Problems With Points? Let's Fix This 1971 Dodge Challenger 340 Convertible!
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- čas přidán 26. 04. 2024
- In this video: How breaker points work; common problems with breaker point ignition systems; setting up points with your eyeball, and what to look for; the importance of checking your vacuum advance and mechanical advance mechanism; and much more.
Look at this thing. Just look at it. It's beautiful. It's a 1971 Dodge Challenger convertible that was ordered to look like the 1971 Indy pace car convertible. You know, the one that crashed into the grand stands... alright, that's not ideal. But this car is pretty neat. It's got all kinds of cool options, and it has been beautifully restored - albeit with a few small departures from factory.
But for some reason, despite my best efforts last time I saw it, the car isn't running its best. It's coughing and sputtering and just sort of gutless. So today, let's see if we can figure all that out - and let's all be thankful the sun is shining for once. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Ah, the thermoquad. The sound of acceleration from like every 70s TV cop show ever.
That’s right!
I still have 3 of them sitting upstairs above my garage. Rebuilt them many years ago. Used to buy them for like $40 off of Ebay.
@@jumpinjojo The T-Quad is my favorite carb. As long as you are careful with the plastic body, they work really well.
@@clembob8004 Very true! Years ago, I was even able to purchase new phenolic bodies.
I love you videos, I'm an old guy who was lucky enough to be around when those cars were new. All my buddies had big block mopars, every one had Crager SS wheels or Mickey Thompson Rader wheels, all the torsion bars were turned up so the front end was high. Kinda looked like gassers but there idea was to throw the weight to the back wheels off the line, don't know if it really worked but looked good. Great time to be a car guy. I was poor so had a 62 impala 283 4 barrel. couldn't keep up with the big boys LOL
I have a working dwell meter. Guess I'm showing my age. Beautiful, beautiful vehicle.
I have one that works but it reads off by a lot. I have several that don’t work.
Man I use to put thermoquad carburetors on everything back in the day. Once setup they seemed to run great on most engines.
Bro, so nice to see someone keeping the original design points.
Wow points not a conversion or even pertronix.
Man, what a nice car.....
My neighbor, Jim, loved to tell the story of his BIL, Ernest, setting points. Ernest was a dealership mechanic for many years.
While watching Ernest replacing the points on a 'side job' he noticed that he never used a feeler gage. "Hey, aren't you going to check the gap?" asked Jim. "Don't need to", replied Ernie " But you can if you want to. Gap is .016, but I leave an additional .001 for rubbing block wear." Jim went and got the feeler gages, got out the .017 gage , ... and it was perfect!!
As we used to say, that guy had a 'calibrated eyeball'
Nice! We like that guy. Haha. He probably had a well calibrated torque elbow too.
What a beaut. Gotta love a happy 340.
The 340 is absolutely sweet. I would not change a thing I am also not a convertible guy but that's about as nice as one can be. Got to love those wide oval tires
Thanks for the ride, Jamie, truly appreciated.🙂🐏
What a sweet ride! Just awesome!
I still have an old blister pack, tune up kit, for a small 6 cylinder Ford. Went out in the garage and it too was made in Fond Du Lac, Wisc. Sold by Wells Mfg. Corp. I paid $1.97 at Kmart for it, probably in 1973. And still, people refused to change the points every 12,000 miles. I always did, and never had any problems. But I sure replaced a lot of burned up, pitted and worn out ones for other people!
What a beautiful car!
I remember a guy in the hood doing power slides through the snow in his green one. Nobody had convertibles back in snow town. Most glove boxes carried extra points. Sometimes the cool kids had new points in there :-)
Yeah on mopars many did carry extra points.
And then after the electronic conversion we all carried ballast resistors 🤣🤣
Keep an extra condenser also. I had one go bad last year, had to get towed, had one in glovebox, didn't know they were that important.
That is a work of art, one that you can actually play with!
Beautiful car and yes the key buzzer was a PITA.
Wow, I had a flashback to playing with the points on my 70 cuda! Nice video Jamie.
