1971 Challenger: The "Spare Parts" Car

[Dr.Jass]

As discussed elsewhere, I recently purchased a 1971 Challenger. It was owned for about 30 years by a friend who passed away last year. If he ever had a plan for it, nobody knows what that might've been.

To get the factory facts out of the way, we'll decode the data tag:
E44: 318-2 Barrel
D13: 3-Speed Manual Transmission Floor
JH23: Dodge Challenger, high trim, 2dr hardtop
G1B: 318-2BBL 8cyl, 1971 model, Dodge Main, Hamtramck
19____: Sequence Number '19____'
GF7: Dark Green Metallic
H6X9: High price vinyl buckets, black
000: Upper Door Frame: Full Door Panel
A27: Added to production schedule 10/27/1970
_11041: Order Number _11041 (first digit unknown)
GF7: Dark Green Metallic painted roof
U: Build to US FMVSS
B51: Power Brakes (discs on the car)
C55: Bucket Seats
G11: Tinted Glass, All
H51: Single air conditioning w/heater
M21: Roof Drip Rail Moldings
R26: AM Radio w/ Cassette
V7X: Accent stripes, painted, black
26: 26 in. Radiator
EN2: End of codes, build on Line 2

Getting into the more mysterious parts of the car:
I initially thought the car had been wrecked, as it has the front clip, doors and steering wheel from an E5 1974 360HP Rallye. However, I no longer believe that to be the case for several reasons. First and foremost, the structure of the car shows no evidence of crash damage. The inner fenders, core support, and frame rails are straight as an arrow and have not been replaced that I (or anyone else) can tell. It has the early-'71 no-slot front bumper on it, which never had guards installed. I can't swear it's original, but it's not from the '74. The radiator number decodes to that of a '71 AC car. The air conditioning itself looks to be 100% complete and original, with no damaged or straightened lines. There's simply nothing to indicate front-end damage that would've required a new clip.
There are other curiosities present. The rear axle appears to have been swapped, possibly from the '74 Rallye. There's a factory-issue rear swaybar with which this car wasn't built. It doesn't have a front swaybar, y'see. The axle, springs, and swaybar are painted bright red (apparently it was a thing--the same was done to my '78 Trans Am) but that doesn't appear to have been done while that stuff was installed on the car since there's no overspray. The diff is a Sure Grip, which seems more likely to be found on an HP car than a lowly 318, although with a manual, who knows? The gears are either 3.23 or 3.55. The original steering wheel was in the trunk; I believe it's original because I don't think he'd have bought a cracked wheel for it. The decklid is a '70-'71 part with spoiler cutouts, but it's got factory black paint. The front seats are early hard-back parts with the '70-'71 release buttons, and what I saw under the covers looks like '71 upholstery... but it's white. Neither the decklid nor the front seats are original to the car, and neither is the non-AC dash pad that has the '71 VIN held on with rosette-head rivets. The car isn't coded for disc brakes but has them; Kev says that wasn't uncommon (his '71 Charger is the same way, but they are on his build sheet). Possibly the worst of all, for some reason it has an A-body transmission in it. What the...?! Exactly what driveshaft is in there?
One more curiosity is the carburetor: It's a Rochester 2GV. According to my research, that carb saw limited use in 1971 Mopars. It uses a specific fuel line, still on the car, that cannot work with a Carter BBD or Holley's copy thereof. What's weird is that factory literature says it's 318 with AC only, Plymouth only, and automatic transmission only... yet there it sits, looking to be 100% original, on a 3-speed manual Dodge. While I have no doubt it's OE due to the non-molestation of the engine bay overall, I'd have a hard time convincing show judges. It'll never come to that, but it is strange.

