What did you do with your ebody/Mopar today?

[YellowThumper]

Lengthened the wiring a bit for the dash guages. With the a/c hoses installed, I could no longer access the pigtail connector.
So close to driving it again...

@YellowThumper That looks sharp...can you share details of the panel????

Another made at home piece. Slip rolled the curved face and hand bent the tighter ones.
Milled the guage openings. Panels are tig welded together using L brackets.
It is not full seam welded.
I creatively lapped edge seams to where they are not seen.
Woodgrain is a vinyl wrap with trim tape to finish it off.
Hate the AFR guage. That may not be included in the final layout.

Holy shit...that is impressive. 

Thanks. When you build "shit" for 43 years now, ya learn a few things.
"Learning" is mostly jumping in with 2 feet, stumbling, dusting off and trying again. Panel is not without flaws that had to be corrected. Ooops.

[jimynick]

Lengthened the wiring a bit for the dash guages. With the a/c hoses installed, I could no longer access the pigtail connector.
So close to driving it again...

@YellowThumper That looks sharp...can you share details of the panel????

Another made at home piece. Slip rolled the curved face and hand bent the tighter ones.
Milled the guage openings. Panels are tig welded together using L brackets.
It is not full seam welded.
I creatively lapped edge seams to where they are not seen.
Woodgrain is a vinyl wrap with trim tape to finish it off.
Hate the AFR guage. That may not be included in the final layout.

Very, very nice work! Watch out though, you'll be getting commissions all over the place. Give ya some beer money, eh? 

[YellowThumper]

Lengthened the wiring a bit for the dash guages. With the a/c hoses installed, I could no longer access the pigtail connector.
So close to driving it again...

@YellowThumper That looks sharp...can you share details of the panel????

Another made at home piece. Slip rolled the curved face and hand bent the tighter ones.
Milled the guage openings. Panels are tig welded together using L brackets.
It is not full seam welded.
I creatively lapped edge seams to where they are not seen.
Woodgrain is a vinyl wrap with trim tape to finish it off.
Hate the AFR guage. That may not be included in the final layout.

Very, very nice work! Watch out though, you'll be getting commissions all over the place. Give ya some beer money, eh? 

Too much time required to make.
Hunny-doo's have been on lengthy pause with current focus. House and other repairs will be taking back over real soon.

[jimynick]

Ha,ha,ha! Happy wife, happy life buddy. 

[ec_co]

Weird week. Dad called needing help with cancer complications, I'm stuck here because of my own ongoing medical/legal, so my wife started the drive from CO to Mexico (he lives in Rosarito, just south of the San Diego border) .... After staying overnight in Gallup/NM she ended up slipping in the shower and breaking her knee cap. So now she has to drive all the way back home. 

More progress on my Rallye wheel center caps. Made tooling to help make the metal centers (I'm using stainless blanks). Took a few attempts, but I think I have a good method down now. The great thing about 3D printing is the rapid prototyping capability.

I also installed some LED lights in the garage finally in anticipation of getting the car back here in the next week or two. Such a huge difference over the old florescence bulbs.

[jimynick]

When attempting to keep going on the engine swap of my Challenger I started to gather up the pieces of my Z bar and realized I was somehow missing one of the split bushings! WTF? Son Nick located some in the US which were reasonable until you factor in the exchange, tax, tariff (25%), shipping and gas to go get them. Mother Mopar was no help either and it took the local dealer here about 1/2 hr to even find them and when he did, they were in Quebec and $32 each! The shock of that made my brain engage and I called Alan Gallant, who had some used ones and said "come and get them", which I did and thank you again Alan! Blown motor and his wife Kathy were here for supper and it was today when I went out to try to get that swine Z bar back in. Have you ever tried to install the blockside pivot from under the car with headers on and the car only about 16" off the ground? Don't. the pivot also has only 2 flats machined into it's edges and a standard wrench won't turn it an eighth of a turn. Grrr A stubby wrench won't either, so it was a bit of the old Channelock thing; then the split bushings fell off, about 4 times, before I could get the elastic band around them with the one hand that could get in there. Finally I got it on and went to get the Z bar. Did you know that if you slide the Z bar onto the block pivot that you can't get the frame rail pivot into the other end unless you have rubber, 2" dia. arms? Me neither. Going to put the once again removed Z bar on the bench to install the other pivot, I was dumbfounded to realize that mine at least, has a bored interior with a step to stop the ingress of it's bushings and that there are two wire spring retainers that're supposed to go into grooves on the split bushings and in trying to engage them, perhaps I discovered the reason why one half had been missing- the bushings wouldn't go in far enough! Jesus H! So it's off to the old vise and file/grind those little SOBs down so that they did fit. Thinking that this all had to be some kind of Russian plot, I got them in and the retainers engaged and crawled under (for the 9-10th time) And if you held your mouth in just the right position and tried to not repeat the same profanities too often, why in 15-20 more minutes you could be successful! Yea! Then it was only 4 more crawls under to set the clutch linkage clearance so that I had some free pedal. The general consensus was that beer and a stogie was indicated and so it was. Thinking about connecting the starter wiring yet to be installed, led to another MGD and general lethargy ensued. FI, tomorrows another day. 

