Table of contents for December 2021 in Mopar Action

DECLUTCHED Hi–I need your help, what size clutch pkg. for 1965 Coronet w/383/330hp with 3-speed manual, is it 10.5" or 10.95? Mike Studley Kenosha, WI Mike–I am not sure whether you are asking if the 10.95" will fit, or which I prefer. The 10.95" scalloped Borg and Beck (3-finger) clutch was specifically designed to bolt in wherever a 10.5" was, although it was not available in 1965. For street use, I would use a 10.5" diaphragm clutch setup. If you want to go with the 10.95", Ram Clutches still makes it, Year One has ‘em, P/N 98503. FRAME UP Mr. Ehrenberg–I’m getting ready to buy a rolling chassis for my 1966 Valiant convertible. Does the 1966 and 1967 have the same frame? Walter Stafford Florence, SC Walt–Hmmmm. Neither car has…

FRANK COLE wasn’t around when the dust first kicked up at the ½-mile dirt oval Flemington Fairgrounds race track in Flemington, NJ. That’s because Frank hadn’t been born yet. The dust boiling off the track back in the early 1900s came from race horse hooves, not tires. Motorcycles were the first engine-powered warriors on the track in 1911 and dirt cars thundered onto the scene in 1915 when the track became known as the Flemington Speedway. The track length, enlarged and banked in 1966-67 was crowned the fastest 5/ 8 -mile dirt track in the country. The dirt gave way to pavement in 1990 and the track even hosted four Craftsman Series Truck races. In 1971, track promoter Paul Kuhl orders a new Plum Crazy 340 Dodge Challenger convertible from…

TALKING SMACK. We all did a bit of it of we were street racers, chatting up things like, “your car doesn’t run as fast as your mouth,” or, “if wasn’t for Chevies, there wouldn’t be junkyards!” It still goes on, especially when you get keyboard warriors involved, who don’t have to risk losing $50.00 or getting a punch in the jaw by making Facebook noise from mommy’s basement. For A.J. Berge, considered one of the top dogs of Hemi tuning these days, it only took one statement to propel him into the record books. “Yeah, I had gotten the car back and one of the Hellcat guys called me out,” says Berge with a grin. “Actually, one of his clients tells me, ‘yeah, he’s going for the sevens, and no…

MOST FOLKS will do their darndest to find a way out of a sticky situation. Not Mark Lavigne. To him, the stickier the better. See, Mark is an engineer for a company that manufactures hot-melt adhesives for box sealing tape. Retail companies use that product to ensure their packages will hold up when UPS plays football with the bone china you ordered. ’Course, all that has nothing to do with the ’67 Dart GT convertible you see here if the Post Office didn’t shred your copy of Mopar Action (hey, you can always check with Mark and glue it back together). Back in 2002, Mark got stuck on picking up a convertible. Didn’t care what kind except it couldn’t be a wimp car. When he couldn’t locate a V8-powered droptop,…

AS THE OWNER OF MATTRESS EXPRESS , Kevin Fear has his choice of soft, firm or extra-firm for the best night’s sleep. As the owner of some 30-odd cars, Kevin has his choice of small, medium or large for the best day’s ride. His car collection runs from compact-size Chevy Corvairs to a boat-size Chrysler Saratoga. We’ll cover his mattress collection in our sister publication, Snooze Action, but for this article, we’ll take a look at the four Mopars in his collection that Kevin currently covets. Unlike some high-end purist Mopar collectors, Kevin’s not into Platinum-level restos or pristine, low-mileage originals. He picks up whatever happens to strike his fancy and mood at the time. He’s partial to unmolested low-mileage, original-paint cars, but that’s not a hard and fast rule.…

IF YOUR INTEREST IN THE T-Q IS PIQUED, feel free to delve right in. There were two versions of Carter books by Dave Emanuel, and one by Larry Shepard, chief engineer of MP (ret.). While both are useful, neither are centered on the T-Q, so they are somewhat limited in their usefulness, unless you also are running AFBs and/or AVSs. Carter offered several hop-up booklets, all of which were, and still are, very useful. There’s one publication, however, that I’d call a must-have : Any 1972-up Chrysler-Plymouth or Dodge factory service manual (FSM), 1972–’74 preferred. If you’re as cheap as I am, copyright-violated (call the lawyers!) scans (PDF format) may be found on mymopar.com, along with T-Q dealer-mechanic training info, all for free!…

