Due to college expenses I decided to sell my car, a 97 Eagle Talon TSi AWD, and move to some older american iron. Oh, let's say something in the muscle car era, a 69 Charger would be nice... or how about a 70 Challenger? Hmmm, choices were limited and expensive. I did see a 69 Barracuda for sale, but that was an older A body, and I didn't want to get involved with an A body at the time. I was continuing to get lower on funds as the days passed (damn rent), and I found an ad for a 79 Li'l Red Express listed for $3750. I thought it over for a few days, and looked up as much information as I could find on them. I had to drive back down to College Station (Texas A&M) for the on going summer session. I had my brother drive over and take a look at the truck with a check list to see what the truck would need to be usable on a daily basis...

Of all the gauges, only the Alt. worked, sort of. The odometer stopped at 98,597 (assuming it was the original). The horn was a previously installed (on the dash) "button" with "custom" wiring, but at least it worked. It had the correct air cleaner (no duct work to it though), but had been painted (!) silver (I found out why later). The turn signals worked except the passenger's side, it would not blink (dash indicator was on all the time, even when the signal wasn't being used). It had a mid-late 80's radio stuffed in the radio slot (wasn't hooked up of course), and had no antenna. No rear view mirror, and the passenger's side mirror glass was crushed in badly. The A/C didn't work, and a line running from the compressor was bent. The interior fan didn't work, neither did the wipers, of course the blades were shot. The lights flickered when idling too. And I haven't even gotten to the running condition...

The engine had a hard miss, but started easily. There was a nice hissing noise inside the cab... The truck shook violently, particularly in third gear. The accelerator was very difficult to press, and would suddenly give causing some tire spin. To further the problems, the truck's original 9-1/4 axle was busted a few days before we got to look at the truck, the owner (a used car lot) had an 8-3/8 axle thrown under it. Fortunately the original 9-1/4 came with the truck (in the bed).

Factory exhaust? What's that? The truck had a muffler shop "special" put on it, using 2" pipes. with some really "nice" press bends, and some crappy glass packs to add to the mystique of the truck. It did have original stacks and tips.

The interior was in fairly good shape, for a reason. It had a bench seat from some mid 80's truck in it, and "new" carpeting placed in it. It had the apparently original 4 spoke "Omni" steering wheel in it. The gear shift was missing the plastic knob on the end. And the windows were harder than hell to roll up or down. The passenger side door lock was nearly frozen. The glove box liner was cracking but still usable.

Oh, and the passenger side visor is missing in action.

7/3/1998:

For whatever reason, I decided to buy this truck. I offered the guy $3300, we met at $3500, probably too much for the truck considering the condition. But hey, I had a Li'l Red.

The Gas Station Incident:

I drove the truck off the lot and to the nearest gas station. Put 89 octane in it, and was talking to my brother while the truck was filling up. I looked down and saw a rather large puddle of gas advancing out from under the truck, hmmm. I looked under the truck and saw gas pouring out from the top of the full tank. I stopped putting gas in at that point, and put the cap back on and left immediately (I paid by credit card at the pump).

It spilled gas for some time while driving down the road before it quit dripping. Fortunately it was about 30 miles home, so I got to burn up some additional gas. I had my dad following behind me all the way home, "just in case". We made it home with no problems.

I got a few stares driving it home, and my brother got a ton of leaf mulch, grass, dirt and little pieces of sticks blown all over him from the duct work.

I parked the truck in front of the house, and proceeded to fix a few minor things such as the glove box. The little wire that the lock shuts against was lose, and so was the passenger side door handle. I also pulled off the driver's side turn signal (fender side), and found all kinds of neat things, like a nail, a screw, a wadded up cigarette pack, and an acorn. The light was burned out.

I (we) decided to bring the truck around back for the night so we could get an early start on a cool engine the next morning. She started up ok, I turned the lights on, and saw the right turn signal light come on and stay on, and I also noticed the lights flickered quite a bit at idle. Off-idle was fine, more or less.

The Rebirth begins on July 4, 1998...

By finding the battery sitting against the exhaust manifold (dodged yet another fire hazard).

We started with a compression test. She failed, max psi was 105, the worst was 85, most were 95-100. I later learned that you are supposed to block the throttle wide open, and have the engine warm... instead of cold and with the throttle at idle.

We went ahead an replaced the cap and rotor, spark plug wires, and plugs. Drained the oil, replaced the filter, and put in some 30 weight Quaker State. Put new headlights on, and turn signal lights.

