1974 Roadrunner 360 Sunroof KB5 Blue

[Root2812]

The rims on my car are ugly and I found a guy on craigslist selling mopar rally wheels off of a duster. It says they are 14 inch with a 5x4.5 bolt pattern. I know that's the same as my roadrunner but do you guys know if they would fit? I don't know if dusters had skinnier wheels or different backspace.

 

[YY1]

14 inch tires are hard to find unless you get them from the internet.

LOTS of cars are now 5 on 4.5 pattern.

I happen to like some of the ranger and B2500 (whatever the mazda knock off is) wheels that are 15X7 15x8 etc.

They're RWD so the back spacing is comparable, and they should be reasonable at the JY.

 

[plymouthman]

It's been a long time since I've been on here and after seeing and reading this, I'm glad I did log on. I like the car and I'm loving how much you've put into it already. Sorry you got the run around with the rear and the tranny.
I bought my 73 roadrunner out of new York. Was a drag car , now is being turned into a pro street car. It has taken several cars to get it as close as it is to being back together. So I have many parts that you may be wanting and needing. Pm me on here or just text me or call me. Chuck 240-217-3885. Look forward to talking with you

 

[dodge1972]

View attachment 316156


Maybe this will help. 3.55 is the best ratio for performance and street driving, a bit tight for speeds higher than 75 MPH. Robert

 

[Root2812]

Well today I got to experience an epic fail. So as I had said before the guy who sold me my car has somehow managed to snap off two valve cover bolts in the head so I had a pretty good oil leak there. I called my dad who owns a small repair shop a few hours away and he told me that an old technique was to drill an 1/8 inch hole in the broken bolt, take a torques bit and tap into the hole so it gets stuck, and then use that to turn the bolt out with a socket wrench. I drilled a small hole in the center of the bolt and tapped the t20 bit in and it was snug. I put my ratchet in it and gently started to turn the bolt out. I think the bolt moved a little bit before the fail. I didn't account for the fact that he has better tools than me. My cheap *** bit broke off under little to no force. We are talking fingers on the ratchet head force. Now the center of my stuck bolt had hardened metal in it and I can't make a dent with my drill anymore. Sigh... My options now are to rent a trailer and drag my truck to my dads shop and let his tech try it out. Worst case is I'll have to pull the head and hope a machine shop can fix it.

At least the valve train looked good before I screwed everything up. You can see the broken bolt in the lower front of the head. That's a before I did I anything picture.

 

[Root2812]

Hey guys. I loaded my car up and took it to my Dads auto repair shop that's a few hours north of where I live. We put it up on the lift and started checking it out. Brakes all look good and I greased all the suspension parts. I noticed a label on the drive shaft and it says it was balanced. I know a new tranny was put in not long ago and it looks like they had a shop do a new drive shaft. I also saw this strange transmission pan. It's got a built in cooler and a buddy says its aftermarket.

I put some decent tires on the car and I'll be leaving it with my dad for a while. He is going to fix the oil leak and then run the car a while to shake out any bugs. Since he owns a shop and tow trucks it's easy for him compared to me in the city.

I was disappointed in one thing I found. I knew the old owner told (after I owned the car) that he had swapped the center section out of the 8 3/4 at some point. I knew the sure grip was gone and it was an open unit but I hoped to build it with a limited slip later. Turns out he put in a 741 case. All my reading says that's the worst one to have. I also did the turn the wheels and count the drive shaft rotation method and found the gears I have now are around 2.9. I was hoping for 3.55.

My dad used to be a body man back in the past so he just started attacking a lot of my dents. In just a few hours a lot of them came out so that was nice.

What do you guys think of the 741/gear thing and about that tranny pan.

 

[Root2812]

Well one of the stuck bolts drilled out good and was fixed with a helicoil. We put a stud in there so it never has to come out. The other bolt was much worse. Because they hardened steel tool broke off when trying to extract the broken bolt we had to drill a smaller hole in the bolt off center to loosen the bolt. It worked and the bolt threaded out. Problem was that the small drill bit went in to the water jacket of the head. The first bolt wasn't sunk to the bottom of the hole so when we got to the bottom of the bolt there was a drop and we knew we were done. The second bolt was bottomed out so there was no tell tale sign we were done. It should be ok though. We took some of that putty that when mixed will dry hard as steel. Supposedly it dries so hard you can drill and tap it. We put some of that in the bottom of the bolt hole to seal it up and then put in a stud. We will see if it leaks. If it leaks I have to find a new head. If it doesn't I'll be ok. Time will tell.

