I was talking to the guys at 303 while I was on Power Tour. You need to keep these synthetic clay bar buffs or mitts wet and lubricated! Yes I know how this sounds! Kiwi, you have a dirty mind! I respect that!

Seriously though, that is the key. I used it like a regular car wash sponge with some gentle scrubbing motions. If you let it dry out, it drags as you would expect.

13 hours ago, Frosty said:

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.

Thank you for covering the GANG with our street sign souvenirs. Gotta have em. Gotta get em when ya can. You have achieved greatness yet again.

7 hours ago, Frosty said:

I was talking to the guys at 303 while I was on Power Tour. You need to keep these synthetic clay bar buffs or mitts wet and lubricated! Yes I know how this sounds! Kiwi, you have a dirty mind! I respect that!

Seriously though, that is the key. I used it like a regular car wash sponge with some gentle scrubbing motions. If you let it dry out, it drags as you would expect.

I so agree frosty ! Lube is key !!!

Back when I first discovered the synthetic clay bar it was like night and day compared to the stupid old clay ! You couldn’t buy them in here in nz so I grabbed 2 of these mothers ones when I was in Hawaii at an auto store and I find it easiest to use them while I wash the car . The wet surface works great !

Well F@$k Me!

Tonight was the first of two nights of rolling cruise for Back to the Bricks. The Widetrackers were meeting in Grand Blanc, so as one of my other buddies.

I get to the garsge mahal, jumped in Violet and I take off towards the cruise. I don’t get a 1/2 mile down the road and all of a sudden, i have no shifter!!!!! We are taking no engagement, just a limp stick that doesn’t do anything (watch it Kiwi!) It was stuck in either first or second gear. I managed to get Violet turned around and back to the garage. I went to the cruise in my pickup and watched the cruise go by for over an hour.

After the cruise ended, i yanked out the shifter console. It gets faster the more you do it! I found the problem!

The metric bolt that connects the shifter to the transmission fork is gone! Obviously it backed out. So now i need to run to the hardware store, get a new bolt and some thread locker, and really torque that f’ing thing down.

I am happy that it is a simple fix. It just annoys me with three cars are down at the moment. Ugh!

Edited August 14, 2025Aug 14 by Frosty

wow!!!

now why did the bolt "walk" out ???? cause it was sick of all the nuts

hahahaha.

but theres a reason that bolt walked out ! i see a fork, is it threaded mate ? maybe a longer bolt that goes right through and add a nylock on the other side and a touch of grease to the shank so it doesnt bind with that alumium block ?

you are not going to want to "really torque that f’ing thing down." the fork will crush against the shifter and make it hard to move, i am wondering why this fork doesnt have a pin and retaining clip rather than a bolt ?

Edited August 14, 2025Aug 14 by 64 kiwi boni

Not that you want these things to happen but at least it didn't happen miles and miles down the road!

6 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

wow!!!

now why did the bolt "walk" out ???? cause it was sick of all the nuts

hahahaha.

but theres a reason that bolt walked out ! i see a fork, is it threaded mate ? maybe a longer bolt that goes right through and add a nylock on the other side and a touch of grease to the shank so it doesnt bind with that alumium block ?

you are not going to want to "really torque that f’ing thing down." the fork will crush against the shifter and make it hard to move, i am wondering why this fork doesnt have a pin and retaining clip rather than a bolt ?

The transmission retaining fork that the shifter slides into has a threaded nut welded to it. It's fixed. I agree that I don't want to over torque it, I am just pissed. Still I do need to cinch it down tightly and I was serious about the use of thread locker.

2 hours ago, Ringo64 said:

Not that you want these things to happen but at least it didn't happen miles and miles down the road!

I totally agree with you Ringo. I am happy that I was close to the grage. I still didn't like having to rev the engine to 4500 in second (I suspect it was in second) to get back to the garage. Fortunately redline is around 5500. Still I don't like to abuse an engine like that.

Edited August 14, 2025Aug 14 by Frosty

Frosty...

