The other Polara

MrMoparCHP

Old Man with a Hat
Joined
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Location
Lompoc, CA
I have had this Polara 4 years now and have done very little to it, its my daily driver. Right away I put two tires on it and was going to get the others in another two weeks, that didn’t happen. Fast forward to this month where I start by ordering a couple ball joints as the front makes all sorts of noise on bumps and is very sloppy on rough roads. While waiting for those to show up I got two tires, I chose to go with 225 where the fronts were 215 (it is what was on the car when I got it and very bald at that).

Ball joints in hand I set off to do them and pulled the drum saw some very clean raspberry grease, never seen colored grease before. A couple things I notices were the pads were almost gone and the adjuster cable was on its last thread literally. Before I started taking things apart I noticed that they didn’t look as bad as it drove so I started moving things about and then saw the idler that was totally shot with lots of vertical movement and the ball end was separating. I put it back together without doing the ball joints and before lowering the car back down I put a bar under the wheel and checked the play, pretty much none (control arm was supported). Off to order an idler.

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Project two that I had planned that day was to upgrade the ignition to electronic. I chose to just buy the Mopar box and pigtail and buy the distributor at the local parts store, total cost was about $100, far less than the Mopar kit. I didn’t like the way the pigtail was arranged so I stripped it and changed it, the coil wire was put in with the distributor wires and the power made a u-turn and came back out right below the ballast where I was getting power. Now this is where I prove to the world I’m no mechanic, the car wouldn’t start not even a spark. Frustrated I called in a friend after having already tried the distributor over a full 90 degree range. He said it has a spark, he checked at the cap I did at a plug. Off comes the cap, no rotor? I asked the counter person if it had a rotor, didn’t matter I should have checked so I knew I wasn’t 180 out. Rotor in, timing checked it was good.

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While he was there we checked the charging system as I have been having issues with dead batteries. I had to replace the battery that morning as it wouldn’t take a charge over night. It was determined that alternator and or the voltage regulator was bad, I chose to get and alternator and install a NOS voltage regulator I already had. On I went.
 
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A few days later I get stopped by the local police for a burned out taillight and get off with a warning. That day I dug out a spare taillight lens as I figured I got lucky once. On the 69 Polara you need to remove the bumper the get to the taillights, I got lucky and was able to leave it hanging out several inches. Lens swapped out and put back together I replaced all four taillight bulbs and tested it. I turned on the hazard switch so I could test them all at once, nothing, should have know, it never worked before. Ok forget that, right turn, WTF? the two right taillight bulbs were blinking alternately in a wig-wag fashion. That can’t happen I must have a grounding issue, lets check the left, wait hazard switch is still on, turned it off now the right blinks normally, so does the left. Rechecked the hazard with both turns off and they still do not work.


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Its not over yet (I thought I was done with everything that needed attention). I haven’t had the car on the highway in many months so I went for a drive, called a friend and headed his way even though he said he might not be done working on his car. Needless to say I headed that way anyway even though it was 140 miles away. I took some mountain roads and had some fun, big car handles pretty good with the new idler and tires. I was in an area in SoCal that is quite popular with the crotch rockets and thought about putting on a show of my own but didn’t think it was good idea to let the rear hang out when there might be a high speed motorcycle coming the other way. Fun over (for now) I stopped for lunch and when I went to leave it wouldn’t start, dead battery? Called AAA and got it going, not really knowing what the problem was and being 120 miles from home I had to look at my options. Try and drive it back and hope it makes it on a battery with 9 volts and not charging, I knew I needed to stop for gas so I didn’t think that was going to work. I ended up putting a new battery in again and made it home. With my friend on the phone we determined that the NOS regulator was no good (the AAA guy wasn’t able to tell me what the problem was and felt it was the alternator or even the battery) I need to learn more about this stuff. Quick check I found a parts store 15 miles away that had one in stock, problem solved (I hope) If I had a better idea or a meter I might have been able to save getting a new battery and maybe even the alternator.

Now I feel the car is good to go.
 
