Why Mopars SUCK Part Deux - Torqueflite Transmission Extraction For The Novice Millennial Mechanic 

Hey you’re doing it the hardest way possible… drop the k member kit with the engine headers trans.. everything

I discovered early on that Mopar guys are a little crazy. Growing up we always joked about the Mopar guys being a little off. They were the friends that you didn't want your parents to meet.

Your comments about Mopar guys being a bit touched is spot on. I know, I used to be one, and I don't think that it really totally goes away.

"adding patina / history to the car" A laid back, easy like Sunday mornin' perspective... Excellent.

I have a modified 13/16 wrench for removing the plugs. It is cut down to half the length and the 12 point boxed end has a opening cut out. Making look like a line wrench. Makes it easier to remove plugs in my 69 Roadrunner. Learned this trick from my father. He was a dealership mechanic in the late 60's and early 70's. He also had a mid 60's Belvedere and 68 Charger drag cars. Both with 440s in them.

Unless you are going radical with a big block Mopar, the stock hi-po exhaust manifolds work pretty damn well. But, this is why I am a small block guy. Much easier to work on, lighter, smaller, and you can still make them run like hell.

That is exactly why I used the HP manifolds.

Working on a gravel driveway at 17 y/o, trying to learn and work on your 1st car makes you grow up quick

Mopar guys are like Submarine Crew , they know that the submarine could sink and become their Iron Coffin at any moment - but they won't stop singing the praises of working on a Sub, and they won't ever stop doing what they do!

You guys are making me feel better about my 64 Galaxie fastback with a 390. The spark plugs on both sides are of course above and inboard of the exhaust ports, so easy breezy, easier than a big block Chevy. The headers were no fun, and I went with shorty headers from Sanderson. Why in the age of computers and modern machinery can't anyone make headers that fit without being beaten on or some grinding done on the headers or the car. Why. They are just as much of a pain in the ass in that regard as they were in 1978 when I started selling and installing them. It has to be an industry standard to never actually install these at the header factory to see if they fit without beating a flat spot in a tube to clear the steering gear or a dent in a tube to clear a bolt related to the upper control arm mount or, or, or. Every car has its issues with this. Why, you shouldn't have to do this. I can't imagine the caniption fit I would have if I had to beat on pipes I just spent $600 on to have coated.

This is why I'm going for the easy reach spark plug Hemi option in my Barracuda :)

I’ve got a duster with a 440 and full length headers, I can drop the K member with engine trans in about an hour and everything becomes easy! I cut holes in the inner fenders to access the plugs, so much easier and you can hardly see the holes.

Brother when you said Mopar guys are a little touched I could not stop laughing 😂. Man I respect you more and more everyday love the content brother keep it up. Tell that guy to pull the engine with the tranny he probably would of been done by now. My first muscle car was a 1970 dodge dart custom Canada car loved it and miss it. Have a great day all of you.

You can usually (depending on brand header and size) loosen the header except for the front bolt (leave it in but loose) and swing the header down, do what you need with the starter, and swing the header back up and reinstall the bolts

Back in the ‘70’s I put max wedge factory exhausts on a 440. It helped with the starter, but changing plugs was a pain. I still got the scraps and burns to prove it. 😂😂

Beautiful car Josh. A real car is made to be driven; Love the answer you gave. Every dent and scratch adds to patina, character and memories ; good memories 👍

This man's advice is priceless. Especially for us young guys just getting into this stuff. Was planning on putting headers on the 360 but I like being able to get all my plugs out in 2 minutes.

Had a high compression 440 in a 68 charger the thing ate starters found out the Direct Conection race starter 3x the price of normal was well worth the money spent 😀

Everything u just said is true. I remember my 69 charger 440. Plugs were a project with the headers and a headache to change starter. Ahhh the good Ole days!

When I began watching UTG's videos years ago, I cringed to see the tools and parts thrown around on the fenders and what not, but now I don't even notice anymore. You'll never see me do that however, working with a cart next to the car where I can lay down everything just makes more sense to me. Nothing gets lost or forgotten, nothing falls in the wrong places. But don't change anything UT, it's a Mopar thing I get it. Cheerz

Starter for the 90s Magnum engine fits much better with headers and is about 10lbs lighter. $90 bucks at the local auto supply.

To add more joy, pull the front and rear studs from the exhaust, and use header bolts there too. that way you need to drain the coolant too.