The plan, you ax? I don't have a good one at the moment. The 318 isn't seized, so I'd like to attempt making it run and possibly move under its own power. I managed to get the carb unseized, thanks to the Rochester gods deciding to use a cast-iron base plate. I'm already mid-process rebuilding a proper E-body-length transmission, which will actually be an overdrive. I'm swapping truck OD parts into a small-block iron case so the bearing retainer fits the existing bellhousing. I'm also rebuilding the beat Pistol Grip found and purchase on the property. If the clutch needs attention, I'll replace it while the trans is out. While it's in the air, it'll get the complete restoration exhaust system that came with my '74. I'd really like to attempt to get the AC working without converting away from the original V2 (not RV2, yes there's a difference) compressor. I'll install the right dash pad, because I have one, cracks and all. Funtional stuff like brakes, suspension (the air shocks gotta go!) gauges, lights, et al will all get any required repairs. Wheels and tires will be replaced forthwith by Western Cyclone II wheels with 255/60R-15 BFGs at all four corners, which were leftovers after I decided to run 17" Minilites on my '74. I have spare Rallye clusters, so one will find its way in there. A Challenger without Rallye gauges is a crime against God.
Despite my inital impression that the car was very solid, I did find a bad spot on the driver's-side rear frame rail, right near the front spring pocket. The left-rear floor is bad, too, but that I already knew. Those parts will be repaired to the best of my ability with the proper parts. The trunk, extensions, and wheel houses are actually in amazing shape, all things considered, and will not require replacement. The fascia/grille and eventually fenders will be replaced by '71 parts. Pray for me--I have to buy a '71 Challenger grille. Oy.
Long-term, I'd like to put a 340 where the 318 currently resides. Initially I was all over stuffing my 440 Six Pack in it, but after realizing how complete the small-block AC system is, I just can't part with it. I have everything to build a '71-spec 340 except the carb and air cleaner, both of which are in "no thanks" territory price-wise, so I'll use a different TQ and the dual-snorkel air cleaner I also purchased when I bought the car. Seriously long-term, the body might get done and painted the original F7 green, which I really like... or I may just leave it as a beater.

I have serious "new toy" fever, but this thread isn't going to get a lot of updates in the near future. I have two other cars on the hot plate at the moment, so other than recovering the car and stuffing it into storage I don't expect ot get a ton done with it for some time.

Initial "as-found" pictures are here if you're curious. I'll post more pictures and possibly video on Recovery Day, hopefully with better wheels and tires mounted!

 

[Dr.Jass]

Recovery Day has arrived.

'Twas an interesting day indeed. We arrived at about 10AM. Rolling stock was the first order. Unfortunately, the wheels and tires didn't work out, due to an issue (again) with the lug nuts, but at least this time I didn't forget them. Having it roll out on the crappy wheels & tires was the last real downside to the day, though, so overall it was quite good. While the front wheel was off, though, I was able to verify it's an original disc-brake car, having the hard-to-find '70-'72 2-piece front rotors.

Thus defeated, we quickly set about reinstalling the recently-freed Rochester. Only this morning had I noticed, while giving it a final hose-down with cleaner, that the top gasket was out of place and hanging into the driver's side venturi. Someone had it apart before and blew that part. Screw it--there was nothing I could do about it then except make things worse. So, on it went with all the original hardware and a new base gasket (because I'm a class act 'n' stuff). I reconnected the fuel line--in the dual unlikely events of fuel in the tank and the pump working--and installed a battery. There was a little spark installing the positive, which had me worried until I realized the key was in "run". I turned it off, disconnected/reconnected and had no sparking, so that soothed my nerves.

It was around this time that I realized my gut is too big and my legs too long to get in an E-body with the seat all the way forward, which is where that one is stuck but good. I finally wedged myself in place, and Wang gave 'er a waft of starting fluid. It turned over immediately but no "huff". He gave it a little more, a crank, and damn--she tried to light! I decided "enough with the devil's vapors" since I hate starting fluid. We disconnected the float-bowl vent hose from the valve cover, fitted a small funnel into it, and used that to fill the float bowl. A couple of pumps, a twist of the key, and after less than 5 seconds of cranking she sprang to life. There's a mechanical oil-pressure gauge hacked into the spot where the clock would go on the non-Rallye cluster, and it zoomed up to 50+ as the car stalled. It wasn't out of fuel; I just hadn't tried to re-set any of the idle or mixture screws after getting them freed, so it needed throttle input to stay running. I failed to provide that, and it stalled.