Ahh yes, the turn signal housings, boy were they rusty. No wonder they barely worked! We cleaned the contacts up as best we could and tried to remove as much rust as possible from the reflector surface, we sprayed them with Rustoleum (sp?) and then with silver paint. This helped out tremendously, they were actually visible in daylight now.

I crawled under the truck to look at the gas tank. I found out why it leaked... The sending unit's wire connectors were MIA (maybe in the tank?), the sending unit was only being held on by four screws, and the gas filler was only being held on by two screws. We thought we had figured out why the gas gauge didn't work, we found out the other reason later.

Engine to firewall ground was nowhere to be found, and the ground was probably going through the accelerator cable. We had some battery cable and a couple of large copper connectors, so we made good use of them and grounded the engine to the firewall with it. We also cleaned up the battery to engine connection.

There was a long wire (speaker wire to be precise) that ran from the inside of the cab (under the carpet) into the engine compartment, neither end was connected to anything. The insulation on the wire was cooked pretty good. Considering that the wire wasn't hooked to anything, we removed it.

We cleaned up the firewall wiring harness connections, as well as all the other grounds we could find (including the cab to bed grounds that were disconnected). The lights still flickered, but not as bad. A new voltage regulator fixed the remaining flicker. Amazingly the high/low beam switch worked.

Rear view mirror fix attempt 1. I bought a replacement rear view mirror, the kind with the silicon adhesive and plastic mirror base. It was only 8 or 10", I can't remember exactly. I followed the directions to the letter, I put the mirror on, it seemed to be holding. As I was driving up the alley it fell down, leaving the silicon on the windshield. The second attempt was with a larger mirror, it fell down within seconds. So I found another adhesive, this one used two containers, one had a blue liquid, the other a crushable tube that contained a surface prep for the adhesive. I didn't quite follow the directions, I didn't feel like applying pressure for 2-3 minutes, so I didn't. The button fell off on the first sign of pressure. So, not really learning much from the previous three attempts, I tried the last adhesive again, this time I applied pressure, it stayed on for over a year. When I went to get the truck inspected, the inspector knocked the mirror off. All attempts with the same adhesive that worked before have netted a mirror that falls off. In desperation I found some other adhesives that where next to the mirror adhesives. I bought one that was rated at 1200 psi (the lowest rating I could find), this stuff has worked like a charm. It does have a warning on the back, something about not getting it over 200 degrees (I think it might get soft), so I don't know how well it will hold up this summer (update: it didn't).

The gauges. We pulled the instrument cluster out, and found out why the gauges didn't work, the voltage limiter was missing. BUT the previous owner was dumb enough to jump 12 volts straight from the alt to the fuel gauge, this fried the remaining gauges (fuel, temp, oil pressure). The oil pressure and fuel gauges sort of worked (as discovered later), but the temp was dead. We removed the jumper wire and put in the voltage limiter.

The speedometer cable was connected to nothing, and could not be connected either. The engine/tranny had been replaced long before I bought the truck (little did I know). The tranny was a 904, the engine was a 360 (built in 12/78) but not a Li'l Red 360. Any way the tranny had some strange pinion adapter on it that did not allow the current speedometer cable to screw on to it, and the cable coming out of the tranny was for a truck/car equipped with cruise control. This particular truck does not have cruise control, so the tranny cable was just sitting in the engine compartment, and the speedo cable was sitting inside the frame rail, collecting dirt and spider webs.

Near fire number 3, the Alt. gauge had a lose connection where the screws met with the actual case of the gauge, plus the factory wiring was for a 60 amp alternator, and the current one is a 100 amp unit. These two factors combined to produce really hot wires going into and out of the firewall, and the gauge had gotten hot enough to melt the plastic instrument cluster and scorch the plastic brown. The firewall connections around the two wires had partially melted also.

First rain... the windshield leaks.

Over the next several months I drove from College Station to Dallas (around 195 miles one way) Friday afternoon. I spent all day Saturday working on the truck, and most of Sunday too. On Sunday night I would drive back to College Station for classes on Monday.

On to the gas tank, I went to the dealer to see about getting a new sending unit. They asked me what size tank I had, "I don't know", I said. So the parts droid made an "edumacated guess". He ordered a sending unit for a 35 gallon tank (I didn't know it at the time). When the part arrived I proceeded to drop the tank and remove the existing sending unit. Those little phillips head screws sure are hard to get out. In fact all of them sheared off in the steel ring cast into the top of the tank. After removing the sending unit we inspected it. The unit was rusted badly, the pick up tube was barely hanging on, and the float did not exist any longer.