I grew up with b body mopars my 70 charger R/T, SE. seemed normal to work on because I didn't work on anything else. But then I was asked to change the spark plugs on a v8 monza and it was a real pain. The result was that I removed 3 different brands of spark plugs from the engine so I guess these were previous failed attempts to change them. I was young and skinny with skinny arms and hands that helped. I learned afterwards that to change the spark plugs in the monza required to remove the engine mounts and tilt the engine to get access to remove the plugs. Sheesh! Anyway so the plugs on my charger were a piece of cake. Until the headers went in. That lasted about 2 weeks and put the oem manifolds back in, because the headers leaked! So to me! Mopars are easy to work on.

I’m a mini starter kind of guy! Definitely a help. Tell him to put new plugs in while he’s got those out! Good luck, Josh. Thanks UTG. But I can’t say it! 😂

Had a 400 cop car and went through 5 starters until I received a correct starter. 100 degrees in a parking lot paved with asphalt and it was easy by the end

They aren’t that bad! I did a bunch of work on a 68 Charger with a 440 and long-tube headers for a customer, and by the end of it I could have the plugs, headers, and starter all out of the car in under an hour. I did ultimately put a mini-starter in that car, which could be slid in with the header still in the car but the bolts loose, and that made getting the driver’s side header in and out much easier!

A @ '92 Dodge Dakota compact starter would help. Also going to a better brand (TTI or Dougs) of small tube headers makes a difference.

The header thing is universal, especially with long tubes. It's a lot of sacrifice as far as working room. Also wrap your starter in some heat shield

I'm a firm believer that headers suck in general, especially long tube ones. What space was there is now gone 😕

Great. I have a '69 318 Satellite and a 440 waiting to be swapped in. But first I want to play with the 318 based on Tony's shenanigans!!

This is a great video. Really great. Makes a guy really appreciate a slant 6.

I once bought a used 70 Plymouth Fury II ex police car. I decided to tune it up as it had a miss. This was a “professionally” maintained car. There were three types of spark plugs in it. One was original. With 40,000 miles. I love 383-440 cats.

I never owned any 67-69 B Body Mopars. I did have a 4.40 powered 62 Plymouth Sport Fury bracket car and my $25.00 set of headers fit in like Butta' In fact I LEFT the exhaust studs in the heads. it made it easier to hang the headers! It was a breeze changing spark plugs also

I remember my Uncle Tony working on his barracuda swearing up a storm and my Uncle Al laughing saying you should have bought a Camaro! This post brought me back to my childhood. Thx good stuff UTG

I used to get really annoyed with having to deal with coolant when removing an exhaust manifold on Chrysler (Mopar) products. Took me years as a tech to get past my hatred of all things Mopar. When I opened my transmission shop my parking lot became quickly filled with Dodge Caravans and I realized, OK, you're paying my bills, brings it on!

We've got hedders on our 66 LeMans, it's not so much the hedders being the issue, it's the angle of the heads that point down at a weird angle. Every time he has to replace a hedder flange gaskets I remind him that it would be so much easier if we just put a Chevy small block into it, but Mr. Purist wants to keep it all Pontiac......lol.

I have a 65 Plymouth satellite with a 440, changing spark plugs with 2 inch TTI tubes are definitely a challenge

When i was a kid it took me a day to replace a starter on my 440 with hooker headers. With out the lift laying in the driveway takes about an hour blind folded. 833 takes a little longer fighting the z bar.

The good bad and the ugly but true, when I was young back in the late 70's I worked in a auto repair shop and Mopar was not our favorite. It sealed the deal when a customer came in with a Dart that had a 426 Hemi conversion, beautiful factory blue metallic with white interior. Now I know why the customer didn't want to work on it anymore after doing all the shoe horning to get that monster in it. The owner let his brother drive it who went over a railroad crossing at speed and kissed the oil pan on landing, one Moroso oil pan turned to scrap, luckily didn't knock a hole in it or delete oil pressure.

Those old B bodies are just practice for when you start working on the later ones with iso-frames and iso-torsion bar mounts.

I've always loved Mopar muscle cars but could only afford Chevys. I guess it was a blessing in disguise cuz that looks way harder than it should be. But you know what I still want to get an old Mopar one of these days.

