatex.

We replaced the spark plugs.

We checked the reluctor gap to make sure it was within specs.

The battery is fully charged now.

Although we weren't able to successfully run through the FAST ECU reprogramming, we did discuss unlocking the distributor and letting the MSD equipment control our timing. We could still leave the phasable rotor in the distributor but we'd need to re-install the springs and bushings. We have yet to try disabling the computer's control. If I'm not mistaken we'll have to rewire a good portion of the ignition circuit. I guess I'll be doing some more research on it tonight.

The heat riser on the right exhaust manifold has a small leak where the butterfly rod goes through. My son wants to JB Weld it shut tomorrow. The entire spring assembly seems to be in perfect shape. Everything moves freely. I hate screwing with some of these factory parts.



We're going to try to get the Charger moved tomorrow if time permits.

I'm still hoping to get some quality time with the truck. It shouldn't take long to get the engine & tranny in. I know that the red vinyl dye should be here tomorrow too.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I guess you could say that it's a true barn find. We took the Charger from the barn at the farm and brought it up town. I think the neighbors are lighting their torches and heading to the hardware store for pitchforks. I would have rather waited to bring it here until I was ready for it but these thefts have both Spencer and I worried. We'll clean it up before we get it unloaded. Two years sitting in the barn didn't do it a lot of good.

 

[1967 'cuda]

We spent the entire day sanding and prepping the Charger for a coat of primer. We know that it will have to spend some time sitting outside before it can come inside the garage. Our goal was to put some protection on the sheetmetal. The body work isn't done and a lot of what we sprayed today will be coming back off when work resumes. It may not look like much right now but it is sporting new front fenders, rear quarters, trunk floor, drop offs, rear valance, and floor pan. Heck, we've got around $400 worth of POR-15 encapsulating all of the inside of the body panels and framework. It's got a narrowed 8&3/4 posi with 4 wheel disc brakes and a spring relocation kit to accommodate the 12&1/2 wide Mickey Thompsons. That dang grill took forever to rebuild. Anyone that's kept an eye on my thread knows that the hole in the hood is for the supercharged 512 that we have sitting in the garage.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Back to the Roadrunner again. I insisted that we inspect everything related to the fuel and ignition. I didn't want to 'assume' anything.

One of the issues we had with the installation was that FAST says that they want to have their main power supply coming directly off of the battery and also want everything else isolated from those connections. They frown upon wire splices unless absolutely necessary. The conflict is that MSD also insists that it's main power wires are connected directly to the battery. We had our positive feed to the FAST unit connected to the starter relay and left the MSD coming off the battery. This time we're going to try running the hot wire from the battery directly to the FAST unit and connecting the MSD to the starter relay. It doesn't seem to us that it will make much of a difference, but we want to make sure that we're following FAST's tech support to a T.

As I was going through the setup process I discovered a 3/8 vacuum line that should have been plugged on the base of the throttle body. I'm fairly certain that it used to be plugged. We may have put on an undersized plug that could have split and fallen off.

As sooty and carboned up that the plugs had been, we removed the O2 sensor to examine it. We wiped the soot off of it and soaked it in gas to try to get it as clean as possible. My son did not think that there could have been a problem with it because the computer's air/fuel readouts had stayed within normal ranges. I argued that if the O2 sensor was giving inaccurate feedback to the computer, the fuel supply would have been adjusted by the computer inaccurately to maintain a false ratio.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Once again the mosquitoes have chased us back inside. Everything is moving forward great with the injection. The instructions for setting up the phasable rotor had never been very clear. I finally figured out the proper way to set it. After running through the setup wizard all seems good. We took it for a quick trip out of town knowing that the 'self learning' computer would need some time to get the timing and fuel mixture taught. Part of the process of teaching the computer is to go through the gears at about half load. In low gear we've got a major hesitation. After a few passes it seemed to start settling down. But it was getting dark so we parked it for the night.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The pictures were taken in my backyard. The house with the Suburban in the driveway is my neighbor's. I think he must feel like he lives next to a car lot. But, there's only so much room on my own driveway.

