Pro Touring 68 Dart convertible

[Burdar]

The rear axle, engine and trans are installed. 

I assembled the rear axle in the basement last fall since I thought that was the safest place to store it.  Not my best idea looking back since I had to get it back OUT of the basement as a complete unit.  I enlisted the help of my wife and we loaded it onto a hand truck and slowly...step by step...hauled it upstairs.   I pulled it up the stairs while she made sure it didn't fall off the cart.  Once it was at the top of the stairs I collapsed on the couch for a half hour before taking it out to the garage. Once it was in, I was able to get some old 15" wheels to fit over the 11.7" Mustang rear brakes.  I added 4 flat washers between the wheel and rotor and it just clears.  This is just to be able to move the car around in the garage so it's not stuck on jack stands.


I spent Saturday cleaning up the engine, trans, k-member and suspension.  It has been sitting in the garage for years and had accumulated a lot of caked on dust. I had some friends over on Sunday and we got the engine/trans in.  Before it could go in the car though, we pulled the trans off and replaced the torque converter.  A 3500 stall torque converter was a little too high for the street.  I wanted a 2000-2500 stall but converters have really gone up in price and the unit I was looking at required an extra $100 core charge.  I ended up buying a TCI Street Rodder(no core charge) but time will tell how well it works.  Some stock converters are rated at around 1900 stall but this one says it's only 1700 stall.  I hope it ends up being a little higher then that.  Then I filled the engine with oil and primed it unit there was oil up at the rockers.  Finally, I put the distributor back in and timed it so it should fire right off when the time comes.

[Burdar]

Before calling it a day, on Sunday, I wanted to check the pinion angle.  The pinion looked really high up in the air and I was worried that the perches had been welded in the wrong spot.  We jacked up the back of the car while I watched an angle gauge attached to the trans output shaft.  Once the gauge read 0, I put the gauge on the pinion yoke.  It read 0 as well so that's a pinion angle of 0.  It looks like the perches were welded on correctly for an A-body...the flat oval track springs I'm using just threw the angle off a little.  I already have some Belltech 2* axle shims and I've read that on a street car you want from -1 to -3* so that should be just right for what I need.

Last night I measured for a driveshaft.  I need a shaft 52-1/2" long.  I called up a big driveline shop that I've used in the past.  They quoted me $200 plus new solid joints to shorten and balance a driveshaft.   That's brand new driveshaft territory!  I found a couple shops online that advertise brand new shafts for $270 plus shipping.  They wouldn't have a tapered end on the shaft though but I don't know if that's necessary for clearance.

[anlauto]

I love the colour you chose for the engine, it looks great against the blue nice out of the box thinking and not just another orange Mopar engine

Boy I  could tell you stories about carrying 8 3/4's out of a basement...I've done it dozens of times 

[dodj]

Looks good! 
I got my D-shaft from dr diff. It doesn't taper as it's just the smaller dia along the whole length. Just FYI for another d-shaft source.

[Burdar]

The center console and steering column are installed.  I first started with the console carpet.  I tried gluing it on but didn't have very good luck and ended up peeling it back off.  I read that some people use Velcro.  That worked a lot better.  Still, the carpet doesn't look that nice but I'm told that it's just the way it is and that it will look fine once the seats are installed.  We will see.

I was worried at first that the console wasn't going to go in with the tach mounted.  Every time the console was test fit, the dash wasn't installed.  Now that the dash is in, I couldn't just drop it straight down over the shifter any more. In order to get it in I had to remove the ash tray, take the lockout lever off the shifter and have the shifter in a vertical position.  Then I had to shove the tach under the dash at an angle and rotate the console over the shifter and into place.  It's definitely a tight fit. The steering column went in a little easier.  Nothing really complicated about that.  The lower bearing upgrade looks like it's going to work nicely and the column basically fell into place.







