LetMeBeFrank
New Member
Hey guys, I figured I would start a build thread since I plan to do a bit of work to this ride. I purchased this 68 Polara 4 door hardtop 383 from my good friend in early January. He had already done quite a bit of work to it. My first car was a 1966 Impala that I daily drove for 4 years. I sold it 12 years ago and I've missed it ever since. Being a mopar lover I had to buy this Dodge as it's very similar to my Impala but better in every way.
Now that all that is out of the way, I'll talk about my plans for this car. I want this to be a fun spring-summer-fall cruiser. Not perfect paint but presentable. Mechanically everything is good to go except maybe a brake rebuild. The electrical needs some upgrades and mods. I've already installed a new stereo which I will detail in a later post in this thread.
Exterior:
Interior:
Electrical:
Mechanical:
And probably a bunch of other random stuff here and there, like painting the valve covers, cleaning up the engine bay, etc.
- Older 15”x7” mopar police wheels with brand new 235/75/15 tires.
- Replaced gas tank, sending unit, fuel line, fuel pump and rebuilt 600cfm edelbrock carb.
- 4-barrel conversion (69 factory 4-barrel intake) with proper kickdown brackets/linkage.
- New brake lines from inline tube, new master and booster.
- New alternator and voltage regulator
- Mancini racing pulleys
- Saginaw power steering pump conversion.
- Replaced hood torsion bars due to one being broken.
- New 26” radiator, hoses, thermostat, and trans cooler lines from inline tube. (Car runs dead middle of the temp gauge when in summer traffic.)
- New points, condenser, cap, rotors, wires.
- New headlight dimmer thumbwheel switch.
- New kyb shocks, sway bar endlinks, and idler arm.
- Floor repaired and new plush cut carpet from ACC.
- New battery, new battery tray with hold down, new positive and negative cables.
Now that all that is out of the way, I'll talk about my plans for this car. I want this to be a fun spring-summer-fall cruiser. Not perfect paint but presentable. Mechanically everything is good to go except maybe a brake rebuild. The electrical needs some upgrades and mods. I've already installed a new stereo which I will detail in a later post in this thread.
Exterior:
- Driver's front wheel well needs some rust repaired
- Rear window leaks badly from old vinyl top, needs to be pulled and rust patched.
- Needs a new vinyl top
- Passenger rear door is a little crunched and needs to be knocked out and painted.
- Paint overall needs to be buffed out.
Interior:
- Rear seat top needs repair.
- Package tray cover needs replaced.
- Raise seat up (I'm 6' but the steering wheel top is right in my sight)
Electrical:
- Headlights put on relays.
- Blower motor high put on relay.
Mechanical:
- Brake rebuild (new cylinders, shoes, hardware)
And probably a bunch of other random stuff here and there, like painting the valve covers, cleaning up the engine bay, etc.