First impression is that it is different. I didn’t go all  far to get much of a feel for it yet. Right now, I think so. Once I fix things and I have some quality seat time, I will give a better answer.

My question is, knowing what you know now, would you go through it all again?  If so, then you know it was worth it ol'buddy.

3 hours ago, Wrongway said:

My question is, knowing what you know now, would you go through it all again?  If so, then you know it was worth it ol'buddy.

sooooo true !

I honestly don't know yet since I don't think I've got a complete feel for the new shifter based on the lone test drive and my screw up. Once I fix it, I will re-evaluate it.

Based on my research, prior to dropping the $500 on the shifter, everyone on the Dodge/Challenger forums and the multiple YouTube videos I watched all said the Barton short throw shifter was the best shifter for the Tremec TR-6060 manual transmissions. So I have pretty high expectations. I want a clean shifter prior to going out on Power Tour in a few weeks since I plan on running a few quarter miles with Indyman Joe.

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

I honestly don't know yet since I don't think I've got a complete feel for the new shifter based on the lone test drive and my screw up. Once I fix it, I will re-evaluate it.

Based on my research, prior to dropping the $500 on the shifter, everyone on the Dodge/Challenger forums and the multiple YouTube videos I watched all said the Barton short throw shifter was the best shifter for the Tremec TR-6060 manual transmissions. So I have pretty high expectations. I want a clean shifter prior to going out on Power Tour in a few weeks since I plan on running a few quarter miles with Indyman Joe.

awwww, you have the mopar bug !!!!

and i sooooo dont blame you ..... fitzy, pass me that umbrella ... someone gona get zapped by the ponti gods !!! and it is not meeeee

That was a great story. No end of amusement as the simple, small, fun jobs become nightmares.

I love a good mechanical nightmare - reminds you that you're alive, especially when blood is drawn.

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

That was a great story. No end of amusement as the simple, small, fun jobs become nightmares.

I love a good mechanical nightmare - reminds you that you're alive, especially when blood is drawn.

we love bloody 

I finally had a chance to tweak things on Violet tonight. I purchased a replacement wash and nut for the shifter. I had to remove the shifter boot and the top piece of the console but they all pop out - no screws or bolts to mess with! Yeah!

I was able to easily access the shifter. I was able to grab the handle, and with a flat head screwdriver I was able to get the post back into position. I careful placed the lock washer and then the nut on the stud. I grabbed my 13mm and tightened that sucker down! She is good and snug now.

I put the console top back on and then the shifter boot. Viola! Done.

I then moved Lucy out of the way and took Violet for another and long test drive. It felt solid this time (duh! Go figure?!). I hit the side rounds and the expressway for about 30 minutes. I am still not happy with the 4-5 upshift. I feel like I have to search for it. Downshifting is fine. It might be a matter of tweaking the shifter position.

That's easily changed. See the six bolts? The center two mount the stock shifter handle to the new shifter. The 4 outside bolts allow the shifter handle to rotate about 30 degrees to the right or to the left. Right now I have it straight up. I might play with that in the near future. That only requires lifting the shifter boot off to get access to them.

I went to the Widetrackers club meeting on Saturday. I took Violet out for a spin. I am starting to get better with the new shifter. The 4-5 up shift is still not as smooth as I would like it but I am getting better at it.

31 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I went to the Widetrackers club meeting on Saturday. I took Violet out for a spin. I am starting to get better with the new shifter. The 4-5 up shift is still not as smooth as I would like it but I am getting better at it.

i dont have that trouble with my steering wheel paddles 

The Challenger Bros are having a convo. Awwww...cute.

Frosty, it was with some disappointment that I read your mechanical episode and am not happy that it only took a few mins and no blood was drawn, nor am I aware that any swearing occurred. I am, however, satisfied that the job isn't 100% perfect and so am happy with the result that you tinkered but are not quite there yet. Carry on.

4 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

i dont have that trouble with my steering wheel paddles 

Wise ass! 

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

The Challenger Bros are having a convo. Awwww...cute.

Frosty, it was with some disappointment that I read your mechanical episode and am not happy that it only took a few mins and no blood was drawn, nor am I aware that any swearing occurred. I am, however, satisfied that the job isn't 100% perfect and so am happy with the result that you tinkered but are not quite there yet. Carry on.

