Magnum swapping the 72 Scamp!

[69conv]

If you have a long rounded rod you can lay it in the pulley groove and see if it lines up with the next one or needs adjusting.

 

[snailpower]

If you have a long rounded rod you can lay it in the pulley groove and see if it lines up with the next one or needs adjusting.

In your opinion how close do I need to get? My plan was to measure from the front of crank pulley face to each groove, then put a flat bar across and measure from the flat bar ( representing the crank pulley face) to the accessory grooves and hope they are close.

 

[69conv]

The rounded rod should be a little wider than the base of the groove, that way the groove will show you what the belt "sees". Pulleys can have different thickness walls, and any difference will set up a harmonic vibration at various RPMs. I've used washers to shim the alt to the right spot then cut a section of tube to replace the washers and put it in the right place. Hope this helps.

 

[prican_2000]

Very nice!

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View attachment 1715080859

I LOVE THAT STANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[prican_2000]

One thing that has really bugged me being tall is how close and high the bench seat sits to the wheel, not to mention sliding off of it around turns with the stiffened up suspension. So in the nature of craigslist spirit I scored some E46 BMW sport leather seats for a couple hundred bucks or so at some point and put them in. The look is probably not for everyone but damn if it doesn't make driving it SO much nicer. (don't have a photo of it done but they are both in there now)

View attachment 1715071638

Do you have any more information on fitting/bolting those BMW seats into the car and the OEM Bolt holes, etc??? I have a set of SRT seats waiting to be bolted in (soon as I get some time) but I am trying to do as much research and prepare for the unforeseen.

Thanks

 

[snailpower]

I LOVE THAT STANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! I would like to get the back a little higher and front a little lower personally but, its a good start. haha

Do you have any more information on fitting/bolting those BMW seats into the car and the OEM Bolt holes, etc??? I have a set of SRT seats waiting to be bolted in (soon as I get some time) but I am trying to do as much research and prepare for the unforeseen.

Thanks

Yeah I can tell you how I did it, it wasn't too hard actually. For me I made it a little more difficult on myself because the e46 seats have super wide track width. Next time your in a 3 series from early 2000s take a look, they sit basically on the floor so the tracks are outside the seat. So whatever seats you chose pay attention to that because the A body (mine anyway) has a large bump in the floor on the outsides where the bench mounts to. I think a narrower seat track width would be able to fit inboard of this bump and still be centered on the steering wheel.

So I used the factory bench bolt holes on the outside near the doors because the floor is reinforced there, by drilling a new hole at the rear of the seat track on the Bmw seat. So no modifications to the floor there, then I lined up the inside holes where I wanted them and drilled the hole there. Ideally I would weld in some reinforcement plates for the mounts near the trans tunnel but I used some large fender washers because I didn't pull the carpet to do it (no way to weld with carpet in). Unfortunately because of the bump in the floor at the outside front mount that I mentioned the track on the front inside corners wanted to be a couple inches in the air. Currently just have some washers stacked up but eventually will make some better mounts. The bump also makes the seat tilt a bit backward on the bottom but I used power seats with some adjustability so it gets rid of most of that.

For the power I just bought one of those painless wiring kits with a couple relays and hooked it up to 12v ignition so there is no chance of a battery drain with the key out somehow, then used the other relay for my gauges. So the power works which is nice.

I kept the scamp seatbelts and mounting points but eventually going to get some newer retractable 3 points.

If I had one regret it would have been to get BMW coupe seats that would allow people to get in the back easier. The ones I have are from a 4 door so to get someone in the back I have to power them all the way forward. If I were to spring for more money on them (maybe some day) I would consider some of the aftermarket seat options that are pretty nice and maybe more era appropriate looking (like the scat ones?)

 

[snailpower]

I got down and dirty last weekend and got all the accessories dialed in. Took some creative washer usage to get everything perfect though. Made me doubt if they were actually that lined up previously on the old motor (doubt it). But all belts are perfectly in line now! (this was before I got everything done so it changed a bit but I checked them all)

I had some buddies over and we finished up all the other details, fuel lines, fuel filter, Radiator / fan / shroud in, new trans mount, rigged up a temporary exhaust situation, got the new throttle cable in partially, got the carb on etc.