Wang suggested seeing if it would move under its own power, so I started it again, and with throtte feathered I put it into reverse, slowly let the clutch out (much to the dismay of the screaming throwout bearing), and behold: It tried go... forward?!

That's curious.

It ran out of fuel, so we repeated the float-bowl filling procedure and had another go at it. Running again, protesting throwout and all, and got the same little nudge forward before pushing the clutch again. I gave the shifter a hard reef to the left, and felt it go further than previously. I pushed it forward, let out the clutch, and that was the moment I realized: It's a 4-speed. Yes! Oh, ne'er you mind that it's the wrong 4-speed (A-body), it's a damned 4-speed. I backed it up a couple of feet and shut down, wrested myself out, looked at Pete and Wang and said, "I had it in where reverse should be and it tried to go forward. I jammed hard left and found the reverse gate. It's a 4-speed." They both gave me a look like I'd stolen the crown jewels. That's definitely a win. What may be a bigger win: It started with no drama, no knocks or rattles, made 60PSI oil pressure, and did not smoke. It never went over two grand using my ear tach. It's a good engine. It can stay.

Pushing the brake pedal, I could feel it hit the power booster, then bottom out. This did not impede the car's movement one scintilla, so my dream of driving it out did not happen. It was pushed out, aligned with the trailer, and winched up into place. We headed to my storage area, stopping at a car wash along the way.






What a difference $5 and ten minutes make:






The pressure of the car wash removed a lot of black paint from the roof, exposing the original green. I like that green, a lot.

Once we arrived at the storage spot, Pete got curious and started digging around in the interior (he's like a big kid sometimes). I knew there was a spare RH door handle in the glove box, but he found a spare driver's side under the passenger's seat. That's another win, because the current driver's side door handle is broken and the door can only be opened from the inside.

Final assessment: Bad throwout bearing. Bad master cylinder (at the least). Engine starts easily and doesn't smoke or knock. It's the wrong 4-speed rather than the wrong 3-speed. The AC compressor turns smoothly by hand, meaning it's at least probably good for a rebuild. The alternator charges per the gauge, and the rest of the cluster seems functional except the speedometer--I didn't get enough speed for it to move. The exterior lights work, the internals don't (no dome light, cluster lights I'm not 100% sure). The wipers work, which I found accidentally trying to dim/brighten the cluster lamps (same-style knob and I twisted the wrong one).

For $2,500 this is a very good car.

 

[69.5CUDA]

next time you want to try and drive a car out..a cheep POS electic fuel pump and a small 1gal or less gascan can often make it happen.....

2500 yeah you stole it

 

[Dr.Jass]

next time you want to try and drive a car out..a cheep POS electic fuel pump and a small 1gal or less gascan can often make it happen.....

I didn't want to drive it out because there are absolutely no brakes. It's no fun to crash your new toy before you even get it on the trailer.

2500 yeah you stole it

I'd tend to agree, especially after hearing it run.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Now that's a good car day!
That's what I paid for the Texas 'Cuda (the one I'm working on) almost 20 years ago.

 

[Dr.Jass]

The pictures of the '74 parts car from yesterday are here if you want to see what three C-notes will get you these days.

 

[69.5CUDA]

aww come on..if the E-brake works....and i bet it does then theres your brakes...hell on a manual trans with mostly flat tires they kinda stop themselves...ive driven my ramp truck around a good bit on just the e-brake

 

[Dr.Jass]

aww come on..if the E-brake works....and i bet it does then theres your brakes...hell on a manual trans with mostly flat tires they kinda stop themselves...ive driven my ramp truck around a good bit on just the e-brake

There are no rear cables on the car. Even if there were, one doesn't dare try the parking brake on a northern car after 25+ years of disuse. That's a great way to stick the rear brakes fully applied. Good luck getting the drums off at that point. My first two cars had the parking-brake pedals tied to the dash so they couldn't be pushed. The first car was 12 years old when I bought it, and the second less than 15.