Fitzy, while the fix to my shifter installation was anti-climactic,  the initial installation was everything you hope for. Cussing.Swearing. Scraped appendages. Dropping the same part onto the floor multiple times. End up needing a second pair of hands you didn’t plan on. Believing YouTube that this a DIY project with simple hand tools. Having an empty beer fridge since you hadn’t restocked it since the fall.

Complete and utter project success I would say!

Kiwi - do you have any issues with your Hellkitty's Uconnect touch screen (radio, performance pages, etc)? I have a problem where the doggone thing likes to flip between the radio and any attached media like my iPhone or USB stick. Reading some stuff online it is often called "Ghost Fingers" like a ghostly hand keeps switching back and forth. From what I understand, this is caused by delamination of the touch screen.

I decided to take a risk and spend $33 for a new touch screen from Amazon. It should be here Friday and I can work on it this weekend.  I sure would like to listen to the radio or my iPhone while on Power Tour and not having it constantly flip back and forth. That will drive me even more bonkers.

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

Kiwi - do you have any issues with your Hellkitty's Uconnect touch screen (radio, performance pages, etc)? I have a problem where the doggone thing likes to flip between the radio and any attached media like my iPhone or USB stick. Reading some stuff online it is often called "Ghost Fingers" like a ghostly hand keeps switching back and forth. From what I understand, this is caused by delamination of the touch screen.

I decided to take a risk and spend $33 for a new touch screen from Amazon. It should be here Friday and I can work on it this weekend.  I sure would like to listen to the radio or my iPhone while on Power Tour and not having it constantly flip back and forth. That will drive me even more bonkers.

no !, my girl some times the radio justA doesnt want to play, i can flip it to media, and play my music off the stick, i plug in, in the centre consul and flip it back and it still wont work, if i turn the car off and on again its rebouted and then works, its very random, and i think its when they updated the software for nz radio stations and maps. as in i think it just a bug in the software, maybe you should consider calling into a dogde dealership and get it plugged in and the updates done, i think they are very much like our phones these days were they do software updates to fix these little issues ? 

Edited May 21, 20251 yr by 64 kiwi boni

On 5/20/2025 at 9:44 PM, Frosty said:

Kiwi - do you have any issues with your Hellkitty's Uconnect touch screen (radio, performance pages, etc)? I have a problem where the doggone thing likes to flip between the radio and any attached media like my iPhone or USB stick. Reading some stuff online it is often called "Ghost Fingers" like a ghostly hand keeps switching back and forth. From what I understand, this is caused by delamination of the touch screen.

I decided to take a risk and spend $33 for a new touch screen from Amazon. It should be here Friday and I can work on it this weekend.  I sure would like to listen to the radio or my iPhone while on Power Tour and not having it constantly flip back and forth. That will drive me even more bonkers.

I got the new touch screen from Amazon the other day. I am sending it back. It's cracked! It has several cracks that look like various width "V"s. I returned it to Amazon today and got a refund. I am not going to worry about the radio/Uconnect with Power Tour only a week away.

My garage mahal neighbor surprised me. He and his partner had just come back from a 1100 truck show in Indianapolis. He owns the lifted Chevy Silverado 3500 and his partner owns the lift RAM 2500.

It seems he decided to get himself a little toy. A 71k mile 2016 Dodge Charger Hellcat. He claims he spent $28k for it.

Lastly, I started packing Violet for Power Tour. I packed a hydraulic jack, an air pump, tent, chair. Pontiac banner (since I don't own a Moper banner yet), bungee cords, tent weights, my Snell rated helmet (a must for drag racing), and cleaning suppliers, I have started packing key tools (power and hand tools alike).

Edited June 2, 20251 yr by Frosty

17 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I got the new touch screen from Amazon the other day. I am sending it back. It's cracked! It has several cracks that look like various width "V"s. I returned it to Amazon today and got a refund. I am not going to worry about the radio/Uconnect with Power Tour only a week away.

My garage mahal neighbor surprised me. He and his partner had just come back from a 1100 truck show in Indianapolis. He owns the lifted Chevy Silverado 3500 and his partner owns the lift RAM 2500.

It seems he decided to get himself a little toy. A 71k mile 2016 Dodge Charger Hellcat. He claims he spent $28k for it.

Lastly, I started packing Violet for Power Tour. I packed a hydraulic jack, an air pump, tent, chair. Pontiac banner (since I don't own a Moper banner yet), bungee cords, tent weights, my Snell rated helmet (a must for drag racing), and cleaning suppliers, I have started packing key tools (power and hand tools alike).