Very nice convertible E-body....and good content and thanks 👍🔧
Beautiful old girl!! I have a 66 Barricuda that I am restoring, I love getting insight from the stuff that you post!
I really liked seeing this one. I owned a 71 Challenger R/T for 3 decades in GY3 with a white interior and stripes. It had the wide grill surround moldings like this one. 383 auto car. Now the guys at Mopars5150 own it. They had it in one of their videos earlier this year about Kissimmee. Love the 71 Challys.
I started my mechanics career at Palmer Dodge in 93ish, when Don, son of Elden Palmer(owner/driver of THE 71 pace car) opened a new dealership in Carmel, IN. I saw that car yearly, even drove it. Always hated the magnesium allows on it, until quite recently for some reason I’m liking them now. Always like convertibles in theory, but hardtops in reality, my TJ always has a bikini top on it, and I quit riding motorcycles pre 2020. I couldn’t imagine riding on the street nowadays.
Always enjoy your test drives!
Imagine cars that can be repaired and tuned without having to use some dopey "scan tool." I lost my dwell meter a long time ago but still have my Craftsman timing light. Keep up the great content!
When we had the 318 on our 71 Indy Pace Car Challenger convertible rebuilt some years ago, we had it converted to electronic ignition. Great decision. Yes, your car certainly is related to our pace car. Thanks for the video.
The air metered Thermoquad. Kind of like the 71 Pontiac Qjet, one year only, unique and rare. Points just need maintenance like periodic replacement. Beautiful car.
Back in the day we use to set the points gap with the cover off a pack of matches.
Yes, I meant to mention that but it slipped my mind.
Another beautiful car. Mine is a white interior too! Got absolutely wrecked by the Las Vegas (NV) sun and summers but looking forward to its return (got all the parts except the back seat cover).
I wish I'd held out to find a 340 or 383 car but the little 318 did well and it was a fortuitous find.
I ran with points for several years when the car was my daily driver. Someone had a sale on the Direct Connection conversion kit and I jumped for it. Never had a problem with it but the points also never gave me any issues. I don't remember the make but I also had the points that included a 'wick' that could be oiled to keep the cam and rubbing block lubed. I still have the OE distributor 'just in case'.
I was friends with my local Dodge dealer parts guys and they helped me find a buzzer/relay that at least made a monotone buzz instead of wobbling like a boy's voice changing, so it was less annoying. Often thought of finding a way to put an inoffensive electronic bell tone device, but we'll see when the reconstruction gets to that point.
Saw that three-nipple '71 specific breather cap too.
I personally favor the '71 styling over other years but '70s were nice too.
I remember the matchbox dodge challenger years ago 😊
I put electronic ignition on my old '68 Fury3 with a 383. Worst thing I ever did to that car. Put the points back on with a recurved distributor and was happy as Hell after that. Use a matchbook cover to set the points. Works just fine. I ran my Chrysolers at 8 degrees advanced and with 34 degrees total all in by 3400 rpm. Yes, that car sounds great. Not obnoxious like the ones today.
I think I’m around two hours up I5 from you, and I honestly can’t remember that blue sky! When it’s nice up here, it’s outrageously nice. I’ve owned a convertible, and I’m not down either. Great video. Seems to me I owned a tube of distributor grease back in the day. Couldn’t afford the fancy timing light. Fantastic car, great video
My first car was a used 73 Cuda, 318, slapstick. Luckily had the rallye grill and hood scoop- I loved that car!
Love the small block, I've had 318's & 360's but never a 340.
Currently I have a Fury with a 383 as a daily but it looks like spring time is perfect for 340 hunting. 😊
That is one beautiful convertible. Must be rough. Driving it on a nice day lol great video.
Remember Freiburger... "thermal quad" only carb. to punish u for making power. I remember my Dad using matchbook cover for gapping points in a pinch. Feeler gauge not handy. Love how original & feeling the pain... 🙊🙉🙈
How could I forget? I even have the Thermoquad shirt. Haha. I was going to mention the matchbook cover thing but it slipped my mind.