My dad went to college for body work in the late 70s and he started taking dents out of my car. We found a few rust holes but it's a work in progress.

 

[multimopes]

Hey guys. I loaded my car up and took it to my Dads auto repair shop that's a few hours north of where I live. We put it up on the lift and started checking it out. Brakes all look good and I greased all the suspension parts. I noticed a label on the drive shaft and it says it was balanced. I know a new tranny was put in not long ago and it looks like they had a shop do a new drive shaft. I also saw this strange transmission pan. It's got a built in cooler and a buddy says its aftermarket.

I put some decent tires on the car and I'll be leaving it with my dad for a while. He is going to fix the oil leak and then run the car a while to shake out any bugs. Since he owns a shop and tow trucks it's easy for him compared to me in the city.

I was disappointed in one thing I found. I knew the old owner told (after I owned the car) that he had swapped the center section out of the 8 3/4 at some point. I knew the sure grip was gone and it was an open unit but I hoped to build it with a limited slip later. Turns out he put in a 741 case. All my reading says that's the worst one to have. I also did the turn the wheels and count the drive shaft rotation method and found the gears I have now are around 2.9. I was hoping for 3.55.

My dad used to be a body man back in the past so he just started attacking a lot of my dents. In just a few hours a lot of them came out so that was nice.

What do you guys think of the 741/gear thing and about that tranny pan.

 

[multimopes]

Your Trans pan looks like a Derale unit. You can check them out at (deraleperformance.com) I put one in my car; it adds about 5 quarts to the tranny and really helps keep it cool. Car is nice, good luck with it. I hope everything works out.

 

[Root2812]

Thanks multimopes. I looked at that company and that looks like my pan. Is the car in your avitar a KB5 car?

 

[multimopes]

Thanks multimopes. I looked at that company and that looks like my pan. Is the car in your avitar a KB5 car?

To tell you the truth, I don't know. I know it only as B5. It was already painted when I bought it. I sent for some touch-up paint in spray and bottle from (paintscratch.com). It is not an (exact) match, but it's close. Of course every die lot is a tad different from every paint maker. One also has to take in to account age and fading, etc.
One other good thing about the trans pan is that there is a drain plug and a bung for a temperature gauge which I added to mine when I installed it. The increased capacity and cooling tubes will also prolong the life of the fluid, keep it cleaner, and extend the life of the trans,(I hope).

 

[multimopes]

By the way, my first car was a 65 Dart also. I loved it. The car passed the 300,000 mile mark and was still going strong when it went away. I also wanted to tell you that Grant has 3 versions of that "Tuff" steering wheel that you have. You can check them out at (grantproducts.com).

 

[Root2812]

Hey guys. Today I went to the junk yard and found a few 71-74 chargers. I am getting the door hinges from one tomorrow since I need them for my car. I also need a new wiper assembly. Are those the same from charger to roadrunner?

Only one wiper moves on my car.

 

[Northern Runner]

Most if not all the mechanicals will interchange for the 71-74 B-Bodies. That linkage should work perfect. Unless it is a 3-speed wiper motor because I hear the bellcranks on those are a different style than the 2-speed. And should you go to a 3-speed, get all the switches, etc etc.. from that car.
Don't worry about having a 741 case, I got one in my car with a 3.23 Sure Grip and it is perfectly fine behind an over-caffeinated 360. If I remember right all the Max Wedge cars had 741 cases behind them and they all held up fine.

 

[Bruzilla]

Great read and project. I'm finishing up a 74 Roadrunner myself, so I've gone through most of the issues you're having. Here's some info I would give someone in your position:

1. Do not worry about "numbers matching". I love 73/74 Roadrunners and have had eight of them over the years. They are hands down my favorite car, but they are not now, nor have they ever been, nor will they likely ever be, highly collectible. Numbers matching is an adjective that works for rare, big block, pre-73, low-production cars, not our cars, so don't fret about it.