The new unit did not have any holes drilled in it, and had an extra tube sticking out of it. We went ahead and put it in the tank, the pick up tube hit the bottom of the tank. No matter, we bought some self-tapping screws and made a new gasket for the sending unit and proceeded to install the new sending unit. I don't know what they made the ring out of but it ate several of the self-tapping screws, a few of the screws missed it entirely (naturally) though. We also put some of self tappers into the filler neck to help out the with clamping force and hopefully stop or limit the fuel loss.

After returning the tank back to the truck and putting gas in it, the gas gauge only read 3/4 full, by the time it passed E and stopped moving was 1/2 a tank (roughly). This made driving any long distances a test of will power and luck. My first trip to College Station (at a much later date and more work) had me sitting on pins and needles as I drove down I45 to SH 14, I stopped in Mexia (about the half way point) because the gauge was well past E. I could only put 11 gallons in it. I did eventually replace the fuel gauge, the new one reads full, and stops moving between 1/4 and 1/2 a tank. I found when that happens there isn't much gas left (fumes) the hard way. I ran out of gas on the way home from work (summer 1999). Several co-works saw the truck on the road side, I wasn't anywhere in the area (buying gas cans and gas). All I could find were 1 gallons plastic cans, so I bought two and filled them up. Walked back to the truck (probably 3/4 to 1 mile away) and dumped the gas in and proceeded to try and start 'er up. No luck, I got out and checked to see if any gas had actually made it to the carb by pulling the air cleaner and pushing the throttle open. Hmmm, no accelerator pump shot. Back to the gas station for more gas. Another co-worker saw me walking back to the truck with more gas. This time it was enough and it did start the truck. The battery had been severely drained and got a heavy charge for the rest of the ride home (30 minutes). The next day I had to explain what happened, specifically that the gas gauge LIED to me and that was why I ran out of gas.

Back to the summer of 1998...

I replaced the oil pressure sending unit, the old one rattled inside. By rattle I mean if you shook it the inside moved as one solid chunk from side to side. The new sending unit indicated on the old gauge that I had less than 20 psi at cold idle and 0 or less at warm/hot idle. Driving down the road showed upto 20 (again cold) and about 0 warm. This inspired much confidence.

The only gauge I replaced at the time was the temp gauge, and it seemed to be the only that worked correctly.

We grabbed an instrument cluster from a dead Dodge at the local "salvage yard", and it had a 100 mph speedometer in it (my truck had a 85 mph unit in it), as well as a tranny speedometer pinion.

After some more work, the truck was in an inspectable condition (of course the current sticker was out). It actually passed on the first try, I was in a non-emissions county so I didn't have to bother with that.

Now we get to the "fun" stuff.

By the end of September 98 I had sold my Talon, and had some cash in my pocket. It was starting to burn a hole, so I decided to do something with it (maybe not the smartest thing). I decided to replace the engine with a crate motor (Mopar Performance), I just didn't know if I wanted the 300 or 380 hp version. The final deciding factor was the A/C to manifold mount, or lack thereof for the 380 (single plane = no mount point). I got lucky and found a Magnum 300 for sale in Washington State (keep in mind I was in South Texas) for $2500. It had never been run, much less out of the crate. $2500 later, and $450+ in freight charges I got the engine. It took several weeks to get here (Thanksgiving holidays delayed delivery), it finally arrived by way of 18 wheeler.

I also ordered up a new transmission (another 904) built by JW Performance Trans. and a TC to match the non-lockup transmission (balanced for the new Magnum 360).

About a month later, and a lot more small parts (carb, oil, filters, water, antifreeze, etc) I was ready to swap the engine. Mind you it was mid December by this point, school was out for Winter break (about 1 month). I talked my brother into coming down and helping me do the swap over the weekend. It was unseasonably warm (mid 70's) that weekend. We got the old engine out after 6-7 hours (yeah, we were pretty quick...), we ended up having to let air out of the tires to get the oil pump pickup to clear the front grille (we should have just removed the pump).

