Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 01:10AM
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 2690
After taking the wagon to the street legal drags last week I decided to try changing my ignition system from the pertronix to the tried and true Mopar Electronic ignition. I picked up a junkyard 440 electronic dizzy a year or two ago from a 78 1/2 ton dodge van with a factory 440 in it!! Anyway I was just going to toss it in but decided I better open it up and check things out...glad I did!!
As you can see the dizzy had some rust in it. Never seen this kind of rust inside a dizzy before. I'm thinking maybe the van ended up in a river, or lake. And only some of the water got out of the dizzy and the rest caused all the rust. Anyway some time in the parts washer, and some time with some 280 grit sand paper and PB Blaster cleaned everything right up.
Reassembled everything with a good coating of motor oil and installed it.
Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 01:10AM
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 2690
I then had to wire up the electronic control module. Got a darn good wiring diagram from some guy on moparts...when I bought a bunch of slant 6 stuff for my Desoto. Anyway real easy wiring, but needed to figure out where to mount the box. First I was going to mount it under the batter tray...but was looking at the 40 feet of wiring I was going to need and thought there had to be a better place. Didn't want to drill any new holes in the firewall, so was standing looking at things when I remembered a factory? or aftermarket mounting location on the back side of RB and B motors.
So off to my bucket of misc brackets and crap and found a bracket piece off a 93 Cummins A/C condensor. The holes lied up perfectly with the back bolt holes. Just needed to weld on a couple nuts and bolt it together.
Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 01:10AM
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 2690
Put on a nice new shiny control box and turned the key...and....Nothing!! Checked to make sure I had wired it up properly...yup. Checked my 12V ignition source...no problems. Then pulled a plug wire and installed a plug...no spark! So off came the new shiny control box and on went an original until from say 1975-ish? Anyway got everything reinstalled and turned the key and it fired right up...even though I still had the plug wire unhooked from the motor and plugged into the spare spark plug...:)
Tried to time the motor but could get a visual on the timing mark. Tried the white chalk/soap stone I've been using for years...nothing. Changed which plug wires I was using...still no sign of it. Tried black felt...again nothing. Not sure why I couldn't get a visual on the timing mark, but regardless I did the timing by ear and by vacuum. Took it for a drive...had to adjust the timing a couple more times..but finally got it hauling a$$.
Motor has never run so strong! Before I could not get the back tire to light up (no suregrip) Now I barely give it some throttle and that back tire is spinning. Also when I first fired the motor it was smoking badly...I initially thought I had hurt something in the old motor when pounding on it down the quarter mile. But after a few runs out on the street it seemed to clear up. I think it now has a hot enough spark to burn off the crud that used to build up on several of the plugs, and pistons. I think the old pertronic was just WEAK!!
Also found the vacuum advance canister on the pertronix dizzy was toast...sucking air. Think this is where my idle fluctuation was coming from. With the new Mopar ignition system...and a good vacuum advance canister...it's running nice and smooth now.
Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 01:10AM
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 2690
I also finally got the rear grab handles on the wagon. Had the grab handles and tried to install them a couple years ago, but found the upper trim would not fit between the handles. I assumed that the rear trim piece was a grab handle specific piece, so I had been looking for one for some time now. Anyway a local guy was parting out a rusty 68 T/C wagon...and I managed to get that stainless piece!! Found out that the stainless piece is proportionally the same as the non-grab handle piece...the only difference is in the over all length, or width depending on how you look at it. The grab handle piece is about one inch (1") shorter on each end...that's it!!
This is the piece I'm referring too...this is from when I attempted to install them a couple years ago. You can see how the rear edge trim piece would not fit on the grab handle.
So to all those wagon guys who might want to upgrade their non-grab handled 65-68 C-body wagon...you can either find the correct piece...or hack down your original non-grab handle trim.
Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 01:10AM
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 2690
Thanks Jazz....no the Kilo speedo is not in. Too many projects, and not enough time....
As for the adhesive system...only thing I've found in the many applications I've used it for...is that you have to go very slow on the build up. Use the liquid ,then a small amount of the cold weld powder, then more liquid, small amount of powder...and so on. If you put too much powder and then add the liquid it actually only hardens the outside layer...the inside stays pretty much dry and the whole thing will come apart eventually.
Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 01:10AM
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 2690
dacuda wrote ... looks like you got he same rotors i got.glad someone else is using them with good comments.they were so cheap it made me wonder.
Yup they look to be the same ones. But I don't have those fancy red calipers though... Have you got the car up and running with these rotors, and those big viper calipers?
Joined: Wed Nov 17 2010, 03:28PM
Location: florida
Posts: 1311
not yet ,its been a slow process due to my lack of time.the car is basicly done but i have several other small projects im doing on the car that im still working on.i made a promise to not drive it(this time) until its 100%.