[blown motor]

Nobody writes it like you do Ian! And supper was great! Thanks again.

[cuda hunter]

71 charger in Gun Metal Grey / Winchester Gray
318 auto.
This car hit an elk in 1980. Went through the window and broke the passengers side of the front seat. It was owned by a family that has multiple mopars that I have tried to buy any mopar from the family for years. This was the grandpa's car. In 82 he sold it to a fella that set it up on his property at about 8500 elevation. The car sat until 2024. My buddy sold it to me, well, sold it to a friend of mine. Then he backed out when it was at my property and I already paid for it for him. So I got a 71 charger. My first car from the Kinyon family, although through someone else and 20 years of trying.
Changed the fluids, changed the plug wires and plugs.
This baby starts up, drives around the block and doesn't smoke. Runs like a clock. 
42 years it sat. Some years under 5-7 foot of snow.
Very little mouse crap in the car. There had been a rabbit that chewed on the plug wires (typical).
I have a brake leak that actively leaks the rear reservoir out after a little while. And I need to do something about the gas tank. Drain it? It sat for 42 years. Not sure there is anything to drain. Probably a clean up.
Unfortunately, this car came from the great lakes area as the story goes. So there is some weird rust.
Since it sat for 42 years with the window busted out the real rust is the two front floor boards and the drivers side frame rail might have issues greater than surface rust.
Rust on the B pillars due to the vinyl top and the cars origins.

[dodj]

Nobody writes it like you do Ian! And supper was great! Thanks again.

Ian serves food if you show up and help?

[cudaragtop]

Making progress on my DIY CAI for the G3 69 Barracuda 6.1
Used a collection of different parts. Had a few different cardboard versions before deciding on what the final would be.
Transferred the design/dimensions from my cardboard model to 1/8" sheet ABS for the Airbox. Cut it out with a Dremel. Made a sheet bender and just went for it. There is a bit of guesswork in doing this for the first time but it turned out pretty well.















The last Cardboard version. Had several others that started out as just shields but decided I wanted a sealed box.




Opening for cold air will come through the core support behind the grill.


Should have plenty of fresh air coming in through the grill in this location.





The hole through the core support will be connected to the airbox with a piece of flex similar to the one connecting the Airbox to the 4" Air Tube.

I'll make a shield to go between the opening in the airbox and the filter to prevent direct impact of any debris, spray or rain.
There will be a drain hole in the rear corner directly above the existing battery tray drain hole.

The aluminum air tube will be refinished in wrinkle black after finalizing everything.
Still need to drill a hole in it for the MAF. Possibly a bracket too...

[Brads70]

Transferred the design/dimensions from my cardboard model to 1/8" sheet ABS for the Airbox. Cut it out with a Dremel. Made a sheet bender and just went for it. There is a bit of guesswork in doing this for the first time but it turned out pretty well.







The last Cardboard version. Had several others that started out as just shields but decided I wanted a sealed box.

Can you walk me thru how you bend the plastic sheet? I have a sheet metal brake and it didn't work so well for me? I found I had to heat it up pretty good to bend it? Just trying to learn new methods ! 

[Mr Lee]

71 charger in Gun Metal Grey / Winchester Gray
318 auto.
This car hit an elk in 1980. Went through the window and broke the passengers side of the front seat.

Car looks pretty damn good for having hit an Elk!  Nice ride!  Beautiful mountains too!  Love the scenery out there!  I'll never forget the first time I went to Colorado.  Couldn't believe how huge the mountains were.  There's no view like that where I live.  Not even close. 

[blown motor]

Nobody writes it like you do Ian! And supper was great! Thanks again.

Ian serves food if you show up and help?

Well sort of. The food may not happen on the same day as the helping.   

[cudaragtop]

Transferred the design/dimensions from my cardboard model to 1/8" sheet ABS for the Airbox. Cut it out with a Dremel. Made a sheet bender and just went for it. There is a bit of guesswork in doing this for the first time but it turned out pretty well.







The last Cardboard version. Had several others that started out as just shields but decided I wanted a sealed box.

Can you walk me thru how you bend the plastic sheet? I have a sheet metal brake and it didn't work so well for me? I found I had to heat it up pretty good to bend it? Just trying to learn new methods ! 

I made a sheet bender. I bought some electric heat tape and followed some directions I found on YouTube. Kind of...

It's really just a way to concentrate the heat in a straight line. I used a piece of 1/8" thick flat bar stock to help bend a straight line.

Practice on some scrap pieces first.

I had a couple re-dos and made some adjustments with a heat gun.

When heated, it can be easily formed. Wear leather gloves.

I also made use of some gel type ice packs to keep from heating too much. Also to set the bends.

One picture above shows the piece being heated to be bent.

All new to me too. Just trial and error.

[jimynick]

Nobody writes it like you do Ian! And supper was great! Thanks again.

Ian serves food if you show up and help?

LOL, yep and we might find some beer or whisky if you do a good job!