Next morning we spent a good part of the day swapping parts off of the old engine onto the new, and preparing the new engine for it's new home. Bear in mind that the old lock up tranny was still in the truck, and the old torque convertor was not balanced for the new engine. We proceeded to attempt to install the new TC onto the old tranny. About 1.5 hours of painful (the ring gear hurts) trying later we finally decided to try the new TC on the new tranny, it popped on in seconds. Hmmm (gears are turning)... It finally dawned on me that (duh!) you can't mix lockup and non-lockup TCs. #$%*@! My brother needed to leave so he could get back to Dallas for work Monday.

On Monday I was really bored, and had a lot of time to think about how I could get the tranny out of the truck. I succeeded, and just in time too. We had a REALLY strong Arctic cold front come through that evening. The temp went from 78 to 30's in less than 2 hours.

The TV and Internet became my closest friends. Did I mention that my two roommates had left town right after the semester ended? I was stuck. Fortunately I talked my brother into taking me to the grocery store before he left so I could eat for the next week or so.

My brother and Dad returned the following weekend, still cold (lows in the 20's). We got the new tranny in with little trouble, and lowered the engine and hooked it up to the tranny and motor mounts. The only thing that did cause problems was the rear alternator bracket. The bottom mount to the block forced the bracket away from the engine because the block had the boss raised out away from the block and the bracket was designed for a boss flat with the block. This made the bracket stick out about a 1/2". We used some spacers at the other mounting points to make the bracket surfaces parallel with each other. After all was said and done (with regard to the pulleys) the alternator sits too far forward now. The belts go on, and stay on, but they are being pulled forward by the alternator. The fan and power steering pump pulleys lined up perfect. To have this work right would probably require different brackets or "making" the existing bracket work.

The throttle spring, as well as cable and kick down linkage were designed for the old style (45 degree) manifold bolts, the Magnum 300 used vertical bolts. Time to bust out "The Persuader", after a session or two with that they fit with the new manifold.

We also had to cut a small notch into the lower part of the alternator bracket (there it is being a pain in the ass again) to clear the fuel pump.

After getting it all assembled, and the timing set we proceeded to try starting. Lots of cranking, and no starting. We got wise, and poured some gas down the carb, the result was instant ignition. So we pulled the fuel line from the carb, placed it into a gas can and cranked the engine. Nothing came out of the fuel line. So we back tracked, and found that we had gas waiting to be pumped in the fuel lines coming from the tank. We figured we had a bad fuel pump, and replaced it. It started after that with no further problems. It was getting late, and it was Christmas Eve, so we put the hood on the truck. We had to be in New Boston, TX for Christmas so we put all the tools in the garage and locked the truck up and drove back to Dallas. We got in around midnight, and went to bed immediately.

Christmas.

December 26th, drive back down to College Station to finish up a few minor details and return the engine hoist. After arriving we stopped for lunch, and then loaded the hoist into Li'l Red and drove over to the rental store. They closed at 12:30 pm, it was now 3:00 pm. #$%@$! We would have to stay overnight, this had not been planned and there was very little left in the way of food.

After driving home and allowing the engine to break in, it was shown that I had much tuning left to do to the engine.

After several months I finally discovered that the MP distributor that came with the engine was bad. The shaft had a wobble to it. After tearing it apart I found that the top of the shaft that the reluctor rotates on was machined improperly and unfixable for all intents and purposes. So I busted out my old distributor and replaced the advance springs with the MP springs, effectively making it like the MP distributor (I didn't change the plate though). This cured a pop that seemed to be ignition related.

Fast forward to summer 1999.

I was driving to work, and traffic snarls had gotten me into a irritable mood. The final light before I got to work turned red as I approached it, so I slowed down. As I approached the light, at 15-20 mph, it turned green. I got on the throttle pretty hard. I start to accelerate and then, BOOM! The engine was now free-wheeling, gear shift was still in Drive. I figured I killed the rear end (old 8-3/8), but I heard no noises, and the truck rolled smoothly forward. I put the tranny in neutral, and coasted the remaining distance to work (about 1/8th of a mile). I got out and looked under neath the truck, no fluid was leaking, no parts were obviously broken. The parking brake was holding the truck (still in neutral), I could not spin the driveshaft (rear end seemed to be ok). I got a couple of guys to help push the truck into a parking space (so I wouldn't obstruct traffic). I figured I either killed the flex plate or something inside the tranny. The truck restarted ok, so it had to be inside the tranny. On a hunch, I decided to try all the gears, park, reverse, and neutral seemed to be ok, but not no forward gears. To make a long story short (too late) I broke the front planetary gear. I have the part as a souvenir, it sheared the splined collar off, the planet gears looked fine, and spun smoothly too. I had another planetary put in, and so far it has been fine. Though I would have liked to put a 727 in, that is going to cost some money (new TC, tranny, flex plate [just because], slip yoke, shortened driveshaft) that I did not have at the time, nor did I have the luxury of time either.

