Magnum swapping the 72 Scamp!

[itchy666]

At this point I kept the bottom end together for a bit and didnt wrench on it too much. I ended up painting it hoping I could keep the bottom end together but things went sideways when I pulled the cam and got a look at the cam bearings.

View attachment 1715071665

Clearly not a good thing.

So of course at the cross roads I had to look at the main and rod bearings and to nobodies surprise they were all in not such good shape.

View attachment 1715071666

View attachment 1715071667

Also started ordering up some parts for the swap

View attachment 1715071668

Gotta love coming home to mopar boxes Water pump this time

View attachment 1715071669

View attachment 1715071670

Also put some paint on a few parts.

View attachment 1715071671

Painted up the kevko oil pan to give it some oem stealth (orange is stealth right? haha)

View attachment 1715071672

Got a Hughes 222/226 110 Lsa roller cam. Plan on using the 2200 stall in it now and 3.55 gears so this should be a decent fit.

View attachment 1715071673

Off to the machine shop the bottom end went. Who said you can't hoist an engine into a hatch back? hahaha

View attachment 1715071674

The machine shop has been awesome to deal with, super old school. Really wanted to use IMM out in Indio but the 2 hour drive stopped me. Just couldn't set aside the time to get out there so I used one closer to work / home called Vellios that I have read a bit about between here / hot rod mag etc.

Ha Made in Oz.. we actually still make stuff.. lol................................nice car mate;)

 

[itchy666]

A few more updates...

First I didn't like the fading argent on the grille, I think some of it might have even been just bare plastic at this point. I liked the idea of a satin black so I went ahead and painted it. Before and after:

View attachment 1715166482

View attachment 1715166483

View attachment 1715166486

I also "restored" the turn signal bezels with a clay bar and elbow grease. Before and after:

View attachment 1715166484

View attachment 1715166485

I did a reseal and repaint on the power steering pump. Also lined up a saginaw pump to put in one of these days.

View attachment 1715166481

And finally just for fun I did some rubber coating in black / metallic on the wheels. Its removable but I like it for now so going to keep it for a bit.

View attachment 1715166487

And took her out to the spring fling here, super cool to meet a few members and chat people up.

View attachment 1715166480

View attachment 1715166479

For cleaning metal i use OOOO or AAAA steel wool , its super super fine and cheap, you should have somethin similar in the US?

 

[snailpower]

I got the second wheel in and the tire mounted. I had a chance to go shoot some photos after putting a few miles on it, it definitely hooks a lot better now!

275/40/17 and I did have to smooth a few high spots on the quarter lip. Overall a much easier install than I expected, and honestly looks like if I pushed it I could go a little more aggressive on tire.

I spent some time dialing in pinion angle as well and got rid of a small vibration I had on the freeway at 65+mph.

 

[OCswinger]

Background: I started long ago having a 65 valiant /6 for my first car with dreams of V8 burnouts that never happened. That thing was pig slow but granny owned and clean for what it was. I sold it sometime around 2001ish and continued on with turbo mopars, having owned several GLHs, several Shelby chargers and an 86 GLHS. I always loved beating up on mustangs and crapmaros back in the day living in detroit and enjoying woodward the way god intended.

Life happened and I owned lots of turbo cars (non mopar) and now live in southern california. I never got to realize my V8 A body dreams... Until now? haha

Now I am probably a year and a half into the ownership of my 318 72 scamp. I really love it as a second car / cruiser, but after driving for a while and having front brake go out I started down the rabbit hole. My goal has been to create a car that handles and drives a bit more modern with some streetable power.

When I got it, it already had a 4bbl, dual exhaust, newer paint, AC, SBP discs up front (power).