 

[Dr.Jass]

VROOM!

She's a runner. I've little doubt the valvetrain noise will subside after an oil change and some more run time. This was the first time it was started in 23 years, according to family members.


View attachment IMG 5181.mp4

 

[Dr.Jass]

I went and spent a little quality time with the ol' girl tonight. A bit of further assessment of what I bought, I suppose.

First things first: The horrible Playskool '72-'74 steering wheel had to go. Luckily, the original (?) steering wheel was in the trunk, so 3 screws and 3 nuts later, it was looking much more appropriate:




The fancy seat covers obscured what year the seats were. I tried to save 'em--I really did--but the tie-down strings were entangled in the seat tracks, so violence was necessary. The covers themselves survived, but they can't be secured easily anymore. The seats are early 1972, which have the same upholstery pattern as other '72-'74 cars, but have hard seatbacks and pushbutton release:



Mike, who sold me the car, still has the '72 Rallye he bought in the late '70s, which is an early car based on the 8K tach and pinned sunvisors. However, his car has soft-back seats with lever released, like the '73-'74 cars. Curious.

Next, I had to find out what was going on with that idiotic-lookin' hex-shaft shifter, as seen here:




It turns out it was a home-grown solution to a stick that was way too short!




The stick says "INDY" but the shifter itself appears to be a standard Hurst bolt-in handle unit, which was what the factory used from 1972-'74:




It's definitely an A-body transmission, which I was able to verify by peering forward through the hole. It's definitely a 4-speed as evidenced by this photo of three shift rods, left to right: 3-4, 1-2, and reverse. It looks like a cast-iron case, so I don't think it's an overdrive (although cast-iron overdrives exist; I had two of them until recently).




That was about it for the evening, at least in that stall. I went next door to further dig about in the '74, but nothing in that stall applies to this car.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Well, I found a '71 grille for the car at the last swap meet. My wallet still hurts and it's not perfect, but dang it I've got one.




Of course, once I had that firmly in hand I discovered it can't be installed on the '74 fenders currently on the car. They have to be '70-'71 fenders since the later ones have no headlamp mounting provisions. I've found a pair of those, rusty but reasonable, but they're quite some distance away. My back isn't yet up to the road trip.

The car has hood pins on it, but it's just the pins themselves. None of the hardware, cables, etc. are there. I found this collection of mostly used OE hardware, with brand-new cables, at the same swap. Everything except the pins I already have... it was meant to be, especially for $15!




Still at the same swap, I found a new fuel tank. I don't know that the one in the car is actually bad, but I'd hate to see the bottom of it after sitting all those years. It was less than half my cost through work, so I consider the new tank cheap insurance. No picture, but hey--it's still in the box. Nothing to see anyhow.

I also grabbed a decent, but not perfect Tuff wheel and adapter at a low price. The adapter isn't necessary for an E-body so it'll go into stock. The wheel's just not-nice enough for this car. As much as I like the woodgrain wheel currently in it, I prefer the small diameter of the Tuff wheel on cars with power steering.




Of course, with my back still recuperating I haven't been able to do much of anything since we got home from the swap meet. The next projects on the plate require heavy lifting, so it may be awhile before I've got any progress to report.

 

[69.5CUDA]

you say that grills not perfect...wheres the flaws?!?!?!?!??..looks as nice as many a show car is seen round these parts

i agree with you completely on the tuff wheels...even if im not a fan of them..and yeah scream all you like but i prefer a grant of the same style...something about how they feel when wheeling HARD
on the fenders, any chance you can just blow out some spot welds and just swap out the buckets? and mounting area?..i mean u i figure the "skins" are other wise the same "shape" ignoring marker and bumper

 

[thrashingcows]

you say that grills not perfect...wheres the flaws?!?!?!?!??..looks as nice as many a show car is seen round these parts

on the fenders, any chance you can just blow out some spot welds and just swap out the buckets? and mounting area?..i mean u i figure the "skins" are other wise the same "shape" ignoring marker and bumper

That was my thought as well on the headlight bucket assemblies.

