This 1974 Dodge Monaco "Blues Brothers" Tribute Has Sat Broken For Years... Can I Make It Run Again? 

It's a 106 miles to Chicago. WE got a full take a gas half pack of cigarettes. It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

Had a ride in one of these, NY state Trooper after crashing up a frozen snow bank in a Audi Fox, extremely drunk. Minus 25 deg that night. Not only did he not lock me up that night as I told him the complete truth what happened, he took me for a ride to get another tire as both tires were destroyed on the driver's side. The roads we went down were pure ice. That Cop could drive. Remember him telling me the road we were on (pure ice) was a better road during blizzards. He was going 80. Found a tire near Buffalo at 4 am and drove 40 miles back to the accident scene. Replaced both drivers' side tires and got home at 7 am. Got to respect the state trooper for both not putting me in jail and his skill in driving that land yaught. Always backed the blue after that.

Fix the cigarette lighter

"We threw a rod." "Is that bad?" "Yep."

We’re gettin the band back together

I love troubleshooting videos. It's always an opportunity for me to learn. Thanks for sharing!

So many Mopar starter sounds, going to have that ruh ruh ruh ruh ruh ruh stuck in my head the rest of the night.

It’s never a waste of time if you walk away with something you didn’t know, or hadn’t seen yesterday. We learn more from failure than success……ok enough philosophy…..that’s was cool Jaime. 👍🏻

Like most mopars it has a lot of character, love it ❤️

Can't go wrong with a 440!

All I can say is that is one kick ass starter 👍

Back in the day the 440 Dodge Monaco was a very fast highway car. Highway car not quarter mile car.

Thank you Jamie! You are a national treasure.

Variable valve timing back in the 70's, Dodge was really ahead of their time!

Diagnostics is never a waste of time. I know you wanted to get her running but that wasn't a fail. You saved somebody a lot of time.

It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?

When I first heard you crank it I said damn it sounds like it's got a broken timing belt. Knowing that it doesn't have a belt. Also didn't know it had a plastic gear. I learned something today

15:30 I'm gonna say it's 180 out. That or just CLEAN the plugs LOL. I love the channel!! Thank you for the great content ALL the time!! Oh and throw 24 volts at her. WHy NoT! It's NoT Yers!! LOL.

Thanks for learning experience 👍

Jaime, I was hoping it was going to start. But thanks for the video.

Too bad the timing gear most likely is loose, that car is cool to see! I’ve never seen a 74 Monaco here in northeast PA. my grandpa had a 1973 fury PA state police detective’s car. The 440 had been “beat to hell” as he said, and the number 7 cylinder oil ring was worn pretty bad. He put a non-fouler on the plug, but on full throttle the high oil pressure would foul it anyway. He really enjoyed it though , mainly because it would squeal the tires when floored even at 45-55 miles per hour.

Jamie, I've been watching your channel for a few months now. I've always said that I am NOT a Mopar guy, but after watching your videos and realizing that I've actually had quite a few Plymouths, Dodges, and Chryslers over the years, that I'm actually sort of a Mopar guy. Don't tell my Ford friends because I've always said I'm a Ford guy (had lots of those too). The thing is that I've never kept any Mopar for more than a year, usually just a few months, including the brand new 2001 4x4 truck I bought just before filing bankruptcy that magically disappeared one night 'cuz the repo guy found out where I lived. After watching your videos, I can say without shame that I would actually like to own at least some of the Mopars again that I've had in the past.....like the '72 Plymouth Scamp or '64 basic Plymouth I had in California.......or the '80 Newport I had when my oldest son and his oldest sister were little........or the '77 extended former Church van with a 360 me and my drinking buddies would pile into with our women to go riding around out in the country.........or the extended '86? van we had with the single rear door back when all 4 of our children had already been born and it was the family mo'chine with room for everybody.........or the '87 5th Ave I got for cheap because it wouldn't accelerate right in cold weather that turned out to be a missing intake pre-heater hose....or the '88 1/2 ton pickup my son and I would back down the boat ramp until the bumper would touch the water so we could fish out of the bed and pretend that we were in a boat that I ended up trading for a Ford van. Well, maybe NOT the 5th Ave...LOL...but looking back I have to admit that I liked my Mopars but never kept them for very long for one reason or another. I said all that to say this-----I guess I'm more of a Mopar guy than I thought, and IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT that I'm publicly admitting it!!!!! 😂😂😂

