Updated 11/6/04

Tips and Alternatives For Turbo Dodges From

MoparMat2000


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A/C

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Hi all

My A/C clutch hub bearing was making an awful noise upon startup and cold operation; it would also make this noise when the RPM’s got up there. I knew the bearing was on its way out, so I removed the A/C belt until I could look at it. Well, I priced out a new A/C clutch assembly from Mopar for $122 my jobber price, one from the auto parts store was $102 the auto parts store also said there was a replaceable bearing listed for $27. This got my always thrifty mind to thinking.

I purchased an A/C clutch hub puller for 1985 to 1993 year model Chrysler A/C clutches made by four seasons part number #59509 for about $14.95 and pulled the hub assembly off the compressor, removed the snap ring, and pulled off the clutch hub pulley. The bearing number in the pulley is NSK # 40BD49AWDU5

I called my local bearing supply house with this number and a possible cross to a different equivalent number. They came up with two numbers and prices.
NACHI # 40BGS12G-2DS $6.65
BCA # 5000KFF $22.00

The bearing presses out the back of the pulley, (side that faces the compressor), but the steel of the pulley is peened over the bearings outer race on this side to hold the bearing in place. It almost looks like the bearing and the pulley is all one piece, but they are not. You will have to take a flat blade screwdriver and hammer, carefully bend this metal back straight to press out the old bearing, and press in the new bearing. After you press in the new bearing just tap the metal back over to peen it back against the new bearings outer race. I also used red Loctite® on the bearing’s outer race when I pressed it in just to insure it stays put.

I took the hub and pulley assemblies to a friend’s house and used his machine lathe to true up the mating surfaces where they come together when the A/C clutch magnet is energized, reassembled it all, and shimmed up the clutch hub to get the proper clutch hub spacing when disengaged. Check your FSM for proper clutch hub shimming.

I bought the cheaper bearing for $6.65. The total cost was $23.33 with tax which included buying the hub puller tool which you will need anyways to get it apart, even if you go with a new clutch. I guess we will see how long the cheaper bearing holds up LOL. This is a good quick cheap fix if your A/C still blows cold since you will not loose the A/C refrigerant charge by pulling the clutch to repair it. You can get at it relatively easy without unbolting the compressor from its mount.

Hope this helps
Mat


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Wheel Bearings

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Hi all

If you need front wheel bearings, why not try what I did. I was not going to pay almost $70 for a bearing and hub assembly. i went to my local bearing supply house after I pressed off the bearing from the hub, and pressed it out of the steering knuckle. I actually used a heavy brass drift punch and a big hammer. the brass will deform before it mars up the steel.

The numbers off the old bearing assembly were KOYO numbers and crossed to a BCA part number # 513006 for $45.00 each. Using the old wheel bearings to back up the new ones i pressed everything back together, in a standard bench vise. (Do NOT use a hammer to beat the new bearings in) striking the bearings repeatedly will damage them. I also ordered 2 new wheel dust seals where the CVs plug into the back of the bearing from Mopar. Part number is 5212535, at about $8.00 each.

Using some cheap oven cleaner and my wash sink I scrubbed all the crust, and dried up grease off the steering knuckles and hub and dried them off. This way it all goes back together clean. I also used anti-seize on the bearings inner and outer races before pressing them together, so if I need to replace them later on they will come apart easy.

The bearing part number I listed will fit 1987 to at least 1990 G,J,P,H,K, maybe L with 5 lug hubs, and standard size front disc brakes and includes 87, and 88 Daytona Shelby Z, it may fit as early as 85 and as new as 93 models too. I don’t know for sure as I don’t have anything that old, or that new. If anybody does this bearing replacement on an 85 model please let me know if this bearing will fit back this far.

If you have to go thru all this it may be a good idea to look at replacing your struts to see if they are on their way out, check your tie rod ends, check your axles for wear or torn boots, and take a look at your front brakes. You will need a wheel alignment after doing this.

I installed these bearings on my beater 87 Lebaron. Over 2K miles now and no troubles yet.

Hope this helps
Mat


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Pop-Up Headlight Modules

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Hi all

I take these headlamp relay boxes apart and repair/rebuild them. I do this on exchange plus cash for my time and parts. You send me your broke one I send you a rebuilt, and tested one. You can re-solder the solder joints but 9 times out of 10 that isn’t the problem, its a bad relay, capacitor, or diode on the board. I install all new relays as part of the rebuild job. As well as thoroughly test the box to make sure it’s in good working order.