 

[Dr.Jass]

on the fenders, any chance you can just blow out some spot welds and just swap out the buckets? and mounting area?..i mean u i figure the "skins" are other wise the same "shape" ignoring marker and bumper

There are no buckets, per se. The headlight mount/adjuster assemblies are the same from 1971-'74. In '71 they bolt directly to the fender on the flange that also mounts the grille. In 1972-'74, they bolt into the fiberglass header panel. The grille/headlamp support flanges were eliminated entirely in 1972. Could I move those flanges? Sure, but I still need a set of '70-'71 fenders just to get them. They're not available not welded to a fender. At that point, I'm moving them from a fender with the correct marker-lamp cutout to one without. The fenders on the car are essentialy shot anyhow, so replacing them is easier and more sensible.

1970-71:

1972-'74:

 

[69.5CUDA]

for some reason i thought the fenders were ok...was just thinking getting an un saveable set of early ones might be cheep and or easy

 

[Dr.Jass]

for some reason i thought the fenders were ok...was just thinking getting an un saveable set of early ones might be cheep and or easy

If you scroll up and look at the picture of it just before it went in the car wash, you can see the squares cut out of the fenders right at the top front, behind the headlamps. Both have the same area cut out, across the body line and everything.

 

[69.5CUDA]

hah i didnt notice those holes.....cut out to stop rust bubbles?

 

[Dr.Jass]

I assume that was the idea. They might've even been repairable, but they cut across the body line that matches the hood. That makes the repair much trickier. Since I can't use them anyhow, I'm not inclined to attempt the repairs, although I won't likely scrap the fenders outright.

you say that grills not perfect...wheres the flaws?!?!?!?!??..looks as nice as many a show car is seen round these parts

It's a repaired unit. It looks pretty good in photos and at 10' it's really good, but there are some sanding lines and uneven surfaces. The textured argent hides those pretty well, but up close they're apparent. There's one crack still in it, but it doesn't go all the way through the plastic (it's only on one surface) so I'm not inclined to mess with it.

Unbroken '71 Challenger grilles range from about $1,600 needing complete refinishing up to $6,000 or more for NOS. They are very hard to find. OER announced a reproduction about four years ago but they've never become available. A broken grill, missing most of the extensions below the headlamps on both sides, recently sold on eBay for over $500. The one I got was more than I wanted to pay, but it looks pretty good and I don't have to keep searching. I'd already found pretty good headlamp bezels and bought a new fastener kit to install it so I have everything now except the fenders. I know where there's a beat-up pair of those for $200, but those may disappear while my back's healing. I've found others that were more expensive, but I don't need perfection for this project.

 

[Dr.Jass]

The guy with the fenders said he didn't need them moved immediately, so I sent him a check for 'em. He said whenever I feel up to it, let him know and I can come get them. I also found a LH marker light assembly, grille hardware, and other miscellaneous bits. The car came with two upper grille supports (which are '71-only) so I now own everything needed to do the front-end swap back to a '71 grille. I just need my back to heal and spend a road-trip day getting the fenders.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I've had a very nice 1971 340 intake lying around for more than a decade and recently found a rather good '71 340/4-speed ThermoQuad completely by accident. As such, I've decided to go nearly full retard and use the '71 340 induction system in its entirety on the 318. Ever helpful, I was gently nudged toward that decision by Kevin, who opined (quite rightly), "You know you're gonna put a 340 in it eventually anyhow."
That decision behind me, I've not yet committed to the insane asking prices of a correct 1970-'71 340 air cleaner. I do have one of those already, but it's currently slated for a different car. I have a couple of nice dual-snorkel 400/440 air cleaners too so I'll probably just use one of those, at least for the time being. A good deal on the right one might happen along.

The weather thus far looks good for a road trip Saturday... gotta pick up those fenders! It'll be a long day; it's about 5 hours one way.