Big update on the 'Cuda...I bought it about a year ago, a craigslist special. The guy trailered it down from Montana where it was garaged and I gave it a look and went for it. Now, it's a 50-year old car, so you have to expect some issues. This one was originally a 318 car, at some point was swapped to a 383. I had all the fluids and consumables like belts and hoses swapped out to start fresh and see where I was at. The shop I've been using (Austin City Hot Rods) has been good, but we've been putting band aids on it for awhile so I could drive and enjoy it (it's a driver). But it's had some persistent leaks - first an oil leak which we had some trouble tracking down, thought maybe it was a blowby issue due to crankcase overpressure (installed relief vent), then found one of the oil pan bolts was stripped out and addressed that. Then it had a PS fluid leak, that box is old and needs to be swapped out, put it on the list. But the most annoying issue is that you'd drive it for 30 mins to get a burger, and it would be fine, then you'd let it sit and when you fired it back up, on the way home it would BELCH smoke out the back. I think that maybe the oil leak hitting the hot headers and exhaust, but the seals in the transmission were going as well and trans fluid smokes also. Thinking that as the exhaust heated up and those fluids were slung onto it they'd burn off. At the same time I wanted to upgrade the breaking and make it more drivable.
Long story short, I decided to have the engine rebuilt so I could really see what I was dealing with and kill the leaks for good. The shop pulled the engine and took it up to WCH Racing Engines in Midlothian to do the work. They've had it for the past month or so and tore it completely apart - new gaskets, new pistons, bored it .060 over, new value springs and seals, etc etc etc - basically all new. They also broke it in on the engine dyno. I have the report, I'll see if I can scan it and post it here.
At the same time, we can swap in a known cam and put on a FI tech TBFI system so cold starts are no longer an issue. I had them pull the transmission and sent it off to a guy here in Austin to rebuild it with hard parts - good thing because it had leaks also. I also had them install new brake lines, a new master cylinder, new torsion bars (the old ones for the 318 were still there), we put in a new FirmFeel level II power steering box, new fast ratio pitman and idler arms to really tighten up the steering as it was pretty loose, along with new headers to make it all fit. We're also putting an electric fan with a shroud on it because these mopars love to overheat, and finally a new Vintage Air A/C system so I can actually drive it during the summer without dying. While we had the engine out I also had them do some other minor stuff like spray the engine bay body color (Mopar!) and relocate the battery to the trunk to clean up the look. Of course, we found some issues in the metal when it was scrubbed for paint, which had to be fixed too, fortunately they were minor.
I should have it back on the road in the next few weeks, right now I'm just waiting on the transmission to come back and the rebuilt steering box and we can get it all back together. Here are some WIP pics, I'm a fan of the crated motor all fresh and repainted mopar orange and ready to go back in!