My '73 Challenger • The Dodge Challenger Message Board

by **snakeshit** » 06 Feb 2004 4:23

hey guys,
heres my '73... its a 340 2bbl?(odd) auto in the console, its extremely close to b5 blue... its a newer color though, painted last year, # is 50677? my dad bought this car for me last year and we have been restoring it gradually. it has ansen slotted rims(i believe...). air shocks in the back(probably need new ones) the engine runs good, it knocks a little bit, just needs a tune up. front end needs a rebuild, and needs some interior work like carpet and headliner. other than that this car is a nice driver. it is a completely rust free cali car. im 16 and this is my first mopar... not to mention my first car, and i love it! enjoy

-Matt

by **snakeshit** » 06 Feb 2004 4:54

sorry the digital camera is kinda cheap so you'll have to bear with me :wink:

by **TX70Challenger** » 06 Feb 2004 6:17

Welcome to the message board Matt. It's great to see another "young gun" mopar enthusiast! :twisted:

I'm sure you'll find the message board very helpful, and its members very generous and knowledgable. Keep that chally looking sharp and keep us posted!

-Ross

by **TX70Challenger** » 06 Feb 2004 6:18

Woah, just noticed this, my street name is escondido....SPOOKY! :shock:

by **dave-r** » 06 Feb 2004 8:36

Nice paint. I like it a lot.

Where is Escondido? I never heard of that place.

by **Jono** » 06 Feb 2004 17:34

Sixteen years old and a hardcore Mopar Fan.

There is a God.

Welcome aboard Matt.

Jon

by **snakeshit** » 06 Feb 2004 21:31

hey thaks guys

... escondido is located in sunny san diego

by **dave-r** » 06 Feb 2004 22:18

Remind me where San Diego is?

Well do you know where Newcastle Upon Tyne is without looking it up on a map? :roll:

by **snakeshit** » 06 Feb 2004 23:50

its in southern california about an hour away from los angeles (in the challenger :lol:

)

by **snakeshit** » 06 Feb 2004 23:51

no cant say that i do...

by **snakeshit** » 14 Feb 2004 23:51

hey guys i got a couple of new up to date pics

by **snakeshit** » 15 Aug 2004 17:11

wow first post in a long time... i don't know where I've been... but the reason I am posting is yesterday a chunk of the wiring harness burned away. My dad was at a stop light after running a small errand and the car just started smoking... so he looked and the wiring harness was torched... he told me when he tried to kill the engine the key wouldnt work so he had to pull the main spark plug wire out of the distributor. I want to know if we need to replace the whole thing or just splice some wires...

by **dave-r** » 15 Aug 2004 21:10

Might be this problem.

http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical ... uges.shtml

by **snakeshit** » 12 Sep 2004 2:15

we found out what was wrong with it and we fixed it... turns out the guy that owned it before us cut a wire and spliced it into the rest of them without a cap or any sort of cover... wires were crossed and the whole thing just over heated and burned

... we orded a new harness from year one and weve got the chally running sharp again

by **snakeshit** » 01 Oct 2004 3:52

we've decided to turn my baby into a street machine.. so we're putting some accessories on her :twisted:

we've mounted a wing on the back and we've installed some fog or rallye lamps on her. now all we need is a few pin stripes and a hood scoop and we'll be set cosmetically.

then comes the performance.. im taking your guys advice and we're putting a new intake and carb on the block then we're gonna install some headers on it... any other suggestions performance wise? (o the catalitic converters are long gone along with all that emissions junk btw) i know im chopping the value but it's not too late to stop and keep her stock... any opinions on what i should do before we dive in head first on this project? i have a few up to date pics to post as well...

