Pro Touring 68 Dart convertible

[Burdar]

The radiator/shroud/overflow tank and all the hoses are installed.  I painted the front of the radiator black so it wouldn't be visible through the grill.  I also got the trans cooler lines made with AN fittings that connect the hard line to the radiator and external cooler.  I routed the trans fluid to the external cooler first and then through the radiator.






I used some aluminum hose spacers on the heater hoses to keep them cleanly routed.  I still need to install the fender to cowl braces but the brackets I made to install them are in place.





It's the slow season at work so I had one of the shop guys make me some wooden cribs out of scrap 2x4s.  I've had a vehicle tip off jack stands on me before.  Luckily it wasn't very high off the ground and the wheels were still on it.  I don't really feel that comfortable around them any more. The cribs are super solid and I don't have to worry about the car going anywhere.  Last weekend a couple old friends stopped by and gave me a hand installing the exhaust.  Now it just needs fluids and it's ready to start.  That will wait until spring when I can open up the garage doors and not lose all my heat.







I'm still waiting on Digi-Tails to get done with my LED tail lights.  I sent them a tail light housing many years ago and still don't have anything in hand.  Early last year they sent me a picture of the prototype so I didn't think it would be much longer...but here we are...another year has gone by.

[Burdar]

The last 3 months have been "one step forward, then two steps back".  Frustrating to say the least.  I hope you have your reading glasses on...

The only thing I had left to do before starting the engine was to fill the radiator and trans with fluid.  I started by pouring distilled water into the radiator, only to have it start leaking out almost immediately.  I scurried around to find a bucket to put under it.  Once a bucket was found and shoved under it, another leak started in a different location. I knew better than to start filling a new system with coolant so it was a good thing I started with just water.  The first leak was the lower radiator hose at the water pump.  I ruined the first hose I tried cutting to fit and I wasn't happy with the way the second hose fit either.  My instincts were right because I had cut the second hose wrong too.  The second leak was the brand new water pump leaking out the weep hole.  It had never been run but it was 10 years old so the seals must have dried out.  That one was a huge bummer.  That meant I had to pull the whole front of the engine apart.  So, once I got the motivation to start pulling parts off, it actually didn't go that bad and didn't take that long to do.  I didn't want to pull the radiator so taking the fan bolts off sucked but everything else came off ok.  With everything out of the way including the alternator, it gave me more room to work on fitting a 3rd lower rad hose.

A local parts store warrantied the pump for me even though I couldn't prove I had bought it there.  I looked all through my online receipts and couldn't find one for a water pump so I'm pretty sure I didn't buy it from RockAuto.  The next issue was the engine paint.  The parts store no longer sells the paint I used so I had to order it in.  It's been 10 years since I painted the engine and in that time, the paint formula must have been changed because the same paint name and same part# is a completely different color...not even close.  I had very little paint left from an old can.  It felt empty but it still sprayed.  So, I sprayed the new pump with the new paint, then misted the old color over the top half of the pump until it ran out.  So, the top half of the pump matches the rest of the engine but if you looked at it from the bottom, the color would be different.

I got it all put back together with the help of my wife.  Her smaller hands were needed to get the fan bolts back in.(I really should have pulled the radiator) With the cooling system filled up I didn't see any more leaks so I filled the trans up with fluid and filled the carb bowls with gas.  I turned the key and to my surprise it fired up immediately but it scared my daughter and she ran in the house.  I let it run a little bit and then noticed coolant dripping on the ground again.  This time from the back of the engine on the drivers side.  The rear header stud was leaking water.  I swear I sealed it up because I know it goes into water.  That particular stud had broken years ago and I drilled it out to the next largest size and used a stepped stud in its place.  I put the bucket under the drip and called it a day.
 When I got back to it the next weekend, water was leaking out of the front stud too.  So, I drained the radiator and got a nice antifreeze bath since I replaced the petcock with an zinc anode.  Now there isn't a mess-free way to drain the rad.  I didn't think the larger header stud end would pass through the header flange so I pulled the header and removed the stud only to find that the stud would have passed through after all and the header wouldn't have had to be taken off.  There was no sealant on the rear stud and the front stud just unscrewed by hand.  I guess my memory is failing me because I swear I sealed those up.  Now everything is back together and no more leaks have popped up yet.

[Burdar]

I started researching wheels again.  I looked up the wheels I'd found awhile ago and priced them out.  The price for those wheels has gone up considerably.  Those were going to be around $1200 each for the fronts and around $1400 each for the rears.  I couldn't bring myself to spend that much since my enthusiasm for this project isn't what it used to be.  I started looking at other companies and found something I liked for quite a bit less.  The design isn't what I had originally planned but I think it still looks good.  After measuring my clearances again I placed the order.

While those were being built, I had a friend come over and help me with a couple things.  The back of the car seems to be sitting really high.  I assumed the 0 arch MP Oval Track springs that I bought would sit flat and lower the rear end...I guess not.  We pulled the rear end and springs out from under the car and moved the front spring eye to the upper hole in the Dr Diff hangers.  That changed lowered the rear by 1".  Once that was done we assembled the front brakes, installed the master cylinder and blead the system.  I've never had a car with manual brakes before.  I'm not sure how they are supposed to feel.  They feel strange so I'm not sure if there is an issue yet or not.

The wheels were supposed to take 4-6 weeks to be built but they were done in 3.  The wheels I went with are a Shelby Cobra replica wheel with 18x7 in the front and 20x9 in the rear.  I left the 2" drop spindles on the front which limited my wheel width to 7".  I wanted a 5" backspacing but the maximum backspacing for this wheel is 4.75".  They are very close to the fender lip so I will need to find a little bit of extra room there.  I have a couple ideas on how I can do that.





The 7" wide wheel really limited my tire choices and I was worried the front would look really narrow.  Now that the tires are on it's not bad at all.  I'm not going to autocross this car so I don't need something super wide up front.  I'm actually happy with how wide the fronts look.  After the car was sitting on all 4s, it was apparent that the rear end is still up too high.(at least 1" maybe 2")  Hotchkis sells lowering springs but they are over $500.  I put 4 old wheels/tires in the trunk to try and get a feel for how low it should be.  That weight only lowered it a 1/2" so I'm still not sure how low it needs to go yet.  I measured from the rocker to the ground at the front and at the rear.  The rear is sitting up 2" higher than the front still.  I'd be OK with a slight rake but 2" is too much.


Yesterday I unboxed the new grill and headlight bezels.  The new parts aren't painted correctly for a GT or GTS.  Those models have some extra blackout done that the lower trim level cars don't have.  I get why the reproduction parts were done that way.  They only have to stock 1 part instead of 2.  It still sucks that I had to paint brand new parts.  Oh well.  You can see that the three center "ribs" on the headlight bezels and grill need to be blacked out.  Only the top and bottom ribs on the GT and GTS are left silver.  It turned out ok and the grill went on pretty good.  The front end is starting to take shape.

Next will be installing the front bumper and tightening the front suspension components at the ride height I want.  Then I need to figure out what to do with the rear end.  It needs to come down some, but I'm really close to the gas tank and the snubber is fairly close to the floor pan already.  I need to double check the pinion angle.  If that is off(from the spring eye change) the snubber may need to be rotated down.  That's all for now.

[Burdar]

Bumper and spoiler mounted...

[70_440-6Cuda]

Nice update and easy read-  looking great!!!

Ride height looks pretty good in the pictures, but hard to tell on the blocks - I like the wheel choice and the front tires look good -I never like too wide in the front on a muscle car, but that's just me