340 with a T-Quad, nothing better! And although the 71 convertible is very nice, if I could have any Challenger I wanted, it would be the Vanishing Point Challenger - 1970 R/T plain white, 440 with a pistol grip 4 speed and stock rally wheels.
Your 2018 looking sweet. Love hearing the chirp ❤
I have a hemi ram now, but had leased a v6 Ram in the past, it drove great and was very quick!
I had a 2014 V6 Ram and I seriously loved that truck. It just wasn’t enough truck for what I do.
Another great video on a great car!!!!
Whst a sweet Mopar. Love the white interior. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for taking the time to do the content you do.
You just gave me the solution to my Satellite's stubborn hesitation at low rpm. It worked. Thank you.
Outstanding! Happy to help!
What a awesome car!👍
My dream car is the 70 Challenger T/A with the 340 6 pack and other one year only goodies.
I’ve never driven a T/A, but I did get to drive that very similar AAR for a video. It was great. It was also worth way too much to really test thoroughly.
@@DeadDodgeGarage I'm sure. lol. The T/A has just always seemed like the perfect combination of everything a great car should have to me. And I much prefer the look over the Cuda
Mmmmmmm challenger. My personal favorite.
Great video chock full of vitamins, minerals and details. I've had good luck with Corbin clamps over worm clamps because of self adjusting with heating/cooling cycles and shrinking rubber. They don't belong on the P.S. return hose though. Factory used a red three finger clamp. But if you already know an 11/32" hose is spec, then you already know that too.
I wasn’t thinking about it at the time obviously, but of course those should be the red clamps. Duh.
That shot next to your new one is so awesome. All the styling Que s are spot on 😎
Cover those white seats not the black carpet! 😅
Great simple video enjoying an awesome car
Why you gotta bring back memories of the wasted hours in my fleeting youth spent removing and setting dual-point Mazda distributors? Huh? Why? You couldn't get the dissy 180d "out" as one side of the dissy engagement-tang had a slight arch in it. Also, had a welding shop heat & bend a NAPA dissy-adjustment-wrench until it perfectly engaged the nut on a Triumph TR8! I don't even know where my (Sears Craftsmen) timing-light is today. Also, terms like "pump shot" & "pump discharge nozzle" that I have not heard spoken for many moons. Don't you know that you should limit your "carb" intake!
😅 I don’t even want to think about dual points. I’m good with just the one set.
I love how quiet the exhaust is on that car. I thought I was the only person that didn't like listening to loud exhaust.
CJ-7's were equipped with 304 V-8's from the factory. My brother has one that he purchased used in the 1900's (1994 actually). He swapped it out for a 360 later when it needed to be rebuilt. It isn't fast by today's standards, but it is fun. He also has my 350 Buick powered 1970 wagoneer.
You know? I definitely knew that at some point. Haha. Anyway, I’m really big on reasonably quiet exhaust. Especially on something I will actually be driving.
@@DeadDodgeGarage We learned that from my brother's CJ. He installed glass packs that came out next to the doors. It gave me a headache (literally) while driving longer than an hour.
I took my Buick 350 wagoneer to an exhaust shop to get a new non-rotten exhaust system installed. They asked what I wanted it to sound like. I told them I don't want to hear it. They looked confused. :)
I agree it doesn’t have to make lots of noise to push you into the seat
I'm with you Jamie. My 300 is a convertible and I don't like driving with the top down at all
Convertibles aren't my thing also.
Gorgeous car!
Nice vid..... I miss my convertible Challenger Pace Car. 🏁 Should have never sold it, it was a fun driver.🙁
Alright!! Happy Saturday to me !!!! DDG for my morning coffee !!! A great combination !!!
Reminds me of my 1970 340 4 speed Challenger, not a convertible, had dual point distributor. Yeah, should have kept it.
Yep chunk the points. Best thing i ever did to my 69. That kit fits right under the original cap. Instantly perks it up.
When the points are right, there’s plenty of perk to be had. But they often aren’t right.
Awesome video Jamie, thanks for the great content. BTW, your new car looks beautiful.
Thanks! I seriously love that thing. Very pleased with my purchase.
