Fratzog
Old Man with a Hat
A lot of talent being displayed. Thanks for the regular updates.
1969 Imperial Lebaron Resto-Rod Project
- Thread starter side_show
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- Nov 14, 2010
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Incredible work, thanks for sharing it with us.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
67Monaco
Go Woke, Go Broke.
Needs some super bee scoops.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
67Monaco
Go Woke, Go Broke.
Ok I have a few concerns.
One the hoses on the transmission. I think over time if they don't pop off they're going to swell and fail.
Two the wheel spacers. First I think you should have been able to get away with 1/4" spacer. If those are AR26's any. All of the AR machined wheels (23, 26, 61,62) will be about that range. And that they're so thick and you cut off the hub centric ring. It's not going to to do anything to help front-end vibration at all. But.. WDIK.
One the hoses on the transmission. I think over time if they don't pop off they're going to swell and fail.
Two the wheel spacers. First I think you should have been able to get away with 1/4" spacer. If those are AR26's any. All of the AR machined wheels (23, 26, 61,62) will be about that range. And that they're so thick and you cut off the hub centric ring. It's not going to to do anything to help front-end vibration at all. But.. WDIK.
440Sled
Well-Known Member
Great build! Cant wait to see the finished product!
side_show
New Member
It was a chore ... Mom and I planned it out quite a bit including the rear insert piece .... I was pretty skeptical about how it would work out. but I had a very decent headliner to start out with which helped A LOT ... plus my mom has had quite a bit of experience sewing up my ripped/burned jeans!! hahaha
LOL!! no its not!
(Its Luke)
Thanks guys!
I hear you about the trans cooling lines ... I may switch back to the hard lines; it just didn't really work out ... the original hard lines had a rubber piece that connected to the rad ... so i figured going all rubber would be ok ... the rubber lines are high pressure fuel lines, and the nibs that are mounted on at both ends have quite a bit of bite to them .... so we'll see what happens!
In terms of the wheels .... I have no idea if they are actually AR26s ... they came off a GMC motorhome (yeah you read that right .... 5x5 GM bolt pattern on these cars is a funny thing)
the spacing required to fit the wheels is approx. 1" ... the spacers I ordered were 1.5" and I cut them down to what I needed to get the nice tucked look at the front to match the rear. I really liked the look of the wheels and just had to make it work! If the front end has some vibration I can always press in some centric rings or come up with another plan!
Now since I know you guys are a bunch of picture whores!!!
a lot of these images are pictures of pictures ... so the quality isnt that great ......
MOAAAARRR PICTURES!!!
Inspiration Pictures
Build Sheets
Advertisement "Should a luxury car break from tradition" ..... hehehehe .... If only they could see what I'm doing to it now! HAHAHA
Original Engine Bay Shot
First day I brought it in the shop to tear it down
side_show
New Member
Original interior shot (Man that wood grain has got to GO!!!)
After the seats and carpet came out ... time to hack out the floor .... I cannot believe how much I learned doing this car ... I legit had no idea how to weld ... starting with floor pans was tough; I got a welder and started reading ... got a crash course from a friend and just went at it ... the difference between then and now is crazy.
Tearing down the front end
My super shitty welds on the firewall from way back.
Ready for paint
Rear end before I rebuilt and painted it!
After the seats and carpet came out ... time to hack out the floor .... I cannot believe how much I learned doing this car ... I legit had no idea how to weld ... starting with floor pans was tough; I got a welder and started reading ... got a crash course from a friend and just went at it ... the difference between then and now is crazy.
Tearing down the front end
My super shitty welds on the firewall from way back.
Ready for paint
Rear end before I rebuilt and painted it!
side_show
New Member
Thank you very much!!
I was taking a look at your posts .... I LOVE that lace roof you pulled off! looks stellar! I'm trying to sort out what I want to do with the roof of my car .... whether or not to paint it straight up the same colour as the body or go a little wild like you did. I guess I can always go wild once I have it on the road ...... but I'm always thinking
One thing is for sure .... no vinyl.
also .... how is your car lowered? is it bagged? or just static?
side_show
New Member
440Sled
Well-Known Member
Yes, Thank you! Hydro's was the best way for me to get it down with out doing all of the crazy frame work up front for the bags. My roof was the same color as the car, but decided to go a different direction. No regrets at all. Depending on what your style is, just run with it!
goodneighbour
Well-Known Member
That GM 5X5 thing may be funny now but wait a while TRUST ME I KNOW!! Compare the shoulders on the GM nuts to the Mopar nuts, see the diff? They pretty much bottom out on the drums before the wheels are tight.I had a rim and tire pretty much f#$& off on me on my `71 imp and it wasn`t funny, tow to the shop, 4 studs and nuts and the correct 5X5 Imperial only spare installed! That was back when younger but we all learn the hard way . Left rear by the way.
side_show
New Member
yeah the torsion bars cause a lot of problems up front .... and there is no one who wants to **** with them ...
