I've driven e-bodies sense 1974 and always just put up with that annoying little whistle that most of them have. Been a while sense I've driven one. I just about forgot about that little whistle until the other day when I was driving a convertible down the road and the choir got started up, it just about ran me nuts in the first 5 miles of the stretch. It comes in about 30 mph on. You'd think it is a windshield whistle but I have never been able to locate it while going down the road, I thought about chasing it with the 3" masking tape. I also thought once that it was a mirror noise but putting my hand all around the mirror doesn't affect it either. This is a 71 Challenger 318 car with the flat hood on it. Has anyone out there ever figured this dilemma out???

I had two 71 challengers back in the day,30 years ago, both whistled which always seamed to me to be right at the drivers mirror area. I always thought it was the mirror???

I've always noticed the whistle on '70 Barracudas & Cudas. Never knew what it was caused by, but loved it!

Holy crap, I thought I was the only one! Mine comes from the back glass so I removed the trim and used some black silicon to try to fill some of the rot around the rubber but it did not help.

In my car, I swear it comes from the back glass but that could just be an echo. I am so thankful for this thread and I hope someone knows the answer.

Based on remembered history with a buddies one owner '70, we narrowed it down to the gap between the top of the grille lip and the edge of the upper valence.
You know, the panel in front of the hood, and the grille.

We used some masking tape to try and seal up an area at a time, and IIRC, that was it.

On his, at least.

Edit; his was a Barracuda ...

Here, read this:


E Body Whistle

Well this ought to knock you E-Body guys down a peg or two

Interesting read, hope y'all find it

The next time I get the car out, I'm going to tape up the front hood moldings to begin with but you'd bet money it's the mirror or windshield molding, it's right in my ear. I bought a Cuda new in 74 and I remember it having a little whistle but not like this challenger convert. I also have a 70 cuda that's air tigh with no whistles ...if that's possible...like the other guy said, I've had it 35 years so I've had time to perfect all those rattles. The top down might make it sound louder from the inside of the car. The other whistle thread had some good responses on it. I'll let you know what happens.

You need to try and hook up with someone that has a wind tunnel. Maybe easier said than done, but that could sort it out pretty quick. Or get some Mopar magazine to do the same since the problem is so prevalent??? Hint. Hint.

Your exhaust and radio aren't loud enough!

For some reason I seem to remember a similar issue with a customers e body. There was no lower steering shaft bushing in the column jacket. Fabbed one up out of black delrin and the noise went away. might try closing the hole with something temporarily and see if its the cause. keep us posted

That makes a lot of sense. I'll give it a try.

This is what I did. I taped up the windshield on this convertible, even taped the lower windshield moulding where the wiper arms go thru, plus taped up the moulding on the front of the hood. Test drive up to 40mph...BINGO, no noises. Now the process of elimination began. Off comes the upper w/s moulding tape, no noise. The side w/s moulding tape, 1 at a time...no noise. The lower w/s mldg tape, no noise. The LH headlight bezel...no noise. The RH headligt bezel...no noise. Tore about 12" off the LH side of te hood mldg...it's back. Taped it back up and removed 12" from the rh side of the hood mldg, it's back. Both of these started at 30 mph and left about 40-45 mph. Returned te tape back on the hood corners and removed about 1 1/2 foot in the center of te hood. A new pitch that comes in at 50-60 mph. This mldg actually had a quartet that came in at 30mph and 55 mph. No wonder I was about to go nuts. Now the fix begins. I took the hood mldg off figuring an easy fix. Not so. 70 and 71 Challenger hood mldgs are a crappy fit from the factory as I soon learned. YOu can't adjust them up or down. SO I tried to tighten the gap on what was doable and installed a thin layer of insulation. Finally after bending and rebending for about 30 minutes, the noise is about 90% gone. It will be fine for now until I get time to make another run at it later. The 72-74 should be much easier to adjust because the mounting studs go directly in the front leding edge of te hood. The 70-71 has small wheel opening screws that mount from the under side of the front hood flange. SO you 72-74 owners may want to consider this if you have the same whistle.

The top side. I'm not totally happy with it yet.

The 72-74 should be much easier to adjust because the mounting studs go directly in the front leding edge of te hood. The 70-71 has small wheel opening screws that mount from the under side of the front hood flange. SO you 72-74 owners may want to consider this if you have the same whistle.

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I am working on a 72 Challenger that is a rolling shell. When I bought the car, it was missing the hood moulding therefore I did not see how it was secured to the hood. I also thought there were mounting studs that went through the front but I was told that there are only the screws on the under side like the 70 and 71.
Are there studs through the front?

I am glad to hear there was some progress made on finding the whistle!
I have seen an earlier post regarding the noise and I was hoping someone would come up with a solution!