TheJohnnyGuy's 71 Scamp Apartment Resto.

[thejohnnyguy]

Hi, I'm Johnny and right now in my "cozy" apartment garage sits the first car I ever bought but have yet to drive. 1971 Plymouth Scamp. I've had it for 5 years an it at at my parent's house about an hour away so I had no time to go work on it. Recently I had to sneak it into my "compact" garage so that I can get it on the road by March. That's my goal anyways... Wish me luck! -oh and this is not going to be a full blown ground up restoration, this is going to be a 22 year old man who is going to school, working full time, and raising a family while working on a boat in a cardboard box with limited tools restoration... 8)

 

[thejohnnyguy]

Here are the pictures taken right before the car was moved to my garage

 

[Badart]

Looks like a great project. I love the scamps. My hat is off to you for being a young gun and saving another great A body. What are your plans with paint and drivetrain?

 

[thejohnnyguy]

Looks like a great project. I love the scamps. My hat is off to you for being a young gun and saving another great A body. What are your plans with paint and drivetrain?

Well I honestly think that the color, while original, is gross. I would love to do the interior black or charcoal and a nice bold blue for the exterior. Car info: 318 v8 that was rebuilt before I got the car, built with a decent cam (dont know full specs), the 904 tranny I rebuilt with a performance shift kit (still and automatic *sigh*) I believe the rear end is 8 1/4, I wanted 8 3/4 sure grip however I found that they are tough to find and expensive when you do find them.

 

[71ChallengerSE]

Cool, looks pretty solid. Whats with the 73 Swinger in the background?

 

[thejohnnyguy]

here pics in my garage now...

 

[thejohnnyguy]

Cool, looks pretty solid. Whats with the 73 Swinger in the background?

The swinger I picked up for $150, I got it for parts mostly. It's nowhere near as solid, has a 318 that I am told was running, but no tranny. It could (with some decent effort) be resurrected as well. What you dont see is the Lil red express truck with a 360 (rough shape), a dodge custom truck with a 440 (needs tlc), a 72 dart sport with I believe a 340 (step-dad's 10 year project. and I almost forgot the fury III... that's what happens when you love mopars, love to think about fixing them, but you work on cars all day so your projects just keep adding up. The scamp and the dart swinger are my only 2.

 

[ef8340]

whats the deal with the lil red express it gettin fixed or parted?

 

[NukeSec1]

SWEET! Can't go wrong with the Eddy Carb! Alot of people dislike them, but they are simple and work good!

 

[Slappy]

Go for it! Looks like a good start! good luck

 

[70DartMike]

The swinger I picked up for $150, I got it for parts mostly. It's nowhere near as solid, has a 318 that I am told was running, but no tranny. It could (with some decent effort) be resurrected as well. What you dont see is the Lil red express truck with a 360 (rough shape), a dodge custom truck with a 440 (needs tlc), a 72 dart sport with I believe a 340 (step-dad's 10 year project. and I almost forgot the fury III... that's what happens when you love mopars, love to think about fixing them, but you work on cars all day so your projects just keep adding up. The scamp and the dart swinger are my only 2.

And the old Dodge/Fargo Sweptline in the back?

 

[68dodge]

good luck with the your Scamp. Takes alot of work to go from start to finish.

 

[thejohnnyguy]

whats the deal with the lil red express it gettin fixed or parted?

And the old Dodge/Fargo Sweptline in the back?

Lil red has been getting fixed for years... it was driven to NC from NY back in 1995 and has sat since... sad really... now I think my parents are thinking about selling it... I may try to get them to hold it for me... I think it's the coolest truck and would LOVE to restore it!

As for that other truck in the background, that's the one with the 440, I didn't know what year or what kind of truck it was... That's also my step-dad's.

 

[flyboy01]

Awesome, it can be done, I did mine in an apartment garage, check out my thread "other 68 Dart"

 

[Moparmarcus]

We've all been there. Don't let the cramped qtrs discourage you. I had my road runner for 4 years before I even had a garage. You will find all the help you need here too.

 

[70DartMike]

As for that other truck in the background, that's the one with the 440, I didn't know what year or what kind of truck it was... That's also my step-dad's.

Save it!!

Orrr.. part it out to me.

 

[homecloned]

Good luck with the build and way to go! Mine is getting closer.:clock:

 

[thejohnnyguy]

Update** found the reason she wouldn't run! after rebuilding the carb, cleaning and re-sealing the tank I thought I was in the clear as far as the fuel situation... still couldn't get fuel to the carb ](*,) So I posted a thread about cleaning the fuel lines out without a compressor, tried a few things until I realized there was nothing wrong with the lines... :sign7: my sending unit was sooooo gunked up that i had to take a drill bit to drill out some of the stuff, I tried everything to unclog it but nothin worked! Soooo..... I ordered a new sending unit and I am 99% sure that when I get it and put it on I will have resurrected the heart this beautiful beast. :cheers:

 

[Badart]

That's good to hear. Let us know when you get it fired up.

 

[thejohnnyguy]

I guess while I'm waiting for sending unit to find it's way to my mailbox I'll do some interior work...

 

[thejohnnyguy]

Ok sooooo..... I got my sending unit in the mail today! but I didn't have time to put it in having to take the wife to a holiday stroll... lOOk for the update tomorrow and see if I have successfully brought this beauty back to life!!!

 

[thejohnnyguy]

Fired up the engine today, ran wonderfully! - shut it off and carb kept dripping... ](*,) Then I took apart the carb to re-adjust the floats. Went to assemble the carb and bam! broke the head off of a bolt that held it together... ](*,) I finally was able to get the broken part out by drilling a hold in it and hammering a small hexagon shaped screwdriver bit into the hole and unscrewing... :cheers: Then I put the carb back together and fired her up again! I'm happy to say I have a running Scamp now! :cheers: However... I'm unhappy to say that with this running comes ticking and smoking... the ticking sounds are coming from the passenger side near the front of the engine (I can only pray it's an exhaust leak and cleaning up the manifolds and replacing manifold gaskets will help) Smoke coming from the rear of the engine, which I believe is also associated with the manifolds and/or gaskets... or so I hope. Smoke doesn't smell like burning oil... Anyone else had similar problems or any other ideas as to what ticking and smoking mean? lol

 

[thejohnnyguy]

...forgot to add that since float adjustment carb no longer dripping!

 

[polarman]

If you can afford to, you might want to get some gaskets and pull the valve covers and intake. Make sure there is no bent pushrods and look for pieces of umbrella seals kicking around on the heads. Bad valve seals will make her smoke. I hope it's just the exhaust gaskets.....BTW, nice Scamp!

 

[thejohnnyguy]

If you can afford to, you might want to get some gaskets and pull the valve covers and intake. Make sure there is no bent pushrods and look for pieces of umbrella seals kicking around on the heads. Bad valve seals will make her smoke. I hope it's just the exhaust gaskets.....BTW, nice Scamp!

Here's what I dug up:
Valve cover gaskets aren't holding up their end... so I will be replacing them. The area where I heard the loud ticking from is right where I removed the totally blown apart manifold gasket from. everything inside looks clean tho. but I think those 2 gaskets explain the smoking and the ticking. I need to purchase some type of drip pan to drain the anti-freeze out of the car before I tear the intake off but I think that since i'm already this deep into the engine I might as well go one step further and give myself reassurance that everything inside is hunky-dory!