8/8/55 – test of first solar car. William Cobb created a prototype, but it was only a 15 inch model. Basically, an electric current was produced that in turn powered a tiny motor. The motor turned the vehicle’s driveshaft, which was connected to its rear axle by a pulley. I couldn’t find a pic of this one. However, Alan Freeman developed the solar-powered car in 1979 that you could actually put a human in. Here’s the pic. (It’s really just a bike…I think.)
Alan's Solar Car.
8/11/66 Chevy introduced the Camaro. There is some discussion on whether there is such an animal as a 1966 Camaro, they were, build in 1966 but sold in 1967. Here a pic.
8/15/56 Packard no longer producing cars in Detroit. Previously the Packard company bought Studebaker and tried to keep the Packard name a live in 1957 by reworking a Studebaker and give it the Packard name.
1956Packard
1957 Packard...looks alot like Studebaker
8/21/1897 Oldsmobile becomes a company. Of course the company is no longer in business another icon gone.
Now the Mustang is a fairly simple machine, even the electrical system is easy to work through. Pls note, I hate electrical problems and I equally dislike having to chance them down and I don’t care how simple it is. My 84 Corvette is nothing short of a nightmare.
Keeping this stuff straight is hard to do. Now tearing out an engine doesn’t necessarily mean you are starting out with all new wiring, but it could. A tip I use is to label everyone single wire with (normally) white duct tape.
Like so: (not white duct tape!!)
This actually reads: Starter Relay. (Yeah...spelling issues..like you haven't noticed!!!)
This is eXtremely handy. For example there are no less than 18 different wires just on the driver’s door for the Corvette. I’ve taken the door apart so many times for repair, that I started leaving them labeled.
Of course you can use this for hoses, lines and parts.
Before I start this next segment on the 318, I have to admit that organizing and presenting this work of art (oh..yeah..I’m laughing too!!!!) could have gone in a lot of directions. The two that stuck out the most for me was by year (chronologically) or by brand. Neither was a solid idea and at some point in the ’70s the only thing separating brands within most U.S. car manufacturers wasn’t much more than vinyl vs cloth seat covering. So I decided to go with brands, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth, knowing that there we would be some crossover information and it might look a bit disjointed. There’s some good stuff, and a couple of things you might know about the 318.
Chrysler began using the 318 in 1967 and carried that power plant until the late 1990s.
From 1967 to 1971 the 318 carried a 230 hp rating w/ the standard 2 barrel carb, managed 340 ft lb of torque and sported 9.2:1 compression ratio. (that is actually a lower compression ratio than the original Ford 250 straight six I took out of my Mustang). In 1967 the 318 engine was used in the Belvedere, Satellite, Fury, Coronet, Polara and Charger and in 1968 they added as the base option in the Dart GTS and Barracuda.
1967 Polara 4 door.
From 1972 to 1979 the 318 was bounced around in the horsepower arena between 150 to 140. That’s nearly 100 hps lost from the late 1960’s. At lower end of the new scale were the California models with the extra smog control. It was still a mainstay, being the base engine choice for the Duster, Cordoba, Monaco, New Port and unexpectedly the Road Runner, just to name a few. It was never sported anything bigger than a 2 barrel carb and the compression dropped to 8.5.
It didn’t get any prettier in the 80s either, although there a bit of a bump in the high-end of the hp range to 175 hp but the company more than made up for that dropping the lowest number 120. Interestingly, they made the California models with 155 hp and a 4 barrel carb. The compression stayed about the same, but in ’83 – ’90 they made a HD version of the engine that had between 165 to 175 hp, depending on the year and sported a 4 barrel carb. This configuration managed to lay down 240 – 250 ft lb of torque, not too bad in one of the lighter cars, like the Dart, but barely power enough for the big old St. Regis. The 318 was also added to some of the most memorable cars….come on..you doesn’t remember “vooo..la rau….oh..oh…” (Volare )and the LeBaron, and Aspen. Even some larger cars like the St. Regis, New Yorker, Gran Fury (I can’t see any car begin called grand with only 120 hp, but that’s just me.) and the Imperial.
1976 Volare
Oh and speaking of the Imperial something interesting happened in 1982 and 1983. That little something was EFI. More on that in the next segment.
Hello, my brother and I are thinking of taking on a project and would like to know if the throttle body injection components from the 1989 318 in his truck will work on a 1979 318 engine. The reasoning behind this is due to our …
At some point I’ve promised myself I would cover the restoration stories that center around my 1970 Mustang. There is a lot to tell, trust me!! I’ve learned a lot!!!