You're right. Headers really suck. The performance gain on a street beater with headers is not worth the grief. Run cast iron manifolds. They worked well from the factory. Unless it's going to be a dedicated race only vehicle, make your life easier. Go back to cast iron manifolds. And use quality NGK sparkplugs.

My neighbor used to say "if a kid dropped an ice cream cone on the corner, your Mopar wouldn't start"

I went with fenderwell headers when I put the 440 in my '67 Barracuda. Spark plugs are still a pain in the rear, but install and removal of the headers is not bad. We all feel this guys pain!!!

Fender well exit headers. My first car at age 15 and a half in1968 was a V100 stripper Valiant with 170c.i. slant six 3 speed manual .I built a 273 in 1971with all the goodies and at the last minute my late best friend went down to Goodies speed shop in San Jose and bought me a set of Cyclone fender-well exit headers. I installed an 833 4 speed and 8-3/4 . Piece -o- cake to remove the Cyclones periodically for repaint or pulling engine. My old man was real good at sheet metal having fixed fighters and bombers in the New Guinea jungle with few new replacement parts available.He showed me how to use a chisel and hammer to make a fairly clean opening for the Cyclones at the rear of the inner fenders using the supplied paper template

Most useful tool we have nowadays is the internet, always someone out there who’s solved your particular problem and has helpfully passed on his knowledge 👍

Glad I went with TTi's, they snake around the torsion bars wonderfully!

Mid 80s I was doing tune-ups, just a kid out of high school from Minnesota in Dallas. The other guys always gave me the Mopars and the European cars, really didn't mind either. The only 440 I remember with headers was in because the guy stuck in a performance distribution all kinds of screwed up. Charger RT I told him I'd work on it after hours, it'd take a while. Yeah it took like four minutes to put wires on where they belonged and set the timing. Then we beat the hell out of it that night.

I'm a poor guy who started driving in the late 90's, so I've never had anything with headers. I've mostly had small block Chevy cars. I've only had one mopar and it was a '77 D-100 Adventurer pick-up with a 318. Not a straight panel on it including the bumpers. But I loved it. I'd love to find another one.

The mini starter is a little easier to fit in.

My Pop always said: "Buying a Dodge is like marrying a nanny goat. You MIGHT get a good'un but you'll ALWAYS be ashamed of it."

Thanks for bringing back all those nightmares of changing my starter and spark plugs on my 69 383 Roadrunner. My girlfriend's mother told her that she never heard anybody curse like that and she shouldn't go with me, I was changing out the starter in her driveway because the rebuilt one that I had put in 2 weeks ago died the night before when I went to pick her up. She married me anyway!

Thinking about it now, I can’t believe the type of jobs we all used to take on, working in back lanes, in front of the house, in bad weather, underground parking lots, what a laugh! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone doing this sort of thing for decades. 4X4 trucks balanced on jack stands in front of the house, oil dripping out of empty axle housings, in the city! I’m so happy I lived at the time I did.

Worked in the transmission repair business in the early '70's and saw a lot less 727's come through the shop than Ford and GM trans. GM trans were nightmares as every division had their own completely different units. Dealerships were so overwhelmed with repairs to the GM 350 when it came out, they were subbing them out to the independent repair shops. Chrysler's standardization of the 727 and the 904 in all lines was a great move.

My father had his own shop since 1979 and is a diehard Chevy guy, because he worked on 1 Mopar with headers.....lol. All jokes aside. these aren't the only ones that are like that. A 2wd Nissan pickup is almost as bad. Come to think of it pretty much anything with a Torsion Front End is just a nightmare to work on. I broke down and bought the GM Torsion Tool to remove the torsion bars on all GM vehicles because of this. Pretty much all Headers (any make and model) complicate things, especially when it comes to the starters. Big Block Fords have those slip joint headers, that work very well, as long as they've never run. After a year or two, they don't like to come apart or go back together like they used to. Mopar's are the King of Pain in it all, but all the others aren't far behind. Great Video as always UTG, and to Josh...... keep Embracing the Suck, it's worth it in the end man!

I've been a long time Mopar geek forever, well actually 35 years. I never realized they suck. I've done all kinds of impossible wrenching on them and just accepted it as the way it is. Learn something everday!

