There is nothing like being less than eight weeks out from the start of a rally and discovering a mechanical problem that might lead to the team having to scrap its car and start over. That’s exactly what happened to Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse. Val suddenly developed a power problem accompanied by a low-frequency brushing, whining sound from her rear end. Never a happy sound, and particularly concerning in a Plymouth Valiant.
See, Plymouth Valiants equipped with the slant six 225 engine (amazingly reliable and just about un-killable) have an Achilles Heel… the rear differential (the device that transfers energy from the driveshaft to the rear wheels to make the car go). For some reason, Plymouth decided to go with a 7 1/4″ differential that was just strong enough to support the nominal torque produced by the engine, but could wear quickly or fail catastrophically under too high a load or if the transmission shifted gears irregularly. Based on the symptoms, that’s exactly what we thought had happened with Val.
Rebuilding a rear differential is a costly process and used Mopar parts aren’t are plentiful in the South as they are elsewhere in the country. To make matters worse, most of the tools and just about all the know-how required to do a rear-end swap reside with Burn, who lives more than 1,000 miles away from Crash.
Enter Paul Chambers. Following up on a lead from the North Georgia Mopar Club, Crash reached out to Paul, whose independent shop was a mere 30 miles from Atlanta. After a white-knuckle drive out to Paul’s shop, Crash discovered Paul was not only a top-notch provider of maintenance and repair services for modern Mopars, but a specialist in maintaining, repairing and restoring the classic ones too. (That’s Paul’s personal, fully-restored Superbee in the photos below.) Paul took THOTC under his wing, scrounged parts from his yard and those of some nearby friends, and got Val’s rear end back into tip-top condition.
Drive, tow or push your Mopar of any era to Paul’s shop in Covington, Georgia the next time you need maintenance or repairs, and talk to him about restoration services if your Mopar is a classic. He is THOTC-recommended, Val-approved and can be reached at (678) 789-6749.
For heroic assistance above and beyond the call of duty in support of fundraising efforts for American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes, THOTC is pleased to name Paul Chambers an honorary sponsor of the team for the 2011 BABE Rally.
Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse 
[…] sponsor, North Georgia Mopar Club. After learning about the club while searching for a cure for Val’s ailing rear-end last month, Crash and Val went to check them out at the club’s 2011 Mopar Challenge […]
[…] North Georgia Mopar Club first became acquainted last year after a club member helped the team fix Val’s ailing rear-end less than a month before the Rally. Crash and Val went to check out the club at its 2011 Mopar […]