by **snakeshit** » 29 Nov 2004 18:15

i just found out not too long ago that the car was originally a powder blue with a white vinyl top.. when we got it it was primered and the vinyl was missing... i think that would be a pretty neat color combo, but it would look too much like a grandmas car. at 16 I'm more into the speed factor and with this darker blue hardtop it's looking a bit more like a racecar. i also found out it is only a 318

but we will still be getting as much HP out of it as possible. we were at a classic car gathering and some guy with a stock 69 super bee (completely original, never restored, mint condititon) read the tag under the hood and told us all the options on the car. originally it had AC, a 904, 318, blue int, b1 paint, white top, and an 8 3/4 posi rear. it had some others but i cant remember them. thought i'd just share this so you could picture the car as it rolled off the production line in 1973

by **dave-r** » 29 Nov 2004 19:53

Hey your friends here on this board would have de-coded the tag for you anytime! :nod:

I had kinda guessed it might be a 318 when you said it had a 2bbl carb. If you look on the front of the block just under the drivers side cylinder head it probably says so.

But there is nothing wrong with the good old 318. That is one very cool car for a guy your age. The rest of us wish we had been so lucky at your age! :s004:

by **snakeshit** » 30 Nov 2004 1:45

hey i would brought it up with you guys but i didnt even realize it, and i only get to see the chally 2 months out of the year, but at the gathering we just started talking and we popped the hood, and he started listing off options haha. i agree that the 318 is a good engine and im proud of it... but i think i need a new signature

i am very lucky to have this car and to have got it at the condition its in now for such a low price. thanks all of you for the help you given me and i know i can expect more in the future.
over christmas break i have the privilage to go to California and to drive it because i finally have my liscense. if anybody on the forum is in that area at the time let me know, we should meet up. i would really like to find out alot more about this car because i know there is alot more to learn

by **snakeshit** » 08 Apr 2005 2:17

hey guys long time... yet again... :roll:

well i have another question for you all.. this one seems like a fairly common problem as i have heard it happening to other dodges of the era... the fuel guage does not work...

hmm my dad thinks it the sending unit thats all messed up.. i think it might be the guage itself.. cuz it appears as if its trying to move when i tap the plastic infront of it, or it could just be the tapping motion :lol:

you guys have any suggestions? my dad would also like to know how to replace a sending unit because hes never done it before. thanks guys :nod:

by **Doug444UT** » 08 Apr 2005 19:02

Replacing the sending unit is pretty easy. Mine was leaking past the fuel line where it exits the flange, so I had to pull it to re-solder it. It's held into the tank with a metal retaining collar. I used a long flat-blade screwdriver and a mallet to "unscrew" the retaining ring, then just pulled the unit out of the tank, being careful not to bang things to badly getting it out of the hole. Of course, I un-hooked the fuel line from the sending unit before removing the retaining ring. You will need a new rubber gasket. I had to do this twice, so I bought 4 the last time I ordered from the Paddock. Don't know how to test it once you get it out, though. Mine worked...it just leaked.

by **dave-r** » 09 Apr 2005 9:01

If you use the search facility on here you should be able to find the electrical test for the sender.

The three common problems though are;

1) the float on the end of the sender has sprung a leak and has sunk.

2) the earth strap that jumps the short bit of rubber hose that comes off the sender is missing or rusted.

2) the voltage reducer in the dash is not supplying the pwer to the gauge (the gauge works on only 3 volts of something if I remember right). Bad earth in the dash can do this i think?

by **snakeshit** » 11 Apr 2005 3:09

hey thanks for the help guys

this cars got alot of little problems but we intend to get her into pristene driving condition :nod:

by **Doug444UT** » 11 Apr 2005 18:14

So THAT'S how that little metal strap works! Mine was busted too (had nothing to do with the leak), and I got a new one but haven't put it on. I will now!

Thanks.

by **snakeshit** » 15 Jun 2005 23:59

Hey guys it's been awhile. Well the front end rebuild is finished and the car now handles like a dream! I also replaced the rear shocks with new air shocks to give it that beefed up look in the back. it now has a beautiful stance. not much else has been done because my dad's moving up north a bit so most of the attention has gone to the moving effort. I thought i'd keep you guys posted though. Later