Road Race / AutoX Project 1964 Dart Grüne Hölle

7/8/23:

I really enjoy this car, the handling, the way it is setup, everything.
I did the engine break in over the last week, Putting 500 miles on since last Friday or so.

Most of my trips took me on everyday errands, semi local car shows and cruises and to the bike trail.

This morning, I rode the bike 22 miles from the old USS Homestead steel site in Homestead PA, now called the Waterfront, through Pittsburgh and down the Ohio River a bit to the Bicycle Museum in Pittsburgh.
Now that I am not constantly futzing with this car,  I have time for fun stuff like that.

I am going to drain the oil / cut open the filter and inspect all for any issues tomorrow.
I have a few other small jobs to do tomorrow too..
- Fab up a new dipstick that will read 5-8 Qts of engine oil
- Fix the hood prop rod stay ( it fell off)
- Replace the Firewall Clutch Rod Grommet (it is old and Broken.. I got a new one)
- Replace the Oil Pressure Relief spring with a high pressure unit from a Hemi / B/RB Engine.
- Shim up the driver's side Engine mount so that the Exhaust does not rub the torsion bar.
- Raise the rear ride height for Trunk full of tools and for the tongue wight of the trailer.
- Probably something else too.. but I am not sure what that is at the moment.

After the bike ride today, I pulled the valve cover off and Set the lash on the valves - they were super loose.... and noisy.
I found my notes from last year and went with 0.024" and 0.028"  It sounds like one of them is still a but clackety so I will recheck those again tomorrow.

I love having the trailer hitch on the back of the car for the bike rack.

4 More miles to get to the point where the Ohio River begins.

A quick stop at the Ohio River for a drink.

A few more miles on the trail took me to the bike museum.

They said that they had bikes for sale..... But not this one.
I wanted to buy that forest green Vintage Schwinn - I think it would have looked perfect on the back of the dart.
But... NFS. :-(

Got home this morning and lashed up the valves on  the engine..... Getting there.

Should be packing up the trailer and getting ready to tow to Carlisle later this week.

Nice job on the car.  It looks great!  Nice shots of the Burg also.

7/10/23:
Thanks Noddaz!

Got most of the things on my list done!
- Got the oil Pressure relief spring swapped to the Mopar B/RB High Pressure unit. The OE Slant 6 spring must have a been a but mushy. - It is actually a bit on the high side now, but I prefer that instead of lower. I still have some shims in there so I can lower peak pressure a bit more if needed.
Man is that tricky to do in this chassis - I needed an 11/16" crow's foot on a universal swivel extension / rachet... goofy.  I also had to jack up the engine and swing the right side engine mount out of the way for access.

- Fabbed up a new dipstick that reads add when there is 5 qts and Is right on the Full mark when there is 8 Qts for Auto x or track days.
- Made a 1/4" engine mount spacer to keep the exhaust off of the torsion bar. Works good for now.
- Raised up the rear ride height 4 turns on the coilovers, anticipating a full trunk and trailer tongue weight.

-Had the hood off for some underside fiberglass repair for the prop rod mount.  
- Also painted the underneath of the hood.  It turned out pretty good, for a part that no one will really ever look at, except for when I have it up at a car cruise or something. It has a better vibe than raw fiberglass and resin.

- The helper at the garage today. I sent her to the tires first for some strength training with the 'ol Milton Service station tire inflator with double headed chuck. Good stuff, it took her about 1/2 hour to get the pressures correct, but she kept at it.  :D

She also helped me reinstall and align the hood on the hinges.

All that is left is to drain and flush the water if there is time, and then pack up and leave for Carlisle on Thursday.

So cool! The kind of use this car sees is inspirational

Shavarsh said:

So cool! The kind of use this car sees is inspirational

Thank you.

I hope it inspires you to build and do your own cool thing!

7/17/23:

Well I had made it to Carlisle All Chrysler Nationals and back.
Grüne Hölle Towed ~ 2000# of Trailer and Parts, with firewood and Camping stuff up and down many mountains on the way to Carlisle.  I met some new folks and found time to Hike and have dinner with friends as well as Do some proper Mountain Flogging of the car whilst the trailer was detached.  Good thing I brought the trailer as I Bought a 40" sign for the garage and I did not have to send it home with a friend.. I was able to take it home myself, as it fit in the ValianTrailer.

My pictures from the Chrysler all Chrysler Nationals 2023 can be found Here

Here is some documentation from my trip:
I Left home Thursday morning so that I could get to Carlisle and not take any interstates while towing. I had a Core 727 Transmission to Sell to A&A so the tongue weight was heavy for my little trailer.

I Stopped for lunch where the Elevation on US 22 was probably the highest, at least on my trip at ~2400 ft near the Allegheny Portage Historic Railroad site.

Then back on the road towards The valleys and Hills.
I forgot how much fun PA Route 994 is from Entrinken to Orbinsonia.. Too bad I had the trailer but it was a blast!
This picture is on PA 164 Which goes over that Green Hill in the horizon.

It is glorious when I encounter these Signs on the up or downside of the mountain, while driving this car.

