These Are The Most Perplexing Problems Our Readers Ever Had With Their Cars

“Will the problems ever stop?” as you restore a car has been my overwhelming question.

You want to open a can of worms, take a half century-plus Charger and decide as one last hurrah to yank the tricked-out 440 and throw in a roller-stroker 512 instead. To wit:

The neck of the electronic distributor wasn’t long enough to get past the taller aluminum heads—had to pop for a new dist.

The 750cfm Holley couldn’t keep supplying the gas needed, had to go with an 850cfm.

The new higher-flow mechanical fuel pump was a failure—had to install a Holley electric pump, which meant stringing the wire and installing a larger diameter fuel line.

Found out the turds who had redone my trans earlier had installed a regular stall torque converter, so I had to order a Hughes higher stall unit from Summit.

Go for a test drive and my Chrysler radiator, the biggest they made, couldn’t supply enough cooling capacity. Researched, bought and installed an aluminum unit. Had to go through three iterations of electric fans to find the biggest pair that would fit. (Big kudos to Summit for me returning two sets of fans with no guff whatsoever—probably because I’ve ordered so much off them over the years.)

The new forged aluminum pistons clatter due to the short skirts and tolerances. It bugs me so much that I’m having custom hypereutectic pistons manufactured, which of course means yanking the motor and then the heads yet again so those pistons can be installed.

Discovered the rear wheels lugs were too short, so had a timeout as the axles were yanked so longer lugs were pressed in and new seals installed.

All the tires were replaced, but that I knew up front would happen.

The speedo gauge was twitching due to the speedometer cable’s connection having worn out and since its replacement would’ve been $400 and a temp gauge would’ve been $100, I decided on pulling the whole cluster and install a Dakota Digital unit instead. (The way the gauges light up is so cool.) But it keeps glitching due to power issues, so throwing in the towel and going with a whole new wire harness—still waiting for it to be finished by the wire harness shop.)

Out with the old alternator, in with the high-amp 1-wire alternator.

And since we’re about to totally rewire it, now is the time to research a GPS-enabled stereo head unit so I’m ready for the trips that I will take with the Charger. (So help me, I’m getting to El Mirage for high-speed runs yet.)

So yes, if you’ve ever watched a car resto show like Bitchin’ Rides where the owner brings in his baby and swears there’s only one issue that needs addressing and all else is fine—chuckle, chuckle, snort, snort—it ain’t like that AT ALL. It’s a whole series of dominoes falling—expensive dominoes. And they’re still not done toppling.

Meh, the car is a total knockout. It’s worth it.