1968 Fury Convertible Project

[rjstick]

Hi all. New to Forum. Just thought I'd say hi.

I recently picked up a '68 Fury convertible and am working on it with my teenage sons - sort of a bonding project.

Step 1 is to get it driveable and safe - so we're working on suspension items, brakes, and some engine maintenance items.

Step 2 is likely bodywork and repaint

Step 3 is possibly to do a 440 swap. I've picked up an original 440 (too good to pass up) and so we might try to do a swap since I suspect we need to pull the motor anyway to get it back in good shape.

Some caveats - none of us are (were) car guys - so this is all very new and we're likely to make many novice mistakes. All part of the fun and learning curve.

I've really enjoyed reading this forum and so will try to share back with the group our progress and pics as we go.

Here is a pic from the day we picked it up.

Ray

 

[1978 NYB]

Welcome aboard!

:sFl_america2:

I would start by getting a Field Service Manual followed by a Parts Book. They can be bought on EBay reasonably cheap and will make your restoration effort a lot easier.

 

[rjstick]

Bucket list time

So this started with an idea to leverage several things at once: My desire to learn more about cars and specifically American made classics. Three driving-age teenage sons, one of them in auto class in high school. A chance to engineer some “bonding time” with the boys which might actually be desirable vs. X-box, TV and all of the other modern destractions. A garage with a lift.

Of course we had to be reasonable too – since none of us know much about cars at all. So it has to be a project that we can actually do and make progress – without a ton of financial risk if we screw it up. So the search began for a likely starting point.

To be honest – we had pretty broad search parameters. American muscle seemed like a good goal. But those classic muscle cars were not all that easy to find in a price point that made any sense. Then one day my wife found a good candidate on CL:

 

[rjstick]

It wasn’t too expensive – especially in light of the muscle cars we’d been looking at. Wasn’t a complete hunk of rust in a field. Engine actually runs. Good starting point. So we bought it and soon it was delivered:

 

[rjstick]

We drove it very briefly in the neighborhood just to get a feel of suspension, engine, and because it was cool! But clearly not in good shape for any sort of real drive. Tires dry-rotted. Hoses and belts dry-rotted. Lots of body roll and play.

So to the garage it goes for more inspection and strategy. Initial thoughts are to get it driveable first to enjoy a bit – then to tackle more intensive projects.

On the lift – man this thing is long!

 

[rjstick]

Underside – wow lots of mud, wasp nests, rust, and heavy undercoating. Yikes.

 

[rjstick]

Wheels – let me just say that it’s hard to have much confidence in a car project when you can’t even get all of the wheels off the car. Three came off just fine. Driver’s rear lug nuts would not free up. They seemed to be welded to the wheel.

A newer heavier duty air gun – and only one nut was free. Lots of PB Blaster, breaker bars with pipes for leverage, heat, etc. No go. I did a fair amount of internet searching and tried almost everything. In the end I cut the nuts off with a dremel and chisel. Took a week to get a wheel off. Ridiculous.

New tires ordered. We also picked up a few mopar books and a shop manual that seemed necessary to help along the way.

 

[commando1]

Actually, the underside looks damn good to me.

 

[rjstick]

Suspension – back to the internet for some new leaf springs and shocks – and a front-end kit (with a scary number of pieces). I know some won’t like our choice for rear shocks – clearly not stock. If we end up getting close to an original restoration – we can always swap them out again. But we like the red/black combo.

So first real project is rear suspension – new leaf springs, u-bolts, and shocks. We didn’t document this one well with pictures – too excited to actually work on it I guess. But we made fairly good progress. In a couple of days everything came apart and went back together too after figuring out how to disassemble – and lots of PB Blaster and leverage. Yes. Maybe we can do this.

 

[Stormer]

Welcome, Ray, cool car.

You sure the studs on that wheel weren't left handed thread?

 

[polara71]

Welcome, Ray, cool car.

You sure the studs on that wheel weren't left handed thread?

We have a winner ......................................


Nice car, talk about diving in

 

[1978 NYB]

That's a nice, clean shop you working in!

 

[commando1]

We have a winner ......................................


Nice car, talk about diving in

Not so fast. He said he got 3 out of 4 off. So he must have known about the LH threads.

Three came off just fine.

 

[detmatt]

LH threads were my first thought too and its possible that the studs on one of the two were switched out already.
welcome to the site from the Motor City! Nice project and it sounds like you guys are already having some fun with it.

 

[Stormer]

Yep, somebody prolly broke one & switched out 5 on one wheel, leaving just one wheel with LH.

 

[polara71]

lh threads were my first thought too and its possible that the studs on one of the two were switched out already.
Welcome to the site from the motor city! Nice project and it sounds like you guys are already having some fun with it.

yep, somebody prolly broke one & switched out 5 on one wheel, leaving just one wheel with lh.

exactly!!!

 

[Stormer]

exactly!!!

Now explain it to Stan please. ;)

 

[polara71]

Now explain it to Stan please. ;)

Stan doesnt like people explaining things to him...... he doesnt listen very well

 

[Zymurgy]

I had the same problem when I was working for the first time on the 300. I even commented to myself what are these L's on the studs until it hit me that they were left handed.

One of the studs was already broke off on the left side. I presume someone broke it off years ago when it was serviced.

 

[rjstick]

Welcome, Ray, cool car.

You sure the studs on that wheel weren't left handed thread?

Well to be honest - no. I had never heard of left handed threads for lug nuts. So I guess it is/was possible - except one nut did come off with the impact gun. Oh well.