I had to hook a battery up just to make sure the lights all worked. There was an issue with the map light and the shift indicator light. After probing some wires with the test light I found the issue. The issue was the same for both lights. The factory wiring has + entering the side(body) of the bulb. The ground wire is the pin on the bottom of the bulb. This works fine for an incandescent bulb but not for an LED. I pulled the wires out of the "T" connector at the map light and revered them. Now the + goes into the bottom pin and the ground is the bulb body. The shift indicator light wasn't as easy of a fix since the bulb socket doesn't have wires that can be easily swapped. I ended up having to cut the two wires going to the bulb and spliced them back together reversed.

[dodj]

Looking good. You do nice work Darren! 

[anlauto]

Wow, it's coming together real nice 

[Burdar]

Checked at the local shop and they wanted $490 for a brand new custom length driveshaft.  Nope!!!  Bought one on E-bay from a place in Wisconsin.  Ordered on Monday and recieved on Friday. Fully balanced with new U-joints. $328 to my door.(minus slip yoke)  It came with a cheap flat black paint job but I took care of that with some paint stripper.  Polished it up a little with a polish that leaves a silicone finish behind so hopefully it protects it from rust.  I thought maybe I could wipe it down periodically with silicone spray?






I don't know what it is with me and E-brake cables.  IIRC it took a mixture of stock, Fine Lines and Inline Tube cables/brackets to get the E-brake hooked up on the Challenger.  The Dart is no different.  The front cable is too long.  The adjusting nut would be bottomed out before the cable was even tight.  I made up a spacer that I think should work.  I'll know for sure once the brakes are blead and the rear calipers are adjusted.

[dodj]

I'm gonna have to look back in the thread to see what that rod is between the spring and gas tank...It's black and silver so I'm guessing multiple parts...maybe adjustable...

[Burdar]

That would be the jack handle.  The jack is under the rear end.  I've never been comfortable working under a car on jack stands.  I like to have redundancies.  The cherry picker is still hooked up on the front with just the slightest bit of tension as well.  I think I'm going to build some of those wooden wheel cribs to get the car higher off the ground but still have the car sitting on its suspension.  They just seem a lot more stable then jack stands to me. 

[dodj]

That would be the jack handle.  The jack is under the rear end.  I've never been comfortable working under a car on jack stands.  I like to have redundancies.  The cherry picker is still hooked up on the front with just the slightest bit of tension as well.  I think I'm going to build some of those wooden wheel cribs to get the car higher off the ground but still have the car sitting on its suspension.  They just seem a lot more stable then jack stands to me. 

Ha Ha...And here is me wondering what kind of trick suspension thingy is that!?  lol

Ya...I'm the same on redundancies. 

[usraptor]

Looks good.  Re your natural driveshaft  you might want to try some of that "Rust Prevention Magic" paste.  I apply it once a year to my 'Cuda's bare metal suspension parts even though I don't drive the car in the rain or winter.  It works really good.  I live in Utah with lots of salted roads in the winter.  To test it I applied it to a spot on my new 4X4 daily driver truck's driveshaft.  When I checked it a year later the driveshaft had a light coating of rust all over it except for where I treated it with the Rust Prevention Magic pasted.  Still rust free. I only applied it once and years later that spot is still rust free. 

[dodj]

@Burdar
It's been a while. How is the car looking now?

[Burdar]

I haven't touched it this year.  In the spring my aunt's shop(where the Challenger was stored) was hit by a tornado.  The roof was blown off but the ceiling didn't collapse.  The Challenger came through that with only a small dent in the trunk.(not even sure that was caused by the storm)  That was the motivation I needed to get started on a garage addition.  I should have done it years ago when prices were low but that didn't happen. 

I'm a layout tech for a lumber yard, designing roof and floor systems.  In my spare time I designed the roof and had a coworker design the wall panels.  We built those in house.  I had the walls, roof and shingles installed by professionals.  Dad is helping me do the rest to save money.  I just have a little bit of siding left and the exterior will be done.  The garage doors should be installed next week.

[anlauto]

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