FOR PETE’S SAKE PETE AMAN of Perry, Kansas bought a ’76 blue and silver Charger fresh from the transporter in Devils Lake, North Dakota, in 1975. It was his daily driver until 1998 when he bought his first Durango. In 2000, he gave the car to his 14- and 12-year-old nephews because he couldn’t bring himself to sell it. The odo showed over 200,000 miles. Pete’s brother-in-law sold the Charger when he was hard up for cash, and the car was never to be seen again. Pete’s been looking for it ever since to no avail. A while back, during the pandemic, Pete found this 2-tone blue and silver Daytona online, being sold by Hendrick Performance, in NC. He says it took him two hours to buy it. The Charger…

THE FATHER-SON TEAM of Dave and Dave Pierson were over in the swapmeet with what, at first glance, looked like a hopped-up GLH-S with the hood up. It wasn’t, and it wasn’t for sale, either. “Yeah, this is a 1989 Plymouth Horizon that we built up in the driveway,” says younger Dave. “I was into the SRT-4 stuff and thought it would be a great sleeper car. Still, it was up on jack stands for about three years; turned out to be a bigger job than expected.” Old Dave encouraged the madness, as he still owns the ’73 Challenger he bought new. The project was to mod and swap the entire driveline, suspension and computer hardware off a wrecked Neon onto the hatchback and nobody would be any the wiser,…

SINCE THE CURRENT LEADERSHIP at Dodge takes the horsepower wars very seriously, power has so far peaked with the release of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. Rated at 808 HP stock and 840 HP with the optional high-octane ECU, the Demon engine is the highest rated production engine ever released by Dodge. That much emissions-legal power is simply amazing, but it’s no good if it just goes up in smoke when you lay into the throttle. Controlling the power, that also needs to be taken very seriously to round out the entire vehicle package. The Dynamics Engineers at Stellantis spend a lot of their time keeping that massive amount of power connected to the asphalt by tuning specific bushings, swaybars, springs and damper packages for the various levels of…

THE FINAL TOTAL IN SALES for Dana Mecum’s 34th Original Indy Spring Classic in late May at over $107M should be a real telling sign regarding the current health of the collector car hobby. Despite the Wuhan lab release and political upheaval, people still want to own great cars and will pay a premium for them. Mecum and other auction venues offer that opportunity, and the cars that came to the Indiana Fairgrounds for 2021 were stellar in every way. Of course, when talking about collectible Mopes, you already know the score. Hemi converts, wing cars, and high-demand options lead the pack, and this event was no exception. A number of record prices were achieved on some great high-demand cars, while others pushed to new limits as well. The selection…

CONVERTIBLE PRODUCTION • 6 cylinder: 1,761 • 8 cylinder: 1,626 • Canada Market: 342 TOTAL: 3729 SPECIFICATIONS OPTIONS • Woodgrain Sport Wheel (aka Recall Wheel) • Bucket Seats, 4-spd w/ Console • AM/FM Radio • Air Conditioning • Variable Speed Wipers • Headrests • Front Sway Bar (Heavy Duty Suspension) • Console Tachometer • Power Steering • Simulated Mag Style Wheel Covers • Sure Grip Differential—3:55:1 Ratio PAINT • PPG (O So Sexy) Tri-stage Basecoat • Translucent Red w/gold base, cleared. • Blackout omitted 273 ENGINE LOOKALIKE • 1970 340 bored 0.030" O/S • Hot Tanked and Bead Blasted • Polished Forged Crank (Mains std., Rods 0.010") • Square Decked Block • Balanced Rotating Assembly • Ross Racing Pistons– P/N 99625 • Lunati Roller Cam, Lifters, Valve Springs– P/N 60411…

IT’S A PLACE where old Mopars go to die, or perhaps be rescued, we’re not quite sure. But, if you’re rolling through the flat lands of Oregon, Illinois, and want to see it, Mo-Par City is like the 8th Wonder of the World for the devoted followers of the light being emitted from the Pentastar. We’d say it ranks right up there with other noteworthy Midwest attractions like the Gateway Arch or Willis Tower, but minus the long lines. Mo-Par City is the lifelong passion of longtime Chrysler racer Larry Pontnack, who began his quest of obtaining mangled-up Mopars back in 1974 by rescuing them from the more permanent jaws of metal-crushing machines. Larry saw the value in giving these musclecars a final resting place, making them “organ donors” for…