Great video again Jaime the funny part is I took my driving test in the exact same car that my dad had luxury lol

Love that '74 Monaco Bluesmobile, them Mopar Starters sounds like Dino barking at Fred Fintstone, lol!!! Mopar Nate Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Love the Imperial!!! Man to have one of those!!

We just did a timing chain replacement on a 72 Satellite Sebring Plus 318 because the nylon teeth were severed off. The way that Monaco backfires through the carb makes me think it jumped a couple of teeth. It's a 74 like my Charger so my guess it's the nylon timing gear.

The day I get out of prison my own brother picks me up in a police car.

"I think we threw a rod" , "is that bad ?" , "yep" .

I learned from your tech video about the "test spark" when the ignition is turned back off of crank. I disagree with your declaration that this spark means the module is good however. It took me 5 years to figure out my mystery "fire when it wants to" problem on my 1974 Dodge Monaco 440. Yes, the same car as in this video. Sometimes it would fire just fine, others it would crank and crank with nothing until I turned the key back and the car/engine would "jump" from what I now know is that test spark. My consistent experience was on the very next crank after I got a "jump" from the test spark, it would fire. After replacing the unit, I no longer had this issue. I contend that the module can both give a "test spark" AND be bad. I've had that experience twice now with those modules.

Same thing happened to my old tired 318 in the 67 coronet..when we tore it apart there were bits of rings in the oil pan as well..might have been the cause to all the blow by it had.

1060 West Addison. That’s Wrigley field.

If at first you don't succeed... ya know... Fun hanging out, have a good one.

when my '72 440 (125k miles) lost the plastic over the cogs, a view of the distributor's rotor showed an uneven rotation, it jerked around as a few cogs caught hold. It belched and kicked back too. Easy fix unlike an interference engine.

A very tired C-body...good stuff and thanks....🔧🔧🐐👍

Absolutely 💯 love Mopar C bodies Definitely appreciate the diagnostic tips , Jamie Ummmm..... Would a compression test be helpful ?

Seriously enjoyed watching your video tonight 👍👍 I found it relaxing, entertaining and funny great content Jaime👍. Your going places with your channel Jaime keep up the great work man.

Love my 2 door hardtop 74 monaco!

When it pops out the intake and the secondary ignition timing is good, you got a deeper problem.

The most important thing for a revival is a very very strong battery or 5 batteries all connected in a row.

"🔥balls or Bust!" In related news..... "Briefcase Full Of Blues" is outstanding.

Boy i was hopeful!

Fun as usual.

I just bought a New Yorker with Lean burn. I gotta find one of those conversion kits. Planning on HEI, easier to find parts.

My favorite starting potion was 3M Brake cleaner (black can) ..it would start anything..weedeaters/lawn mowers that had been sitting for year with bad gas in them..even Cummins that you just changed the fuel filter on but were too lazy to pump up with hand button..I swear it is magic!

Yeah definitely a timing chain "You know the thing!?"

I like Tom's "local" shirt. Raaaaaaneeeer Beeeeer. Look up the Rainier Beer motorcycle comercials everyone......or ANY/ALL of their classic commercials from my childhood.

Dream vehicle to own :) If I owned similar, I would easily drop a 30k budget for it

My guess right away was timing chain. Let me know if I'm right! That uneven cranking and compression sound....to me a dead giveaway. Take care, Jamie! Love your vids, man!

How many miles to the Cook Coumty Assessors office?