I completely went through suspension last year:
BBP Cordoba big discs up front
Stainless flex lines front and rear
Bilstein RCDs all around
Firm Feel UCAs
Firm Feel front sway bar
Firm Feel 1.12 torsion bars
New steering components using the bigger diameter (C body?) units

View attachment 1715071286

View attachment 1715071287

Also had to obviously upgrade the rear to BBP around the same time so I went with an A body 8 3/4 with moser axles I found on CL. As luck would have it, I was cruising a junkyard in san diego and found myself a 3rd member from a 71ish tradesman van on half off day and got it for like $65. Rebuild cost was a lot more with 3.55 gears though. At least I got the part cheap.... ha

So in it went with some drum brakes.

View attachment 1715071295

Also I should mention we did most of this while I was living in downtown LA on the rooftop of my parking structure trying to avoid security when it was probably 100 degrees out in the sun. And to add to that there was a massive wildfire going on not too far away. Luckily some time around 9 am the winds shifted and we didnt have to inhale soot while doing it. Shout out to my awesome friends that helped. haha

View attachment 1715071296

View attachment 1715071298

View attachment 1715071299

Next up alignment:

View attachment 1715071300

Champion radiator install

View attachment 1715071301

And off to spring fling:

View attachment 1715071302

Upcoming in chapter 2... Magnum rebuild:

View attachment 1715071303

this scamp is AMAZING. the color, stance, wheels, everything flows. Great looking car.

 

[snailpower]

Well, the local track was closed down for a month or so which gave me some time to feel out the new setup.

With the colder weather I was able to get back to the track and finally get a somewhat clean run. A couple things I did were to rejet a bit richer, but bigger rods to fine tune the a/f. I also went down to 16psi in the tires at the strip. I realized I was shifting super early previously, riding out 1st and second was a huge improvement.

Im looking for more and I know its in the 60'. I got booted from the track for no helmet on my first run which is below (my helmet cert expired). Im also thinking I don't need to shift to 3rd in the 8th which will get me some time. Just happy I finally hit an 8.5xx. haha... its a milestone I suppose

 

[snailpower]

Adding to previous post, and hopes of hooking better at the strip... I got myself some new Espo XHD 6 leaf springs to replace the MP oval track.

Looking at how beefy these are compared to the outgoing sagging 4 leaf springs, I can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

UPS delivered the goods:

Old Vs New:

About 22" to ground before, 23 1/4" now. Half tank of gas.

After, looking good to me. Happy with the purchase, can't wait to put some miles on it now.

 

[Phil21502]

Awesome build. Love the new wheel setup

 

[snailpower]

Got the scamp out to the fall fling and stretched its legs on the highway a bit. Honorable mention to the awesome green duster and hemi charger

 

[snailpower]

Also took it out to the 1/8th mile and had a pretty good time. I was def expecting better with the current set up overall but perhaps this winter I will work on a bit of a weight loss program and a better converter will definitely help.

I ran a bunch of 8.5xx at around 83mph and a couple 8.4xx and the best one posted below.

 

[snailpower]

And then... disaster struck. haha... I cracked the flex plate hitting second on the street pretty hard. First sounded like a tick then a loud rattle on shutdown. Babied it home and surveyed the damage.

So she is garage bound for a bit while I figure out the next set up. Definitely going new converter as well, and thinking if I should do a more agressive cam upgrade.

I was planning on doing the converter anyway but was hoping to get a few more months before I pulled it to swap it out and fix an oil leak. Such is life I suppose.

 

[snailpower]

Well, myself and a couple friends went through the fun of pulling the motor again to seal up the oil leak and put in a new flex plate. In the process found why it most likely cracked... 2 of the bell housing bolts were a bit loose. They will be much easier to get tight now with the engine and trans both all the way out.

This time we did the engine out the bottom. Not too bad of a process, I will say though that the width of a one car driveway did make it a bit more difficult to get the engine out and around the hoist attached to the lifted car. But we managed.

Before:

The start, radiator and Alternator out:

And several hours later and a couple parts store runs its free:

 

[snailpower]

And here is a quick timelapse of the final little bit:

 

[snailpower]

Thinking about a clean up or repaint under here... not sure.