Is there a way or a provision to allow you to use a safety wire through the bolt and tied...So it Can't back out..??

Interesting idea Two Lane.

With the stock bolt, the answer is no. The bolt engages the cast nut with nothing outside the nut. However I had to replace a bolt. It was an 8mm-1.25 course thread about 30mm long. My replacement bolt is 40mm long. Therefore I could drill a small hole at the end safely wire it. I did use thread locker.

I spent nearly three hours getting that bolt back in and then putting the whole damn console back together. I did a test drive and she shifts beautifully. I didn’t make it to the second and final night of the rolling cruise though town sadly. However Violet is fixed and ready for Woodward on Saturday.

And you know we love pic around here aye frosty …

Can’t wait to see your pictures

Was this the famous "10 minute job" from all those months ago? Threadlocker and perhaps a split washer.

I am afraid not Fitzy. That was the skip shift eliminator project. This was a near re-hash of the short throw shifter installation. Complete console removal, cover plates off, justa to get to the shifter forks.

I do have a future Woodward cruiser in training though!

At least they'll be reliable.

I see you have both sides of the future Street racing covered, outlaws and Cops!

I hope the Skip Shift install goes a bit better than the Short Throw shifter, no having to redo the work!

My wife tried to make her 2020 Charger Scat pack amphibious a few weeks ago by driving into a 6" deep puddle and hydrolocking the 6.4Now the same insurance company that was great when the car was stolen and recovered 18 months ago, is being a PITA to deal with getting the engine replaced. She refers to it as Hot Honey, I hope it is road worthy again in a couple of weeks.

2 hours ago, cammerjeff said:

I see you have both sides of the future Street racing covered, outlaws and Cops!

I hope the Skip Shift install goes a bit better than the Short Throw shifter, no having to redo the work!

My wife tried to make her 2020 Charger Scat pack amphibious a few weeks ago by driving into a 6" deep puddle and hydrolocking the 6.4Now the same insurance company that was great when the car was stolen and recovered 18 months ago, is being a PITA to deal with getting the engine replaced. She refers to it as Hot Honey, I hope it is road worthy again in a couple of weeks.

you must have some serous pot holes Jeff !!!!!

Jeff - i can empathize.

About 12 years ago my wife and son went to Tampa Florida to see her girlfriend and kids. Her GF was buying a new house in a new subdivision. The construction crews had boarded up the storm drains to prevent debris from getting into the sewers.

My wife had rented a Chrysler 300. It started raining heavily. With in 30-45 minutes the water in the street was past her ankles. The air intake on the 300 was low, near the air dam. She tried to start to the car, sucked a bunch of water into the motor and hydro locked the motor, ruining it! Yes it was a Hemi.

It cost us a claim on our personal auto insurance and paying our deductible in order to pay off the rental company to replace the motor. It was over $8k between the insurance company and us. In all, this process lasted almost 7 months!

The skip shifter eliminator works great!

The shifter issue was caused by the bolt that the shifter itself bolts to the mtranny fell out completely. A new bolt and thread locker saved the day!

Edited August 28, 2025Aug 28 by Frosty

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this one is for Kiwi! A plum crazy wagon!?!? Wow!

Wow !!!! That’s soooooo cool 😎

Very interesting conversion, I kinda Like it in a weird way.

37 minutes ago, cammerjeff said:

Very interesting conversion, I kinda Like it in a weird way.

It's our unofficial/official Mopar thread....I think!

Edited October 6, 2025Oct 6 by Frosty

So I should Post Pictures of out 2005 Magnum and my Wife's 2020 Charger Scat Pack here?

I am okay with that - or you can start your own thread. I am good either way.

Of course, you know how much we love pics around here, even no car like a Mopar.

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No need to start another thread on Mopar's IMO, 1st our 2005 Magnum just rolled over 8000 miles this week.

Then her 2020 Scat Pack parked next to my old Solstice coupe, miss that car.

Love me a Solstice coupe. If I find one that's not insanely priced, I will grab one.