Fratzog
Old Man with a Hat
As always an inspiration. Nice work.
Dennis. That's his name.
- Thread starter '69FuryIIIConvertible
- Start date
I appreciate the kind words from everyone.
Jim, I have a Matco rotobroach cutter set I usually use, however I ran out of inserts so I sharpened a cobalt 3/8 drill bit and have been using it in combination with a cobalt 7/64 drill bit I usually use to make my pilot hole.
Anywho....
Today's time filler.... Rebuild my leaf springs.
I had these springs re-arched in 2017, and a leaf added, I test fitted them and they were Way too high, the headlights would be pointing at the road in front of the bumper only, soooooo
I pulled the extra leaf, and when I did I noticed the plastics were worn. I started researching if there was anything I could do, I find out there was a kit available, quite a few places have it, but the best price on it was from Mancini in Detroit.
So today I pulled them apart and they were worse then I had thought, the zinc plates are completely gone, and the plastics are shot.
I forgot to bring my new bushings (front and rear), so I'll have to do them tomorrow.
I'm going to paint them with a epoxy based chassis paint.
Cleaned and painted
Reassembled this morning after curing over night. Forgot the damn bushings at home again.
Jim, I have a Matco rotobroach cutter set I usually use, however I ran out of inserts so I sharpened a cobalt 3/8 drill bit and have been using it in combination with a cobalt 7/64 drill bit I usually use to make my pilot hole.
Anywho....
Today's time filler.... Rebuild my leaf springs.
I had these springs re-arched in 2017, and a leaf added, I test fitted them and they were Way too high, the headlights would be pointing at the road in front of the bumper only, soooooo
I pulled the extra leaf, and when I did I noticed the plastics were worn. I started researching if there was anything I could do, I find out there was a kit available, quite a few places have it, but the best price on it was from Mancini in Detroit.
So today I pulled them apart and they were worse then I had thought, the zinc plates are completely gone, and the plastics are shot.
I forgot to bring my new bushings (front and rear), so I'll have to do them tomorrow.
I'm going to paint them with a epoxy based chassis paint.
Cleaned and painted
Reassembled this morning after curing over night. Forgot the damn bushings at home again.
3175375
Senior Member
Once again, awesome work!
I wonder about your ‘hall of shame’ file. I have one, and I will begrudgingly add to it. Sometimes, sharing what you’ve learned from past mistakes is therapeutic and might prevent someone else from self-discovering the same oopsie...
This build thread is my hall of shame. It shows all the good and bad from the day I bought it 5 years ago.
I made lots of goofs and did lots of things that proved to be futile.
A few prime examples;
Patching the floor up without finding the leak that caused it. Which is why it's had 3 floor jobs in its life, two with me.
Rebuilding the trans 3 times before someone noticed the leak it had was from a score on the convertor neck.
Putting calipers on it because the brakes locked up and got hot, without checking the ancient brake hoses first, which had collapsed.
The car spending more time on a wrecker then on the road because of a charging issue caused by a bad ammeter.
The car running out of gas constantly because of a non-working gauge caused by a sending unit not being grounded...
Etc
Those are just a few, I will be the first to admit I'm not perfect and I make mistakes just like everyone else.
I do however strive to learn from those mistakes and better myself.
I'll even admit that in the last month on my daily driver 2001 Ram 1500 4x4, I lost reverse, I pulled the pan and valve body and found the snap ring had come out of the OD unit.
I decided I wanted to learn to build an automatic, I had a failed attempt at doing the 727 for this car a few years ago, I'm older and more experienced now I thought.
I went through it, put it back in the truck and immediately had reverse and slippage issues.
Back out it came, I found the accumulator had a broken seal, which was caused by me at installation, the bands were misadjusted, the rear to the point it had eaten the rear band, and damaged the reverse drum, which in turn had damaged the rear support.
Moral of the story, I'm not perfect, I asked a friend for help as he's an experienced trans builder and he showed me where I went wrong and why.
I now know and my trans is good.
Nick
3175375
Senior Member
Awesome!
many of our best lessons are the ones where we got to sleep in the bed we made. I know that is true for me.
I've been picking at the starter the last few days, I also borrowed it from the convertible who doesn't mind as the sooner I get this car done, the sooner it moves up in the quence.
One of the things that always bugged me was the fact the damn starter was held on with two 3/8" bolts and nuts..... So I ordered correct hardware from Dr. E BOOGER himself. And now for the first time in the 5 years I've owned it and likely even longer, it's bolted on properly..
This time around, every nut, every bolt, every screw is going to be done the same way Ma Mopar intended.
Decided after work that I would clean up some boxes of junk I had sitting around...
Accidently found some stuff I needed for the 73, found fan bolts, found original wheel cylinder bolts, found a trans line holder, and found some tags for my 8.75...
