Guys,
need some help, please...
putting the shaker baseplate on top of my 383, 4bbl, and it rocks left to right. I got the feet to put on the baseplate, but don't know where they go on the baseplate (or on the engine)...can anyone provide a picture or schematic or something?
thanks in advance!
purple heart challenger

383 shakers don't use the feet, they actually use a support rod. It is made out of "hex" rod and threaded on both ends... on the block end it goes into the middle hole on the valley pan hold-down, and up on the shaker baseplate there is a raised area with a hole, and uses a wingnut. I think I posted a picture a long time ago but I am sure with only one year of history it is gone now.

If nobody puts up a picture, I will try and find one.

Darren

Darren,
thanks for the info!! you ROCK! if you can find the picture, that would be awesome!
working on finishing the car...just got back from a year in iraq.
thanks!
Ken

Well then... first, thank you for your service to our country and welcome home!

Here's a picture of a shaker base, the part with the white circle is where it should have a hole and the rod comes through there, topped off with a wingnut.

I'm looking for a picture of the rod, and I will try to dig up contact info for a guy who still had (as of ~1 year ago) some leftovers of the rods which he had reproduced.

What are the details on your shaker car? Original one? Mine is a plum crazy 71 383 4-speed R/T... a project just sitting in my garage but I'll get to it someday.



Darren

Here's a picture of what you need..

Here's a closeup of the wingnut...a gentleman in Rochester, NY does an excellent reproduction of the rod and nut

And here's the best picture of the actual rod that I can find. Again, mine is sitting in a box of parts, so I don't have a reference car to take a picture of.

I think a member in Alaska was putting together a setup like this last year, but I haven't seen any pictures of his completed setup.

Oh yeah, the carb needs a spacer like Holley #108-18 in order to be tall enough to work with this rod.

One final disclaimer... I am by no means an expert on the subject and all of this info is second-hand, but I believe it to be correct. I'll PM you the guy's contact info that had the reproduction rods and wingnuts.

Darren

Thanks Darren!!
Mine is a 1970 Plum Crazy...383 is original (bored .10 over), 3 spd, but adding the shaker hood (I've always wanted one).
Put a Speed Demon 4bbl carb on top of it.
Took it all the way down to the frame, and built it back up...bought it back in '04 when I got back from my first tour in Southwest Asia.
thanks again!
Ken

Darren,
one last question: would you know the length of the hex rod? worst case, I can fabricate something here.
thanks again!
Ken

*BUMP*

Who in Rochester repro's this?

I don't want to publish his name on a public forum without permission, and I haven't been in touch with him in quite a while. If someone is interested in one of these, PM me and I'll give you his e-mail address... when I got mine he said he had "limited stock" and didn't act like he was going to have more made, so they may not even be available.

Darren

I'm the Alaska guy who did the mod earlier this year. The NY guy's rod is expensive ($100), but he's also the only show in town so go figure. The rod length is perfect for the stock carb height with the spacer referred to earlier. Unsure how it might work with non-stock carbs, but surely you'll have to play with different spacer combinations to get it sitting right.

I don't have a photo, but I'll try to get out in the garage in the next few days to get one.

One more thought. Do you know for sure you have a 383 base plate? Because they are unique to 383s. Most places will try to sell you a 440 and tell you it will work -- wrong. The 440 baseplate's carb fitting is a different height than the 383s. If you use it, then the 383 rod will be the wrong length.

The 383 base 3462485, is the only 4 bbl shaker base that had the hole for the the rod stamped in the boss, as shown in this picture. Later 383 bases did not come with the hole nor did most over the counter 383 bases. The 383 base had the deepest neck of the three 4 barrel shaker bases, at 2 inches. A real 440 base ( extremely rare ) would measure 1/2 inch shorter and have no provisions for feet of any sort.
The 383 rod is not that difficult to fabricate, but if you are going for correct appearance, the funky factory style wingnut that Chris in NY reproduces along with the rod, is pretty hard to duplicate.

As an aside, I plan on running a Mopar M1 dual-plane intake on my 383. Should be very close to the OEM iron intake as far as carb height???