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Have you ever thought about replacing the factory breaker-points distributor in your Mopar with modern electronic ignition but haven't wanted to mess with re-wiring your car? We all want the convenience and reliability of modern electronic ignition, but there are several obstacles when it comes to installing most aftermarket ignition systems. First, ignition boxes can be cumbersome, and require drilling holes and a mounting location away from heat sources but still convenient enough to wire the unit and make adjustments. Second, ignition systems can require additional wiring or hacking into the factory wiring harness, something most of us are hesitant to do. Fortunately, MSD has a great distributor available for Mopar big-blocks, small-blocks, and Hemis that contains the electronic ignition components inside, making it ready to run with only three wires to connect.

Each year at Mopar Muscle magazine we host a contest for engine builders across the country to highlight their skills by competing in the annual AMSOIL/Mopar Muscle Engine Challenge. The challenge begins at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, where the rules are outlined and applications are handed out. Engine shops then have two months to apply to be in the contest, and we choose eight competitors to build engines, which are then delivered to the Mopar Nationals, and tested on the engine dyno at Comp Cams the following month.

The Chrysler Corporation has a long history of producing some of the best class-legal racecars of any auto manufacturer, designing cars and powerplants with the purpose of drag and circle track domination. And while most of us remember the famous Dodge and Plymouth racecars of the sixties and seventies, were you aware that the new Dodge Challenger in drag-pack form is specifically designed for the Stock and Super Stock classes of drag racing? And even if your Challenger is simply a fast street car or sees street/strip duty, there are important safety items, such as a roll bar, that should be considered in the interest of safety and chassis stiffness.

When it comes to the local soccer mom and her minivan, she doesn't care whether or not that engine is carbureted or fuel injected. All she cares about is whether or not it'll start and get her to the appropriate location to drop off the kids and have a couple hours of peace and quiet-she'll think about picking them up later-maybe. For years, carburetion was the mainstay of every car's fuel delivery system, and it worked relatively well. That is, until the needle for the float stuck, the carburetor needed a rebuild, or some enterprising hot rodder thought he knew what he was doing, and adjusted it.

To properly depict the historical significance of a nostalgic race car, we must first take ourselves back to the time when these cars were originally campaigned at racing events. Though automobiles have likely been raced since the second one was produced (the first car could only race carriages), public interest in racing, and specifically drag racing, arguably saw its best years during the late '60s through early '70s. It was during this time that many dragstrips opened across the country, and domestic auto manufacturers recognized the American public's greed for power and enjoyment of the sport of racing. All of the Big Three were involved, engineering and manufacturing cars with the specific purpose of winning the Stock classes of both drag racing and oval track venues. The phrase, Win on Sunday, sell on Monday was coined during this period, and it was a time of growth and transition for the sport of auto racing. It's not often that we get an opportunity to work on a piece of Mopar history, but this month we're building a Super Stock Race Hemi for a Sox & Martin '68 Barracuda that is now owned by Todd Werner of central Florida.

We enjoy all Mopar muscle cars, but particularly enjoy driving vehicles equipped with manual transmissions. There's just something about the synchronized performance of the arms, legs, mind, and automobile that results in the perfect power shift, which simply cannot be duplicated by an automatic transmission. So if you're lucky enough to get to row through the gears of your Mopar, you certainly don't want to miss that feeling because your car has transmission problems. And although the A-833-especially the early big-bearing and 18-spline Hemi units-are pretty tough, choosing the proper fluid can have a definite impact on the life of your transmission.

Mopar enthusiasts are fortunate these days to not only have an abundance of parts available to maintain and upgrade their classic cars, but to also have some impressive new iron available directly from Chrysler Corporation dealerships. And while you may have your own opinion as to how late-model Mopars compare to their antique counterparts, the performance of these newer vehicles is difficult to deny. New Mopars like the Charger and Challenger come equipped with an impressive array of performance, safety, and convenience features right from the factory, and though heavier than their elder counterparts, easily outperform muscle cars from the '60s and '70s. And while our '09 Challenger R/T has been a blast to drive even in factory form, we haven't been able to resist the urge to make improvements.

We all know a Mopar owner or two whose car never leaves the garage, sitting stationary like a full-scale die-cast model for the owner and his or her guests to look at, but not drive. These cars occasionally get pushed onto (or into) a trailer and are taken to an occasional car show, but rarely see road duty for fear of a rock chip, mechanical problem, or accident. And while we certainly know how nerve wracking it can be to drive a restored classic automobile on the roads these days, we also believe that the only way to truly enjoy a Mopar is to drive it and drive it regularly. Since the Hot Rod Power Tour began in Florida, this year we decided to crash the party with a few local Mopars-including a vehicle of our own-but needed to choose which Mopar to take, and then make sure it was mechanically sound enough to make the trip.

There's no doubt that the Chrysler Corporation manufactured some of the best automotive engines of the muscle car era, with unsurpassed power and endurance. As these engines age, however, finding a good, low-mileage block suitable for a performance build isn't getting any easier. Let's face it, high-performance V-8 engines like Hemis, 340s, or 440 HPs or Six-Packs in factory muscle cars usually got worn out by the first or second owner, and have either been rebuilt two or three times or discarded by now. And if you get lucky enough to find an engine that hasn't been rebuilt several times there's still a good chance that corrosion or core shift could cause thin cylinder walls, rendering the block unusable.