It’s happening... First haul!

crankbndr wrote: Two things I miss from wrenchen in the old days are junk yards and machine shops, I don't know where to get anything machined around here anymore.
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Things are so much different now. The motors are so complex with DFI and VVT now that no one can rebuild them except the factories. You change a motor now and it has to be exactly the same year and options almost because the transmission and motors need programming after installation. Takes all the fun out of it. I was/am more into the Streetrod part of it. Tbuckets, 32 3 Window coupe, Roadster, Sedan, Bantams. The pickup looks nice. I never see anything that nice around here. They are all rotted to the ground even after 20 years.

Oooh...a Trident! Couldn't see enough if it. Forgot about Butacos...they looked similar,and I didn't have much to go on! ......with the extra work your gonna do ,your disassembly makes sense now!
If you ain t gonna use that Triumph I'll buzz over and take it off your hands!...Gas is cheap....needs at least a front fender from what I can see! We have a British bike parts dealer not far from here! I built a Bonneville basket case from boxes of parts a few years ago that everyone else had given up on!

OhBee wrote:Oooh...a Trident! Couldn't see enough if it. Forgot about Butacos...they looked similar,and I didn't have much to go on! ......with the extra work your gonna do ,your disassembly makes sense now!
If you ain t gonna use that Triumph I'll buzz over and take it off your hands!...Gas is cheap....needs at least a front fender from what I can see!  We have a British bike parts dealer not far from here!  I built a Bonneville basket case from boxes of parts a few years ago that everyone else had given up on!

I have a brand new front fender for it as well as 95% of everything else to complete it. Engine is rebuilt, bike itself just needs paint and assembly. It’s for sale....

crankbndr wrote:My 68 was similar to this, black buckets and chrome everywhere.

That's the car I learned to drive in. My Mom's was a 4-door Ash Gold model with a 327, Rochester 4 bbl & single exhaust. 3 on the tree and 275 hp if I recall correctly. I busted both front motor mounts the first day I got my license and soloed.
Rusty

RknRusty wrote:

crankbndr wrote:My 68 was similar to this, black buckets and chrome everywhere.

That's the car I learned to drive in. My Mom's was a 4-door Ash Gold model with a 327, Rochester 4 bbl & single exhaust. 3 on the tree and 275 hp if I recall correctly. I busted both front motor mounts the first day I got my license and soloed.
Rusty

Me and my brother used to power brake Moms car down the block. I don't know how we keep from blowing the tire. Thats probably how you busted the motor mounts.

Kids!... I never had a car until I was 20. Just motorcycles. Cold riding in Mn. in winter! ..My first car was a late 60's Olds Starfire coupe that was fender well to fender well huge V-8 ! Tires didn't last long with a heavy foot! Wish I had that one now. Traded it in for my first new Dodge pickup in 1970.

See what you started Ron, mention a vehicle related project and everybody chimes in.

I love to see threads of the subject blossom like this. We are all motorheads of one variety or another.

Bob

Back in my day! We had real cars! Big ones! With huge engines!

It doesn’t bother me a bit Bob.

And big back seats too.

Cribbs74 wrote:  Back in my day! We had real cars! Big ones! With huge engines!  

It doesn’t bother me a bit Bob.

Biggest cars I ever owned were Buicks.  The Rivera @ 425 cu and a four door hardtop that I have forgotten what the engine size was.




Father in law gave us the four door. Saw the Riv in a used car lot and had to have it. But mostly, sigh I'm a Honda kind of guy.

Like that Riviera, l bet it was a really comfortable cruiser. Good thing gas was cheaper then.

Cribbs74 wrote:Like that Riviera, l bet it was a really comfortable cruiser. Good thing gas was cheaper then.

Yeah, cheap gas. I’m looking to get about 3months to a tank during this lock down!
That Riveria brings up some vivid memories. High School Buddy’s Dad had one, White with Blue leather interior. IIRC it had a 425 CI motor. One Saturday Night on the way back home from “The Place” teenager hangout, doing 120+mph down DeanLake road, we just blew threw the stop sign at 3mile road, flying up over the overpass of the expressway.  We all laughed, thought it was great fun...sobered up the next morning and still years later, even to this day, I get chills up my spine driving that same route, knowing it all could have ended there, in a split second, if there was any cross traffic at that moment. Of course now, it’s a really busy intersection, back then it was out in the sticks. Yeah, thems some memories for sure, always good for a shot of adrenaline !

Progress for today...

