Part Two of a Car Guy Saga: A knowledgeable and capable MOPAR guy. A loving wife. A Green 1968 Charger. A sale. A drive from San Diego, California back to Dayton, Ohio. What could possibly go wrong? Somewhere in eternity, Edsel Murphy’s law was validated. Check out Part One here.

Chapter Three: Holiday Road

David and Krissie Roe were excited about their purchase of the green 1968 Charger in San Diego, California, and looked forward to the 2,000-mile adventure back to their home in Dayton, Ohio. The car would be added to a stable of second-generation Chargers, including David’s mom’s 1970 red 318 and his nephew, Brandon’s purple 1970 440. It conceivably would be a lineup that would make your average Mopar B-body fan get misty.

The fresh oil change was done, and the car was loaded up with locally purchased essential tools, anticipated spare parts, snacks, and water, David and Krissie were ready to hit the road, Their first stop was Phoenix, Arizona — a little more than a five-hour drive along the California/Mexico border to the Valley of the Sun.

The first leg of the journey proved uneventful. The car got them to Phoenix, and after an overnight stay, they saddled up and headed out for their next stop: Wichita, Kansas. There they would stay with Krissie’s sister and her husband. The seemingly perfect trip was on the verge of the car guy’s nightmare. Remember though, this is a car guy who knows his Mopars and seemingly what to expect.

Chapter Four: Let the Games Begin

After crossing the border into New Mexico, the first noise started. “I thought that the ball joint or wheel bearing was going. Whatever it was, it was making noise in the front right. As we hit a couple of bumps in the road, I heard a different noise coming from underneath. I decided to pull off on an exit ramp,” David recalls.

As it turns out, the exhaust was practically touching the ground, but thankfully it was an easy fix. “I lost an exhaust hanger. I pulled the tools out and jacked it up. There was no way to repair the hanger itself. I needed to find something to use like a wire or hanger,” David says.

David continues, “Luckily I found this 10-foot-long section of barbed wire that was cut off from a recent installation of a fence there on the side of the road, on the ground. I trimmed it down to a couple of short pieces and modified it, making exhaust hangers in two different spots.”

Crisis averted, David and Krissie got back on the road, rapidly approaching the Oklahoma state line between Texas and Kansas. David had noticed a CarQuest store as they travelled through one of the many small towns and thankfully, took a mental note.

“As we get outside of town the road starts to merge back into one lane from two in both directions. I turn my turn signal on, look in my rearview mirror, and see white smoke. I’m like, oh no,” David says.

Pulling to a safe spot, David began to inspect the source of the scary-looking vapor. “I popped the hood, hoping that it was not going to be a rear main. Luckily, on the back of the big block, there are two holes for the sending unit ports. The hole for the sending unit was leaking and it was running down the side of the motor and hitting the exhaust,” David explains.

David recalled the parts store they had passed. “We turned around and went back. I went inside the store and bought two more quarts of oil, Teflon tape, and a brass plug that fit the hole. It was getting good oil pressure, so I didn’t worry about not having the gauge working. So I plugged the hole with some Teflon tape on the threads and cleaned everything up. Krissie helped me out and we got the car fixed again.”

Chapter Five: Family Values 

Arriving at the home of David’s in-laws, Holden and Barb Simmons, they exchanged pleasantries and took Barb out to show her the car. Because a thunderstorm was brewing, David asked if he would be able to park his new prize in the garage. Barb was happy to oblige.

“I went to pull the car in but it wouldn’t start. It would crank real slow as if the battery was dead. All the way there, we had good battery voltage. I tried to jumpstart it with my bother-in-law’s truck, but it still wouldn’t start and then it started raining. The car was already wet. So I figured we’ll just look at it in the morning,” David explains.

“I woke up early and the car still wouldn’t start. So I borrowed their Jeep, and went to the auto parts store to get a battery charger. After a two-and-a-half-hour trickle charge, the car still wouldn’t start,” David states.

Going back to the parts store, David bought a new battery. After the swap and validation from the parts guy that the battery wasn’t good, the car still was doing the slow crank and not turning over.

Upon returning to the parts store, David learned they had accidentally sold him a defective battery that was supposed to be put in the back. They got David another battery so the drive home could begin, yet again, or so he thought.

“So I put the new, new battery in the car and again, the car still wouldn’t start. That told me that it had to be the actual starter itself because the windings in the starter were probably bad,” David explains.

David bought a starter, but when pulling the old starter, he discovered that whoever did the last starter installation didn’t use factory bolts — and they were stripped out of the bell housing.

“So, I had to go back to the auto parts store to buy a drill bit and a tap to tap out the threads inside the bell housing, along with new bolts. Once that was done, the car fired right up. But now it was running funny,” David says.

Standing next to the open hood, Krissie’s eyes got wide and she shouted, “Hey, you need to come out here real quick there’s something gushing all over the motor.” It was gasoline pouring out on both sides of the carburetor!

“It’s just pouring out of the butterfly shafts.” Exasperated, “I thought, that’s not even possible. I shut the car off, disconnected the fuel line, and pulled the carburetor off,” David states.

At this point, they considered their options. A rental car with a hitch was not available, shipping the car back to Dayton would be $2500.

“I’m not a carburetor guy. I’ve never rebuilt one. So I bought an off-the-shelf Eldelbrock carburetor. I put it on the car but had to go to the hardware store for parts to modify the linkage. In humid 90-degree Kansas heat, I got everything hooked up and got it fired —and it was running awesome,” David says. 

After saying their goodbyes to the in-laws, David and Krissie loaded up and headed down the road. It should be good now. Right?

Chapter Six: The Last Leg?

“Somewhere around the Illinois-Indiana border we got off the highway to get gas and at the pump, the car shut off. I crank it, but had no ignition at all.” Without having a test light, David decided to swap the voltage regulator — and alas, the car was running again. Once on the road, though, in traffic, every time they had to stop, the car would try shutting down again.

“My knowledge and history of these cars, if it just shuts off while you’re driving, it’s usually the balance resistor. I changed that out on the side of the highway and the car fired back up. Luckily, I had the two parts needed,” David states.

Now the car is running. Once back on the road, it started backfiring out of the carburetor — running like crap. In a fast food drive-thru, David and Krissie’s car shut down again.

“The only thing I had left to really replace on a car was the distributor or coil. I called a local parts store and the guy up there said that they were ready to close but he could bring me the part but they only had a coil,” David says

Within an hour, the guy delivered the part, and David changed it out. The car fired right up again. However, about 30 miles down the road, just about two hours from home in Dayton, without warning, the car dies once more.

Epilogue

“At this point, we had been traveling for four days. We were tired. I was tired of fighting it. So we called a tow truck and after about three hours on the side of the highway, the car was finally picked up. We stopped by a gas station and got some snacks and drinks and then the gentleman drove us all the way from Indianapolis back to Dayton, where we unloaded the car,” David says.

Once home, David tried putting on a Holley EFI Sniper kit. The car continued shutting down and the drivability seemed horrible. A return to Holley for inspection revealed a bad injector — and they replaced it.

It was at that point, that David made the bold decision to pull the 440 and replace it with a 6.2 Liter Hellcat engine and transmission. As of today, he is selling off the parts and the EFI system in hopes of having this project done by spring of 2024. The car sits, sans engine and transmission, in his Dayton garage.