"Were on a mission from god"...if we can just get the thing started 😆

Hey Jamie; my buddy in orting is looking for one of these. Shaken Phoenix

Pretty bizarre. But things were learnt. Hit it!

I want this. A lot.

Ya win some ya lose some but what matters is how play the guitar. (I think i got that right)

I’m surprised your starter motor wires are holding out?.The connection on the battery gave upon ours the other days ahh the joys of classic cars.

14.01- I swear I heard a gun ricochet 😆

I bought one, the day I got it my friend tried to use the timing light he found inside to set the timing but couldn't get it to work. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was a radar gun.

I need a little stubby ratchet in my life..for reasons!

Love learning new things! This was an interesting one for sure. Did the cigarette lighter work? :)

Yes, move it, sell it, to make room for more Chargers.

I miss those days.......spot patrol cars by their headlights at night

Food for thought I have seen half the nylon gear gone that does this same thing and as for the cam gear skipping there is not a chance of that but there is some serious things gone wrong and its firing wrong so valve timing is messed up. Things are not rotating as they should. You gave it a heros try and you know what its not lol so that helps so this is a sucess or win in a way for the owner. ❤

Take good care of this car. Hard to find. Plenty of guys looking for one.

The valve for the gasoline is a great idea but I wouldn’t think there would ever be spare to hand out while on highway duty. It’s the thought that counts.

You've thrown a rod! (is that serious?) ...... yup

Kind of a shame that they made it a Blues Brothers tribute, cool car either way, but would've been nice to restore back to original.

Eventually all those valves stuck open could pop free, or the new owner could do the timing set... Both of which are not Jamie problems... heh

Jamie, at 7:13 I swear I can see a firestorm reflecting off the base of the windshield. What is that?

"Cars gotta lot of pick up"

What do you think about some spray juice on that hole? Over there yes, the one with a moving up and down part. Ah just swap that PoS.

Free up the exhaust cross over and remove valve covers and free up sticky valves. Guess i shoulda watched further very interesting outcome.

Any of the traildusters/ramchargers for sale? I've had 2 1974 half doors, an 1980 quad headlight big lock (macho package) 4 speed 4x4 (should have never sold that one)

Not even a box of fresh donuts would have helped that one :⁠-⁠)

25:36 NOW THAT'S FUNNY!!! LOL. I was wrong about EVERYTHING! (AGAIN Sigh.......).

Well that was a let down , wouldn't have liked to see you have successfully got it running . I know it not the case but when you don't get them running it comes across as you are not good enough. Let's hope the next one is a winner

rock the crank backwards and watch the rotor play

The one wants 4 fried chickens and a coke" Jake" the other one wants plain white toast" Elwood"

Was this a mission from god

the best part of this car, and this may not be an overstatement, is the driver's door glovebox. This one has that, right?

What happens to wires? They always look pinched, burned, chafed, cracked, corroded, chewed, and somehow "flattened". It's like people use an inordinate amount of time, specially put aside to abuse wires. Does that make it "ordinate"? Not sure. Just one of those things i guess. Cool video man!

The most painful episode yet 😂

Does this mean there will not be a mall chase video to follow up the corn dog chase ?