The black '69 Chevelle parked behind the Roadrunner is mine though. I would like to get a picture of the dually and the 'Lil Red lined up with the rest. - Maybe even park the Sebring with them. The 2 Ford trucks and the trailer are hiding further back on the lot. I'm afraid that the days are numbered for the Fords. Once the Express is done I'll probably get rid of them. Teresa is partial to the Chevelle and I'd sort of promised her that I'd fix it up for her some day. I guess it's sticking around.

My son and I were joking about how there are more Mopars on our yard than there are at most of the car shows around here. One of these days when he takes the Challenger, Roadrunner, and Charger all to Iowa I'll have to put the funnycar together to keep the herd from getting too thin. LOL.

If you ever make it up this way, bring some bug spray!

 

[1967 'cuda]

I'm afraid that I lost my help. Spencer hopped into the Challenger and took off for Columbus (Nebraska). He wasn't sure if he was coming back before his week from work ends. I was hoping on getting a hand installing that 360 in the truck.

I realized that I may have a health issue today. I think I'm suffering from ADHD. (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Maybe not so much on the hyperactivity portion, but my attention is constantly drawn to one project and from it, to another. I got a wild hair today and decided to paint the roll cage orange in the Duster. What a mess! I didn't want to gut the interior (but I did pull some of the carpet) and trying to crawl around those bars when they're wet with fresh paint wasn't easy. I ran out of solvent to clean up with so I used gasoline. I think I better lay off of the smokes for awhile.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I dyed the Express's interior panels last night. I used Dupli-Color vinyl & fabric dye. To my surprise it's got a very dull, flat finish. Teresa is going through Columbus today so I asked her to pick up a few cans of Rustoleum gloss clear that's made for plastic. I'll try to coat these pieces later and see how it turns out.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Our weather continues to screw with me. Yesterday was extremely hot and extremely humid. Today it's struggled to get out of the 50s. Heavy rain again last night.

The swarms of flies and mosquitoes have been joined by an invasion of noisy crickets. Teeny tiny ants have set up camp in our kitchen. I'm not sure if anyone else in town has problems with bugs because it seems as though they've all come here. What next?

The gloss clear Rustoleum seems to have done the trick on my parts. I'm not sure why the Dupli-Color had been so dull and blotchy but the clear coat took care of it. Before applying clear I noticed that there was some wrinkling in the finish on the glove box door. I had it dyed by a shop out of Columbus, Nebraska several years ago and apparently it didn't like the new dye over it. I'll most likely have to strip it all off and start over on the glove box.








I pulled the trunk lid off of the Duster. I'm going to try to lay out a mural on it. As I've said before, it's just a race car so I feel free to play around with the paint on it.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I'm armed now. Trying to swat those flies with my hand wasn't working. Either they've gotten faster or I've gotten slower. The second I showed up with the fly swatter most of them seem to have backed off. You may laugh at me but THEY KNOW.



I've patched up my replacement door panels the best I could. The original door panels on the 'Lil Red had fake wood grained inserts on them. I had to cut holes in the replacements for the attachment tabs of my inserts. I had replaced one years ago because they do wear easily from the sun and cleaning. New inserts are no longer available but there are aftermarket sources for wood grain vinyl to refurbish them. The installation instructions call for a lot of Windex. We'll see how it goes.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The death toll mounts. They're trying to keep a low profile but payback is a bitch. As many as I've nailed, I ought to be knee deep in fly carcasses. I think they've sent for reinforcements.

I am very pleased with the vinyl wood grain that I've put on the first insert. It seems to have been cut to perfection. I was very careful to align it and I can see that the Windex was really a necessity. The instructions call for me to let it set for a day before taking a hair dryer to it. There is a slight contour on the ends that I should be able to get the vinyl to conform to with a little heat.

 

[1967 'cuda]

It took a long time to strip the glove box before I was able to dye it again. Once again the finish was too flat so I sprayed it with clear. It came out pretty good this time. No wrinkles on it now.