2. You might want to rethink your interior color plans. I've never seen dye work that well on hard plastic, and dying/painting a dark color white is always a challenge. If you want to go white, I would suggest painting it with a light grey primer and then white using paint like the combined paint/primer spray that Walmart sells. I used that on my panels and they're still great after three years.

3. A 741 center for an 8.75 is a great unit. It gets a bad rep because it has the smallest pinion gear set up, but back in the day these were used in the A-Body Hemi cars, so they're more than good enough for a 360 application.

4. If you find a Sure Grip in good condition for $600 near your house... buy it! Yes, you can find cheaper ones, but the going prices I've seen recently have been in the $600-$750 range. Plus they cost about $80 to ship, so I would definitely pay $600 for one that I could pick up locally.

5. 14" Rallye rims are very common and cheap. I see sets of them for sale all the time. The 15" ones are more expensive. As has been mentioned, the challenge is getting 14" tires is getting harder, but not impossible. You just need to order them instead of dropping by the tire store and finding them in stock. I kept the 14" wheels on the front, and put 15" on the back.

6. There was an outfit making quarter panel patch panels, but I think they've stopped making them. I see some come up for sale on ebay every now and again, so you might want to keep an eye open for those and snag them if you see them.

 

[Root2812]

Thanks for the posts. I read them from my phone and never logged on when I get home to reply... I'm a slacker.

My car is running great for the most part but I still have some issues. I wanted to take it to Mopars in the Park this weekend but that won't happen. There is something seriously wrong with the center section of the rear end. I pulled both axles to check the bearings and they were good but when turning the wheel you can feel it's messed up and not smooth. Since I can't aford a new unit or a rebuilt one I am planning on going used so I can get through the summer. What do I need to know? Is there different spline counts for axles to where I need to pull my axles again to count? If I find what's available would 2.76 be a huge let down? I see lots of those. I want to get on the throttle and have fun some but I also want to be able to go on longer trips so I see an advantage to lower rpms.

My other thing is that I got some used door hinges from a 71-74 charger at the junk yard and the top one seems way different. Yearone lists the same part for both cars so I am at a loss here. That's the same car I want to go snag the wiper parts from later. They have 3 cars but that's the best one.

Otherwise the car just has a few bugs to work out. It sat 6 years so think the carb needs rebuilt or taken apart and cleaned. Also it had a new tank around 2010 but I still have to put a new inline fuel filter on every few hundred miles. I am afraid that new tank may have gotten rusty inside. I'll have to drop it and check. I need to fix one seat belt too and I should be good to go. It's still rough cosmetically but the car hauls!

You know I got told by a 70 charger owner that my car was junk because it's a 74 and not a real muscle car. I run into these elitist 68-70 guys a lot and I swear they are either full of them selves or they have never driven one of these cars. I know they changed the rating from gross HP to net so numbers are skewed but this high performance 360 has some muscle to it and only a few less ponys than the big block at a good weight savings. This car is great and it's 1/4 of the price of his car and still has the grin factor.

 

[plymouthman72]

That guy sounds like a real a hole. I guess thats what happens when we all get our own opinions. I love your car think your car is far from junk. Build on!

 

[Root2812]

That guy sounds like a real a hole. I guess thats what happens when we all get our own opinions. I love your car think your car is far from junk. Build on!

He definitely was. It just irks me when people bash these cars because of the year. They are great cars.

 

[Root2812]

Anyone have a reply to my rear end and door hinge questions?

Also, I'm on my phone so pics will have to wait but I left the car at my Dads and he is an old school body man. He just decided to start taking dents out and even fixed some of the rust with patch panels he made himself. It's looking a lot better.

 

[drobertson]

That guy sounds like an a$$hole. Build your car faster than his, and I bet he'd shut up. If that were my car, this is what I'd do: Make a sleeper car, 440 cid small block stroker, trick flow heads, a nice hydraulic roller cam and lifters, edelbrock 4 barrel intake, long tube headers, EFI throttle body system, and I'd bet you would be in the 500-600 hp range if not more. But paint the engine the same color as the original 360, and try to make it look as much as possible as a stock 360 engine. Nobody would suspect a thing unless they took a closer look. Maybe even add a gear-vendors overdrive to a beefed up 727 trans. Then I would re-do the interior to bone stock, and repaint the car it's original color, and basically make the car look like a regular 360 roadrunner. That sucker would launch so hard that NASA would be calling you for advice.