Engine - Before (250)
Engine After - (302)
But for this Wrenchin’ Tip, I’d thought I’d share a few hints that I did pick up. Just to be fair I didn’t do a lot of the engine swap work myself (Average Guy w/ average tool and average skills) but I learned a lot of general helpful hints and some Mustang specific helpful hints!!!
So here are a couple of tips:
1. Planning and scheduling a restoration is important. If you are doing an engine swap or pulling it out for an overhaul make this the first step in your restoration. Yes, I’ve seen the TV shows where they put the engine after the car is back from the body shop. But hey this is the real world, and in this world, money is tight and body work is expensive enough not to what to afford to re-do it. In this world, my average guy world, wrenches slip, grease stains and sometimes swinging 400 lb engine at the end of a chain can be…well…a bit dicey.
2. Before preparing the engine for removal, you know, disconnecting all the electrical, fuel, A/C, vacuum system, etc., take the hood off and store it someplace safe. You’ll have a ton of room and you won’t bounce that shiny, newly painted engine against it.
3. Test fit the headers before you install the engine, especially if you aren’t putting stock headers back on. You need to check the clearances around them and ensure you can get to key components , such as starters, after the engine is completely installed. Nothing is more insane that having to pull an engine or headers just to replace your starter. Here is a pic of my Mustang’s engine with all the attachments.
This isn’t my normal “on this date back in…” factoid. This one is current.
8/6/2010
At the VW Automóveis Ltda. plant in Portugal today the hundred-thousandth third-generation Scirocco rolled off the production line. Since its launch in 1974, this compact sports coupe has been the most successful Volkswagen two-door with more than 800,000 sold to date. Another notable Giugiaro coupe is the breathtaking beautiful Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint.
These cars were a hot item in the use for a short while.
7/26/1945 Kaiser-Frazer Corp organized – it also include what was left of Graham-Paige car manufacturer. Frazer Nash was a British car making company. In 1953 it became just Kaiser Motors.
1946 Kaiser Nast Sedan
1953 Kaiser Darrin Convertible
7/29/1916 Nash Motor Company as founded by Charles Nash when he purchased a company called Jeffery Company which made a car called the Rambler. I bet you can guess what came eventually American Motors and their Rambler.
Oh..in 1909 Buick purchased Cadillac on the 29th day.
8/3/1900 The Firestone rubber company was founded by Harvey Firestone. It was based in Akron, Ohio and had only 12 employees. Six years later Mr. Henry Ford contracted with Firestone to supply tires for the Model T.
8/7/1937 the Cord company stopped production car, but of course when one to build planes etc.
7/20/1984 E.L. Cord was in Missouri. If you think he’s only responsible for the Cord
1937 Cord
Think again!!!! How about a company that included Stinson Aircraft, Checker Cab and American Airways (now American Airlines)? But let’s just stay with the cars. How about the Auburn and Duesenberg? His history is a good read.
7/23/1894 first auto race. It was organized by the Parisian magazine “Le Petit Journal” between the Paris to Rouen. And the winner was………… Count Jules-Albert de Dion it took 6 hours and 48 minutes at an average speed of 19 km/h (which was approximately 11.806052652509345 p/h). I don’t know what he drove but 2nd places was taken by George Lamaitre and he drove a Peugeot:
Peugeot 3 hp
7/24/1929 – 2, 000,000 Model A Ford built – A huge milestone.
As long as you are on the subject what the heck is the difference between a regular 318 and a poly 318?
Poly is short for Polyspherical head. Some say it was a forerunner to the Hemi (Hemispherical head). Basically it was based on a theory that you could get more combustion or volume by angling the intake and exhaust valves then if you had them parallel. From Hemmings Motor News book of Chrysler Performance Cars…”The ploy’s exhaust valve is located parallel to, but offset from, the cylinder axis.”
This increased the efficiency. The hemi was constructed to increase the efficiency with a more angled system. The shape that the valves make are semi-circular with the Poly being a little flatter than the Hemi. I did the below image in Paint.
Poly and Hemi
Thanks for the question Steve!!! More to come on the 318.
