Resurrection of my 1970 Chrysler 300 Convertible

[Nadir Point]

Nice collection of steering column parts! I've had the one in my '71 apart 3 different times for one thing or another. Makes you wonder if the engineers that designed these things ever imagined what a nightmare they'd be to repair 50 years down the road.

 

[Samplingman]

The FSM has been extremely helpful and detailed with the column rebuild process.

 

[73 T&C]

Great job! Thanks for sharing the details.

 

[Samplingman]

Now it’s been a little less than a year since the engine and heads came back from the machine shop. As much as I enjoyed putting it back together, I should have just paid the additional $250 for them to complete the assembly. Some things were unexpected, like having to scrape the cam bearings to get the cam to turn freely. It is also much more difficult to install the cam after the rotating assembly is in place. Before all that, choosing which cam to buy is still a mystery to me. Most shops don’t expect you to walk in with a 440 and purchase the best stock cam with low compression and single exhaust.

Preparation was key, for example chasing all threads before bolting in the rocker assembly. I wasted a week thinking I had the wrong rocker arm bolts. And I should have had the machine shop remove ALL the old exhaust manifold studs from the heads before they started to snap.

Other than that, assembly was a breeze, lol. On to the pics!

Choosing a color, almost as impossible as picking a cam. @ayilar had a 10 page thread on the subject. For me it was availability and price. I went with the Duplicolor Chrysler Corporate blue, a little brighter than the faded valve covers, but close enough to what I remember. Besides, I like blue, the bolder the better.

It actually looks a lot darker in the pics.

And of course the classic “let’s work on three projects at once” shot.

 

[Samplingman]

Some assembly shots.

Cam bearings cleaned and ready to roll.

Ok, so not an HP motor, but I had to go with the double roller chain. The old one was like new, non-nylon steel gears with a single roller, but what the hell, I’m hoping to never do this job again.

 

[Ripinator]

Some assembly shots.

Cam bearings cleaned and ready to roll.

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Ok, so not an HP motor, but I had to go with the double roller chain. The old one was like new, non-nylon steel gears with a single roller, but what the hell, I’m hoping to never do this job again.

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So James, what cam did you finally use? Yer engine looks great!

 

[Samplingman]

So James, what cam did you finally use? Yer engine looks great!

Thanks!

The cam was from RockAuto, it was made in America and one of the listed OEM numbers cross-referenced to what was in my parts book. That's about all I know. That whole lift duration thing is still a mystery to me, but the numbers were close to what the FSM had.

 

[Ripinator]

Thanks!

The cam was from RockAuto, it was made in America and one of the listed OEM numbers cross-referenced to what was in my parts book. That's about all I know. That whole lift duration thing is still a mystery to me, but the numbers were close to what the FSM had.

I hope yer gonna make that motor cackle. . .

 

[Samplingman]

While the assembly was taking way too long, I tried unsuccessfully to rebuild my starter motor. When I cracked it open it looked fine, but there was a missing wire that all the guides online and in the FSM said should be there. After reassembly, it didn’t even click. For $40 bucks, I traded it in for a rebuilt one.

I wasn’t taking the same tract with the alternator. For about $150, a local shop rebuilt the crusty seized one I had.

Next up was the original AVS carb. There is another thread on here about my escapades. I won’t go into too much detail, but I ripped it apart several times, and now it looks great. I will use the Edelbrock on my running parts car for the initial break-in and then swap it out to see how my rebuild works.

Before:

After:

 

[C Sickness]

The next job on mine is to pull one head and drill out a broken exhaust manifold stud. I read somewhere on here that the originals were of "suspect" quality. I bought a set of new ones. I'm jealous of seeing yours on the stand, with all those easily accessible studs. A simple job to change them there.

 

[Samplingman]

This radiator I had for about 10 years. Off to the radiator shop for a recore. The shop tested the top tank and said it was too far gone to repair, so he sourced another tank from a small block and had to move the inlet to the right. No problem, as long as it works.

Funny, I never thought to test fit it onto the rad support. To my dismay, only the top two bolts lined up. To further my disappointment, the perfect original fan shroud I picked up from @azblackhemi didn’t line up.

Turns out the radiator is from a ‘71 B body. It should still work for break-in, but I’ll be on the hunt for the correct ‘70 C body unit. At $475 already invested I might have to wait a bit.

Side note, I looked into the Spectra Premium which has good reviews here from a number of trusted members. In September I had one in my cart from RockAuto for about $180, but cash flow was not with me. I decided to pull the trigger last week and now the price is up to $281, WTF??

Anyone need a ‘71 B body radiator, newly cored, with a top tank from a ‘72 340 with AC?

Didn’t think so.

 

[Samplingman]

Listen up you new kids. If you see that $2500 project that is 95% complete, but “just needs rebuilt”, spend another $10k and get a nicely done or nice running original to enjoy while you are still younger than retirement age. On with the show.

 

[Samplingman]

The next job on mine is to pull one head and drill out a broken exhaust manifold stud. I read somewhere on here that the originals were of "suspect" quality. I bought a set of new ones. I'm jealous of seeing yours on the stand, with all those easily accessible studs. A simple job to change them there.

LOL, I wish I had put the manifolds on while on the stand! For reasons that escape me now, I did mine after the motor was put in. I thought, “I’ll just torque these to 35 foot pounds”. Snap. One on each side of the motor towards the rear. One needed a heli-coil, the other drilled and tapped the original threads. Fortunately I had decent access without the fenders on. I can’t imagine doing this with it fully assembled.