Need to sort through and figure out what to keep and what to use and what is just scrap. This year is a big clean up year for me, I've been piling metal outside and making dump runs frequently in an effort to declutter. I think having everything organized will makes completing my cars easier.
One of the things that always bugged me was the fact the damn starter was held on with two 3/8" bolts and nuts..... So I ordered correct hardware from Dr. E BOOGER himself. And now for the first time in the 5 years I've owned it and likely even longer, it's bolted on properly..
This time around, every nut, every bolt, every screw is going to be done the same way Ma Mopar intended.
Decided after work that I would clean up some boxes of junk I had sitting around...
Accidently found some stuff I needed for the 73, found fan bolts, found original wheel cylinder bolts, found a trans line holder, and found some tags for my 8.75...
Need to sort through and figure out what to keep and what to use and what is just scrap. This year is a big clean up year for me, I've been piling metal outside and making dump runs frequently in an effort to declutter. I think having everything organized will makes completing my cars easier.
Sorted everything. Put two recycle bins out along side the shop, and filled them both..
Going to mix and match, everything circled has an issue... Arrows are things I need to work on or the fix.
Going to mix and match, everything circled has an issue... Arrows are things I need to work on or the fix.
Working on the other spring...
I took Tuesday off to run Errands...
Went to the dump, on my way back I decided to stop in at my favorite wreckers, I saw the cars blocking and knew they were closed, went to turn around and seen the yard owner, he and I chatted and he asked what I had come up for, so I told him, he said "well you're up here now, go get it"
Being in good and being a straight shooter with junkyatd owners does workout in your favor.
It was nice to be somewhere other than work or home for a change.
I had to force $5 on him for the kickdown rod, but I now have complete 4 barrel 727 LA engine kickdowns for the 73 and convertible
It was so quiet that their were ducks swimming in the puddles....
Went to the dump, on my way back I decided to stop in at my favorite wreckers, I saw the cars blocking and knew they were closed, went to turn around and seen the yard owner, he and I chatted and he asked what I had come up for, so I told him, he said "well you're up here now, go get it"
Being in good and being a straight shooter with junkyatd owners does workout in your favor.
It was nice to be somewhere other than work or home for a change.
I had to force $5 on him for the kickdown rod, but I now have complete 4 barrel 727 LA engine kickdowns for the 73 and convertible
It was so quiet that their were ducks swimming in the puddles....
Cleaned and painted the kickdown and installed it.....
Last night I split all the donor panels after drilling those spot welds, then I cleaned the paint off my repair section for the cowl top.
Fitted it and Welded it in, so the collision damage is now gone.
Fitted it and Welded it in, so the collision damage is now gone.
Plato once said "Necessity is the mother of invention."........... Turns out with the car up on the stands I can't reach the top of the firewall...so I used a few left over 8 foot boards left over from the old car trailer deck...
It's time to start attacking this firewall if I want to get this car back on all 4's...
I removed more rotten metal.... Turns out the guy welding on the bottom of the side panel in Newark blew through the rocker panel...
I removed more rotten metal.... Turns out the guy welding on the bottom of the side panel in Newark blew through the rocker panel...
I've got it all cleaned up, I just need to remove the upper portion I plug welded... I'm not overly happy with the other plug welds either, so I'll Deal with them also, plus I have the kick panel to deal with...
I was able this morning to get the spring mostly together before my electrical skills were required to figure out why the lights in the garden center were not working....
Picking away at things today..
I should buy stocks in Irwin....
Got it all welded up tonight, I'll make the welds looks pretty tomorrow, it's nice and rock solid now, so that makes me happy..
Popped on a heater box panel for fun.
Nick
Got it all welded up tonight, I'll make the welds looks pretty tomorrow, it's nice and rock solid now, so that makes me happy..
Popped on a heater box panel for fun.
Nick
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3175375
Senior Member
You continue to amaze! I bet your favorite beverage tasted that much better last night. Great work!
Slow at work, so I dragged some stuff with me... Trying to make one good cowl face panel from a few... Some things did change from 69-73....
I'm pretty much dead in the water here,
Moparfest is cancelled, and with it went my motivation.
I've run out of shielding gas and refuse to use Flux core for sheet metal, so I have no way of replenishing my gas thanks to this virus and Ontario's closures of damn near everything.
In addition to that, the virus has taken 3/4's of my paycheck with it, so I can't even really afford to buy any of what I still need, or get things done.
Nick
Moparfest is cancelled, and with it went my motivation.
I've run out of shielding gas and refuse to use Flux core for sheet metal, so I have no way of replenishing my gas thanks to this virus and Ontario's closures of damn near everything.
In addition to that, the virus has taken 3/4's of my paycheck with it, so I can't even really afford to buy any of what I still need, or get things done.
Nick
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