Husband's E-body survives 72 mile drive (mostly).............

[dustergal]

Didn't think the garage diva had it in her. Took it and the Dart to a family function a few towns away. Went 36 miles there, and 35.8 miles home before something blew.

The Challenger has a temporary 318 in it. Beater engines that you don't care about are a lot of fun. He showed our kid how to float valves at around 6,000 rpm or so. Or whatever a stock 318 with worn out valve springs can spin to. It doesn't have a tach, or even a decent temp gauge, but who cares? I must say those 318's can take a lot of abuse. Made it all the way there and back and within a few hundred feet of our driveway it blew a tranny line, smoke everywhere and fluid dumped all over the road. It was great. At least it waited until we got home.

I drove our Dart, 360 4-speed. So I ground it in reverse in the parking lot and he said girls can't drive sticks. Then he took it for a ride, promptly ground it in reverse and then stalled it in first gear. I haven't stopped rubbing that one in. Of course he then claimed the clutch was out of adjustment. But only when he drove it. :wtf:

And I washed the Dart for the first time in 2 years. wooooop!

(Our beloved GMC pickup in the background that's forgotten more work than most trucks ever do)

and the golden Flea body:

 

[thrashingcows]

Well done.:clap: Having a motor you can just beat on with no inhibitions is priceless.

I can vouche for 318 toughness too. I once drove from Portland OR back home to BC with maybe 3 quarts of oil in the pan? All highway miles at well over 75mph. Had money for gas, and when the dipstick showed barely any on the tip I managed to find enough money for one quart, then it was onto the highway home.

 

[dustergal]

crap!! I forgot about checking the oil before we left. I did on the Dart.

 

[71dusterman]

crap!! I forgot about checking the oil before we left. I did on the Dart.

Don't blame yourself . You checked the oil on the one you were driving, it's Piggy's responsibility to check his.

 

[dustergal]

Are you kidding? He can't even open his own can of pudding.

 

[69.5CUDA]

oh yeah the 318s are tough lil bastards evenhopped up ones..i had one totaly PUKE the rear main at WOT lets just say the road got oiled and it emptied the block in a hurry...there was no damage to the engine....my 318 in my RC one day i was across town 70 miles home.....it started tapping no clue as to why but it drove home beautifully...later i found out it had cracked the oil main galley but it didnt tear anything up on the drive home and i wasnt gentle i took the steep hills

 

[thrashingcows]

Are you kidding? He can't even open his own can of pudding.

:bwuhaha: :bwuhaha:

 

[Dr.Jass]

People always talk about the indestructibility of the Slant Six, but I'll take a 318 anytime. I think they're tougher to kill.

Case in point: 20+ years ago, a friend had a '78 Aspen R/T with the oil-pressure light glowing but no top-end noise. His first "cure" was to run four quarts of 20W-50 and one quart of 80W-90 gear oil in the crankcase, but still the oil light persisted. It didn't make sense, so he pulled the used cheapo Equus mechanical gauge off his garage shelf and installed it. In sub-freezing weather, it showed 7PSI ice cold and dropped to nothing when the engine was up to temp, still with no noise. Obviously, the gauge was no good so he bought a new gauge (I think it was either an AutoMeter or VDO) and sure enough, it had the exact-same readings, but the engine had no ticks or rattles. He drove it like that for over a year, then pulled the gauge and sold it to a local high-school kid who used the same oil mixture and beat the living piss out of it for a little over a year before wrapping it around a tree... with an engine that still ran like a Swiss watch despite no oil pressure. Stretch may remember this, as he later worked with the Dee-Snider lookin' sumbitch, and Mike liked to tell the story.

The 318 is a tough motor to kill. You really have to neglect it.