Challenging challenger

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rustyswinger

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Hi Fabo.
I am helping a friend. He bought a challenger. 1971 I believe. Engine is a 5.9l more modern trandplant .

Coil was "performance" and crapped out. I replaced with a mopar coil and made it run. Car has single wire ballast resister and mopar electronic ignition control.

I am confused by the fact it has another ignition box of some kind crudely wired to the coil (I think, wires are all in looms)

There is nothing at all hooked up to the vacuum advance on the distributor

Could the other ignition box be controlling advance?

also the brake booster connected to vacuum through some canister. (not the emission control canister.....something different.

I felt suction on my thumb there, but I thought the manifold was the correct vacuum source??

(owner complains of hard braking, like no power brakes at all)

nice car though. It seems a bit hacked
 
rustyswinger said:
Hi Fabo.
I am helping a friend. He bought a challenger. 1971 I believe. Engine is a 5.9l more modern trandplant .

Coil was "performance" and crapped out. I replaced with a mopar coil and made it run. Car has single wire ballast resister and mopar electronic ignition control.

I am confused by the fact it has another ignition box of some kind crudely wired to the coil (I think, wires are all in looms)

There is nothing at all hooked up to the vacuum advance on the distributor

Could the other ignition box be controlling advance?

also the brake booster connected to vacuum through some canister. (not the emission control canister.....something different.

I felt suction on my thumb there, but I thought the manifold was the correct vacuum source??

(owner complains of hard braking, like no power brakes at all)

nice car though. It seems a bit hacked
Click to expand...
also I can't see any kickdown mech. 727 trans.
 
You're going to have to provide a whole lot more information if you expect to get any useful help. Pictures might be the easiest way. At least give us the information on the ignition box you think is wired in. May not be an ignition box at all.

The brake booster is probably connected to a vacuum canister. This is probably because the cam is too large to make enough vacuum to power the brakes, at least at idle. So a canister was added to provide vacuum. But again, without pictures or a better description we're shooting in the dark.
 
View attachment 1715178134 View attachment 1715178134
72bluNblu said:
You're going to have to provide a whole lot more information if you expect to get any useful help. Pictures might be the easiest way. At least give us the information on the ignition box you think is wired in. May not be an ignition box at all.

The brake booster is probably connected to a vacuum canister. This is probably because the cam is too large to make enough vacuum to power the brakes, at least at idle. So a canister was added to provide vacuum. But again, without pictures or a better description we're shooting in the dark.
Click to expand...
here's some photos. In the old coil shot you can also see the blue mopar ignition box.

In the photo with the red box it is labeled rev control

old coil .jpg
 
The red box appears to be what it says. An MSD rpm controller. Keeps from over revving the engine. I would leave it alone. The hard brakes suggest that you might want to see what the vacuum reads on a gauge. Might be too low to operate the booster.
 
furyus2 said:
The red box appears to be what it says. An MSD rpm controller. Keeps from over revving the engine. I would leave it alone. The hard brakes suggest that you might want to see what the vacuum reads on a gauge. Might be too low to operate the booster.
Click to expand...
Any plausible reason for the vacuum advance not to be hooked up?

Same thing with no kickdown lever on the 727?
 
The vacuum advance not being hooked up could be because the car has a large cam in it and sometimes people don't use them with big cams. The kickdown could be because the trans is a full manual style. You don't use kickdown for that. If it's not a full manual style, you will burn up the trans.
You need more info on this car, so you know what to do.
 
furyus2 said:
The vacuum advance not being hooked up could be because the car has a large cam in it and sometimes people don't use them with big cams. The kickdown could be because the trans is a full manual style. You don't use kickdown for that. If it's not a full manual style, you will burn up the trans.
You need more info on this car, so you know what to do.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the Intel. I've never really explored building engines, and modifying from stock much.

I got his car running and did my part. I have enough on my hands getting my swinger project tuned in. At least he can drive again
 
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