My daily driver when I was in high school and college in the mid to late 80's was a 1972 Charger Rallye with a factory 440 and a 727. The Charger had headers and the headers used to cook the starter every so often. I bought a "lifetime warranty" starter from the now defunct Western Auto, and thankfully every time the starter got cooked by the headers they would exchange it. I got really good at getting that drivers side header out with the starter cradles inside it. I could probably do the job in a couple of hours. The other issue with headers and the big block Mopars was that some of the plug wires would always seem to be too close to the headers and they would also get cooked... Bought a ton of wire sets dealing with that...

'We're not all there'. I heard that, and I resemble that. Hence the mini-starter.

mini starter is the best thing i ever did on charger with headers, still need to pull the column out but makes it much easier its half the size

Aaaah, memories haha. xD ive done this on an A body with full length headers and a factory starter. What a pain in the ass. Also did this on a dodge D100 with full length headers. The starter is a pain also. Its just a feature of headers. Haha get a mini starter for clearance and its also better. Like a 98 Ram starter. Works great!!

The late big block police and motor home heads take 5/8 inch spark plugs, which give more header space than 13/16 inch spark plugs on other big block heads.

Josh, we have all been there, stick with it, it's worth it in the end.

Uncle Tony. I Love you brother man. Thanks again for being such a freggin legend. I’ll never forget shaking your hand and petting my dog. A real connection of brother men ❤️

You bring back memories. I worked 3rd shift back then, I was charging rear end gears I fail a sleep under my Duster with the center section on my chest. My girlfriend found me woke me up and I finished. She was fixing supper so got cleaned up went to her apartment and fell asleep on her couch 9:00 the next morning got up loaded car then rolled it over 4 /12 times

I remember working at the dealer in 70s and 8ties we got paid peanuts to re& re transmission under warranty luckily we didn't have to deal with headers.

Accell plug wires ACC-9045C ceramic boots last set you’ll need won’t burn on headers , exspensive but worth it.

Tony, the old saying, 3 MOPARS AND A PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWDRIVER YOU GOT A GOOD START ON A JUNKYARD!

Champion had a rash of defective spark plugs when they first came out with copper core spark plugs. The short term fix was to tell the parts stores to go up one heat range, but switching to AC spark plugs was a better choice at the time. The NGK spark plugs usually worked well. The old Autolite plugs outlasted the Motorcraft plugs when copper core plugs first came about.

Big Block fever is overstated for some cars. Dude I knew super-charged a 289 in a Fairlane. It sounded amazing and had lots of street power.

Removing a dead starter on my 70 Hemi Super Bee, with big tube headers, and some thoughtful previous owner had welded the slip joints, not just tacks, but welded as far as was possible. There was no money in the budget for anything like new headers, so I spent many nights with a very small triangular file, working at those welds. It’s worse than it sounds, because the welds were harder than the tubes, so the file always wanted to slip off.

My first cars where all Mopars from Chargers, Challengers to Dusters. Loved them all but got away from them and went to GM for a few reasons- parts back then for Mopars was double than GM and to work on them was always a PIA. I still do love them

I took a saws all to a 440 68 Charger on each side and made a cover over the hole with stove bolts. You could do all of that by putting it on jackstands pull the front tires and the plate you made and a mid length Snap On socket with a sink washer drilled out and a long extension and a flex bent handle ratchet and they come right out, the starter comes off, the header bolts come out some with a custom wrench and it will come out.

I'm a new subscriber. I'm a Mopar guy. Back in the day I ran a real max wedge car. All of what you said about B bodies and headers is true. Especially the plugs, wires and starter. But...... When that 440 comes to life and runs right, it's worth all the hassles. You see, I'm brain damaged too. From Ohio

My 6 month old AC Delco plugs were all rusted too. Mechanic was trying to tell me they were ancient and I had neglected the truck but I was telling him that I JUST swapped plugs 6 months to a year ago and he couldn’t believe it from the rust.

I had 2 B bodies with big blocks; this is why I ended up using magnum HP exhaust manifolds that I ported out and polished.

Yeah I can have a Th350 or Th400 out of my Pontiac in no time. Usually around 30 to 45 minutes from putting the lift arms under the car, to driving it out of the shop provided I have one ready to go back in. If I have to rebuild it, then its two or more days, the longest time is spent cleaning parts. All my Pontiac spark plugs are easy to get to. No burned wires unless you are REALLY incompetent on a Pontiac and on 351Cs too.

Back in the early 80's I built a V8 Vega with the hooker headers and mount kit. That setup sucked as well. Quick car but a nightmare to work on.

