Tech Question
Ed Butenschoen, Eau Claire, WI, 70 Challenger R/T 440
Rick,
More questions for you concerning my Challenger project. I am puttingtogether a ’70 Challenger with AC for my niece. The car had a 440 but the ACstuff had been removed for racing years ago. It had a ’73 vintage 440 withthe water pump outlet on the right with an aluminum radiator. I am trying toput it back to a semblance of original with the left side water pump outlet.The trouble I am having now is all of the brackets and pulleys are from a 78440 truck and will not fit the older style water pump housing. Also I am notsure whether the idler pulley assembly will work with the lower hose beingin the area. Do you think I should go with the right side outlet? If so,will a lower hose from a ’73 or 74 B body fit? Or a small block lower hose?I really don’t like the idea of installing a generic “fits all” hose downthere. I know of a salvage yard that has a few 60’s Big block cars that Icould probaly get the needed brackets and pulleys but would like your inputas to which way to go.
Thanks in advance…again!
Ed-
The general rule of thumb is that any brackets and pulleys will fit any bigblock, with the caveat that ALL must be from the same year engine. If you,for example, try to use ’78 brackets with ’58 pulleys, you’ll tear your hairout! The only weasel-out to this rule is that some rear compressor bracketsattached to specific bosses on the manifold, which was year, or at leastgeneration, specific. This mismatch, however, is usually not difficult towork around.
Having said all that, at this point in history, I’d sure consider a swap toa modern radial compressor (Vintage Air, Bouchillon, etc.) and R134. Whilethe bottom line is a small loss of A/C performance, in return you get a muchsmoother-running, lighter setup, and much cheaper refrigerant.
Rick
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