Ex-wife's family has a Pllum Crazy '71 Challenger R/T 383 with a 3 speed manual. And yes it came from the factory with the 3 speed. 1 of 59 set up this way. Very cool car. Like Jamie, I was dead set on 70 Challengers but this car really changed my thinking on the 71s.
What a nice well optioned car!
🇺🇸👍 Many channels show changing of points, but very few show or mention lubing the points block or cam lobes and how important it is.👍
That is a gogeous car. Mopar convertibles are the best. So are the hardtops. Be confident scraggly is the look for the convertible, its a design feature
I think if I get any more confident, it’ll become a problem. Haha.
Door fender gap looks like body is flexing!!!
It’s not. Well, not any more than it did from the factory. The panels don’t line up for crap - and that’s after hours of trying to work the gaps a couple years ago. Welcome to classic Chrysler products, enjoy your stay…
Nice vid.Thanks.
So many contradictions... convertible love/hate. Beautiful sunny day/painful sun in the eyes. Torqueflite column shift in an E body. Non-argent silver looking ok, good even. I feel your frustration, and your joy. IDK....
What a sweetheart!
(No, not you, Mr. Ignition-Key-Buzzer-Killer - I'm referring to the Challenger).
I grew up in "points days" and they were just fine - heck, they were EASIER days.
I think it was even Echlin (among others maybe?) that made points with a wicking pad
behind the rub nipple on their top-line points that you oiled. Brass in the contacts, too.
Very nice stuff.
- Ed on the Ridge
Echlin is still the best! If I need points that aren’t total garbage in this day and age, I’m heading to Napa and buying those.
Yep, I remember the felt oiling pad on certain brand points. But, unfortunately, some people couldn't be bothered to do a yearly tune-up, one of the reasons for the development of electronic ignition. A points equipped car could run poorly for quite a while! 😁
@@DeadDodgeGarage Agreed totally - now go give my original comment a heart, ya tightwad. 🙂
@@moparedtn haaaaahaha. Usually it’s a heart or a reply. But today I guess you get both. Something about squeaky wheels.
Man would that challenger and your 68 charger take a nice picture together...with the top up on the challenger 😁👍
Remind me to order a radiator, and figure out what I did to the engine the other week when I was allegedly goofing around downtown.
Remember...order a radiator and make sure you didn't piss the 383 off to bad. Lol. Seriously.. I hope it's OK. I too love 383's ❤️
Jamie those Tacos looked good I’m a big fan off points if maintained you won’t have any problems. 👍
The first time I went 130 mph was in a Cuda just like that. Did you know that the front end comes off the ground (it flies) at 130 mph. The guy owned the car wanted to prove it to me. A memorable day.
No, but I know that the back end of a ‘68 Charger starts to lift off of the ground around there…
Two nice Challengers. I recently traded in my 2015 Challenger 6.4 SRT and I miss it every day.
Bummer. Drove mine up to Tacoma last night and saw a lot of others on the highway. Saw one R/T driving by our hotel that sounded pretty great. Of all of them I’ve seen, I still prefer the way mine looks, and I have no complaints on the horsepower. It gets squirrelly on wet on-ramps and such even with the V6. Passes people just fine, although it does usually have to drop three gears to do it…
I do still have a dwell meter! I haven’t used it in a decade, but I still have it. I may have a hoarding issue.
I have four. Three don’t work, one is inaccurate. Haha. So I’ve really never managed to do that properly
Nice ride!
At most I'd take a factory sunroof, but that's it.
Weird you brought up the wreck thing. It actually happened at Talladega super speedway. I was 11 years old and watched all the local races as they came on our channel 6 out of Birmingham Al. I happened to live about 25 miles from the track then.
No, the wreck I’m talking about definitely happened at the Indy 500 in 1971. The car said “Indianapolis 500” right on it so that helps. If there was a crash at Talladega too that’s interesting.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Ok I may have the incidents confused. It may have been the 1969 Camaro convert pace care at Talladega. It came off the track between #4 and #1 turns and went through a concession stand
A little grease on the rubbing block goes a long way
There’s a joke in there somewhere
Jamie, that's a beautiful nice driving car. I like convertibles most of the time, just not in bad weather. My favorite car I ever owned was a convertible. 1970 Buick GS455, red with white top and interior. Very fast and would idle very smoothly at 600rpm in drive, I wish I never sold it, that and my 67 GTX. Well,life goes on.