Did some oil priming for a bit, and realized that mounting plate under the filter wasn't tight enough so got some dripping from there before tightening it down. Got a nice 70-75 ish psi oil pressure with 30wt Lucas break in oil which was reassuring.

Got the distributor lined up as close as I could to 15 btdc and was ready to fire it up. Unfortunately the line coming out of the fuel pump didn't want to cooperate and was spewing some fuel. I ended up using some thread sealer paste on there and was able to fire her up!

Just did about 5 minutes run time because of a couple leaks from (guess what) trans lines, and I must have missed a final tightening on the fan / PS belt because the fan wasn't spinning. so I just let it get up to about 190 degrees water temp @ 2200-2800ish rpm and shut it down. It sounds good though! will get a video up once I can. I also think I need to put a little more torque on the oil filter plate because I saw a little oil coming from that area as well.

 

[prican_2000]

Thanks!
Yeah I can tell you how I did it, it wasn't too hard actually. For me I made it a little more difficult on myself because the e46 seats have super wide track width. Next time your in a 3 series from early 2000s take a look, they sit basically on the floor so the tracks are outside the seat. So whatever seats you chose pay attention to that because the A body (mine anyway) has a large bump in the floor on the outsides where the bench mounts to. I think a narrower seat track width would be able to fit inboard of this bump and still be centered on the steering wheel.

So I used the factory bench bolt holes on the outside near the doors because the floor is reinforced there, by drilling a new hole at the rear of the seat track on the Bmw seat. So no modifications to the floor there, then I lined up the inside holes where I wanted them and drilled the hole there. Ideally I would weld in some reinforcement plates for the mounts near the trans tunnel but I used some large fender washers because I didn't pull the carpet to do it (no way to weld with carpet in). Unfortunately because of the bump in the floor at the outside front mount that I mentioned the track on the front inside corners wanted to be a couple inches in the air. Currently just have some washers stacked up but eventually will make some better mounts. The bump also makes the seat tilt a bit backward on the bottom but I used power seats with some adjustability so it gets rid of most of that.

Thanks for the information. That makes sense and it’s very detailed. (Exactly what I needed). Haven’t had time to get in there and do some taking apart and measuring/installing. Was just trying to do as much research on it as possible. For what it’s worth I really like the seats in there. I got some non-powered SRT seats that I will eventually install myself.

Thanks Again! And keep up the good work and posting!

 

[snailpower]

Thanks for the information. That makes sense and it’s very detailed. (Exactly what I needed). Haven’t had time to get in there and do some taking apart and measuring/installing. Was just trying to do as much research on it as possible. For what it’s worth I really like the seats in there. I got some non-powered SRT seats that I will eventually install myself.

Thanks Again! And keep up the good work and posting!

No prob, I know when I was researching a lot of that info wasn't readily available so I hope it helps.



As for the build, I took a look yesterday at my oil leaks and I know for sure the passenger side valve cover has a couple drips going on.

I think the oil filter plate may still be leaking. After reading up, I believe the canton racing billet plate for the magnums is no longer available, so I ordered a new $7 oil filter plate from the local dealer and a mopar gasket coming from another local dealer. (assuming my plate got a little tweaked somewhere along the build)

My guess is that the plate is leaking because it was not tight enough when I primed the engine, and once the oil created a path past the gasket it kept the door open even after torquing. It only looks like a couple drips but its enough to create a mess on the bottom of the passenger header (and decent smoke show).

For valve covers I am tempted to just order up some mopar performance magnum ones to get the extra seal of the 10 bolts and just be done with it. Wallet currently says no, so going to have to figure out something in the mean time.

Anyway, heres a short video of an idle after changing the break in oil out. Feels good to hear it idle finally! Cant wait to finish everything up for a drive.

