The Dodge Challenger Message Board

I got the verter & box back in on Wednesday and started the car with the rear wheels on stands to run it in all gears to allow the fluid to reach all areas required.
The rattle did not manifest so I assumed every thing was ok, she spun wheels in all gears via the slapstick which now also works.
The car idles at about 1000rpm and seemed to labour a little when put into D nearly stalling I can only hope the verter is 2400rpm as sold.
Yesterday was D.Day to road test. Only out of the garage and something seemed to be binding with the steering pulling to the right badly. Stopped the car in neutral and tried to push same not a chance.
Back into the garage and raised the rear both wheels spinning freely, raised the front and the passenger wheel was locked solid with the pads wedged to the disc. The brake peddle was still hard
so I assumed that the proportioning/metering valve or master cylinder had malfunctioned not allowing the fluid to return so I went to open the bleed nipple to relieve the pressure.
Bleed nipple me arse as this was non existant having been broken flush with the caliper housing a long time hence.
The caliper mounting bolts had to be removed to prize the unit of the disc.
Pumping the peddle forced the 2.75in piston out to show a little corrosion + crude in the cylinder so with no way to bleed the system properly and from expierience knowing that the sheared nipple stump will be a pig to remove I ordered 2 new calipers, hardware & pads etc.
Still have to source a proportioning/metering valve but the callies are a start.
This old Chilly is turning into an educational trip

Dingbat, i'm not sure i have read you ever found a solution (or cause) to the rattle in the converter/trans area? i assume you had found it, or eliminated it with the new converter?

Anyway, to add my experience, what you described sounded VERY similar to what happened to mine. It sounded like all hell was breaking loose inside the converter. What it eventually turned out to be was a faulty starter motor - the starter pinion gear was simply not pulling back far enough after start up and the pinion gear was catching on the converter ring-gear. BUT only on de-celeration, when cold and in Park. This was because the flex plate was doing its job and flexing in and out. In Neutral and drive gears it would flex slightly AWAY from the wayward pinion (more fluid pressure in these selections) but in Park where there is very little fluid pressure, at least in the cooling lines, the flex plate was not moving the converter position and it was rotating close enough to the pinion so that the teeth were coming into contact and causing the rattle. It eventually caused the starter motor to self destruct. I very much doubt that this is what your problem was, but the symptoms certainly sounded similar. By the way, the starter i had in was a mini starter which was the wrong one for my combo: 360 mated up to an early 318 904 trans.

Hello Mr Whelan, I am sorry but I do not know your first name.
Thank you for your help .
Without actually road testing the car owing to the brake problem I can only hope the converter was the problem. The car started and ran in all auto positions with no noise coming from the box, this being performed on axle stands. The removed converter when shaken definatley has some loose internal components as these make a fair old rattle.
With the electrical, converter, and brake problem,s sorted it will instill a lot more confidence in the car making for more enjoyable driving.
Best Regards
Pat

Just an update on the converter problem.
I fit 2 new calipers/pads & hoses to the car yesterday and bled the whole system with new fluid. Nice hard brake pedal.
Started the car and allowed it to warm on idle 1000rpm, there was no noise from the converter area and all appeared well.
Putting the car into drive dropped the rpm to about 600rpm and caused the car to push forward with the engine nearly stalling.
When the brakes were applied to hold the car the vacumn in the servo dropped so low it was inactive even though it has a back up resovoir canister owing to the performance cam installed.
I got it out of the garage and drove it for 10 miles on open roads and it performed perfect up and down gears through the slapstick with no noises or rattles. The brakes worked well when the engine was revving.
But at traffic lights it was dodgy with fading brakes and a pushing/stalling engine.
The converter was advertised as a hi stall 2400rpm jobby but failing something I am overlooking it appears it may have a much lower stall which is no good.

Make sure your engine is tuned correctly. But if it is being pulled down to below 800rpm in gear it is way to low a stall speed. You should only have a slightly higher idle speed in neutral.

Also idle mixture is set on an automatic in gear as leans out in gear under load. So it is important to get all these things right.

Advertised stall speed figures are just aproximate. Actual stall speed depends on many factors but camshaft duration and engine size are the main factors as these effect how much torque the engine makes at idle.

With the Sixpack setup, Mopar performance cam ( Lift & duration unknown ) headers etc the engine must be performing totally different from origional.
As the damaged converter I removed had no I/D markings in relation to manufacturer or stall rpm and company,s such as TCS etc require certain information which I have not got I was in the dark in relation to a replacement so I opted for what I thought would work i.e a standard 340ci converter. I obviously made a Horlicks of it by doing this and think the only option I now have is to have the removed converter stripped and rebuilt with the existing stall in situ.
The good thing in all this is that the car now has new front brakes, an inline fluid cooler & a B/M fluid temperature guage and that having to remove the box the second time round will be some what easier as I now know where all the bits & bobs are.
Onwards & Upwards I say

DINGBAT wrote:Mopar performance cam ( Lift & duration unknown )

Any cam with a longer than stock duration would need at least a 2800rpm stall converter. The car will not drive correctly without that and tuning it will be impossible.

I had a local guy with a 383 six pack with a big MP cam and he wouldn't change the converter but he was expecting me to be able to tune it?
I did my best but I couldn't give it enough initial timing to stop the exhaust smelling bad and I had to set idle rpm to over a thousand just so it would stay above 600rpm in gear without stalling. It was an impossible situation.

Just an update.
Got the rebuilt balanced converter back from Glasgow yesterday.
The builder said the only part that was not compromised was the paint ie every thing was worn and out of kilter.
He reconds it has approx 3500 rpm of stall.
I had the box dropped waiting for same so installed it today with a new Mopar flexplate & 7/16 bolts as opposed to the B&M plate I removed as I believe this was for use with a non balanced converter as it has a dished cut out on the outer circumferance.
Filled her full of new fluid and started not a rattle or knock.
Idles over at 900rpm in neutral and drops about 150rpm when placed in drive. Lovely Jubbly.
On a run every thing was back to normal she screams & pulls like a banshee when given a little welly and the brake servo held pressure at idle.
Back in the garage when rechecking the torque on the top of the bellhousing the wrench slipped hitting the servo non return valve snapping it off but as this was held with insulating tape from the time I got the car its time to replace it anyhows.
Happy days touch wood.

That sounds much better. See you at the Nats then?