Mopar Muscle Association UK

Great news Dave! ...... apart from the hood, the battery & the paint, that is....

Cant wait to see you out'n'about somewhere this year - at the Nats I presume

Well done Mate, its been a long journey....

BEEN FOR A DRIVE AROUND THE BLOCK.

Got the hood squared up. Its not perfect but it closes. Good enough for now.
Don't know why the battery wasn't charging yesterday. It is now.

Backed her out of the garage to wash her on the drive but the temptation to keep backing up onto the road proved too much.

I have the outer carbs on the six pack disabled for now so I can tune the jets. So I was not expecting much from the little 350 2bbl.
Wrong.

Monster torque from the new solid cam. 50% throttle from 20mph resulted in massive wheelspin and thick black lines in the road.

I forgot how heavy the steering is at parking speed. Especially with the smaller diameter steering wheel I have now. I need to work out. Or use steering the car as a workout.

I just need to get an MOT and tax disc before next weekend somehow. Got to get the tracking and headlights aligned at the same time. Don't know how I am going to find the time to do that.

good on ya dave now get it ready for that best of 3 aint it a great feeling when they been off the road for a a few years, steady on that fresh motor tho

Well done Dave Bet you have a hell of a grin on your face

Congratulations Dave, i'm well pleased for you

Dave wrote:Got to get the tracking and headlights aligned at the same time. Don't know how I am going to find the time to do that.

Glad to see you made progress with the fitting of the hood & that you actually had a chance to take the old girl out for a quick spin.

Cant you set your headlights by shining against a garage door. Use your normal car & shine light onto garage door, mark centerline of reg & High beam & record distance from garage door.

Pull your challenger up to the same distance from the garage door & adj headlights to same c/lines or very similar. This should be good enough or not far away, for the MOT.

Then at least you only have to sort tracking out for the MOT. Why not give the garage a ring ask them if you can book your MOT & book 15 mins before for setting the tracking. Worse case is that they say now, which I doubt very much, as your having the MOT done there....just a thought

I adjust the tracking myself using a couple of straight edges and two measuring tapes. If you trust a garage to do it the steering wheel will never line up.

Dave , are you going to make Stockton next Sunday then? Breakfast run at A19 OK Diner is on for a number of folks. Can meet up somewhere if you want to convoy down (weather permitting of course).

Mick wrote;

I adjust the tracking myself using a couple of straight edges and two measuring tapes.

can you enlighten us to your technique?

FINALLY !! good stuff dave
bring it down to mine if you want to do the tracking

mopar_mark wrote: Cant you set your headlights by shining against a garage door. Use your normal car & shine light onto garage door, mark centerline of reg & High beam & record distance from garage door.

I have done it that way before. I have a little book somewhere that gives you everything you need to pass an MOT. It has diagrams etc of the beam patterns in there at whatever distance.
I see this book all the time on my shelves and now I need it I can't find the bloody thing anywhere.

It will be tricky using the Grand Cherokee as an example but it's possible. I just thought it would be easier at a garage with the proper gear.

Same with the tracking. I can do it myself with bits of wood and straight edges etc (which I have already done) but I won't know for sure if it exactly right unless I get it checked.
The steering wheel I can get right later if it is not perfect as I can move the column around on the steering box splines.

But you have made me think.

I think I will set everything myself and just book the MOT. If it fails on the lights I will just get them to adjust them on the spot.

andyrob wrote:FINALLY !! good stuff dave
bring it down to mine if you want to do the tracking

OH!

Yes of course! I forgot you have the gear mate.

OK I will just check the lights and get it up to yours as soon as I have the MOT.

All I need now is a "MOT While you wait" place and use of my final remaining days holiday.

Nice Dave Looking forward to seeing you and your car out and about. I'm doing my lights at the minute aswell.

If you have any instructions for the lights please share.

Dave, that's a truly epic performance.

You have gone through virtually every setback known to man and doggedly battled on...you should be justifiably proud of your efforts and the car looks sensational and I love the subtle upgrades too.

Brilliant.