[Project] Plum Crazy 1974 Challenger Mopar

[Fox Slaughter]

Well as some of you may know I picked up a 1974 Dodge Challenger. I haven't thought a name for her yet but I will.
The plan is to basically restore it add some muscle under the hood.

Currently it is a rebuilt 340 4 Barrel (was originally a 360 car).
Has a Torqueflite 727 with a 2000 stall.

So to start it off I ordered an all aluminum 26" radiator because the one in the car is leaking through a hairline crack when hot and the lower hose connection.

Driverside ball joint is popping so I just picked up 4 new upper/lower ball joints.

The mufflers are going to be replaced with SLP Loudmouths.

Got some electrical issues such as markers not working, no dash lights, ect.

Anyways here is a super quick photoshoot I just did after picking up the ball joint press. Nothing fancy, just quick and dirty. Enjoy.

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[sman]

Purdy!

[Fox Slaughter]

Well got all the ball joints changed.
I need new outer tie rod ends because they didn't like being beaten out of the ball joints.
No body will have them until tomorrow.

Good news, all new brake lines including the rubber line.
Brand new brake pads and rotors.

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[nascarnate326]

How many cars do you have? How can they all get the attention they need?

Very jealous!!

[Fox Slaughter]

How many cars do you have? How can they all get the attention they need?

Very jealous!!

4. Haha

[zeeman]

very nice. congrats

[JoeliusZ28]

Im jealous. What are you looking at doing for performance?

Is that a slap shift shifter on the 727? Those are fun

[Fox Slaughter]

Im jealous. What are you looking at doing for performance?

Is that a slap shift shifter on the 727? Those are fun

My dream was always a 440 six pack. So maybe I'll put a 440 in.
I don't know what's on the shifter. It's a ball with a push button on the top. I thought the challengers had T handle shifters so don't know.

[JoeliusZ28]

Might be a cuda handle, they definitely made them like that.

My uncle has a real '70 shaker challenger SE 440-6 and in his car it says "slap stick" or "slap shift" right on the console.

[Fox Slaughter]

Might be a cuda handle, they definitely made them like that.

My uncle has a real '70 shaker challenger SE 440-6 and in his car it says "slap stick" or "slap shift" right on the console.

Must be nice to have money.

So I got the driver side outer tie rod end changed. Go to do the passenger and its the same thread as the driver side. So I don't know if someone put driver side stuff over there or what but now I have to exchange the part and the Moparts is closed.

So I went to Advanced and was like you guys won't have this in stock but I am looking for something similar as its pretty generic. "Whats the vehicle?" Argh here we go. 74 Dodge Challenger. "Whats that part number say?" "Oh yeah we will have to order it can be here in the morning". Thanks Einstein I just told you I was looking for something similar.

So I have to wait till the morning to finish the passenger side.

Also who names parts on cars as the "left" and "right side" instead of Passenger/Driver. Really? Well its on the left side if I'm facing the car but the right side if I'm pointing the same direction as the car. Yes I know its done facing the same direction as the car but still.

/Rant.

[jetice]

Well, what if its right hand drive? Gets real confusing at the engineering level if global platform parts are labeled driver/passenger.

[Fox Slaughter]

Well, what if its right hand drive? Gets real confusing at the engineering level if global platform parts are labeled driver/passenger.

Because the tie rods are exactly the same on both sides? Apparently what happened was someone flipped the tie rod and put the "right" both towards in inside and then put the "left" to the outside.

Its currently up at the shop getting a front end alignment and SLP loudmouths put in.

[Fox Slaughter]

Well the shop ended up not doing the alignment because they said my Lower Control Arm bushings and caster bushings need to be replaced.
The exhaust won't work with the current setup because Its offset inlet/outlet.

So I ended up doing a front end alignment myself and got it pretty decent. Its drivable. Drove it to Woodward to hang out tonight.

Exhaust I'll probably just see what a shop will charge for a header back 2 1/2" setup.

[Fox Slaughter]

Working on the dash lighting not working. Pulled the bulbs, 2 of the 4 were burnt out. Replaced, no such luck. Only getting about 1v from across the fuse opening, which tells me either the ground is missing or there is no voltage potential. Next step is to get a check tan side (the feed side) to ground to check for 12v potential. If its not there then its somewhere on the tan side. What it seems to be is the bar itself is what grounds the bulbs as there is only one wire going to each bulb, they plug into the socket which the socket plugs into a metal socket in the metal bar. So the metal bar must be providing the ground. If I get 12v potential then I am going to scuff the inside of the metal sockets and the mounting points of the bar. If this fails, I will then run a temp wire from the battery negative to the bar to verify lights are working.

[Fox Slaughter]

Well the grounds are good because from the orange side of the fuse to the radio power I get 12v telling me the grounds are good.

So I pulled apart the dash and checked the dimmer rheostat. Cleaned it and tested it for resistance. The resistance varied like it should.
Checked the harness for 12v potential which it has.
Which lead me to believe that it was the tan wire from the rheostat to the fuse block is messed up somewhere. I just had an idea though. When I was checking the rheostat if you pushed or pulled it it would send the resistance way to like 100 ohms. So I am going to go wiggle the rheostat around and see if I get any lights.

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EDIT:

Argh I just had an epiphany of course after the dash is all back together. I could of checked the continuity of the tan wire to make sure it wasn't broken/cut.