Oddly enough I did have the money and time to rebuild the front end. I ordered up a rubber front end kit from PST, and also some new inner tie-rod ends. I figured since we will have the springs out we might as well replace them too (the truck had been leaning towards the driver's side anyway). I called a dealer, and they wanted to know what I currently had on it. He listed off six different spring rates to me, I asked if they were all for D-150's and he said yes. They were pretty expensive. So I searched elsewhere, JC Whitney listed springs for most cars and trucks for $55 or something like that, I didn't feel comfortable with that , I found some from ESPO for around $60 or so. Just for the hell of it I tried a few local car parts places too. I actually found some made by Federal Mogul for my truck for $59, so I jumped on those.

After all the parts arrive, we tear into it early Saturday morning. By late afternoon we had the control arms off, and the upper ball joint out. We didn't have anyway to get the bushing and lower ball joint out (press fit). So we called around and found that NTB would do it for us. We walked in, got helped, they never told us how much they would charge for it, and never told us to go back inside and get a ticket written up, so we left after thanking the guy who did the work. We got home and put the driver's side back together (repacked the bearing while we were at it), and called it a day.

Sunday, we get the other side apart much quicker and call NTB to see if they could do the other side for us. Nope, the guy who does that is not in on Sunday. #*^%@! They could do it on Monday, however. I didn't want to miss work because of this, so we went back to the garage and thought about HOW we could get the bushings out and the new ones in. We had the special tool required, but it was for a 73 New Yorker, and the bushing sizes on my truck where just a WEE bit bigger. We ended up using the ball joint socket as a receiver and a carefully chosen socket as the arbor, we used the long screw from the special tool and proceeded to press out the bushings. We discovered the ball joint socket was just barely (1/4") too shallow. Back to the drawing board, we needed something with a large diameter, and several inches deep. We ended up using a metal fence post (chain link fence), it was the right size, and we measured off a good distance and cut a section off. The damn thing worked like a charm, pushing and pulling. It was thin walled though. When we attempted to press out the lower ball joint, we crushed the fence post. So we admitted defeat, and took the control arm to NTB (nobody else could do it on Sunday either) on Monday morning. We took it in, and a different guy pressed out the ball joint and put the new one in for us. Since it was all we needed done, he said not to worry about any charges for the work.

On removal of the passengers side spring, on Sunday, we discovered why the truck leaned towards the driver's side. The spring was in upside down. There was clearly a spot for the last coil to fit into on the lower control arm, but the flat side of the spring (top) has placed down here (bottom) for some reason. I still don't know why it was like that. We put the spring in the way that appeared correct, and the truck sits level now.

We replaced the tie rods the next weekend, mainly because the alignment shop refused to do an alignment ("Bad center link, Driver's side inner tie-rod , and passenger's side outer tie rod"). We replaced the tie rods, and took it back to the same shop. They said they could set the toe, but not the camber. One of the camber plates was bent flat. We did that when we took out the driver's side upper control arm, there was no warning about the possibility or ruining it, and the service manual said to "remove the camber bolts", so we turned the head of the bolt (the part the cam is attached to) because it was easiest to get to. After turning it 1/2 a turn I knew something "bad" had happened, and looking confirmed it. The shop said to take it to a frame shop and have them bend it back and weld it up to keep it from breaking off. I haven't gotten around to doing that yet, because I also need to get the crack at the steering box fixed too. I have no vacation time and few sick days to take off for a project like this (down time, and transportation).

I had the original 9-1/4 rebuilt using 3.55's and with a limited slip carrier, and new bearings installed all the way around. That cost me a pretty penny. We replaced the brake cylinders and pads, and one adjusting cable (broken). We almost pulled the swap off in one day. Only two messed up u-bolts stopped us. The local parts stores don't carry u-bolts for a Dodge Pickup. A trip to the local salvage yard yielded used u-bolts from an 82 Dodge Prospector (looked like an ex-Highway department truck). The truck was sitting on the axle and drums (no wheels), I had to dig a little hole under the u-bolts in order to have room to get at them. It took me 1 hour to get 1 nut off. I was worn out, and I had paid for 4 u-bolts already. After figuring out a better angle, I managed to get the others off in about 1.5 hours. We also scored a jack and the turning rod for it. Got home, and proceeded to put the u-bolts on with little trouble.