 

[69conv]

Doesn't look too bad from here, you might get a way with a touch up.

 

[75slant6]

If the exterior has been repainted and the engine bay hasn’t, may as well do it while the engine is out. As long as it doesn’t stretch out too long where you miss driving time that is. Lol

 

[sireland67]

It’s a lot of work to paint an engine compartment.
Everything must come out to do it right.

 

[7milesout]

I read the whole thread and am definitly watching this thread from now, as I happen to own a 72 Scamp. I'm running an LA 360, 1405 Edelbrock, but have a 1905 AVS2 I just purchased. I'm looking to reach a couple goals before I install the AVS2. After the AVS2, I'm going put an airgap intake on it. They're like brothers!

 

[snailpower]

I read the whole thread and am definitly watching this thread from now, as I happen to own a 72 Scamp. I'm running an LA 360, 1405 Edelbrock, but have a 1905 AVS2 I just purchased. I'm looking to reach a couple goals before I install the AVS2. After the AVS2, I'm going put an airgap intake on it. They're like brothers!

View attachment 1715271074

Love it! your car looks great as well!

 

[snailpower]

If the exterior has been repainted and the engine bay hasn’t, may as well do it while the engine is out. As long as it doesn’t stretch out too long where you miss driving time that is. Lol

Yeah the exterior color is a newer version of the same color and its a shade lighter.

It’s a lot of work to paint an engine compartment.
Everything must come out to do it right.

Yeah I might just skip it and go for an extensive clean up. I probably have enough on my hands getting the engine to where I want it and such.

 

[snailpower]

Some post holiday updates. I didn't have a ton of time to wrench being as I was traveling. Having said that, I did make it back to the hometown in Detroit and some mopar related fun. #1 I had a bright orange (*cough v6*) challenger to roll around in which was pretty fun. Though the V6 did surprise me, a hellcat it was not.

I was also able to stop by the Windsor assembly plant where the my scamp was made way back when. Didn't have a chance to go in or anything, and it appears they are making an exciting product there now:

And the Detroit riverfront / GM building as seen from Canada:

 

[snailpower]

When I got home, I was perusing LA craigslist and saw a deal on a fiberglass hood. Snagged this for $50 from a guy maybe 15 mins from my house so that was cool. Will probably go satin black with it.

I was able to clean the trans up considerably, not sure if I will go so far as to paint it yet. Definitely going to pull the pan, maybe replace with a deep pan / new filter etc.

Before:

After

I also had a chance to clean / paint the K member.

Before:

After:

Going to clean / paint all the other stuff like sway bar and steering box etc next. A arms still look good from last year so will probably only need a clean up.

 

[snailpower]

I had some time to clean the engine up a bit and then flip to get the oil pan off. Hoping to see where the oil leak was coming from.

Some crusty before and shiny after photos

 

[snailpower]

The pan came off and found some grey "greasy" junk in the bottom of the oil pan. it has I think 4 oil changes on it (break in plus 3 or 4) and 3k miles but nearest I can tell that looks like the ARP bolt lube in the bottom of the pan. This pan design makes getting all the old oil out impossible with the baffles during a change.

The only other thing I can think is the last few times I ran it were very short durations in and out of the garage so it could be condensation in the oil that didn't burn off?

Will get a look at bearings when doing rear main seal.

 

[snailpower]

I found some time to degrease and paint the power steering box and pump.

Before

After

 

[snailpower]

I spotted this charger in one of the local yards and figured I would check it out. Turns out it had a 742 case chunk in it, so I took advantage and pulled it. RIP poor charger.

Some pretty gross sludge coming out.

Turns out its an open 2.94 gear but the price was definitely cheap for what it is so I was still happy with the find. Not sure if its worth ripping the whole housing out next time but maybe. Interesting to see a 742 case here and gears dated 66. Wonder how that ended up there as the rest of the car was pretty stock looking.

Anyway... got me some highway gears if I want them in the future!