What "kept you from" what you wanted to do on your 7173 today

[mweeps]

Money and time which is keeping me away from here lately.

 

[woodsnake]

Being geographically separated. I am living and working in NY, while everything I own is sitting in storage, in Colorado....

SUCKS ASS not being able to get things done, and I'm not getting any younger!

 

[6banger]

BEER!

 

[lduke12]

I didn't work on my 73 today mainly due to it being in the local Pep Boys Speed Shop grand opening car show and Dyno battle. Here is the video of my best friend from high school winning 1st place out of the whole show for most Horsepower and Torque. I know its not a 71-3, but for being the only car he owns and uses as his daily driver his crate installed 502 killed a 73 Chevelle with a bored over 502 with mods, while he is loading up on the Dyno i pan the video over and through the crowd of people you can barely make out my Pewter 73 Mach 1 parked with all the other cars. Make sure to crank the sound up, i drive behind this car all the time and man does it sound killer. And no he is not running open headers, it does have mufflers with 3 1/2" inlets and outlets.

[video=youtube]


I just cant stop watching this video because this is exactly how my 521cid Big Block is going to sound when its done and put in the Mach by the end of this year.

 

[EdM]

A fitting that will allow my fuel line to connect to my dual inlet fuel manifold. Driving me nuts this AN chite.

 

[rpmcarter]

"Pep Boys Speed Shop" ...... that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. Isn't that like gettn a latte at McDonalds?

Your friend has a fine fine car! thanks for sharing that video.

 

[jb73Mach]

In Ireland and the Mach is in Virginia. Back to the boss thing. At least work was in a nice location.

 

[cudak888]

This:

Looks like a 351C is not going to be my first engine teardown.

-Kurt

 

[Ron Tanzi]

A half marathon that my wife ran in NH today that trashed my weekend.

I am also in the process of building a 28 by 28 garage. The Mustang is not getting any love at the moment.

Ron

 

[EdM]

Yeah location is an issue for me as well. I am home in Texas for a few weeks but back in Korea until Christmas day.

 

[rpmcarter]

Cuda.... you just need to check the oil.

 

[cudak888]

Cuda.... you just need to check the oil.

You can read it all here: http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5653682#post5653682

-Kurt

 

[1973grandeklar]

I will try and dig up pictures of my 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass I bought with less than 65K on the odometer. I pulled the v6 engine after I took the intake off and saw what you see in your van. I did not rebuild it. I simply cleaned it and replaced the timing chain and gaskets. So far no issue and I put another 25K on the engine.

Another fix is to remove that little light bulb or ignore it. What's a little clicky noise going to hurt

 

[Mister 4x4]

Cuda.... you just need to check the oil.

You can read it all here: http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5653682#post5653682

-Kurt

Wow - bummer, Man. FWIW, I love DodgeTalk myself - that place has been almost as informative for my Ram as this place has been for the Mustang (almost... they still haven't been able to come up with a solution for my warmish idle/misfire issues).

Good luck with it, Brutha! My '97's 5.2 Magnum has 138K on it right now with none of the problems you've described (so far, anyway... finds some wood to knock on).

 

[cudak888]

Wow - bummer, Man. FWIW, I love DodgeTalk myself - that place has been almost as informative for my Ram as this place has been for the Mustang (almost... they still haven't been able to come up with a solution for my warmish idle/misfire issues).
Good luck with it, Brutha! My '97's 5.2 Magnum has 138K on it right now with none of the problems you've described (so far, anyway... finds some wood to knock on).

Dodge Talk is good when you have the good techs interested in your thread; unfortunately, the Ram Van subforum seems to be a breeding place for fools willing to give advice without knowledge - or without reading.

I dare say I'd be better off in the Ram Trucks/Dakota subforums, but I'd probably get kicked back to the B-series vans.

