Special Electronic Quality Test Can't Keep This Engine From The Crusher's Jaws
You find some interesting historical documents in junked cars, and sometimes they’re glued to an engine’s valve cover.
This ’68 or ’69 Dodge D-series pickup had a pretty pedestrian LA series engine— probably a 318— but the Atomic Age “Special Electronic Quality Test” sticker got my attention. What do you suppose this test entailed? Automatic dynamometer? Electronic measuring of tolerances? Aura reading?
And what about the Mound Road Engine Plant mentioned on the sticker? A bit of research led me right to Allpar’s excellent piece on Chrysler’s big Detroit V8 factory,, which was torn down in 2003.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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All chrysler engines (and probably all engines) get a "cold test". You spin the engine at x rpm, with pressure transducers on the intake and exhaust ports, you can see if the valves are opening and closing at the right times, for the correct ammount of duration. Oil pressure and spark are also checked. I bet this special electronic test was some form of pre-cursor to the modern cold test. I was never in mound rd engine, but I've been in Trenton Engine, Saltillo Engine, and Mack engine many times in a previous life.
I there was a similar sticker on my friend's dad's old 1984 Dodge Ram. I could be misremembering though because I know it had a little box attached to the carburetor that said Electronic Ignition Control or some such. I think I remember seeing a "special electronic test" sticker and laughing to myself at the scarcity of electronics on the truck. I miss driving it, sometimes, despite it's state of disrepair. It was a beast.