Hello from Non-Muscular Newbie

JerryL · Post by **JerryL** » Fri Jul 11, 14 3:49 pm

Hello all. I have joined this forum with great expectations of help

A year or so ago, I bought a Facel Vega HK500 from a restorer in New Zealand - sight unseen!! As a reputable dealer, I expected to get a good product. Unfortunately this has proved not to be the case but I have cleared that matter by getting a refund of some money, therefore I respect the restorers integrity as he also admitted the errors. Enough said on that matter.

Here's the car on its first outing on the April Classic Car Drive-it day.

As you can see, the exhausts hung rather low so I took the car to Peterborough and had a complete SS exhaust fitted, improving the sound and 2" ground clearance. The original exhaust made the car sound like a "street rod"

rather than the luxury car it is supposed to be. When made in the 1960's, these sold in competition with Aston Martin's but for half as much again

but were driven by the likes of Stirling Moss, Ava Gardener, Ringo Star and many other celebrities. They were very fast ............... mine has its original Chrysler 383 cid V8 installed.

Un - or maybe fortunately, the new quiet exhaust drew my attention to the ominous rumble which came from the motor as speed increased toward 2500 rpm. Sounded like big ends gone. so the engine had to come out

and inspection proved the diagnosis

The crankshaft is now away for a regrind but my difficulty now is......

........ where is the best place to source parts for my engine. I have bought stuff from Real Steel but they don't seem to specialise in Mopar motors. I need a full gasket set and a few more bits n pieces. Any suggestions for UK stockists?

Ta. Jerry

GJUK · Post by **GJUK** » Fri Jul 11, 14 4:14 pm

I have no idea about your car, looks awesome though

W.A.S.P do lots of mopar and US stuff.

Search on google for 'WASP mopar' and their eBay shop comes up.

He does gaskets etc.

Jon

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Fri Jul 11, 14 4:39 pm

You don't see many Facel Vegas about that's for sure.

Thought they had early Hemi power originally?

Gas for GOSH · Post by **Gas for GOSH** » Fri Jul 11, 14 4:57 pm

Wonderful car and very pleased you've joined the MMA

Agree with the WASP recommendation, Chris very helpful.

Would love to run a feature on your car in the club Connected magazine some time. I will send you a Private Message (PM).

JerryL · Post by **JerryL** » Fri Jul 11, 14 7:46 pm

Thanks for the comments Guys.

I think I found W A S P last evening but did not have time to peruse it properly.

I also found RockAuto.co.uk which has a very strong parts listing but was frazzled when I found the parts would come from across the water with accompanying shipping and VAT to be added. Will only be viable I think for a significant order.

I'm in the Facel Vega UK club also but since there's probably only about 30 members, there's not much action on their website. The French club is much bigger and more active but I never got anywhere with the lingo

I will consider writing something for Connected in due course.

Any other suggestions for suppliers or specialist garages/mechanics for these engines?

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Fri Jul 11, 14 8:26 pm

WOW very cool car, I have sat here on the phone discussing this with my friend Seth, 1st ones had 276,291,330 hemi desoto engines.

were some 4 speeds?

Dave81 · Post by **Dave81** » Fri Jul 11, 14 8:51 pm

WASP is a good choice.

Rockauto and Summit Racing are also worth looking at. Both are US based and both add VAT to the shipping order so there are no delays or nasty suprises!

Rockauto are also traders here so you can get 5% Off by using the code!

As for the prices..........Welcome to owning a Mopar product. You will unfortunately find that compared to Ford and Chevy parts Mopar products command a premium!!

Good luck hunting!!!

Oh, and welcome to the club!!

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Fri Jul 11, 14 8:56 pm

Welcome, love a bit of diversity! Something I noticed straight away, that's an aftermarket flexplate for a cast crank engine (externally balanced) when using a torque convertor from an internally balanced engine. No problem there, but most 383's had forged cranks and were internally balanced. So just double check that's a cast crank 383 you have there.

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Fri Jul 11, 14 9:01 pm

Welcome Jerry, that's a very fine motor car you have.

Motorama · Post by **Motorama** » Fri Jul 11, 14 9:12 pm

Nice car, friend of mine has a mint black Excellence which I've driven a few times, 383 motor in it.

JerryL · Post by **JerryL** » Fri Jul 11, 14 9:21 pm

Blue wrote:Welcome, love a bit of diversity! Something I noticed straight away, that's an aftermarket flexplate for a cast crank engine (externally balanced) when using a torque convertor from an internally balanced engine. No problem there, but most 383's had forged cranks and were internally balanced. So just double check that's a cast crank 383 you have there.

Now that is the kind of advice I like, thanks very much Blue

I have the HPBooks How to Rebuild Big-Block Mopar Engines and it does describe the difference between the cast and forged cranks. I checked mine and think it is the forged type due to a wide flash mark. I cannot recheck just now as the crank is away but memory now tells me that my balance weights are sharp edged rather than rounded as shown in the book for the forged item

I noticed the difference between my flexplate and the cruciform one shown in the book but do not know the significance.

My car does not have its original 2 speed auto box, it has been changed to a 3 speed Torqueflite A-727. The torque converter also looks new and commensurate with a forged crankshaft in that there are no balance weights on it.

So, should I change the flexplate? Where do I get one?

Thanks for advice.

Jerry

Mossy68 · Post by **Mossy68** » Fri Jul 11, 14 9:49 pm

Hi and welcome to the club.
Nice to see something different.
Have a good look through previous threads etc. the wealth of knowledge on here is second to none
You've come to the right place.

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Fri Jul 11, 14 10:01 pm

Another way to tell if you have a forged or cast crank is by the Harmonic Balancer. Cast cranks have an external balanced Harmonic Balancer, you can tell by the counter weight on the Balancer like the one pictured

As Blue said forged are internally balanced so wont have the counter weight.

Dart Vader · Post by **Dart Vader** » Fri Jul 11, 14 10:13 pm

Hi Jerry,

Lovely car you have, excellent to have such a rare beast. You couldn't have joined at a better time, just two weeks from our main event of the year at Santa Pod, the Mopar Euronationals

Bring it along on one of the days so we can see it !

As for Chris at WASPS, he can get anything pretty quickly and very reasonably

As for Rockauto there is a nak for getting things the cheapest way, it means using the smart shopper button which throws out the best way of reducing the shipping by buying the most items from one of their dealers. They are brokers of a sort and search the inventory of various suppliers for you and you benefit from their buying prices.

Go on, come to the Nats, look under events section

Cannonball · Post by **Cannonball** » Fri Jul 11, 14 10:47 pm

i have never seen a 383 with a cast crank, i would think its a steel crank so yes get rid of that flex plate you need one that looks the same but no cut out as yours has,, but double check and as has been mentioned check your crank damper the regular steel crank damper is only circa 1" thick the cast crank type are much thicker,,,
facel vega beautifiul car they drive so sweetly nothing like a sixties mopar you would think they are a solid decade newer,

do your side windows over lap the rears with no seals inbetween ???