ON THE ARM FIRM FEEL’S RECONDITIONING SERVICES FOR MOPARS RECONDITION AND REINFORCE the lower control arms of your Mopars. This service is offered on ALL models. Firm Feel even offers complete assembly with powder coating service. Options for urethane or nylon bushings are available for A, B & E models along with greasable pivot pins. Urethane is available for C, F, M & J models. C-bodies have greasable pins available, too. Urethane bump stops can be added as well along with lower ball joints. For more information, contact Firm Feel, Inc. (360) 546-3633 www.firmfeel.com. FIX THE TICK ROCKAUTO OFFERS GEN 3 HEMI EXHAUST MANIFOLD HARDWARE A TICKING SOUND could mean a worn roller valve lifter is bouncing, rather than rolling, across the camshaft and RockAuto.com carries new cams…

THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE , no matter what you hear. Original cars the hobby is still unaware of, tucked away in some remote corner of the planet. Now, granny’s Slant Six Valiant is still a cool buy if that is what comes your way, but let’s be honest—the rarer, the better. We were talking with Tim Wellborn late in the spring about making a run to Alabama to shoot a couple of other cars when he dropped the bomb on us. “Well, wait until you see what is coming. It’s tied up in customs at the border right now, but I just got the nicest AAR survivor I have ever seen.” Coming from this guy, that statement says something. After all, Tim once sold the then-highest-ever public-priced AAR and…

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED on the way home to supper. James Ferrara decided to do a burnout in his ‘68 Charger R/T just for grins to break up the monotony of his daily commute. The big-block under the hood was not amused and showed its displeasure at those antics by blowing a head gasket. Needless to say, James was treated to cold leftovers and flat soda by the time he arrived in the kitchen that night. What’s even funnier, to those with a perverse sense of humor (such as pervades the hallowed halls of Mopar Action), was James’ pass down the Lebanon Valley Dragway quarter-mile later. The fixed, stroker big-block suddenly belched a stomach-curdling crunch followed by other mechanical clunks and clatters before falling silent and leaving the once-potent B-body…

TODAY , we take accuracy for granted. Your cell phone’s time display is tied to the atomic clock at the NBS in Boulder, Colorado. The digital scale that weighs your apples at the supermarket has resolution—and accuracy—to 1/ 10 ounce. And, most importantly, the cop that shoots his laser gun at you knows precisely if—and by how much—you’re over the limit. And that can get expensive, not only fines, points and surcharges, but even insurance premium ramp-ups. Of course, cops have a variable tolerance level. Hey, why bust you in your classic Mopar at 10 MPH over, when the fat cat hammering up in your rearview has his BMWs’ cruise locked in at 25 over? Of course, they can (and do) use 2 MPH over as a pretext for checking…

“THAT’S FAMILY.” Yep, almost everybody has one, natural or adopted. You get to choose your wife; do that carefully, ’cause you’re stuck with everybody else (and, yes, they are stuck with you) whether you like them or not. For high school student Brandon Melton, it’s was a good thing his dad Lenny is a serious car guy, or the truck you see here might have been just another old ’95 Dakota, rusting apart in somebody’s backyard or being used to haul firewood down off the mountain. Now customized as you see here, this Dak first came off the assembly line painted white, a four-cylinder / five-speed package that was exactly like so many others. “I wanted something to build, looked around and found this truck, and we brought it home…

Rick–In the August issue, First Fire article, you stated that you “make the mistake of assuming that every reader has read every word I have ever written.” Well, I actually have! Well, maybe not every word, but everything since the late 1980s! I have every Mopar Action mag since then, and all the original Mopar Action Tech Specials. I even have all the issues from your previous employer (can I say their name here?) High Performance Mopar, until they went defunct. Over the years, I’ve learned a few things from you! Such as: • DOT 5 brake fluid is fine. Just pour it in! • Use fine wire iridium plugs. • Use Fram filters. • Tubular aftermarket suspensions are terrible. [Useful on drag-only cars –R.E.] • So is the F-body…

KEEPING GOOD ON ITS PROMISE , Mopar unveiled its long-anticipated Dodge Challenger Drag Race Package Cars at the 29th running of the Mile-High Nationals, at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO. Playing the celebrity card for added effect, Mother reached into her bag of still-living NHRA legends, to come up with Big Daddy and Judy Lilly to add some color to the Stone White, and the Mopar Liquid Metal paint schemes on the prototype quarter-milers. The two Challengers, finished here in Stock Eliminator trim, were not built to take on all comers at Bandimere, their mission rather to serve in development and testing duties as the program progresses. The cars also ran in June ’08 as proof-of-concept, and were certified by NHRA. Compared to a production Challenger SRT8, the race cars…