If you’ve been reading my “stuff” on this blog or Facebook or Racing in America http://www.racinginamerica.com/ (Henry Ford foundation) you might wonder…what’s wrong with this guy? Does he write for a living? Well if I did I’d be starving and driving a 1993 Honda Accord with only one plastic hub cap (that’s really my son’s car…he’s a starving artist – I have a plug for him on my blog – RJS Graphic design – he’s pretty good and he won’t strave..Mom won’t have any of that!!) instead of a shiny red 84 Corvette and restored 70 Mustang. I do it for fun, I haven’t made a single dollar from any of my writing. I don’t even have sponsors or advertisers for the places I leave my droppings. Actually this costs me money!!!!
So…yes..I do this for fun and the very informal approach I take…..eeeerrrrkkkkk…..ok folks…I don’t have an approach..real writers do. The way I like to do this is to just sit down and type…there’s no drafts, unless I save it to finish later, there is no real planning,(hell my poor readers are lucky if I remember to run spell check!!!) other than a Post-It-Note or an email sent to myself when I get an idea. Nope, I just sit down and type. If it is on a project I’m working, I sometimes take a break and with the fresh smell of GoJo still on my hands I just start typing and up loading pics. 99.999% of my blogs are done in one sitting. Type and post. (Sometimes I re-read them…mostly to laugh at my super great witt…HEY!!!!! DID YOU JUST ROLL YOUR EYES????!!!! That’s rude!!!)
So I have a list of ideas and one of them was to start a regular piece on engines (I mentioned this a while back.) But man, there’s a lot of stuff out there and great publishing works like the Hemmings nation and Hot Rod magazine do this all time. Am I going to add some thing never before discussed? Nope. Am I going to present it in way that nobody ever has? Well the way I write, yeah probably, no one write like this I don’t think.
My idea was to talk about an engine and include when it was first introduced and what it was used in and for how long, that kind of info. I’m a big fan of history, history of anything, buildings, streets, towns, cars, really anything that as a little history, I’m interested in hearing about.
So my issue was I just hadn’t sat down and picked one yet to write about. I was going to do the Ford 302, the engine my Mustang has, or the Crossfire in the Corvette and I will. But the other day I got my September issue of Classic Car #72 from the Hemmings nation and on the cover was “12 Dynamic Dodge Darts Fun Cars that you must own”. That triggered a memory of the Dodge Dart I owned when I was in college, I think owned it about 5 months..just long enough to remove all the rust and patch the holes and get it into primer before selling it.
As I read the articles in this issue, I remembered the 318 that my Dart had in and as I read further I decided to kick my series off with Mopar’s 318.
So over the next few posts I have some interesting details on configurations and various cars it was used in and some specs. I’ll try to remember to list the references so you can look up additional info.
Here’s my story of using household items to fix cars. Kinda like a turkey baster tool. Ha Ha.
Finally solved the fuel boil over problem on the 82 Cougar wagon with an inline six and 1 bbl carb.
I live and drive mostly above 2,000 feet and with the fuel blending today the fuel in the carb bowl will boil over and come out the fuel vent in the carb throat, pooling in the intake manifold causing a flooded condition resulting in hard starting when the engine is hot with the huge plume of black smoke when it did start. I’ve tried all manner of fixes that included: lowering the float, retarding the timing, advancing the timing and investigating whether the manifold, catalytic converter or the exhaust was restricted in some way. I built a heat shield out of aluminum and tried that. Some people had suggested using a thicker carb base gasket or even doubling the gasket which would have required longer mounting studs for the carb. Since it hasn’t been a daily driver in the summer due to a broken a/c I’ve put off the fix. I tried to find a phenolic material to make a carb base spacer for the carb that would insulate it from the heat with no luck.
Finally my wife went to Wal-Mart and bought a plastic cutting board for me on my request. It’s made from a hard polyethylene material that’s just over 7/16″ thick. So, I did the obvious scientific test on the material. I got the car to operating temperature and held the cutting board to the exhaust manifold and it did not melt. So I cut the board, drilled the carb bore hole with a 1 and 7/8″ hole saw, drilled the stud holes, made a thin gasket for both sides of the material and sealed it with red high temp permatex gasket maker and installed my new base plate. To test I drove the car in 108 degree heat to full operating temperature for 10 miles with the now fixed a/c blowing hard and the boil over problem is gone. There is no longer any fuel smell or hard starting when hot due to fuel in the intake manifold. Finally after almost 8 years this annoying problem is fixed. I don’t know why this material insulates so well over the factory thick gasket but it does.
The material doesn’t seem to be affected by fuel either.
I’m sure others have been baffled by this problem since most fuels today contain ethanol and other materials that lower the boiling temperature of gasoline. Altitude certainly plays a part as my car never did this at sea level even in 100 degree weather.