I get $45.00 exchanged plus $7.00 FedEx 2 day air shipping or $65.00 plus $7.00 FedEx 2 day air shipping for an outright buy without exchange.

I prefer to do an exchange as it keeps my inventory up and I don’t have to junkyard for more of these for useable cores. Keep in mind these boxes are close to $200.00 new from your dealer. I currently have relay boxes in my inventory for 87, 88, and 89 G and J body cars. I do not have any of these headlamp relay boxes for the 1990 model G or J body but can repair yours for you for the same price as an exchanged unit. If you send me a headlamp relay box for exchange the mounting tabs must be there and not broken off as your core will eventually end up in someone else’s car.

Hope this helps.
Mat
Click here to e-mail Moparmat2000 for info.


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Passenger Seat Modifacation

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Hi all

I just modified my passenger seat with a Chrysler Lebaron coupe passenger seat outboard track, and recline hinge mechanism. This makes it more convenient to let people into the back seat. All you have to do is fold the seat back forward and push the seat forward on the track. You don’t even have to use the lever under the seat to do it. Once your passengers are in or out of the car just push the seat into its original position, and then flop the seat back into its upright position. Works great and is very convenient. Best of all it is unseen leaving your car looking stock.

it seems all Lebaron coupes from 87 to 89 have this feature even the base models. It’s plug n play too. All you need off the donor car is the outboard seat track and the recline hinge mechanism (held in with 4 bolts) and the bent wire linkage that attaches the 2 pieces together. This swap can be done in your driveway in about 20 minutes. You can reuse your original seats in your car, and reuse your original plastic seat trims as they are the same as the Lebaron ones.

This adds no weight to your car since you are swapping like items.

Hope this helps Mat


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Infinity Stero System

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Hi all

There is always speculation over the infinity stereo with amplified speaker system so today i will separate the fact from the fiction. the infinity stereo head units ALL have built in amplifiers, and are a plug n play affair in any 80s Mopar weather it has amplified speakers or not.

The infinity l cassette deck made from between 1988 to 1991 has the most durable and easy to fix cassette deck mechanism out of all of them and has 4 built in solid state Phillips amps. this unit is made by Chrysler electronics its biggest feature is the joystick surround sound. if the cassette mechanism starts to fail to eject the cassette. You can disassemble the radio and replace the cassette mechanism drive belt, as this is also used for cassette auto feed and eject. the infinity l also has provision in the back for the accessory CD player available on some models. some later models of this stereo do NOT have the CD player jack. So, be careful when looking for one of these if you eventually want the optional accessory CD player.

The Infinity ll cassette deck made from 1988 to 1990 also has 4 solid state built in amplifiers. This unit has surround sound, and a 5 band pushbutton and multi LED equalizer. This radio is built by Mitsubishi. It is extremely complicated inside. This radio also has provision on the back for the accessory CD player.

The later infinity cassette deck, commonly referred to as the infinity gold was made by 2 different manufacturers. Either Chrysler electronics in Mexico, or by Alpine electronics in Japan, both look the same from the front, however are different enough inside that parts will not interchange between the two. this unit has 2 built in solid state Toshiba amplifiers. A LED slide button 5 band equalizer. The one built by Chrysler electronics uses the same cassette deck mechanism as the cheaper cassette decks of the same years. the printed circuit board that runs this cassette deck is specific to its radio. this unit also has provision in the back for the accessory CD player

now that some of the infinity stereo head unit formalities are out of the way lets talk about the vehicle wiring. if your car was offered with the infinity system as either an upgraded option or as standard equipment when the car was new then every vehicle of this type was actually wired for the most part the same.

Example: 1988 dodge Daytona base model came with AM/FM or AM/FM cassette. but infinity upgrade was available as an option Pacifica and Shelby Z came standard with the infinity l but could be upgraded to an infinity ll

All the wiring in this car body for this year was pretty much the same no matter what radio it had. the infinity system was pretty much 4 speakers, a relay, and a stereo. That’s it. Since we know that infinity head units have built in amplifiers they will run non amplified speakers (read aftermarket brands) with no problem. What you need to do is find base model Dodges and Plymouths in the salvage of the type and year that you have that still have the stock non amplified speakers still in them. Disconnect the speaker wiring from the body connector, and cut the wires off at the speakers soldered on connections. so what you have is a plug with 2 wires to solder onto your non amplified aftermarket speaker and plug into your body wiring. You will notice the infinity speaker connections have 4 wires in the body connector. Your non amplified speaker connectors you got from the junkyard will be a 4 wire connector with only 2 wires pinned in them. An alternative is to just hack off the connectors on your stock infinity speakers keeping some wire length. And you will wire the 2 center wires in the connector to your non amplified speakers. The 2 outboard wires on the connectors are power and ground for the speaker amps and are now unused. I suggest de-pinning these wires and removing them from the speaker side connector since one of them always has power going to it with ignition in either the on or accessory positions. 