Given the results I'm getting now, I'm quite confident that no major damage was done - and whatever minor damage that may be there shouldn't rear its head for a long time. The trick now is to see whether I can scrape out the remaining crud - or whether it just makes more sense to pull the engine and hot-tank the block.

Trust me, hot tanking looks far more intelligent at this point...

-Kurt

 

[1973grandeklar]

Given the results I'm getting now, I'm quite confident that no major damage was done - and whatever minor damage that may be there shouldn't rear its head for a long time. The trick now is to see whether I can scrape out the remaining crud - or whether it just makes more sense to pull the engine and hot-tank the block.

-Kurt

Kurt, as I said before, I had a GM motor that looked almost exactly like your Dodge. I pulled the motor. I did not hot tank, but with the engine out and the oil pan off you can scrap, clean, and pour a lot of chemicals inside and out the bottom. The other big thing I did was pull the heads and cleaned the heads seperate. I literally removed the valves, cleaned the heads in a solvent tank, and re-assembled with new valve seals. I did not do any valve work or grinding (I probably got lucky).

I think in general, as long as the motor is not seriously metal to metal or broken, these things will keep going! It is not a high performance monster, so a good cleaning usually good enough. I have read and heard horror stories of how you have to keep the motor surgical clean as any dirt will ruin the motor... yada, yada. But when you look under the intake and see what you saw, don't you wonder how it kept running? I mean really, why didn't this self-implode a long time ago? I think the run of the mill engines are engineered to run in even the most abused situations. Hell, I have seen guys running around town fogging the local bug population with the oil burning smoke, clackity rockers, and bungee strapped bumpers for years!

 

[rpmcarter]

well THIS weekend was yard work, cows and trimming trees. and the cows was the easy part.

 

[72MustangSprint]

things that keep me from working on my car, in this order....Work, Wife, time and if time then money.

 

[midlife]

I'm taking a week off from work, but yard work and doctor's appointments had higher priority. That, and I don't have a 71-73 Mustang.

But I do stay in Holiday Inns when I can...does that count?

 

[cudak888]

Kurt, as I said before, I had a GM motor that looked almost exactly like your Dodge. I pulled the motor. I did not hot tank, but with the engine out and the oil pan off you can scrap, clean, and pour a lot of chemicals inside and out the bottom. The other big thing I did was pull the heads and cleaned the heads seperate. I literally removed the valves, cleaned the heads in a solvent tank, and re-assembled with new valve seals. I did not do any valve work or grinding (I probably got lucky).I think in general, as long as the motor is not seriously metal to metal or broken, these things will keep going! It is not a high performance monster, so a good cleaning usually good enough. I have read and heard horror stories of how you have to keep the motor surgical clean as any dirt will ruin the motor... yada, yada. But when you look under the intake and see what you saw, don't you wonder how it kept running? I mean really, why didn't this self-implode a long time ago? I think the run of the mill engines are engineered to run in even the most abused situations. Hell, I have seen guys running around town fogging the local bug population with the oil burning smoke, clackity rockers, and bungee strapped bumpers for years!

I know it - and when I find a moment to pull the engine, I should be quite fine getting away with a cleanup, new seals, new rings, new roller lifters (which - according to the best Mopar tech I know - are prone to gumming and seizing if run without an oil change for an extended period of time), and new crank and rod bearings.

Surgically clean is good. But good, well-built pushrod engines will put up with a CRAPLOAD until they begin complaining, and still work for ages - as you point out. Wouldn't trust any of the new stuff with variable valve timing to last 5 seconds.

Mind you though, that 3.9 has had it. Wouldn't even hold oil pressure with 40W oil. I experimented with 3 quarts of 20W-50 topped with a final quart being that heavy weight Lucas stuff today. She held 55PSI constant until I gunned it when warm up to 45mph. 20 seconds later, she dropped to 30 PSI, and the rear journal started clattering like a gear again. Would have been virtually no pressure with the 40W oil.

She has to come out, and it'll be just a bit more extensive than a teardown.

-Kurt