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This has to be the BEST thread on mopart's ever....hand's down......Thank you Joe Pappas

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There is nothing more valuable than gettting these facts, and great stories straight from the people that were right there.

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Thanks for the reply, Joe. Your story about picking up the Colt in CA intertwines with a story from Bruce Meihls from the Rod Shop. Here is the gist of the story as Bruce related it to me one day.

As a new employee at the Rod Shop, Bruce Meihls was excited by the prospect of working for a very successful racing team. He was a “roadie”, one of the crew whose responsibilities included driving the transporter, washing the race car, getting water to cool the car down, pushing the car through the staging lanes, and every other conceivable job to make this team a success. The Rod Shop's first Colt, the “B/Gas" car for Jim Thompson, was delivered semi-finished in Spring of 1973. Due to the commitments of the racing schedule, the time just wasn’t available for the team to finish it. It was decided to send the car to Butler Racing in CA, and have Ron Butler work his magic. Butch Leal had debuted a Butler-built Duster in 1973, and it was very good. So good, in fact, that the Rod Shop had ordered a Dart for Bob Riffle. Thus, the Colt was destined for a trip to California.

Bruce volunteered to deliver the car to Butler Racing, and at the same time fit in a family vacation, fo off to California with the Colt on a trailer behind the station wagon. Bruce was scheduled to deliver the car on Monday, but actually arrived in Ca on Friday night. Not wanting to drag it around on vacation, Bruce decided to go to Butlers on Saturday morning and see if he could drop it off. Upon arriving at Butler Racing, Bruce went around to the back of the building, and one of the overhead doors was open. There were five men standing around looking at a new race car. A Dodge Colt. There was some magic marker on the scoop and door. The hood said 366 Hemi. The door said Mini Missile!
Bruce looked around, and finally someone asked if they could help him. Bruce mentioned that he was from the Rod Shop, and wanted to drop off a car. Imagine his surprise as they gruffly asked him to leave, and bring the car back on Monday! Bruce did return the car on Monday (of course the Mini Missile was gone), and called Jim Thompson (one of the Rod Shop founders) to report that it was there. He also mentioned the curious incident about the “Mini Missile”, and Jim Thompson became rather curious. A call to Dick Maxwell at Chrysler didn’t net any real answers.

It turns out the “Mopar Missile” team had their Colt before the first Rod Shop car was even delivered! In later years, Bruce would become very familiar with the five men at Butler Racing that day. Tom Hoover, Don Carlton, Ted Spehar, Clyde Hodges, and Ron Butler!

Funny story!

Mark

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Hey Stewart, I know it's just a mock up engine in this pic, but any idea why there's such a huge gap between the intake and the head? Even the angle looks wrong. Was there something different about the D5 setup and this was set together here with a standard tunnel ram?

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This has to be the BEST thread on mopart's ever....hand's down......Thank you Joe Pappas, My interest was just growing (thank's to my mum) as you were retiring at a guess....early Bob Glidden day's in the Arrow as my vauge memory serves me....im not sure how big the gap was
The ??? what year did you last race a professional race?

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The D5 was quite a different breed from previous 426 Hemi heads. The valve angle was much shallower than the D1/D4/D6 heads, which also made the combustion chamber much shallower. The intake and exhaust ports were round (and smaller than the standard Hemi), and had a much straighter shot at the valve. This is what changed the angle at which the intake manifold surface mated with the head (the manifold in the picture is for standard Hemi heads). Also, the intake and exhaust ports were much higher than the standard Hemi, and this is part of what made the D5 Colt front chassis a little different. Notice how low the front cage runners are going out to the front of the frame rails.

Another interesting change was the way the rocker arms were situated on the head, which moved the pushrods and changed the pushrod cutouts in the block to a different location.

Why the D5 heads? Henry Weslake designed them, and he had quite a reputation as a world-class racing head designer. He felt that the intake port was way too big on the Hemi for its intended rpm range, and thus the D5 had a smaller and round intake. And as for the exhaust ports, Weslake raised them alot and shortened the port length, getting rid of that more-than-90 degree bend in the standard Hemi exhaust. Chrysler thought they had a world-beater when those heads arrived, but disappointment soon followed.

Were they successful? Well, yes and no. The factory teams tried them on 426's (not successful), 396's (a little success), and 366's (better, but the 366 had other issues). The ports were just too small, and most or all of the factory teams went back to the D4 aluminum heads. Chrysler went back to the drawing board and came up with the D6 head design years later, the best of the factory heads in my opinion (leaky and porous castings aside).

The D5 heads were most successful at the beginning of the 500" PS motor days, as racers were willing to put alot of work into the heads to get HUGE ports out of them. While the D5 had small ports, there was alot of material there to play with, and some racers even welded in new material to make huge round intake ports for the 500" monsters.

Hope that helps,

Mark

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D5 Hagen motor

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Lookie at that tiny little dome! Hardly looks like a Hemi, now does it?

We finally got Stewart to eat somewhere besides the BBQ joint! I had a good time with the Tampa Mopar boys at Logans Roadhouse. If I knew Stewart was going to pick up the tab (again), I'd have gotten the biggest filet mignon they had instead of the smallest.

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1974 Southern Style Pro-Stock Racing...note the quality of the track...narrow, telephone poles, no guardrails past 60'...

1974 Pro Stock Racing

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Good ole' down home NC drag racing @ it's best

Joe have you ever thought about writing a book with all these old stories ???

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D5 Hagen motor

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Lookie at that tiny little dome! Hardly looks like a Hemi, now does it?

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it looks like a P to V check was getting done along with a chamber impression.

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I believe the white PS Duster that wrecked was the short-lived David Sox car - Reed in Neb.

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I believe the white PS Duster that wrecked was the short-lived David Sox car - Reed in Neb.

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