Sounds like one of those boat anchors

Hey little Buddy, I feel I should comment because it helps the algorithm that determines what you're paid, so here goes; Firstly, plz don't tell people to pour gas directly into the carb where it goes straight to Combustion chamber, it washes off oil from cylinder, especially with your little squeeze bottle with a spout, shoot gas into the float bowl vent tube, you're now not washing oil of cylinders and you'll have gas to keep it running a few moments so it can fill the oil galleys and lube the motor that's been sitting. It's Sox and Martin approved! I'm writing this 5:15 into video so I'll miss some shown later. I had a 71 Dodge Polara I bought from Arkansas Highway Patrol, it was x real deal "High Speed Pursuit" package, complete with 2:73 rear gears and was Posi and the big Dana 60. It had the big brakes and it would Stop! The certified Speedometer went to 140, it shifted into 2nd at 72 mph and 3rd at 110 letting it shift itself, it'd go above those speeds but I know they actually tested them for the fastest way to top speed so I didn't shift myself unless I was downshifting while on world famous Sebring, which is less than 2 hours from where I live. I made many wide open top speed runs, it'd go past 140 so fast, I was proud. I measured the distance of the 10 mph increments on the Speedo to go past 140 to 155 and yes, with wider softer but same height as stock tires, it'd easily sit at 150 for several minutes at a time, it wasn't special coming out of the whole but I'd easily outrun mid 70 new so Called factory hi perf cars, Mustangs Camaro and Vettes and my girlfriend's 73 400 firebird. I did run Corvair mufflers, back in the day there weren't any aftermarket mufflers but the lowest back pressure mufflers were Factory Hemi Mufflers and Turbo Corvair mufflers, which got history buff's, which was what the first hi perf aftermarket mufflers, a copy of the Turbo Corvair mufflers. The Hemi Mufflers flowed better but you could buy an old beater car for what Hemi Mufflers cost. The coolest thing about my Polara, the bullet holes in the driver's door that was fixed by filling with half a gallon of bondo that came loose so I popped it off and rattle canned the shiney part so the bullet holes were visible to all. I removed the A/C and relocated the battery, to be honest, it couldn't have helped performance much at all but a guy wanted an estimate for relocating his and wanted to see my work so I did the cop car and that sold him. Anyway, I like your channel, you're a regular Joe with average Joe Auto knowledge but you don't pretend to be something you're not and I love humility and honesty so you've got my backing and I also know I am not special at all. I've built several cars of note, a 70 Chevelle and 70 Nova 73 Nova I lightened to try to hit the sand weight as the 70. The 73 had many little weight gain features, they called safety features. Lol I can shed many pounds of the 73 and later Nova's without being noticable, you'd have to crawl around on the ground to see and even then, most didn't catch my bumper mount mods, needed. Continue to have fun, it's what makes you channel fun to watch for me and I'll bet others like that. Tuned right, the thermo turds are good Carbs and the ones to run on road courses unless you have an unlimited budget which we all know most of us don't have the money to buy top shelf parts just because they could......

Schrödinger's Mopar- where there is both not enough & too much timing...

Cool car for sure. Shame it got rot

Jake and Elwood are not going to be happy about this! I was also very interested in seeing the 440 come to life, but yeah stuff happens, and stuff doesn't happen, like this time. The whole time I was thinking "it doesn't have enough compression" based on the extra whiney sound from the starter, and that would be sort of correct, via a bad or messed up timing chain not letting the valves do their job correctly.

Buy it back for the obligatory Dollar, fix it, do the thing.

Clea your connections at the electronic ignition box and all of the grounds and ✔️ and clean all the plugs and fix the bad ground cable or clean the connections to it

Stuck valves

🤙🏼⛽️

Noticing that it's puffing out of the carburetor I would think that some of the valves aren't seating properly and you have very low compression on those cylinders.

Try putting the distributor in 180 just for giggles

I see one HP exhaust manifold in the passenger side. That is surprising, given that this is a 74.

Hopefully the owner can find another 400/440 to stick in and not have to dive into the timing set( well eventually it would need repaired to ever run again).

Spark plugs look like they're 30 years old,, grind them up,🎶 file them down, wire them up,🎵 rawwwhide..🎵🎼

We probably did more than you looked like hard work sometimes it just won't go

On the bright side you may have solved the mystery with the power wagon?

Theres a few notable whines that come from these old cars. The good ones come from a roots blower. The bad ones are mopar starters.

Hey Jamie. I have a 1977 hp 440 that came with my 1968charger rt. I was initially very disappointed it wasn’t original. And then again disappointed it was a later low comp engine. But then intrigued to find it is an hp engine. If it’s in good shape should I leave it alone or should I look at getting the compression up? I am just looking for it to do muscle car things. Not be fast but sound cool, spin the tires, feel quick. How important is that compression?