 

[C Sickness]

Listen up you new kids. If you see that $2500 project that is 95% complete, but “just needs rebuilt”, spend another $10k and get a nicely done or nice running original to enjoy while you are still younger than retirement age. On with the show.

That's very good advice. I looked at a "basket case" vert for 6000. I said "I'll have to rebuild every square inch of that car just to make it drivable", which would take years. (Plus some crazy $ with paint and chrome and all). I don't have years available anymore for that kind of project. I need to spend my remaining time "enjoying", not "rebuilding".

For just a few bucks more, i bought a car that is "almost driver ready". A laundry list of minor mechanical items that I will have the satisfaction of fixing. Nothing so deep that I can't enjoy the car on the road between repairs.

I see how long you've been working on yours. Hope you can get it on the road and use it even if it's not 100%. There's a cliche' something like "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good".

For me, make it good, and enjoy it. Perfect can come later if I wish. Museums are full of perfect cars that no owner can enjoy by actually driving them.

 

[C Sickness]

LOL, I wish I had put the manifolds on while on the stand! For reasons that escape me now, I did mine after the motor was put in. I thought, “I’ll just torque these to 35 foot pounds”. Snap. One on each side of the motor towards the rear. One needed a heli-coil, the other drilled and tapped the original threads. Fortunately I had decent access without the fenders on. I can’t imagine doing this with it fully assembled.

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Mine has a broken stud at the driver front, right under the "warm air intake". Big leak. The car starts, coughs, inhales its exhaust and dies. I think the two end studs go into the water jacket? Don't know about the ones in the middle. The stud kit I bought is 1 1/2" long. Hope that's right. The other kit was 2", which seemed like too much.

I dream of pulling the broken stud with the head still in the car, but that seems like a magic trick. Better on the bench, where I can have at it.

 

[C Sickness]

Were you able to drill the broken stub and ez out? Being in the water jacket makes me think of rusty threads.

 

[ayilar]

I’ll be on the hunt for the correct ‘70 C body (radiator). At $475 already invested I might have to wait a bit.

There is a (very expensive) OEM alternative, Glen Ray. @saforwardlook has used their services -- see here. The alternative is to wait for the right radiator to pop up for sale and have it rodded out or recored if necessary.

Side note, I looked into the Spectra Premium which has good reviews here from a number of trusted members. In September I had one in my cart from RockAuto for about $180, but cash flow was not with me. I decided to pull the trigger last week and now the price is up to $281, WTF??

That is what I paid in June to get a new CU332 for Snow White, my 1970 N-code Polara 'vert. Prices for Spectra products went up, compared to what @sixpkrt paid a few months earlier -- I had the same experience this spring when I bought from Spectra the correct replacement tank for Ming, my 1973 NYB. Spectra is based in Canada, but the FX rate in the past year does not seem consistent with an exchange-rate-based explanation for the cost change.

The CU332 is not correct of course, but it looks very close to the original (and Snow had had an incorrect radiator since getting restored about 30 years ago). Like you, I bought it on the strength of FCBO members' recommendation and, in particular, of @Trace 300 Hurst's rave review + his giving me detailed instructions/photos of his installation.

Before installing it on Snow, @71Polara383 evaluated my radiator on Elvira, his 1970 T-code 'vert that currently has a newly souped up 440. He felt that the cooling was not great during his summer drive to Carlisle. His experience was different from that of @Trace 300 Hurst, who has had only good things to say about the Spectra on his 300 Hurst in Florida weather. FWIW, the limited driving on Snow since Wyatt move the CU332 from his to my car suggests that the cooling issue on my car's 383-4 has been solved.

 

[Samplingman]

Were you able to drill the broken stub and ez out? Being in the water jacket makes me think of rusty threads.

Nope, EZ outs are junk. I've been messing with cars for 40 years and I've never had an EZ out actually work. Told that to my son just before the EZ out snapped that he was using on his '98 VW.

I actually started out with a hardened 1/8 inch bit and then slowly increased the size. On one side the casing of the broken stud walked out, and I was able to clean up the threads with a tap. On the other side the threads were toast so I had to use a heli-coil. I coated both the coil and the stud with zinc pipe thread sealer since those studs go into the water jacket.

 

[Samplingman]

Next up, I had the 727 rebuilt by Mt Holly Transmission, in Pemberton, NJ. it’s just a small shop, but they are Mopar guys and even offered to come to my place after the car is up and running to set the kick down properly. Once again, I see no shame in leaving complex systems to the professionals. They had it rebuilt in less then a week.

I sourced a couple of new plastic bushings and cleaned up the linkage.

Next, I used the screw trick to pull out out the old seals to freshen up the power steering gear.

And of course, buying new parts is always an option when you just have to do something. Thanks to @Trace 300 Hurst for the list of correct NAPA belt numbers.

 

[Samplingman]

Cleaning, painting, cutting and more cleaning, it never seams to end. Good thing I’m only a few steps to the garage and I’ve been working from home since March.....

Speaking of painting, I had to have mercy on the neighbors. One day after some aggressive rattle can parts priming, my daughter yells out the door, “is that smoke?”. I look up and there is a cloud of grey moving into the next yard. Necessity is a mother, so the Tiki bar had to be converted into a paint booth. It’s a little small, but it gets the job done.