The only decent build thread I could find about custom front end work to lay out a C-Body with air bags was MattRod68 on this forum here:
http://www.losboulevardosmessageboa...12-5.-Frame-finishing-getting-closer!!!/page2
Some extremely impressive work on the lower control arms and Z-ing the frame on a '68 Newport ... certainly got me thinking .............
440Sled: do you have anything to start me off on the Hydro route for C-bodies? I've never messed around with Juiced cars before .... only bagged.
The reason why I ask is that I am concerned that I will not have enough travel at the front (even after I make some new bump stops) and at the back the 4" lowering blocks and smaller wheels are likely going to cause problems (I'll take some detailed pictures this weekend of what I mean) my U-bolts are pretty much sitting below the edge of the rim ... gota sort something out or I may hit the ground ....
Gota look into Track Bars also .... with all the torque I'm gonna make I may have issues. Thoughts?
MOOOOAAARRR PICTURES!!!
Heres a little update on the engine bay.
Rad hoses on .... belts done .... sparkplug wires run ... Belts on .... Breathers on etc. This is the state of the car when i got it running for the first time. Then i realized the Trans kickdown and throttle cable were all wrong and order the Lokar Kits and Installed them (shown in those previous posts)
Another View Look at that beautiful Rad
Close up of the Battery Box by Fesler
http://www.shopfesler.com/fesler-billet-optima-battery-mount/
And the Rad overflow tank and windsheild washer fluid tank. for the windsheild washer tank I have a small external pump below it off of a mid 2000's pontiac grand am or something like that ... worked out to be a pretty tight set up!
Still have a ton of wiring and vacuum hoses to clean up.
I'm looking for a unique way of routing my spark plug wires.
any suggestions?
I think I'll be assembling my rear bumper this weekend to make sure my quarter panel lines are correct. ! gota work Saturday though ....
440Sled
Well-Known Member
Damn man that's looking clean! I followed Mattrods thread and was inspired by it, but I didn't want to do all that work or even pay somebody to do it! There had to be a better or more practical way. Up front, the shock tower was removed and replaced with a 8" hydraulic cylinder. It fits right in there and bolted right to the LCA( I had a professional shop do it). All of the bump stops were removed and any other item that would keep me from laying crossmember. The rear, Im still running 2 leaf springs and 3" blocks. The hydros were mounted to the side of the frame and down to the axle. I may have it rebuilt with a bridge connecting the two frame rails and having the cylinders mounted there and down to the axle. I have 4 batteries, 2 pumps and 4 accumulators for the smooth ride. They do not disappoint. It's not a hopper or a hot rod race car. It's strictly for laying out and just being low. I don't get crazy with the switches because these are uni-bodied cars and you don't want to start twisting things up! If you're looking to put power to the pavement, I'd definitely look into a 4-link set up to take any of the torque off of the hydros.
440Sled
Well-Known Member
I also raised the drives shaft tunnel up 2.5 inches so I could get down that much lower.....
440Sled
Well-Known Member
It's been fun! Going on 3 years now with no issues. I charge the batteries about every 3 months or so. Your car is 100x's nicer than mine, plus your looking burn some rubber. Some reinforcements would definitely be needed!
I'm "Chris68" on the Los Boulevardos forum.
I'm "Chris68" on the Los Boulevardos forum.
70NPORT
Old Man with a Hat
Where do yo put your luggage?
67Monaco
Go Woke, Go Broke.
I've tossed it around a few times. I've come up with bagging would be doable on the frontend. It would come at the cost of some realestate in front of the engine. Move the rad to the other side of the support, go push/pull. Then cantilever off the lower control arm. Mount the bags transverse in front of the engine.
Might could work. When I get some spare change to play with.
Might could work. When I get some spare change to play with.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
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