After a few Hours, I got to Carlisle, dropped off my trans core, and Headed for the Campsite.  Shesh....  Always 10° Hotter in the Cumberland valley with ~1000' elevtation drop compared to home near Pittsburgh.

Friday Morning Got into gate 3 before the crowds.. Got the car all cleaned up and ready for the show, then headed to the swap meet to find some stuff that I probably don't actually need, but it's a fun walk.

Friday Nite Decided to cool off with a trip back to the mountains.. Found a nice Hike..


I Chose the Challenging route because I am a dumb ass and thought.... this is cool.
2.1 Miles starting at ~800 ft Elevation and ending at ~1900 ft elevation.

Got to the top and it was all good.

Carlisle is somewhere out there~15 miles away under that cloud on the left.

The Carlisle show has a lot of stuff like this..

And giga tons of 2008-2023 Challengers too.

I took US Route 30 home this time, and when there's a big government sign telling me the elevation, I can't help but stop and take some pictures.

I put ~ 500 more miles on the car and it's mostly good to go. I want to relash the valves again and get it cleaned up for the PVGP countryside tour and some other PVGP Shows this week.

Then out to Ohio for another trailer hauling adventure.

7/18/23:

After returning home from Carlisle. I got the car all cleaned and Checked on the valve lash. It seems that I either Have a lifter / pushrod not spinning or a Rocker arm that is not oiling out at the Adjuster screw. It's possible I might have to check on these rocker arms or just swap to stock rockers. We'll see.

I took the car to a local Car cruise tonight it was part of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grandprix "race week" where they have various events and shows all around the local area.

Here are some pictures from the event.

I took the hungry kid out for dinner, while the crowds were coming in and building up.

Then we walked back to the show where she was peddling her wares to the locals.

A few interesting notes.. since this is a local show near the town where I grew up, there were some Vehicles that My dad either had owned in his "personal collection" or sold at the car lot.

This 1933 Dodge Five Window Street Rod Sat around the house or garage since 1984 or so...
New owner is enjoying it and actually using it.

We parked next to a 1968 Dodge Dart GT that was sold off dad's car lot about 25 years ago. Same Owner has had it since he bought it off my dd in the late '90's

Tomorrow I will investigate the Rocker arm issue a bit more and swap to stock rockers if needed, or check for obstructions / drill an oil squirt hole on the chunky rockers if needed.

Oh yeah, remember this idea:


IT WORKS!

I have been taking the car hard around some Right Hand turns and no gas dribbling onto the quarter panel any more, so that is good. I just have to open the trunk and the valve when fueling up, but that is not a problem.

Planning on running the PVGP Countryside Tour Thursday.

Good to meet you briefly last night; the car looked great!

orthoxstice said:

Good to meet you briefly last night; the car looked great!

Thank you sir.

I will be at Schenley Park on Sat as well!  Always fun to meet forum members out in the wild. 

7/21/23:

I participated in the PVGP Coutryside Tour yesterday.
It was ~120 Miles of Heavy Flogging on Wesmoreland, Fayette and Somerset County PA Back Roads and Mountain Routes.

I was a group leader, and the fantastic volunteer organisers of the event thought that the lowly '64 Dart Grüne Hölle Edition should lead off the fastest group first at 9:00 AM.  
I had 4 Cars in my Group, all capable European Grand Tourers in their own right.
In my group:
2015 Porsche 991:

1995 Porsche Porsche 995:

1990 Porsche 964:

and a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 500SL

We had a blast ripping around some mountain roads and I made some new friends from Philadelphia and Delaware, it is usually unlikely that Porsche Guys were digging the Dart but they did. :D
This tour gets a way different crowd than the local car show car cruise guys which is refreshing.

It's safe to say that the engine is fully operating properly and spent much of the time between the 3500-5200 RPM range. Lots of Heel toeing and bliping of the the throttle for downshifts makes me smile, puts the engine in the proper RPM range to get torque coming out of any corner. 95 Mph Maximum Speed on routes that had no freeway or highway in sight.

2 days ago, I swapped what I call the "chunky" Roller Rockers out for stock Slant 6 Rockers.
I had Ran these "chunkies" for a few years with apparently no issues, but not now.
There is a lack of oil at the Rocker adjustment Screw.  It was eating up Rocker screws because they were dry. That is why my lash needed reset a few times in the last 3 weeks. The solution there is to Install a Spray Bar in the Valve cover or Modify the Rockers for Adjuster screw  oiling - Which is probably what I will do.

After I Left for the Trip, I realized that the Rocker arm Swap back to stock arms was causing some interference issues with the valve cover. (the vales on this head must be a bit taller than stock. I Had a bit of a diaper on the Valve cover during the Countryside tour to catch any oil that was getting ejected out of the car during driving, and for now until I can get some time to do proper cleaning, welding and metal work on this Valve cover I have the Side of the road / parts store hack..

On the #6 where the Valve cover is slimmed down for the Heater box clearance on '60-62 Models the Rockers were knocking and wore a hole through the metal.


This is also happening on the inside too as I can feel the Rockers clicking against the steel metal baffle inside above cylinders 5 and 1/ 2 where the PCV and Oil Fill is.
Quick fix for now:

' till next time.