Remy's '83 Imperial

[BangShift McT]

I get mounting the battery in the trunk... But the trunk in the battery... That'd be a first
Merely nitpicking

Dammit, I didn't even notice! See what happens when I'm woke up at 5:45am...nothing good happens.

[BangShift McT]

ROUND 1: FIGHT!

In the red corner, at six foot three and two hundred eighty-seven pounds, he has a record of zero wins, two draws and four losses...
In the blue corner, at four hundred cubic inches even...it's been down for a while, but it most certainly not out of the fight...

By pure stupid luck, I managed to get an afternoon to work on something, and since I'm still waiting on parts for the 300C, I might as well attack the new kid on the block. Today's plan was simple: split the 727 from the engine, unbolt the torque converter from the flywheel, pull the plugs and start soaking down the cylinders, and if time was on my side, pull the valve covers and get the engine bolted to the engine stand.

Task 1: Transmission off - Starter off, bell housing bolts out, started to shake off the torque converter when the entire thing stops with one inch gap between the block and bell housing. Didn't matter what I did, pried like hell, tried like hell. Forty minutes of that before I realized that the flywheel dust cover was hanging up the whole deal. Son of a bitch...three bolts later and the transmission fell right off. This entire deal hasn't been opened, the paint marks on the converter look day one fresh. Good sign.

Task 2: Torque converter off - No problem. Stuck converter into the 4wd 727 I got a while back for now.

Task 3: Pull the plugs - Done. Cylinder 7 was the worst, but considering everything, not bad. Plugs look well used, no rust on the contact. Better sign.

Task 4: Engine stand - Nope. Grabbed a bolt, made the drive to Lowe's, bought four bolts, drove back. Guess what...there's two different bolt sizes, you unobservant genius. Grabbed the big bolt that runs front-to-back into the bell housing, not the smaller bolt that goes into the engine block. Failure on my part. Engine is sitting in a tire again, will have it mounted tomorrow night.

[Ron Ward]

Two different bolts? Hmmm.... That doesn't sound right.

[Scott Liggett]

The two lower bell housing bolt holes are on ears and are drilled and tapped all the way through. I don't own a Mopar and I know that. Amateurs!!! hahaa.

This wouldn't be a Remy project without wasps and snakes.

[Mater]

the GM FWD enges do that. we call them the bitch bolt becuase you have to get to it with 6 extensions though the passenger wheel well

most of the time this bell housing bolt is left off even the 9 second record holder grand prix does not even have the bitch bolt

[BangShift McT]

Round 2

Engine is now on the stand. Yanked valve covers and the intake manifold for a look inside. So far, it's as grungy as you'd expect an engine in this condition to be, but there's no damage: a little WD-40 on the valve train cleaned everything up, and once the rusty windage tray came off, the lifter valley and camshaft looked pretty decent. Windage tray is, so far, the only thing I must replace due to damage...it's pinholed with rust. I'm certain that this engine hasn't ever been apart, and an educated guess says it was a low-mileage engine when it was pulled...there doesn't seem to be any wear on the camshaft at all and everything inside looks near-perfect.

[BangShift McT]

More pictures...

[Mater]

mmmmm dried up oil and rust

[STINEY]

Did that thing have the remains of the dreaded Lean Burn system on it?

[Beagle]

I know I'm always saying "Dulcich" but if there was somebody I would want to collaborate with on a Mopar build, that's who I'd be pinging right now... looking forward to this Bryan!

[BangShift McT]

Did that thing have the remains of the dreaded Lean Burn system on it?

Hell no, thank God. Lean Burn didn't start appearing until '76, this one missed it.

[BangShift McT]

I know I'm always saying "Dulcich" but if there was somebody I would want to collaborate with on a Mopar build, that's who I'd be pinging right now... looking forward to this Bryan!

No doubt. There's still plenty of info to look into though...and I still have to get the rotating mass moving first.

[STINEY]

This takes me back....in the early 90's I stuck a 400/727 from a Large x huge Newport in a '78 Duster for a friend.

I was (and am currently) no mopar guru, so I just cut and welded what the car wanted/needed to mount the new power plant. Added a tab to the slant 6 trans crossmember, and extended the slant six driver side k-member mount thingy. The passenger side one I am a little fuzzy on, thinking it just needed slotted or enlarged, nothing major.

Got it to fit with no pan mods and no hood mods.....but no air cleaner either. And stuck a rear in from a Demon. That was my part of the deal, no idea if he ever finished it. Wife/kids/divorce happened to him and we lost touch.

Of course yours will be different, what with you already have a v8 k-member and isn't the Imperial a different platform from a duster?

Oh, I also remember that the extra weight sat the front down just exactly the right amount to look great. Not too low, not too high. Perfect.

[Mater]

Did that thing have the remains of the dreaded Lean Burn system on it?

oh god flash backs to my diplomat. thing never ran right until i labotamized it and got a 500CFM edelbrock carb (wanted to use a small thermoquad but could not find one pre-leanburn)

[BangShift McT]

Of course yours will be different, what with you already have a v8 k-member and isn't the Imperial a different platform from a duster?

It is. Duster is A-body, Imperial is J-platform. The K-member is actually less of an issue now that Schumacher makes mounts...they do Slant Six to V8 mount kits specifically for the Dart/Duster market. Since there isn't much difference between the FJM and A-body line (the torsion bars are the difference, really) a lot of it adapts.