Recent content by Moparbastard

Only the trunk lid and front valance still wear their original paint. The climate in Thailand is hard on paint. Even more so now with base and clear paint systems.

This is a photo I took while car was still in Thailand this past January. Engine compartment hasn't changed - yet. That's a Nippondenso one wire alternator on there that came with the car when I bought it. It wasn't broken so I didn't fix it. I put the Clifford valve cover on because someone put...

I've been super busy but I had to take a break. Here's an update on the '70 Y09 Burnt Orange Challenger. On Friday, May 10 we drove the ramp truck down to a warehouse in Stoughton, MA and collected the car. Sadly, they wouldn't allow any photos inside the place. The car was out of the container...

Yes. It arrived 2 weeks ago. I will post about it soon.

Sadly, Rotella no longer has sufficient zinc and phosphorus additives for use with flat tappets. Also little packets or bottles of ZDDP additives don't work either. Driven brand oil is the best for flat tappet cams. Lucas and Brad Penn also make such an oil. There may be other brands. The new...

Use only mineral oil - Driven brand with zinc for flat tappets. With roller cam you can use any mineral oil. My machine shop says synthetics are too be avoided on these old engines.

That is correct. The follow up question is, why did Chrysler do that?

Respectfully, that is incorrect. I built just such an engine. Look up the part numbers. These LAs oiled both ways from the factory. 1989 360 LA, original untouched engine out of a W250 pickup.

The later roller cam LA engines oiled through the cam bearing and the lifters. They had oil holes in the push rods and modified the rocker arms slightly. 1989 LA 360 for example.

It's been a while since I posted about bringing my slant six '70 Challenger back from Thailand. So much to unpack - Thai red tape is enough to test anyone's faith. I couldn't get the export permit because the car hadn't been registered in 10 years. The people at the DMV near me wouldn't register...

Put the hemi in the Satellite. Nix the tunnel ram and leave the flat hood. Perfect!

The hole was torch cut. Early cars were tack welded with a stick welder. Later cars were tack welded with a mig welder with some real heavy wire. It was crude and sloppy. I don't fully weld them. I tack just like the factory did. It's thin metal and doesn't need or like all that weld/heat...

The old girl is running. I changed the oil and today I will take it on a test drive. Tomorrow I have appointment at the Land Transport Office (Thai equivalent of our DMV). Luckily I was able to get the appointment at Banglamung instead of Chonburi that they first wanted. That's only 17km / 10.5...

Again, thanks for your responses. To answer hdwrench: I've considered everything you said. I recently built a slant six for a customer. It was a lot of fun. In the end I'm glad I didn't do it for myself as the power increase was minor. I never liked 6 cylinder engines, but that's just me. I have...

Thanks for all of your positive responses. The consensus is to keep the slant six. It is the matching numbers engine and is probably part of the reason this Challenger survived. I will certainly leave that part for last. As for having it painted in Thailand, they can do good work when they want...