After getting the axle in everything seemed fine... But the brakes didn't work worth a damn. The self-adjustors weren't, even after a week of normal driving. I found out that they were on the wrong brake shoe, they needed to be on the rear shoe, not the front. I ended up having to swap the adjustors from left to right (and the little springs) to get them to rotate the correct way. The brakes work much better now.

My Dad was out at a camping supply place (for trailers) because lightning had fried a voltage regulator for the camper's batteries. As our luck turns out, they had u-bolts for my truck, cheaper than I had paid for used bolts at the yard. DOH!

Click on The Transmission Fiasco for the "I've had it" death of the 904.

December 15, 2000.

While I was looking for a coolant leak I looked at the frame behind the steering gear box. Now, I already new the frame had a couple of small cracks, but what I saw put the "Fear Of God" in me. There are 4 bolts that hold the gear box to the frame, of the four, three had cracks coming out of them. The two lower bolt holes had cracks coming towards each other and were either almost touching or had already done so (I couldn't tell). I called around to several shops to see about getting it fixed and an estimate on cost and when it could be done. I found a shop that could fix it for a reasonable cost (relative to the others estimates) and could have it done the same day (if I got it in early enough). After dropping the truck off I get a call later that day saying it is fixed, so $153 later the frame has been welded and drives much better.

Even after all the work I've done to the truck, I still have a lengthy list of "needs to be fixed" things. Such as:

Flattened cam plate, windshield leaks, needs completely new exhaust (the right stack has rotted completely through twice, through as in the whole stack can be lifted off), new paint, tailgate needs to be replaced/fixed, new/repair gas tank.

March 2001

Finally got my TQ (800 cfm) back, put it on the same day. Gas mileage picked up to around 14, sometimes it gets upto 15.5 mpg. A good improvement over the 12 - 12.5 I used to get with the 600 cfm Edelbrock. I even picked up 0.3 seconds in the 1/8 mile.

Late May 2001

I went to Houston Raceway Park. It was in the 90's. My best time was a 15.71 @88mph. I fidled around with the air door on the TQ, I never got it quite right. I think the engine wants more TC stall, I cranked a lot of tension on the air door (over 4 turns) and it still bogged (slightly). All I seemed to do was slow the truck down mph wise, the ET range stayed the same (15.75 - 15.85, 60' got down to 2.3 from a 2.4). The next day I let out the air door 2-1/4 turns and it seems to run just as good. If I go to WOT from idle it will roast the tires immdediately. If the tires stick I get a bog if the engine isn't warm, and a brief hesitation if it is warm.

June 2001

The passenger side exhaust stack rotted out again. Nobody would weld it back together. So I broke down and bought new stack pipes, s-pipes, and mufflers.

After cutting the other stack off, I proceeded to attempt to take the tips off. I ended up hack sawing them off, before I did that I put some dents into the pipes just below the tip. After sawing them off, I took the blade off and used it to cut a line down the inside of the tips through the stuck pipe. After cutting through I used a screw driver and hammer and tapped the screw driver down the side with the dent (just enough room to get between the pipe and the tip). After getting some of the pipe bent inwards I used pliers to twist the pipe out of the tip.

Cleaning the inside of the tips out was a pain. Some of the pipe metal was stuck to the inside, it was on there really well. I had to sacrifice an old knife as I used it like a chisel to flake small pieces of metal off.

After all that the tips still barely fit on the new pipes. I could not get all of the excess metal out of them. I'll have to wait to use my Dad's Dremel to finish cleaning the out.

July 4th 2001

I went to Navasota Raceway (a local 1/8 mile drag strip). I finally ran my first sub-10 second 1/8 mile et. A 9.98 @ 69.847 mph. I never ran under 10 again that night. The other runs were low 10's (under 10.10)

October 3,2001

I went to Navasota Raceway again in preparation for the upcoming trip to HRP (see next entry). I reset my low et two times that night. The first was a 9.893 @ 69.276 mph, that run was followed up by a 10.00 and 10.09 (I lost about a 0.1 in the 60' times). Then I went out on my last run and ran a 9.862 @ 70.664 mph.

