78 roadrunner

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July 05, 2008, 06:58:36 PM

I picked up a small block,for my son and have been looking around for something to put it in.A buddy of mine said i know where a road runner is here is the guys no#.I give the guy a call not only is it a roadrunner but 2 complete 78 cars and a plymouth volair (spelling) i guess basicaly the same car.What should i look for on them the good the bad etc.

Rust. Check out the front frame rails right where it bends up (around the firewall), the rear rails on the flat spot in front of the rear axle, and especially the lower quarter panels, floors and rockers.

A lot of people don't like these cars because they're not a "true" muscle car built from 67-74. Also there were never really any hi performance options from the factory. I like them though, the parts are easy to get for mechanicals...rotors, gas tanks, etc can all be had new from aftermarket sources because the mechanicals are the same as the M-body (diplomat/fifth avenue/lebaron/etc) up until '89. The transverse mounted torsion bars are weird to work on at first.

The big problem with those cars is the rust. As long as the body is in good shape, the rest is pretty easy. FYI I think a B-body 8 3/4 either bolts in, or is very close. My dad's '80 had one in it and it doesn't look modified at all. Check out www.members.aol.com/brettjh for some good classifieds, and links to other sites with lots of tech info.

Adam

Thanks Adam,yeah i know it's not a true muscle car, but it's a rear wheel drive car that we can work on together.I will make sure i check out the rust issues.Oh and thanks for the link. LARRY

Be sure to check out all of the spoilers and louvers. They can be a pain the the a$$ to find. Everytime I see one of those Volare Roadrunners or Aspen R/T's in a boneyard they are always stripped of those parts.

My R/T went low 12`s . Fun !

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My friend had one of those Volare roadrunners. It had a B body 8 3/4 in it with a floater and ladder bars. He swapped in a four speed (from an overdriven 4 speed), a 340 with W2 heads and nitrous. It was the fastest small block street car I was ever in. great sleeper. Everyone laughed at it until they got their doors blown off by it.

Ive always liked the look of them. they may not be 'true' musclecars but some with of the oddball combos Ive seen lately (one of the oddest being some Russian sedan a guy had shoehorned a 5.0 F0rd into), its alot closer than many.

keep it mopar and put some real ooompf into it, no one will be bitching too loud. at least...not for long

a pirates life for me

Anybody remember that blown hemi Volare from Chicago years ago? It was scary fast. The last time I saw that car, it popped up in a magazine 10 or 12 years ago, with a wedge with B1's and everything anodized purple. Never saw anything on it again, so I don't know if it ever was completed. When it was featured in Car Craft years ago, it had a 426 with a 6-71 blower, a pair of Dominators and I'm pretty sure it had a Lenco. It was Black with a blue and a purple stripe with Centerlines... Ring a bell? anyone?

My father had bought a brand new 79 back in the day with a 360 in it. After he old it, it got smashed up three times:( It did run high 13's stock though.

Quote from: NYRR496 on May 10, 2007, 01:04:15 PM

I remember that car. Wonder where it went?

Quote from: NYRR496 on May 10, 2007, 01:04:15 PM

Yup ! That car was what I was going to do my R/T up like ..........then I got the Dart .
Cool !
Chryco Wink

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Thanks guys for the input,for now the small block is all he is getting.I'm not turning a teenager loose whith a BB car .I've looked around and alll the older cars here on the east coast are pretty well eaten up with cancer.What he does with it down the road is up to him,but atleast its a project we can do together.Hopefully the bcuda will be on the road this summer and we can get started on his.

Good luck finding a good project.

We had quite the adventure to get my dad's. See, he bought one new in '80, ordered a Road Runner with a slant six 4 speed (OD) because you couldn't get any other engine with a manual trans in '80. Not even a super six 2bbl. He put an offy intake, 4 bbl holley, and hot ignition on it but I think that's it.....previously he had had a '72 Duster with a slant/904 with the same offy/holley, a MP header, cam, head work, that would eat up mild small blocks all day long but it was his daily driver and by 1980 was reduced to scrap by rust, so he took the intake and carb, and put it on the Road Runner when it arrived.

The '80 was our family's daily driver along with a '77 Aspen wagon until '85 when he bought a S10 Blazer and sold the Aspen. We moved from Sault Ste. Marie to Ottawa in '95, with the Blazer and he bought a '90 Plymouth Laser (IE Mitsu eclipse) with a 2L turbo 5 speed. Left the RR at his parents' house in SSM. We tore it apart a few summers ago and replaced the inner and outer rockers....but it's pretty far gone from the harsh salty winters. We have new fenders and doors for it, but still need to find quarters and patch up the floors, trunk floor, inner fenderwells, rear frame rails (front rails are okay.......because he replaced them with NOS units in 1991 due to rust, haha). Plans are to keep that one mostly stock with a hot slant six in it.

ANyway, in 2002 when I was 15, I talked my dad into buying another trashed '80 RR on Ebay. They're hard to come by as they only made 490 some odd Road Runners for 1980, I think 496. He picked it up for $227.50 USD, we drove from Ottawa to Chicago with the Astro van to pick it up with a U-haul trailer and brought it back. Trashed interior, rusty front frame, rusty floors, no motor (set up for a Chev 350 by the hillbilly previous owner with an auto Chevy trans in it). They must have been using it as a race car because they cut out all the wiring for anything that wasn't absolutely necessary for the car to run. Well after 2 years it was on the road with a stock 318 2bbl and a 4-speed (it was also an original slant six/4 speed car). Was good for about 15mpg city and 20+ highway, and probably mid 15s. The last owner did one thing right...put in a B-body 8 3/4 with a 3.23 sure grip. Since then, I picked up a 360 out of a zamboni (yes, an older propane engine) that had just been rebuilt. He knew nothing about it other than it had a pentastar on it and was freshly rebuilt (long block fresh paint with a rebuild tag). So he picked that up for $50, tore it apart again to replace the cam and pistons, ported the heads and had them shaved, put on a single plane MP intake, 650 holley (last year) with headers and a dual exhaust. It was pretty quick....and awesome on gas. He got 26mpg on a road trip to Sault Ste Marie with it with a vaccuum secondaries carb. Put on a double pumper 650 and it was faster but got a rock solid 9.5mpg city.....both of those carbs were rebuilt and had their issues.....

This year he's got it torn apart for a new gas tank, all stainless lines, and right now he's patching up the lower quarters. SOON we'll do a paint job on it...looks kinda like a Joe Dirt car right now. I'll get some pictures up when it's back on the road for the year.

Anyways, sorry about the long winded tale......What I'm trying to get at, is F-bodies are fun, generally easy to get parts for (except body parts), cheap, and unique. I've seen a couple with big blocks in them at shows, but rarely see two alike unless they're stock. Good luck and have fun!

Adam