Stock Mopar speakers weather they are infinity or base model are all 8 Ohms impedance. The industry standard for aftermarket brands of speakers for compatibility of different brands is 4 ohms impedance. Infinity amplified speakers are pretty old technology. There is new and better sounding stuff out there today. If you decide to upgrade your speakers to aftermarket, (which in my opinion is probably the best thing you could do), sound quality wise it would be better to change them all out at the same time. If you elect to do them at different times your 4 Ohm speakers will get louder faster than the stockers since there is less resistance on the speaker to make noise than the stock 8 Ohm speakers. On models of infinity stereo with 4 amps this wont present too much of a problem, but later infinity stereos with only 2 amps this difference in resistance could damage the amplifiers. Additionally running a 4 Ohm set of speakers will extend the life of the factory infinity stereos internal amplifiers since they don’t have to work as hard to give you sound.

Most aftermarket brands of speakers come in standard sizes to fit your existing sheet metal openings, and have mounting holes that approximate where your old speakers bolt up making it pretty much plug n play. Also the stock speaker grilles can be snapped back on covering up your investment from prying eyes.

I have converted 3 different cars with the Infinity amplified speaker system to non amped speaker type operation using stock Infinity head units. All of them work great. My 1988 Daytona Shelby Z has aftermarket Infinity reference speakers all around, and works and sounds great. The head unit in this car is a 1988 vintage Infinity ll cassette deck, with Chrysler Infinity optional CD player below it, my 1987 Lebaron coupe uses an infinity CD / cassette player out of a 1998 dodge Durango, kicker impulse 3&1/2" speakers in the dash, Pioneer 5&1/4" in the doors and Jensen 5x7/6x8" in the rear. the third car was a 1990 Daytona ES my wife used to drive. It was all Sony Xplod speakers, with an Infinity l cassette head unit.

I have also repaired many infinity cassette decks in the past, so i am familiar with their inner workings.



About the Infinity amplified speakers

If you have a car with the Infinity system specifically the speakers, wiring, and relay, a stock "non Infinity" Chrysler stereo will work. When we traded in my wife’s 1998 dodge Durango SLT I wasn’t letting the factory Infinity CD / cassette player stereo go with it. I pulled the stereo, swapped in a stock Chrysler cassette deck and the Infinity speakers in the truck worked just fine. Hooking up a Sony stereo or any other aftermarket head unit world work, however I suspect that with the Infinity speakers being 8 OHM the aftermarket head unit’s internal amplifiers would work twice as hard to make the sound it normally would if it was powering aftermarket 4 OHM speakers. Which it what it is designed for. This would probably reduce its life. Hope this helps
Mat


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Removing Widow Tint

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Hi all

I was faced with a dilemma this weekend and found the ultimate solution. My Lebaron had some old nasty window tint on it. I was able to scrape off the stuff on the side windows ok however I didn’t want to ruin the rear window defogger by scraping against the defogger lines on the rear glass. i called up a window tinting place and asked how to remove the old tint of the rear glass without harming the defogger lines.

I was told to mix up a 50% 50% mix of water and ammonia and put this in an old Windex bottle. Cut out a piece of plastic to fit your rear window, spray the mixture on the tint (inside the window) and cover it with the plastic to hold the liquid against the glass. Keep the car in the shade for about 5 hours, pull the plastic back, and then start peeling the old tint off. this works so well it took all the glue off with the tint leaving an almost perfectly clear window. I had to reapply the plastic and ammonia water mixtures twice as it did not all come off the first time. It’s not a fast job but it works very well. i was pretty impressed by the results. don’t forget to wear safety glasses, and a respirator as this stuff is pretty nasty to people and can hurt you. It however did not seem to harm or discolor any of my plastics.

Hope this helps
Mat



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