[Eddie]

Dave what harm will it do her just to park her up for a while, you have a nice garage so put her to bed for a while and sort out the wonga.

What ever WE THE LADS can do we will. We must have the world of parts between us to help you out- lets make a plan as to how we can forward on it.

Whatever you guys come up with. Im In!!

[drewcrane]

I have had mine for over 34 years with plenty of let downs and way too many dollars sunk into it. Never thought once to sell it though as it is part of my life. Just too many good memories to part with the old girl.

My question to you Dave is what would you be doing with your time if you sold the Challenger? Are you really that burnt out on the sport to not participate anymore? Maybe park it for a while and let time aid your ultimate decision.

If you had to decide between your Challenger or your house which would you pick?

Easy my house, the cars go first

[dave-r]

Sorry, I didn't realize it had come to that point.

Well it hasn't come to that just yet. But I will in that position if something does not change.
I have also parked the car up for years at a time when things have got tight. Long time members here may remember I even sold 40% of my car once so that I could get it back on the road after years of it just sitting there. Had to borrow the money to buy that back eventually.
Running a car like this in the UK is VERY expensive and I just don't earn enough to make it an easy choice to keep.

I have priced it on the high side for the UK market. Not many old yank cars sell for that sort of money over here. If it sells at that price then I will be able to live a lot easier for the next few years and get some urgent repairs to the house done. But mainly it will have to go towards reducing my large mortgage repayments so I have a bit more slack from month to month.

If it does not sell at that price I would rather keep it and struggle on. It is only worth selling if it sells for enough money. So I will not be reducing the price to make it sell.

It's in the hands of the Gods now. Maybe it will be in the hands of some rich European later.

[Jon]

I prefer not to think emotionally about housing probably cause I'm in the business. Homes are a commodity and treated as such. If it costs too much to keep and you owe more then it's worth walk away for the burden, rent till things get better and your credit comes back in line then purchase another. Morally wrong? maybe, but a business decision and businesses do it everyday.

With housing falling or staying flat for the next ten years (here in the US) it doesn't make sense to pay if you are underwater and the place needs repairs to boot. Not saying it will happen but what if in five years you lose the house anyways after putting the proceeds from the Challenger in it? That would hurt.

[dave-r]

Good point well made Jon.

What you forget though is that here in the UK you would need to rent a VERY expensive house to have a garage (or even driveway) that you could keep a Challenger on. It would cost as much per month as I am paying to buy. In fact most rents are higher than it would cost to buy. Which is how the landlords make their money.
Also house prices here are double what you guys pay for a similar sized home. My small 3-bed semi-detatched is worth about $384,000 USD.

[Jon]

Have you thought of relocating to another country? I know it sounds strange based on "selling the Challenger" as a topic but it seems there is not much incentive to be someplace as financially oppressive as you describe.

[dave-r]

Have you thought of relocating to another country? I know it sounds strange based on "selling the Challenger" as a topic but it seems there is not much incentive to be someplace as financially oppressive as you describe.

I have thought about it but a job in my occupation would be tough to find and probably not very well paid. Plus at my age (and with my problems) paying into a health care system would be expensive.

I will actually be quite well off when I retire in ten years time. It is just going to be a struggle getting there.

[drewcrane]

Have you thought of relocating to another country? I know it sounds strange based on "selling the Challenger" as a topic but it seems there is not much incentive to be someplace as financially oppressive as you describe.

I have thought about it but a job in my occupation would be tough to find and probably not very well paid. Plus at my age (and with my problems) paying into a health care system would be expensive.

I will actually be quite well off when I retire in ten years time. It is just going to be a struggle getting there.

well when you retire move here and I can show you how to make teeth

Easy retirement job

Its all for not the world is ending in 2012 anyway

Hope things get better for ya dave cheer up,were all thinkin bout you

[RedRaven]

Well Dave an expert with teeth................












































........as Im sure hes kicked a load of them in down the years on the door.........lol

[fbernard]

But if someone stuck £30K under my nose I simply would have to take it and to be honest it would be a weight off my shoulders.

Well, to be honest too, if I hadn't bought a friend's cuda in March, I'd probably be in England by now talking to you. I know how our cars can really gobble up all of our available time (and almost all our resources), and sometimes you just have to have higher priorities.

I've been talking about this with an older friend (also a Mopar guy), and we're both going to keep on behaving like kids with our toys, as long as we can, and move on to something else when we can't do it anymore.

This is the longest standing hobby I've had, and I don't see it ending anytime soon, but I'm not always that positive in mid-winter in the workshop, when every wrench I grab is frozen.

[dave-r]

If it does not sell by Christmas I am going to try getting the head welded. The other head was stitch welded by Dave Hughes when he ported them and it has been no problem since.

If that works I will still have the car for sale but at least i will be able to drive it in the spring.

[Moparman1972]

Dave, I can't imagine you selling that car!

I do hope you find the means to keep it. You'll always regret it if it goes, you know....

[dave-r]

Classic American magazine Calendar.

[drewcrane]

Well the price just went up

[christer]

Classic American magazine Calendar.

That car looks familiar from somewhere...
I think I lay my eyes on the Hauser racing ad for a minute.
After that I will hopefully start to remember...

[fbernard]

I think I lay my eyes on the Hauser racing ad for a minute.

"Rear end Service"
"Drive in and out service"
I wonder, is that a job offer?

[dave-r]

If that is Geof Hauser he has been taking the wrong tablets.

[christer]

If that is Geof Hauser he has been taking the wrong tablets.

suppository? That was low.

[dave-r]

Well the car may be sold in principle but I still have to fix it and make sure it is running well for the new owner. It's the least I can do.