I’ve been running a small block Chevy in all my cars since 84, and I’ve never used AC plugs. I’ve ran Champions, Accell, Autolite,and recently started using NGKs. My latest car is a G-body that I had to remove the AC box to get my set of circle track headers on. I’m also running angle plug heads, which makes it a real bitch to change, or check my plugs. I had to take a short 5/8 socket, have the 3/8 drive drilled out, and have flats milled on the O.D. to make it, so where I can change them. I can pull a few of the plugs out to read them, but there’s the few that I’m not gonna mess with, until I actually see a reason to change the whole set. That why I’m running the Iridium plugs. If the few plugs I can keep checking on look good, then I can be confident that the rest are ok. If I see a problem, then, I gotta get that special socket out, and spend a bunch of time, and effort, replacing them all. Trust me! I’ve been hearing this since the early 80s. If you wanna play..You gotta pay! Whether it’s money or time!

I like my small blocks in my cars with manifolds and my big blocks in trucks with headers for these reasons. On the trucks i make the inner fenders easily removable and then removing the wheel for open access for work. Trucks are cool.

Me and my 64 GMC 4x4 with the removable transmission tunnel are laughing hysterically at this trip through the Mopar big block torture chamber And yes it has headers.

I’m glad you said it ever mopar guy I ever knew growing up I felt they was a little off

They all have their ups and downs, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at any vehicles engine bay and thought to myself…….yes, this is so well thought out, I’d love to replace parts on it.

Remember the old anti oil foul caps for plugs, back in the day old tired oil burners were common. definitely didn't improve performance but then again a dead hole doesn't either. Some mechanic in a can additive anti foul caps new points and run it in to the ground then put it out to pasture by the woods line out back with the other dead soldiers... #lastditcheffort

I noticed the same with the Chinese delco plugs also the champs and autolites do the same now. Ngk plugs still have a good rust coating.

Finally…a video title that speaks to me 😫

Same thing with my olds. I have to remove the headers , oil filter adapter, starter to get the trans out with full length headers. That's life. Big deal.

Makes me feel so lucky to have a Pontiac V8. The heads are designed with. Extra long exhaust runners compared to a SBC/SBM/SBF/BBM, to the point where the spark plugs are probably a good 2" away from the exhaust flanges. Hardest part of getting my headers in was just the bolts. Didn't even have to remove plug wires!

yeah, did the starter laying in header cradle install on my 1974 "CUDA with a 440. I used the trcuck replacement one whicah was too big. so if you can get a tiny race starter they are much lighter

My first time putting a starter on my 68 GTX. I spent the night in the rain on a muddy hill I had to pull a head light an wire it up for a trouble light. Yes it had headers it was a mess an so was I when I got threw.

this vid brought back many memories i owned a 70 gtx 440 loved that car

This is hilarious. I have an old 89 Jeep talk about a love hate relationship..lol..I love MOPARS!

In our neck of the woods we call it "tetched" -and I for one resemble that term.

I put a motorhome factory starter heatshield on mine extends starter life

If the oil pan is flattened at all it's a good time to removes the pan n clean out the Gack. Beat the pan back to shape n install a wind age tray

Classic Mustang guys and gals are laughing too, we have those pesky shock towers in the way. If you got and FE motor in it, sooo much worse.

Buy a mini starter it saved me I have to take nothing off my spark plugs use two different wrenches and a swivel socket LOL

In HS I had a ‘70 Charger R/T 440 auto. Header tube on driver’s side cracked and I had to get it out and up to school for welding. My solution was to take apart the top half of the PS pump to get the header off the studs. Big mistake. First start up after re-installation, the steering wheel jacked full right lock with no input from me! (I drove it😨)

1960 T-Bird exhaust manifold has to come out to get the starter out. Vega aircompressor has to come out to change the points.

I've done a lot of thinking about this situation over the years, I believe that the solution is to custom make headers patterned after the old max wedge exhaust manifolds. Make accommodations for the master cylinder, heater fan. Would probably have to make the tubes shorter than the long tube design. Those old max wedge manifold worked very good, but won't fit in 1966 and later b bodies, and we're cast iron.

And I always thought my buddy put thru the fenderwell header's in his sixtynine RT was because they're Cool, now I see there was other Cool reasons... I know pulling the torqflite out of my 70 CUDA wasn't too bad, but this was a Long time ago....