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Round 1 was a draw. I got stopped by prior hackery and not bringing an adequate selection of tools. The interior windshield trim, upper side-glass trim, sunvisors (surprisingly good ones), kick panels and rear-view mirror are out. I got the driver's chrome remote "racing" mirror off and that...

Give it a couple of tacks and it'll be fine for break-in. You can lower it for full welding later. That's really not bad a'tall. The Hedmans on my '72 Charger were so low you could see part the upper primaries looking from the side of the car. I can't say that the TTi headers are any gooder...

I was under the false impression that you needed an entire exhaust system. I don't think Jeg's does full exhaust for Mopars, at least not anymore. I looked fairly recently and couldn't find anything. They may have done them in the past, though. The Summit exhaust has a slip connection in the...

The difficulty mostly lies in the cars I once owned that I parted or beat to death, and now see similar vehicles selling for tens of thousands of dollars. "Man, I had one of those. I got it cheap. I alternately raced it and drove it like a woods truck." It never occurred to me that a '79...

TTi welds the flanges welded solid to both the header and the "reducer" and I wasn't crazy about it. I'd bought a set of ball-flange reducers for them, only to find those won't work on welded header flanges, at least not the TTi because the weld is on the inside. The surface of the weld isn't...

Mistubishi simply adapted the concept from virtually every engine thermostat made since the dawn of pressurized cooling systems. It's been used on cars for 70 years. The (usually) copper or brass slug on the engine side of a thermostat is filled with wax, the expansion and contraction of which...

Well, I've decided the time has come. Unfortunately, that means a Challenger is going to suffer The Fate. After some careful evaluation of what's there, serious consideration, and conversations with a few friends, I've decided that Flying Jerry's old '74 Challenger has reached the end. While...

That's exactly how it's supposed to work. You've been driving EFI cars too long! 😁

Well, there's not much one can do in the case of an X-pipe. An H-pipe can be slip-fitted but the X has to be welded--to some extent--by nature. In the case of my car, it's welded to the header adapters, then to the headpipes. Overall it's about a yard, maybe 4' long. It's band-clamped at the...

Durability (to an extent) and sealing, I suppose. Every ounce on a race car matters too. U-bolt clamps are easily disassembled if you don't gorilla them. It doesn't take much torque on the nuts to generate a significant squeeze on the pipes. Tightening clamps to visible crush is complete...

I'm just tired of fighting with ill-fitting, low-quality parts. Repro bumpers in particular have been a sore spot I've seen mentioned time and again, both here and many other places. I lucked out with the ones I bought for my '74--they're straightened, rechromed original 1970 bumpers. I...

As I'm demonstrating (slowly) in my '71 Challenger build thread, I'd rather create Frankenfenders from rusty junk than buy reproductions. It's got nothing to do with price, either. The originals just plain fit.

It doesn't seem like it'd be a very effective solution. It's only going to hold the center of the gasket. The ends of it are out near the bolts and free to push out wherever they please. My W2 gaskets came with attempted mitigation in that area--small fingers that are supposed to hold it--but...

I use the High-Tack and omit the end seals for one simple reason: I'm more paranoid about intake leaks than you are about wiped cams. On an LA, it's a virtually undiagnosable vacuum leak. You'll only know for sure when you pull the intake and find oil tracks into the intake ports. In the...

Are you using a standard (non-RPM/Air Gap) Performer intake with a square-bore carb (Holley 4150/4160, AFB or copy)? If so, you need the plate. The edges of the secondary bores will be exposed with a square-bore carb, and the carburetor gasket will just act as a whistle. If you're using one...

Make sure the bottom of the can is above the level of the fuel pump. Pumps like to push; pull not so much. It's sounds like you're on your A-game already. However... what's going on with your fan? The engine looks way too high, plus off toward the passenger's side in the photo based solely...

Don't worry too much about the advance setting during break-in, as long as you have some. I shoot for 10° initial for a number of reasons, the primary being it's easy to figure out on the timing marks, but more is OK--even a lot more. The engine's going to be at light throttle and low load, so...

Teslas have not gotten any worse as the company aged. They've been problematic since day one, but nobody reported on it until the complaints finally amounted to a roar. There were also a lot of buyers who kept their mouth shut out of conceit--they wouldn't admit the Tesla they'd bragged up so...

I believe Tesla's been caught at this as well.

By "all the same" I'm sure you mean manufacturers, since Ford, Chevy and nearly everyone else's heads are exactly the same way, although the Olds heads have drainbacks in the lower corners. The only instance with which I'm familiar where Mopars have notoriously leaky valve cover gaskets is B/RB...