No kidding that’s a sweet car those 340 engines are rare also just like that car. 👍
I love those big Buick engines. Mine was a ‘67 Electra 225 two door with a 430. It had a roof though.
Very awesome car! I know a guy who had one just like it a few years ago. He did a small amount of body work to it and resold it. My 74 ‘Cuda key buzzer doesn’t work either,
Although I think it’s because the seatbelt interlock relay is bypassed. The key buzzers are quite annoying, when I was working on the brake light switch on my aunt’s 1972 barracuda, it drove me nuts!
Sweet ride
I too have recently crashed a motorcycle, and I’m starting to agree with you very very heavily
I recorded this before you did that, or I probably would’ve made some kind of joke at your expense.
Great job, just subscribed. First and only subscription so far. You have earned it. Had same issue with my 72 SE power steering hose. Not sure if Corbin's are correct mine had the flat spring clamps but I used screw types.
Thank you! I appreciate that. And you are correct - another commenter reminded me that that hose should have the flat red spring clamps instead of Corbins. I definitely wasn’t thinking about that at the time, I was a little preoccupied with the horrible mess I had just made. It’s screw clamps for the win in my book. But this is a very original car mechanically so I should probably change them.
I once won a bet that I could set points by eye 10 bucks bought a lot in 1978 ,now I can barely see the points, ahh old age setting in
My buddy had a Challenger similar to the convert. B5 blue, white convert, 340 non R/T. No luggage rack however. Auto console.
It's generally pronounced fawn da lack. Greetings from WI.
Yes I learned that when my brother got back. Haha.
Love your channel but missing 😢the junker you were working on, just love to see the underdog like that spoiled soup car , won’t lie my eyes were glued too those videos.
It still hasn’t left yet 😅 the next video on that car will be over on the Rocket Restorations CZcams channel! And I will probably be in the background helping.
Thanks sounds great
Beautiful car brother look how much fun your having wind in your hair
So much fun. Haha.
Believe it or Don't! Chrysler had an available Capacitor Discharge Ignition setup available over-the-counter at your Dodge Dealer as early as 1968! I could be wrong, but I believe Electronic ignition was phased-in during the 1971 model year, being an available extra-charge option. Eventually becoming standard equipment on ALL engines by 1973.
One thing I find humorous is that the 1968 CDI system, has this MASSIVE cast-aluminum heat sink protecting the transistorized bits. Then, we see the later, production units have a much smaller, but still effective heat sink protecting it's transistor set.
But when American Motors went electronic in 1975 in a joint venture between AMC and Prestolite.... our good friends at American needed to cut-costs and eschewed any kind of heat-soak protection and, supposedly against the wishes of Prestolite.... encased the electronic portion in an air-tight container sealed with butyl. Though AMC did save a few cents per unit.... the astonishing failure rate of the system in 1975 and 1976 forced them to switch to the Ford DURASPARK system by 1978. Yes, somehow the Duraspark Ignition was more reliable than AMC's.
Don't get me wrong, I love my AMCs.... but my goodness did they pull some bone-headed moves during the 1970's.
I am willing to take your word for it, but I’m unable to find so much as a picture of any earlier system they had. I actually have a big giant CDI box with the Chrysler connector, but it was made by a third party and I’m sure it was a 70s era performance unit.
I know the electronic ignition system we know and love (give or take) became available from Direct Connection around 1971. It became an available option in 1972, and standard on all models in 1973. It may have been standard on some C bodies for 1972, but I’m not really clear on that.
Dale bought the Direct Connection kit for the Demon in ‘72 or ‘73. This one is not a regular aluminum bodied distributor - it’s the earlier type cast iron body, with a cable drive tachometer attachment!
Yeah… that does sound like AMC, doesn’t it? I knew they ended up with Duraspark eventually. Things were so weird over there. Chrysler transmissions, Ford electronics, GM steering columns… whatever they could get their hands on, as cheaply as possible.