 

[snailpower]

Update... I think i solved all the leaks!

So far so good anyway. I got a new oil filter plate and after looking at the old one the outer rim looked a little pitted so maybe that was the problem along with not being tightened enough initially. Cleaned the block surface real well, new gasket and let it sit for a day before starting, seems to have worked.

I got fed up with the LA valve cover leaks, and since the paint took some hits in the install process, for the time being I swapped back the donor car magnum valve covers. Eventually i will get some mopar performance magnum aluminum ones, but later down the road. These ones are pretty ugly in my opinion, but function over fashion at this point. The local Oreilly also had $20 fel pro VC gaskets in stock which was nice.

Also got the throttle and kick down cables hooked up. I used some $25ish eBay specials and a lokar bracket. The kick down still needs adjusting.

Before valve cover swap:

Powered by eBay:

Fugly mag covers:

And the moment I was waiting for finally happened, I was able to take it for a spin around the block. I didn't want to go far at this point just wanted to see how it did. Heres a quick video:



Also went to the LA auto show and decided which challenger might be my ideal car. haha... if only.

 

[72Valiant4Door]

What hood are you going to run

 

[snailpower]

What hood are you going to run

Well, right now I have a half inch carb spacer on there, but may remove that and hope it fits under the hood... if not maybe some kind of drop base air cleaner.

If that doesn't work... not sure yet, might find myself a fiberglass six pack style hood?

Any suggestions?

 

[72Valiant4Door]

Keep the spacer don't use a drop base and for the 6 pack hood. More power, better cooling.

 

[snailpower]

Keep the spacer don't use a drop base and for the 6 pack hood. More power, better cooling.

Yup, would love to find a cheap-ish fiberglass hood or a donor hood to put a scoop on (don't want to cut the stocker). I'm a fan of the snorkel scoop as well.

 

[snailpower]

Well it’s been running and I have about 20 miles on it so far just local streets. The exhaust was kind of rigged to work so I ordered a summit system I still need to put on.

Also kickdown needs some messing with it’s got some interesting shifting habits as of now.

Also found a 72 valiant 4dr in the junk yard and pillaged the hood. Quite a few early a bodies there too actually. I guess I am going to figure out sandblasting this hood, cut a hole and decide a scoop. If anyone has any suggestions on best place for a scoop or cutting tips please share.

Here’s some photos:

Donor Car and it’s hood:

Some other fun stuff there:

Truck 8 3/4 don’t know if it was worth grabbing.

Can’t wait to get the exhaust on!

 

[sireland67]

Did you have to do anything special to get the fan shroud to bolt up to the champion radiator.
I have heard the factory ones do not fit.

Also, that old bug looks clean, people would be asking 2K for that around here, the land of no rust must be nice.

 

[snailpower]

Did you have to do anything special to get the fan shroud to bolt up to the champion radiator.
I have heard the factory ones do not fit.

Also, that old bug looks clean, people would be asking 2K for that around here, the land of no rust must be nice.

I got the radiator with the shroud mounts on it (forget the number) but for me it wasn’t a perfect fit due to aftermarket ac. If I had factory ac it might have worked perfect. What I did was mount the shroud inside of the brackets vs outside. It worked perfect that way, but it was a pain to get short bolts/ nuts in there if I remember right.

Yeah I’m still blown away by the stuff that’s scrap in LA vs the rust belt. It’s still crazy to me to see cars from the 60s/ 70s in tact at a pick your part. Always fun to go to the yards that have a classics section.

 

[72Valiant4Door]

Did you have to do anything special to get the fan shroud to bolt up to the champion radiator.
I have heard the factory ones do not fit.

Also, that old bug looks clean, people would be asking 2K for that around here, the land of no rust must be nice.

my shroud bolted right up to my champion, i just had to elongate one of the holes on the shroud

 

[snailpower]

Here’s a few updates... definitely been busy with it.