That’s nice to have Petrolhead neighbours mate 👍

I am in Wellington for kings birthday weekend with the grand kids 

no car work for meeeeee , justA beers n kids !!!!

It’s a cushy job but someone has to do it Kiwi!

On 4/10/2025 at 4:27 PM, Frosty said:

Interesting article about what a turd the new Dodge Charger EV has been this year. I have also included the link RacerX is quoting from, for reference. So they sold under 2000 units in the US and Canada and sold as many or more left over 2023 Chargers and Challengers.

He has reported in previous videos what quality issues Dodge is having with these cars, with some of them becoming "bricks" (e.g. they don't run, the dealership/Dodge is unable to figure our what is wrong with them so they sit like bricks at the dealership or in people's driveways).

 

https://moparinsiders.com/dodges-electric-charger-daytona-faces-sales-struggles-in-early-2025/

 

This is the main reason Stellantis/Dodge is scrambling to bring back some sort of ICE powertrain back the new Charger. I think this is a case of (A) Stellantis not doing enough quality control on their new EV and (B) walking away from the HEMI/V6 RWD Challengers or Charges without a viable hybird alternative to pick up the sales slack that discontinuing this old platform generated. 

Mid0year sales figures look very bleak for Stellantis and Dodge. RAM and Jeep are helping to prop them up - sorta.

Edited July 18, 2025Jul 18 by Frosty

It’s not rocket science is it frosty !!!!!

Bring back the hemi ! And sales will go back up !!!

2 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

It’s not rocket science is it frosty !!!!!

Bring back the hemi ! And sales will go back up !!!

16 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

It’s not rocket science is it frosty !!!!!

Bring back the hemi ! And sales will go back up !!!

It sure seems that way Kiwi.

I don’t get why car companies are hell bent to electrify. Consumers are not demanding them, the government is. The price of an EV and fear of running out of juice is keeping folks away. The obvious answer is still to produce ICE or hybrid vehicles. Just another case of ignoring customer wants in order to please the tree huggers.

Got boost?

https://www.facebook.com/reel/708491928632582?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e

In spite of drenching and nearly drowning myself in human sweat on Saturday, I was able to wash and use a synthetic clay bar pad on Violet. The nice thing about this that you can wash your car with the pad and not have to worry about dropping it. If you drop it, you simply wash/rinse it off and start again. This is from Griot's Garage.

Once I was done washing Violet, I rinsed her off, and then re-sprayed the car with water and then applied 303's Spray and Rinse Ceramic Sealant to the wet metal, and then wipe it and the water off. This is suppose to be good for six months. They also have a ceramic detailer for clean up work.

These are a tad pricey at almost $20/bottle. However, it's a lot less than a professional ceramic coat job with a 2,3, or 4 year guarantee that may run $1000-2000 per vehicle. Since these cars get used about 6 months out of the year, $20-60 per car seems real cheap to me.

I took Violet to a local car show, the Good Times in Goodrich. It's about 5-6 miles south of my place. We had over 400 cars today (I never heard the final count). Joe Hildebrand, a Woodward/automotive memorabilia vendor who has been friends with the Widetrackers for decades, was there today. So I stocked up on my annual souvenirs from Joe. Yes, yes, yes Justa I have enough green street signs for you, JustaG6, Mike, and Joe!

I was pissed that I had to take Violet though. I was planning on taking Lucy. However, when I jumped in Lucy, I got click, click, no start. I have power to the headlights and radio. Black Beauty is down for a similar reason. So I have a bad feeling that Monday I am going to be flat bedding two cars to a nearby ignition repair shop. Ugh. I want to take one of the Pontiacs to a car show on the west side of the state this coming Friday too.

Violet or the Roadmonster are the back up plans at the moment. I am NOT happy about this though. I need to get both cars running reliably. I have a show at the end of October I need to get Lucy to. That's seven hours each way.....sigh.

Edited August 3, 2025Aug 3 by Frosty

On 7/29/2025 at 1:30 PM, Frosty said:

Garage.

Once I was done washing Violet, I rinsed her off, and then re-sprayed the car with water and then applied 303's Spray and Rinse Ceramic Sealant to the wet metal, and then wipe it and the water off. This is suppose to be good for six months. They also have a ceramic detailer for clean up work.

Need to try one of these. Both cars paint needs some love and the regular clay is a pain plus dries out.