I thought I read somewhere that the 1971 340 cars specifically were supposed to get electronic ignition as standard. I might be mis-remembering though.... maybe it was '72? Don't get old man. The memory is the first thing to go!
Good Man... nothing wrong with a points setup, I still run some. BUT... I also work the points before install, even on new new ones (as opposed to old new ones). Often the faces aren't true as delivered, and ya sometimes contaminated. Lots easier to do it before they're in.
Fun hangin' out again, cheers.
Yeah, as you saw, I realized pretty quickly that I should have done that. I guess I had tacos on the brain or something.
@@DeadDodgeGarage The NOS have been kicking around for an awful long time, and the new ones were probably assembled by somebody in China who most likely had no idea what they even were. Result...? Pffffffft...
I'm 58 years old and watched all that know-how go down the drain, glad you're keeping it alive.
Beautiful car. Please put a correct throttle return spring on in the correct position. Looks like a hardware store spring.
I knew 2 people who died from motorcycling while intoxicated, and I saw a fatal MC crash shortly after it occurred. I like doors. Big thick doors. Preferably with power windows and those groovy power window rocker switches with the way-out finger grip texturing on them. They're far-out, man.
Ugh. Yeah. A younger guy in our town died on one. Not intoxicated. That sucked. I think just about everyone that has ridden a motorcycle has a crash story.
Nice car ! The door gap on the drivers fender looks huge on camera ! lol
It’s big at the top and tight at the bottom. It’s not ideal, but it’s not getting any better in this lifetime. We tried a couple years ago.
Why did Chrysler put the distributor in back on the small block engines?
Because it was in the back on the first generation Chrysler V8s (the original Hemi.) But why they package it that way on those, I don’t know.
Because that's where it belongs..
3:17 - Distributor flavored ice cream!
Or a weird bong...
😅
I prefer hood pins over the skull cutter safety catch hangin' like a dagger.
With a factory hood pin car, you got both 😅 you’d think I’d be better at missing the skull fricker after 17 years of working on Mopars, but I’m not.
@@DeadDodgeGarage Ah yes but you don't need both so omitted one. Easier than a trip to the ER. LOL
very good
I rebuilt many thermoquads in auto technology college.
God, I love these things - but you could really tell the usual Mopar lack of quality assembly - door slam sounds like junk; oh, well, so does my Firebird - it was the 70's...
“Factory shitty” is the line I keep hearing around Rocket. Haha.
Fantastic content, as always. What other differences lie within that 340? Compression/cam/etc... ? Or is it exactly the same sans the high-flow exhaust manifolds. (M28 is the code for the chrome molding)
As far as bottom end internals, it is the same for ‘71. They did switch from “X” heads to “J” heads around ‘71, but I’m not clear on a date for that, and I’ve also heard that some Js had the larger valves of the X head, and I know the castings are very similar - so I really don’t know what’s what there. They switched to Thermoquad and the matching spread bore intake manifold for ‘71. And the HP exhaust manifolds were gone. But compression was the same, cam was the same, etc. Blue paint came February ‘71, compression dropped for the ‘72 model year, cast crank came in the middle of the ‘72 model year run. I’ve seen a bulletin with an exact date for that but can’t recall what it was. Thanks!
Epic, I have arrived
If I didn’t know any better, I thought I was watching another episode of the StoneD Soup saga…I mean they look SO MUCH alike 😂😂😂
Right, easy mistake to make. Lol.
Challengers are cool, but my heart still leans towards the Chargers...
that said, I wouldn't turn down a classic Challenger! 😁
It's too bad that the modern day Challengers didn't have the same dimensions as the classic ones. They look huge next to the old ones. 😯
They aren’t much longer, but they are definitely chunkier. I don’t mind the look.
I would love a convertible, just not dead bees in my hair( or any other bug that bounces off the windshield) 340 sounded really good.
You get used to that kind of thing after driving motorcycles. I was usually a full face helmet guy on the highway at least. But bugs in your teeth are part of the experience.
Cool 😎