I think that I've gotten the size of the trunk mural figured out. I've made some templates but I think it needs something more. I'm not sure. - Maybe some cornstalks in the background or a barn. - Maybe I need to add the 'CROP DUSTER' logo above it.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I know that I should try to break up this thread into separate ones for the Barracuda, the Duster, the 'Lil Red Express, etc... - But I don't know how to do it without losing continuity on each. If I had been smart I would have kept them separate from the start. I apologize to any of you guys that started reading this thread with the expectation of seeing just the 'Cuda build. - Blame my ADHD.

 

[1967 'cuda]

When I reached puberty my dad


never told me about the birds and


the bees. Maybe other kids had


parents that were more open with


them. Without the internet (Al Gore


had not invented it yet), I had to


resort to magazines. In our small


town the selection of 'reading material'


was limited. Some would say that


the sources of information I was using


were inappropriate. But I had heard that


others had magazines secretly tucked


away in their rooms under their


mattresses. I didn't want


to be the only guy around that was in


the dark about these things. So that's


the source I sought out.


It wasn't until years


later that I found out that I was supposed


to have been buying Playboy instead of HOT ROD.





I still love these Birds and Bees!

 

[1967 'cuda]

Now that we've got my son's Charger back in town and he's returned to Iowa with the Challenger, he's starting to get fired up about the Charger build. His latest ideas are centered around intercooling the blower.



Excuse all of the dust that's accumulated. I took the supercharger off of the motor so that I could inspect the blower intake. The Charger's hood has already been modified to fit the blower at it's present height. Adding an intercooler beneath it will mean starting over on the hood. I DON'T want to have to do that. So I was hoping on seeing a way to modify the current intake to accept cooling passages. It doesn't look promising.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Another day of thunderstorms. It's been raining pretty hard. - Lots of thunder and lightning. Hopefully we won't see the high winds and hail that they've said could be coming our way. There's water a couple of inches deep running down our streets now. Maybe it'll drown some of the bugs that haven't set up housing inside our garage. I've heard that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting heavier than normal snowfall this Winter. I better make sure that I've gotten all of the projects as far along as I can before then and that the Charger is inside the garage to keep me busy until Spring.

I was preparing to do the trunk mural on the Duster when I realized that I still haven't been able to find my old airbrush. I went on eBay and shopped for a replacement.

The last large car show of the year around here is in West Point, Nebraska. I noticed on their flyer that Richard Rawlings is supposed to be there. I'm assuming that he'll have some Gas Monkey car displayed. I'd like to go just so I could look over whatever it is that they might bring. I've always suspected that their workmanship would be sub-par, but you never know. Maybe I'd be impressed. I wouldn't think that they would show any vehicles that had noticeable flaws. As much as we tend to joke about their program, it would be a kick to have a picture of him next to one of my cars to hang on the garage wall. The show is on the 21st.

I've got a major conflict. I had been planning on going to Cedar Falls, Iowa to the Mopar Max event. I noticed that it's on the same weekend as the Fall swap meet in Fremont, Nebraska. I suspect that some of the items stolen from our farm might show up at that swap meet. I need to go to it to look. It's always one of the largest swap meets in Nebraska.

 

[1967 'cuda]

With all of the vehicles outside it's hard to find much else new to report.

I did play around with the computer in the Roadrunner yesterday for awhile. The whole concept of having it control timing is still foreign to me. We initially had it (the computer) set at 16" advance at idle and 34' total. I tried to change it to 20' initial and 36' total. It barely ran after doing so. But I found that if I started over from scratch reprogramming the controller and used those same parameters (20' & 36') it actually ran better. Why it didn't behave the same when editing the program as opposed to starting the reprogram from scratch, I don't know. I was under the impression from the instructions that those parameters should be able to be adjusted 'on the fly'.

To those out there that are wondering why I am not going to FAST for information, - I do plan on it. But past experience with their tech support tells me that I'm likely to hear that they don't know what the issue is and that I need to verify (wire by wire again) that everything is assembled correctly. I figure that if I can get as familiar as possible with every quirk this system has and explore all options that I can think of, that I'll either be able to figure it out for myself or at least be able to give them enough info so that they can.