October 6,2001

Back to HRP for a few more runs and to meet up with a few guys from Moparts Q&A Board. There was a cold front that blew through in the early morning hours, this meant a strong head wind while going down the track. The only change from the last time I was there was air temperature and 2 more degrees of total timing. The best run was a 15.454 @ 85.43 mph. I talked with a few other racers and they mentioned their mph was down as well. I had also worked out the bog prior to arriving at HRP.

December 2001 - January 2002

I decided to change the ATF in the 727 during the Winter break while I was visiting my parents. Keep in mind the pan has had a slow leak ever since the last transmission shop worked on it. I changed the fluid, and checked the pan for debris. The old fluid looked and smelled nearly new still. All I found was the usual thin film on the bottom of the pan. The pan was a little bent in around the bolt holes and the front corners seemed to have a slight down turn. I checked the clearance of the kickdown lever from the bottom of the piston rod, it appeared to be within spec (5/16"). I put a new gasket on (non-cork) and installed the pan and filled up with new fluid. I drove it around some and checked the level. All seemed to be OK.

As I got ready to leave, on a cold day no less, I started the truck after it had sat for a few days and moved it onto the driveway. I shut it off and went inside to gather me things and say good-bye. A few minutes later I came back out with a load of my stuff and saw several large drips of new ATF on the pavement. I was aggravated. At least they were drips and not a constant stream of ATF. I looked over where the truck had been sitting and didn't see any alarming amount of ATF on the ground, what little there was, was mostly from the mess I made when getting the pan off initially. So I decided not to re-check the fluid level again. I stopped about half-way as usual for gas, I decided to check the ATF as well. I was about a pint low. After topping off on gas and ATF I continued home with no problems.

Tightening the bolts back down, I checked them and they were a little lose, didn't help. Taking the pan off and attempting to straighten it out didn't help. I bought a TCI deep pan to replace the stamped steel pan. It has a drain plug, finally no more walls of ATF when I break the pan lose from the transmission. The rails were machined smooth and are 1/2" thick, thicker than the transmission itself is. I used the "re-usable" gasket it came with, and the filter extension. I filled it up (too much it turned out) and drove it around. Parked it, and looked at the pan and saw new ATF on the bottom. It still leaked from the driver's side front corner. I got under and found the bolts had gotten a little lose again and tighten them back down. Checked it the next morning, and it still had leaked ATF again, same spot. I bought some new gaskets and put a cork gasket on. It still leaks. Those same bolts seems to back out a little after it goes through a heat cycle. I've tightened them time and time again, they are holding their torque a better now, but it still leaks. I can dry the pan and outside of the pan and transmission and come back later and find it has leaked around the gasket again. The transmission above the gasket it dry, that rules out any leaks from the gear selector bushing, cooler line, and kickdown adjustor bolt. At least it leaks slower than it did before I changed the fluid in the first place.

March 12, 2002

I installed a bracket that reinforces the frame where the steering gearbox attaches. This fix was used by Dodge starting in late 80's (as far as I know) up through 93. The frames will eventually crack around the holes for the gearbox bolts.

The part number for the bracket is: 4447405, it is no longer produced (NS1) so the part only exists in the warehouses and at dealers. You can find the part on the above mentioned years in the junkyards too. You will need 4 grade 8 bolts that are at least 2" long (threaded section) and around 8 grade 8 washers, and 2 grade 2 nuts. The bolt and nut sizes are 7/16", most of the large hardware stores do not carry grade 8 bolts but may be able to point you to a place that does. Do not use less than grade 8 bolts (demarked by 6 dashes/lines on the head) this is peoples lives on the line here, the factory used grade 8 and so should you.

You will need to remove the 4 gearbox bolts (support it!) to install the bracket. Use your new bolts and washers to bolt the bracket to the inside frame rail and mount the gearbox. The bracket will have an extension that extends over to the radiator cross member. It will have a slot in it for a bolt to pass through the bracket, mark a spot to drill a hole in the cross member. Make sure to have enough room so that a washer will fit inside the frame rail from above. If you don't remove the radiator be sure and protect it from puncture by the drill bits or you will be pulling it to repair/replace. Drill the hole slghtly larger than 7/16".

You will also need to drill another hole in the main frame rail forward of the gear box for the additional mount in the bracket

When tightening the bolts use the factory specs (100 ft lbs). I used that value for the 2 new bolts as well.