Weather took a turn today, nice and cold this morning. My buddy showed up the engine hoist so out it came! What a mess underneath. Took some time to power wash and degrease. Shot a little paint on exposed steel. I’ll paint the front frame and suspension as I go along.

Had to mod the flywheel for the externally balanced 360. More to come!

Ron, looking at your steering shaft to the steering gear I see it's all stock. Years back I replaced my shaft with a Borgeson steering shaft. I know your model is older, but it was one heck of a improvement in terms of positive steering. The Borgeson joint uses a u-joint vs the rag joint. In addition, Mopar offered a bolster plate for the frame rail which keeps the rail from flexing.

Hey Ken,

I definitely could use the bolster, I have already had to weld some cracks around the bolt holes. Yes it’s a stock setup, but it has a new steering gear and all the suspension and steering parts/joints have been replaced within the past 10yrs so the steering is superb. It’s a solid shaft right from the steering wheel down to the steering gear and it has zero flex to it. The rag joint is brand new. The downside is it’s a giant spear if I should ever have a significant front end collision.

I forgot to mention that the vacuum diaphragm was completely shot on my distributor. Who knows how long it’s been like that.  That explains why I would run out off steam at higher RPM.  

Ron

Oh yeah!!......we got a foot of heavy wet snow yesterday/last nite. You know how I spent my day! High winds all nite...entire driveway 2-3 ft drifts. Couldn't even get out with 4wd! I had parked my 98 1500 the wrong way on what WAS dry grass,with the T-case in 2wd. Couldn't get it in 4 because it wouldn't move! Wifes new 4×4 was blocked in between mine and the garage! I hate this state!!

Well since you're well off to a complete off-frame rebuild, you might as well see if you can find a hang-on aftermarket A/C unit for it.

Yea there is always a bunch of cleanup that you just don't think about while having all that fun. Coming right along Ron .

One thing leads to another Ron.  Been there.  Pull the engine, pressure wash the frame, replace the suspension bushings and tie-rods etc. etc,

Engine looks great, and nothing like pressure washing to clean a frame.  I doused the worst parts of mine with spray-on Gunk first.  That stuff is amazing.

Bob

A/C. Yeah that’s in the works. I have 3 spare trucks of the same vintage one has factory A/C.

Gunk is what I used Bob, that and a 2800 PSI jet of water. Not much done today, had to push the truck back into the shop uphill. That was fun!

Rest of the day I was out sourcing parts and cleaning brackets and such.

Looking good!  You need more orange paint!......You don't need AC! It robs horsepower and sucks gas! I drove mine all the way from western Montana to Minnesota with heat that wouldn't shut off all the way...in July! ...Never did figure that one out even with a new heater shut off valve!   Is your trans a 4spd. Car trans?  Mine has the NP435 4spd. in it with the granny low and a 2ft. tall shifter!  BUT...it is a heavy duty 3/4 ton 4x4.

The transmission is a New Process A-833 can be found behind Dodge/Plymouth cars from 1964-1987 ranging from the slant six all the way to the 426 Hemi. It even made it’s way to the truck line by the late 70’s by then it was converted into a 4 speed overdrive. They accomplished this by reversing the shift linkage and put the OD gear where second gear normally resides. Mine is a later overdrive unit. Very comfortable cruising and 1st gear is actually useable. I am very familiar with NP 435 trans as that was what I had in mine right after I converted from the 727 auto. I didn’t like the granny first so I started in second all the time which made it more like a 3 speed. 4th gear is 1:1 so RPM’s were pretty high at 70mph.

I only had that trans for 2yrs before I found the overdrive 4 Speed. It changed the driveability completely. It made more sense for a 2WD truck.

Your heater valve was either stuck partially open or the valve was defective. It is designed to completely cut off flow to the heater core. It’s quite possible you had something wrong with the controls or cable which is why it was the same after the valve replacement.

Down south it can get right miserable in the summer with temps in the 100’s and high humidity. A/C makes life a lot more tolerable.

It will eventually be green with a black interior. The orange is cool, but I prefer a solid color over 2 tone.

Ron

Ya ...heater valve not stuck open....you can manually close it under the hood if you have a stuck cable....been there! Not a fan of the granny low..unless its a farm truck! Mine has a factory tach in it... to stay in the safe range my top speed all the way from Montana was 55 mph! With my 11 ft self contained camper on it!  By the time I escaped the mountains and hit the flatlands I was pulling 13-14  MPG out of my 360 with a 600 Holley 4bbl. Truck was tuned for high elevation...had to pull some timing out of it when I got here to lower elevation......