The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Things are not going too well at the moment.

At the end of part two I had fitted the unit in place and set the angles between the trans, driveshaft, and diff.

Since then I have re-built the diff again because I was not happy with the mesh pattern. Bad weather has prevented me getting on with the car too.

Then the next problem reared it's head.

When I came to fit the speedometer cable extension and adaptors I realised the right angled adaptor needed was the wrong part.

This is what it should look like fitted. It is the right angled adaptor fitted to the speedo drive.



....and this is the part they sent me.



This part has no square male part to be driven by the drive in the transmission. Also the female part in the other end is round and would not drive the cable.

So I 'phoned up Gear Vendors and told them I had the wrong part. The guy I spoke too took a little convincing and the language barrier did not help but eventually he understood the problem and sent me out a 'correct' part straight away at no extra charge of course.

But I still have to pay duty and other charges at this end so it cost me about $25.

This is the part he sent.



Now this part looked right. It even had the grease nipple like the one fitted above. Plus it screwed together with the other bits so I was very happy and was looking forward to fitting it tonight at long last.

BUT! It does not fit in the trans tunnel!



As you can see it is not quite the same as the one pictured fitted at the top of this page. It is longer and even though in this photo I have the transmission dropped a couple of inches you can see it is not going to fit without a fair bit of metalwork in the trans tunnel. With the trans back up in it's correct location it is even tighter.

So I am going to send Gear Vendors an e-mail tonight with a link to this thread so they can see for themselves what the problem is. Hopefully they will be in touch with a solution?

Watch this space.

Gear Vendors got right back to me with this message.

"Dave, I was able to look at the website for the information that you
are talking about. Your friends Challenger is using a special right angle
drive
that we manufacture here at our plant. The special right angle drive on
that
vehicle is determined by the rear gear ratio and tire size of the
vehicle.
Because of the 4.30 gear and 26 inch tall tires you need a 0.89 gear
ratio
reducer. But we can make a special right angle drive with that reducer
to get
you the distance you need to fit the speedo gear together. Sorry for
the
delay,
but the last time we talked I did not realize that space was going to
be
a
problem. I will put an order in today for this part, freight free, and
get it
to you as soon as possible.

Jeff Kubizna
Customer Service
Gear Vendors"

Lets hope it is third time lucky eh?

Just heard that a parcel has arrived and has been left for me next door. Sounds like nothing to pay this time. Well done Gear Vendors. Lets hope it is right this time.

Gear Vendors came good in the end.

You can see the difference between what i had and what they have just sent. The latter is much shorter.



Here is what it looks like connected to the speedo cable extension.
The bit with the wires coming out is the speed sensor for the electronics. The original cable connects to this.



I did not have much time tonight as I had to take my dog to the Vet but just before 10pm here I managed to get it fitted and the overdrive back in place. You can see that although it is tight at least it does now fit.

Great news, Dave. Fingers crossed

I am going to be too busy for the next few days to work on it but hopefully I can get it finished next week and then all I need is it to pass the MOT test and I will be happily banging away up the gears like there is no tomorrow!

Good stuff, Dave! I hope it drives real good for you and functions to what you expect!

Just been out for a test run. I think this photo says it all.

Congrats, Dave

Thanks Sandy.

So to update.

Fitted the speed sensor and speedo cable adaptor to the existing speedo cable.



Then connected the extension to the right angled drive. I had to put quite a sharp bend in it to keep it away from the exhaust pipe.



The manual override switch comes in a plastic case but I fabbed my own switch panel because I needed to fit some blower motor switches too?



The overdrive is controled in manual mode by this foot switch.



All the electrics are connected to this one control box which I mounted on the bottom of the heater box.



During the test drive I found there was the occasional heavy thump from under the car. I suspected it was the front UJ on the driveshaft contacting the saftey loop because I had been concerned about how close they were to each other. On inspection I found some marks on the weld around the shaft.



I had already ground a little off the head of 4 of the 8 bolts on the driveshaft loop but I decided to take some more off and to include the other 4 as well.



Then I ground the weld on the driveshaft too and gave it a shot of paint.



I will take it out for another test later on and try it again. I will give you a run down of how it drives too.

Cool. I am sure she/you will manage it all.

Is the plan still to stomp on the O/D switch in third gear, or second ? In other words, is it going to be first, second, third, third-over; or, first, second, second-over, third ? Or has this still to be determined ?

Congratulations again.

(P.S. Got a piece of important paper here for you now)

Hey congrats Dave with your uprated ride and pride! Must be going fast now with these gears fitted and the overdrive. Waiting to hear your experiences later on.

Think about balancing the driveshaft Dave, especially now you grinded of some bits. Did mine this winter and it made a big difference in the overall vibrations. I know the piece you grinded is completely in the beginning so it propably doesn't do much but you never know.

Funny enough it now has a small vibration at 55mph that I did not notice before. It is only there from about 53-57mph but it is very noticable right on 55 because the center consol suddenly vibrates.

It drives along very nicely at 90mph now! No effort. Amazing for a car with 4.30 rear gears.
I had it up to 120mph at one point and it was a breeze. Only doing about 5K rpm (although I didn't look because I was in traffic).

It drops in and out of overdrive automatically just like they said it would. I tried the floor switch in manual mode and that works too.

Sandy.
At the strip it is going to be 1st, 2nd, 2ndover, 3rd. I think we will be over the line before we could have a chance to use 3rdover. At least I hope so because the top of third gear is 120mph with the taller slicks on!

Once the overdrive has come on in auto mode it stays on until you drop below 27mph. So at 30mph the engine is only doing about 1500rpm. Then as you slow the overdrive drops out and you suddenly have a nice little bit of engine braking to help you stop.

Hitting the throttle at anything below 50mph produces screaming wheelspin. Due to the 4.30s I guess. Oh and lots of power too don't forget.

well done dave, glad it's all panned out in the end, can't wait to see your car in action at the nats, toodleloo for now trev

Gota love a digital camera. Looks like a lot of work. Great job. Now you need to tape it at the strip so we can see it in action.
jen

Hi Dave, looking good dude, sorry I missed all of this I have lots of building work going on at the mansion. I'll becurious to see what happens at the track with the slicks on, the 4.30's and 28" tyre should give you a fair bit of acceleration, you'll need plenty of convertor to get it off the line though,sometimes what feels fast on the street doesn't always translate on the track, been there done that!
If I build myself a road going car ever again though I shall have to get me one of these things though, best of luck mate

Has the overdrive-kit lived up to your expectations, Dave?

I think that is obvious by the grin on my face in the photo earlier in this thread!

We will be using it correctly on the strip next year. Had to sort out a slipping trans first. That is now done but my only time out after that was on a dusty track that was tricky to drive up. I was steering so much I did not have time for fancy shifts and did not use the overdrive at all on the 11 second run.

But on the street it is great. Used in manual mode you can switch it on/off at anything over 27mph. So if you knock it off just before braking you get engine braking too. I kick it back on after third gear comes in.

At speeds below 40mph though it makes little difference to the engine rpms. This is because of the high stall torque converter. But at higher speeds the rpms drop by about 1000rpm when the overdrive is engaged.

Thanks! I think I will add an overdrive-kit to my ten-year schedule

ALSO SEE TRANSMISSION WOES.