My amazing fiancé surprised me with some Mopar valve covers for Xmas. Couldn’t wait to get those on. (Still need to paint the Edelbrock logo black on the air cleaner).

I also installed the summit 2.5” exhaust system and it wasn’t terrible as exhaust installs go but definitely not my favorite. If I were to do it again I would spring for some lap joint clamps and not use the crappy u bolt clamps it comes with. It still needs some positioning fine tuning, and definitely some tips. I think it probably sticks out about 4” past the bumper now haha.

Before-during-after:

I messed with the motor mounts and got it to sit much lower by removing the temporary drivers side truck mount and going back to the new Schumacher mount. This made the Doug’s header sit on the steering box again so I went at it to fine tune the position and got maybe like 1/8-1/4 space with some graceful mount adjustments and about 1/4” of aluminum shims on the drivers side:

The header was hitting the bolt on the passenger side center link/tie rod. I had to grind down the bolt head and whack the header a couple times unfortunately but at least it’s out of sight.

I was feeling optimistic about the hood fitting with the new lower engine mount arrangement... so once again the amazing fiancé stepped up and helped carry the hood out and help mount it up (she’s a keeper obviously). The motor is sitting a bit too high still and makes contact so I am going to try and remove the carb spacer next.

I would like to have the option to run a flat hood but also going to keep the hood scoop project going since I now have the spare.

Carb spacer going bye bye:

Hood not sitting down yet. Might also remove the ratty (but not bad for its age) lining for extra room:

All in all very happy with how it’s comjng along! Feels good to see it with a hood again.

 

[snailpower]

so, I finally got to drive it like it was intended. It definitely pulls like a monster compared to the 318!

I went through and finished up odds and ends that were causing problems. I took the spacer off and the hood closes now which was a huge win. Its got about a half to 3/4 inch room which isn't bad.

I was seeing a couple drips of oil on the ground and not sure where it was coming from. With the addition of the MP valve covers it looks like the sheet metal magnum ones were the source. I saw some oil was seeping up through the bolts when I took them off. Very happy to have this solved, hoping no more drips from anywhere.

By far the most annoying thing I encountered was my eBay throttle cable. I would have to imagine the lokar one is similar, but basically the sheath inside melted and was causing my cable to get stuck. It was nowhere near exhaust but melted right where it meets the firewall area, so assuming thats a hot spot.

Made a run to a different junk yard this time to pick up some odds and ends and wanted to check out this 69 dart they had. Someone definitely had their way with this one and sawed it in half and took the roof. The website showed it came in as a complete car haha.

Also saw this really nice dark green Coronet parked on the street near by the yard. Saw a decent purple 70-72 Duster driving about a mile up but couldn't snap a photo.

 

[snailpower]

Well here’s a strange one. I had an exhaust leak that I was crossing my fingers wasn’t the header gasket because I used remflex. But deep down I figured it was... and I was right.

Don’t know if maybe I have the wrong gaskets or what but the ports are way bigger on the gasket causing the bottoms to blow out on a couple cylinders.

And here it is with the Doug’s gaskets below them to show the port size difference.

These were 6004 remflex, maybe I should have used 6003?

I put in a Doug’s gasket passenger side using their directions to copper coat for now. Let’s see how it holds up I guess!

 

[snailpower]

Took her out for some miles and snapped a few photos the other night.

 

[snailpower]

Im still having trouble with the damn oil filter plate leaking. I read somewhere here that the thinner mopar gaskets work better than fel pro so I am going to try one of those out. The dealer near me had one but also said they are now out of production sadly.

I am also dealing with a vibration at around 75mph+. It had it before with the old engine so I am thinking its either a wheel out of balance or the drive shaft possibly. The vibration started when I did the suspension and rear end swap last year. For now I just cruise at 65mph lol

I did some finishing touches to the air cleaner which I think turned out pretty well.

 

[The Rev]

Gosh! That thing's beautiful! Someday I'd be happy to have my Scamp look half that awesome. Sounds great too! Nice work!

 

[purplehazenils]

Very nice car, great photos also!