This forum always seems to love nuts-and-bolts topics.
I've had the '74 Dodge for 5 years. It was essentially a barn find. Needed some work to wake it up and make it road worthy.
One issue I've ignored this whole time was a chattering clutch. This year, I've worked up the motivation to take care of it.
Roads got salted a week ago, so nows the time to dive in.
Either engine or trans comes out to swap clutch. I opted to pull engine so I can go over it at the same time. Ran perfect, but numerous leaks I could take care of and maybe a few upgrades along the way. Glad I chose this method: more on that later.
DAY 1:
I started off by dropping the exhaust and pulling the hood. After, my wife suggested she learned to drive stick on the old clutch. Not a bad idea. She picked it up quick! Proud of her!
Afterwards, I couldn't resist thrashing on it with open exhaust manifolds!
Engine came out in 4 hours or so. Love the simplicity of this old iron:
Notice the grime on the bellhousing.
Next, a rough cleanup. Lots of scraping, degreasing, pressure washing.
Now, clutch and flywheel out, bellhousing off and get engine on the stand. Here's where I'm glad I'm going over the engine rather than just tossing a new clutch in. Notice how oil soaked everything is. New clutch wouldn't have fared well over time!
Look at all of the room for activities!
Beginning teardown after kids went to bed. While it was grungy on the outside, it looks fantastic inside, so far:
More to come as progress allows!
I've had the '74 Dodge for 5 years. It was essentially a barn find. Needed some work to wake it up and make it road worthy.
One issue I've ignored this whole time was a chattering clutch. This year, I've worked up the motivation to take care of it.
Roads got salted a week ago, so nows the time to dive in.
Either engine or trans comes out to swap clutch. I opted to pull engine so I can go over it at the same time. Ran perfect, but numerous leaks I could take care of and maybe a few upgrades along the way. Glad I chose this method: more on that later.
DAY 1:
I started off by dropping the exhaust and pulling the hood. After, my wife suggested she learned to drive stick on the old clutch. Not a bad idea. She picked it up quick! Proud of her!
Afterwards, I couldn't resist thrashing on it with open exhaust manifolds!
Engine came out in 4 hours or so. Love the simplicity of this old iron:
Notice the grime on the bellhousing.
Next, a rough cleanup. Lots of scraping, degreasing, pressure washing.
Now, clutch and flywheel out, bellhousing off and get engine on the stand. Here's where I'm glad I'm going over the engine rather than just tossing a new clutch in. Notice how oil soaked everything is. New clutch wouldn't have fared well over time!
Look at all of the room for activities!
Beginning teardown after kids went to bed. While it was grungy on the outside, it looks fantastic inside, so far:
More to come as progress allows!