Mopar Action October 2020

THE MEMO LEFT ME REELING. It was from Mopar Action HQ on the 10th floor. The short, terse directive informed me that I had used up my allotted jokes and smart remarks in my Editor’s Notes for the year, and couldn’t resume my wayward ways until the February 2021 issue if, indeed, I would still be employed by then. What to do? I seldom panic about anything. I see some folks wringing their hands or taking tranquilizing meds over what’s happening due to the Kung-Flu virus and the general unravelling in the world at this time. Then there’s brother Kim and his sister ratcheting up North Korea’s nuke threats. And what’s up with Iran and the Rooskies doesn’t bode well for a good night’s sleep, either. Me? Doesn’t raise my pulse rate…

I GUESS it all began with that Charger I got in high school. You know, prior to that, cars were not a real focus for me. Horsepower was—locomotives, machinery, steel mills, etc. Anything with smoke and fire was cool (and you wonder why drag racing was a perfect fit). At any rate, the Charger got me some high school cred, and soon I was hanging with the wrong (err, right…) crowd, street racing in Philly, spending all my dough on engine hardware, and generally finding out that some of the other brand X guys were knuckleheads. About the same time, the movie Christine came out. Here was a bad Mopar that came back from the dead, and the other guy had a ’68 Charger like mine. The late, late show (way…

BREATHEÉ in the mouth… out… then ahhh… C’mon! Even Mr. Myagi can’t help you on this one. The world of keeping your Mopar nice and shiny is a confusing place. Where to begin? Ask Alexa and even she will have a meltdown. So many choices of compounds, clay bars, liquid wax, paste wax, carnauba, glaze, polish, ceramic, buffers, pads etc. Waddya’ expect, it’s a multi-million-dollar industry and there’s no single tool or product that does it all because every finish is different. I am not gonna lie, there is a ton of products and competition in the market. It’s fierce! And they all fight for the shelf space to be the one in your garage, so what’s right for you? 30 years ago, products were limited and the only choice was…

STROKED AND POKED Using the same internal parts, which engine has the potential to produce more torque? 400 CI stroked to 500 CI or 440 CI stroked to 500 CI? I am considering using long ram manifolds on this. Robert Long Rock Spring, GA Robert–Obviously, this is hypothetical, because the shorter deck on the 400 results in somewhat different internals. The 440 will be a bit more durable in the long run (due to longer conrods and piston skirts), but, since the bore and stroke will either be identical, or very close, there will be no meaningful difference in torque or HP. This, of course, assumes the same heads, camshaft specs, manifolding, etc. With long rams and 500 cubes, the low-end torque will be Cummins-like, but it will run out of breath at a…

Address all queries to this address: RICHARD EHRENBERG PO BOX 302 MARLBORO NY 12542 Best bet: Online submission form at moparaction.com GROUND RULES: • If you want to submit your question via e-mail, please use the on-line submission form at www.moparaction. com. If we ask for more info, send back all existing text, or else! • Snail-mail must include a SASE and/or a cash bribe. • All letters, electronic or otherwise, must include a full name and a least your city and state. You can request that it be withheld, however, and, if we had any the night before, we might even honor your request. • “20 questions” letters instantly get shredded and the scraps forwarded to Mopar Muscle. So – ask one clear question please, we’re a sleazy magazine, not an encyclopedia publisher. We won’t tell…

CHRYSLER PICKUP Mr. Ehrenberg–Do you know the part number for the fuel sending unit for my ’68 Chrysler 300 ’vert? Would love to find an NOS one, heard the repops are junk. Really enjoy your tech articles. Gregg Ehrhardt Oxford, PA Gregg–Sure, the Mopar P/N is 2809031, fits all ’67–’68 C-bodies except wagons. Did Chrysler call this a sending unit? Pickup? Transducer? Nope. The parts book’s noun is “Gauge, fuel tank.” When the repop fuel senders began to appear about two decades ago, virtually all were total junk. Now you can occasionally find one that works, sort of. The U.S. put men on the moon in 1969,—all Chrysler-powered, you should note. Now all we get from the supposedly-friendly “hi-tech” folks in China is hacking—your computer, your cell phone, and your cough or death from…