My 74 Plymouth thread

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Sun Jan 11, 15 4:44 pm

Arse ill up in the air I see? aits getting there though nice work

autofetish · Post by **autofetish** » Sun Jan 11, 15 7:23 pm

Looks great keep the pictures coming

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Tue Jan 13, 15 9:02 am

Had the car running yesterday and set the timing and idle mixture. Runs nicely now. The new clutch feels great, and has totally changed how the car feels. Some minor adjustments to the gear selectors was required, but its shifting sweet now.
New manifold gaskets and downpipe gaskets have eliminated all the ticking and blowing, which is much better inside the car.
A road test revealed flat spots and hesitation when you floor it, about the time when the secondary's should be kicking in.
I took the carb off and gave it a strip down. Its almost brand new, so its certainly not worn. What i did notice was that all the screws were literally only finger tight. couldn't find any gunk anywhere, and the filters are all clean, and the diaphragm was intact.
When i put it all back together and tested the operation, there is now an audible hiss from the vacuum diaphragm which there wasn't before. Perhaps the screws were so loose it wasn't sealing...
Put it back on the car, and after a bit of cranking it fired up and ran very smoothly. Felt more responsive when revving too. Wasn't able to do another road test, as we ran out of time, and it was dark, and pouring with rain.
After blasting around in it, we came to the conclusion that it sounds awful... Those cherry bombs just sound really low rent and rubbish. Sooo, i opened my wallet again and ordered a pair of Flowmaster mufflers to fit in there instead. We're also going to weld in a balance pipe. This should help with its running too, with a bit of back pressure, and make it sound a bit less "redneck". :violent3:

I'm also going to need a pair of decent rear shocks. Someone has fitted some cheap nasty ones on the back which are far too soft and squishy. Car rides about 1.5" too low at the back too, so this should remedy the problem. Springs are in good condition, and when i do the shocks, i'll get rid of the "racing" spring shackles.

For a car i bought that was supposed to be well sorted, its eating up a lot of hours and cash... The joy's of old muscle cars eh?

(Will be awesome when its done tho!)

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Sat Jan 17, 15 3:46 pm

Got some more time in the shop today.
Had another fiddle with the timing, then out on a road test. Car pulls like a train now! Pretty swift, especially with the manual box.
Might be some more tuning once the new mufflers arrive, as they will alter the back pressure.
Finally got round to painting the insert in the bonnet where that gay purple sticker was before. Some careful rubbing down was required, but it looks a million times better now.

Bit of wet sanding and then some polishing, and it'll blend in nicely.

Something that bugged me since i bought the car was hat the steering wheel wasn't on straight, so we sorted that today. It really put up a fight to come off. While i pulled it, my mate had to whack the column with a drift, but she gave in eventually!

I noticed that the front seats don't look like the ones in the 74 brochures.
They are trimmed nicely and match all the other interior colours perfectly, but anyone know which mother Mopar car they might have come from?

I've seen several Roadrunners in the States with Superbird style, large "Plymouth" decals on the rear quarters. Was trying to decide today if these would look cool or not..? Make the car more or less desireable?

Mossy68 · Post by **Mossy68** » Sat Jan 17, 15 4:02 pm

Great work. Well done.
I personally like the big Plymouth decals , and think they would look good on yours.
Always pull them off if you don't like them

Cosmicfish · Post by **Cosmicfish** » Sat Jan 17, 15 4:31 pm

It's a nice looking car fella

when a car has nice lines like yours I think they look good without stickers, but there again I'm new to this style of car's and know bugger all

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Sat Jan 17, 15 5:47 pm

For me it's hockey strip and no plymouth sticker or big sticka and no hockey stripe!

As your stripe is painted its a bit tricky!

Might look a bit cluttered with both.

I thought your seats looked right. I have Cordoba seats in mine and they are quite different.

When I checked seat covers with Year One and Classic Industries the rear seat covers they list as correct for my 73 car are quite different than the ones currently in it. Many options back in the day, it seems.

Cannonball · Post by **Cannonball** » Sat Jan 17, 15 5:54 pm

The seats look very much like a 70 charger to me,,,,,,,,

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sat Jan 17, 15 6:33 pm

Looks nice!!!! I would be very careful hammering stuff on steering columns, especially later ones as they tend to have 'crumple sections' that are easily damaged. I have a £20 puller set of ebay that is quite heavy duty and pulls the wheel off easily and hassle free!! Worth investing in as much cheaper than a new column

octanejunkie · Post by **octanejunkie** » Sat Jan 17, 15 7:01 pm

Steve wrote:Looks nice!!!! I would be very careful hammering stuff on steering columns, especially later ones as they tend to have 'crumple sections' that are easily damaged. I have a £20 puller set of ebay that is quite heavy duty and pulls the wheel off easily and hassle free!! Worth investing in as much cheaper than a new column

We were quite mindful of that. It just needed that shock while i was pulling. What i failed to mention, was my mate stood there for ten minutes going "wiggle it as you pull it" while i was huffing and puffing.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sat Jan 17, 15 7:06 pm

puller every time matey...

Charger · Post by **Charger** » Sat Jan 17, 15 9:58 pm

octanejunkie wrote:I noticed that the front seats don't look like the ones in the 74 brochures.
They are trimmed nicely and match all the other interior colours perfectly, but anyone know which mother Mopar car they might have come from?

Cannonball wrote:The seats look very much like a 70 charger to me,,,,,,,,

yeah could be

very similar

pics of mine in here ...

http://www.moparuk.com/forums/viewtopic ... 2&start=30