So it will be off with the old ported iron heads and on with a pair of stealth heads. These will be used in "out of the box" condition as they flow as much like this as my old ported heads.

I will only be fitting the matched valve springs for my camshaft and lapping the valves in. The rockers will need a little adjusting on the shims to center them exactly on the valve tips and I will need a new set of spark plugs as these heads require long reach plugs.

The big job will be removing the pistons and having the quench domes on the piston tops machined down. I can't remember how far they protrude above the deck but I need them to be flush with the deck so that with the gasket in place I will have 40 thou quench space in the head.

[Eddie]

You could sell the stock springs and retainers/locks when you replace them with the springs that match your flat tappet solid. Thats what I did. Not much,,might buy you and the wife a few pints. Hope your piston tops are thick enough for the machining to flat top zero deck. Oh, and check the heads carefully, I had a couple of exhaust ports that needed some slight work, casting flash was the culprit and the oil passages. I found a keeper lodged in one! This would have caused problems had I not found it!

[dave-r]

Yes I will have to check them carefully.

I think you had to clearence for the pushrods on yours too didn't you?

I only have to remove 0.76mm from the quench dome on the pistons. No sweat.

[christer]

and lapping the valves in.

I do not know what that means. What does it mean?
(Yes, I am familiar with valve jobs so it is more of a translation problem,I guess.)

[Eddie]

Yes I will have to check them carefully.

I think you had to clearence for the pushrods on yours too didn't you?

I only have to remove 0.76mm from the quench dome on the pistons . No sweat.

Cool, you should be fine with that slight removal which is only .030. Yes, the pushrods on my particular combination of parts which included 1.6 ratio rockers and my tall hyd. roller lifters placed the pushrods too close to the intake ports only. Of course I was using .083 walled 3/8 Diameter rods. I think you said you were using the next size smaller which are fine too but you might or might not encounter these issues with much shorter flat tappets and 1.5 ratio arms. Either way, a 'tootsie roll' sanding tip and a long 6" arbor will get you where you need to be Dave.

[Eddie]

and lapping the valves in.

I do not know what that means. What does it mean?
(Yes, I am familiar with valve jobs so it is more of a translation problem,I guess.)

Lapping the valves insures that the seal that takes place between the valve face and the valve seat are both concentric with each other. The best way to test this seal is with a vacum tester. There should be a flat grey ring thats without any interruptions on the valve face when using 1000 to 3000 grit Valve lapping compound and lapping them. You're not removing any metal just smoothing the metal enough to make a seal. Without getting too technical, 'smooth' surfaces will 'stick' to each other making a seal. I spent about an hour per head,(8 seats), then pressure tested them with a Sioux tester. It's not really necessary but can help show potential problems before the engine is assembled. The seats on my particular pair of 440 source heads were concentric and most importantly the valve guides were very good which allows little side to side movment in the valve guides. Too loose of valve guides causes rapid seat wear which allows gasses to escape.

[christer]

Thanks! Now I know what lapping the valves is.

It feels like I will start with yet another thread hi-jack...Fact is that I am more or less finished with lapping the valves on my old Kawasaki GPZ750. It became very obvious that something needed to be done when threee of the cylinders had 6 kg of compression and the fourth only had 2 kg. We removed deposits from the valve heads plates by using an ordinary drilling machine. We used a knife as a turning tool. (It is of course important to be very careful when it comes to the part of the valves that will be in contact with the valve seat. Do not touch it with the knife or anything.)

I borrowed a vacuum gauge from a friend´s job. We were only able to use it on the intake side though, since it didn´t seal perfectly on the exhaust side. If you do not have a gauge like this, you can fill up the combustion chambers with white spirit insted. It is a very slippery fluid, and if the valves will prevent this fluid from leaking, then you can be pretty sure that the engine will run OK once it is assembled. A working mate gave me a tip about the white spirit. A long time ago, he used to work with truck engines.That is the way they tested the valves. The valve springs do not need to be assembled when you do this testing. Just squeeze and rotate the valves about a 1/4 of a lap, and then the valves should keep tight.

[dave-r]

Yes I will have to check them carefully.

I think you had to clearence for the pushrods on yours too didn't you?

I only have to remove 0.76mm from the quench dome on the pistons . No sweat.

Cool, you should be fine with that slight removal which is only .030. Yes, the pushrods on my particular combination of parts which included 1.6 ratio rockers and my tall hyd. roller lifters placed the pushrods too close to the intake ports only. Of course I was using .083 walled 3/8 Diameter rods. I think you said you were using the next size smaller which are fine too but you might or might not encounter these issues with much shorter flat tappets and 1.5 ratio arms. Either way, a 'tootsie roll' sanding tip and a long 6" arbor will get you where you need to be Dave.

I am using thick pushrods and also have 1.6:1 ratio rockers Eddie.

I am finding a slight interference on the exhaust pushrods (easily sorted) but on the inlet side I will have to remove a lot of material from the side of the intake port runners. I will have to try and buy a 6" arbor and some sanding rolls.

[dave-r]

What size are the sanding rolls you used eddie? I am not sure what a "tootsie" roll is and if it is the same thing I am thinking of.

[dave-r]

I found a 4" arbor so that will do. Just need to find a abrasive roll supplier.

[Adrian Worman]

I got a load of Draper abrasive rolls in stock Dave, they fit the Dremel type of drill, will they do? Can put 'em with the socket when we post it

[dave-r]

Those little dremel ones are no good mate. They don't last 2 minutes. It is the 1/2" thick ones about an inch or inch and a half long I need in a 60 or 80 grit.