Sounds like you had some fun, its like 12 degrees here...
 
Sounds like you had some fun, its like 12 degrees here...

I guess I shouldn’t add that it was in the upper 70’s, t-shirt weather, windows down.

I’ve had this car for 4 years now and it felt real good to actually drive it. Yea I drove it 1300 miles home from Montana but it had bald tires and it was snowing, not the kind of fun I like. In the last 4 years it has only been more than 10 miles from my house a dozen times or so.

You've always got great stories.......

Haha, some people say I talk too much, I guess I can get descriptive in my commentaries. As you see I can’t answer a simple comment without telling a story. Heck I forgot to comment on doing the brakes a couple days after seeing they needed it just to find the cable broke, talk about timing.

Did I tell you about the time I….


Alan
 
The stories are a big part of why in log in, nice to hear from someone enjoying their ride. I always learn a thing or two when reading a post about automotive gremlins. Thanks for sharing.
 
The other day I went to my parents house and back which was a 260 mile round trip, in the past I would top off for the return trip, this time I let it go. Because of the profile of the tank it is hard to tell with the fuel gauge at a 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 tank but when I got home I filled it up again and did the calculations. 16.6 mpg where before this recent work it was maybe 12.

Both the electronic ignition and new tires had a part in that but I feel going from 215 to 225 tires was probably the big part. My mechanic friend still feels we can get this up to 18-20, not bad for a 43 year old car with 80,000 miles on it. He wants me to replace the radiator as the car heats up to easily on the grades.

Alan
 
Excellent stories.....I had to laugh but was relieved that everything turned out OK for you.
 
Some time ago I was informed that the passenger seatbelt didn’t lock so this afternoon I chose to look into it. I had a good idea that some tissue or trash had made its way into the retractor and was interfering with the mechanism.

The first thing was to put the b-pillar trim so I could get at it (sill plates were already off) and when I pulled the carpet back I could see the problem, I’m still not sure where all this trash came from but it was under the back seat as well. I vacuumed it up and pulled the mechanism out so I could clean it up as well.

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Even once I cleaned it up it still didn’t work, I could see the ratcheting piece wasn’t doing what it should. Still not sure what makes this thing tick I pulled the belt out fully so I could see if that made a difference, yuck, it was a mess between the trash and the rust the belt was like a rock so I felt it shouldn’t be used. Fine it doesn’t matter why it doesn’t work now, I’ll just have a black belt there.

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In comparing the belts I noticed that the hardtop ones had an extension on the mounting tab, this was because on the 4-door hardtops had the belts mounted back 2” further because of the b-pillar reinforcements. So I guess I’ll need to rebuild the original one.

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The first thing I did was pull the original one apart so I could clean the frame on it. Once cleaned it was painted and set aside to dry. I then pulled the pats one apart with care so I could see what went where (I still had one together as a reference).

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With the paint dry I placed the recoil spring in place and wound it up enough to get the spool back in so it would help hold the spring. The main axle bolt was put in place but not threaded as I still needed to finish tightening the recoil spring. With everything loaded I was able to place the ratcheting spring (that was broken on the original) back on and test.

Everything worked as it should so it was installed and buttoned up.


Alan
 
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and what was the time frame on that? I wish I had that kind of time, looks excellent.


Mouse house ya think? That is usually where trash like that comes from
 
and what was the time frame on that? I wish I had that kind of time, looks excellent.


Mouse house ya think? That is usually where trash like that comes from

I think the mice used the wire way as a tunnel where there is a separation right at the belt, still not sure how they were getting into the car, this was all before I got the car.


I never thought about the belts till now, never had a reason to look at them.

Here is the procedure (no pictures so you will have to use your imagination).

1. Remove the axle bolt (not the nut), when you do this the recoil spring may un coil a little.
2. Slide the spool away from the ratchet (or just remove)
3. Un hook the ratcheting spring (mine was broken)
4. Rotate the ratchet 90^ which will allow it to be moved more to one side for removal.
5. If it hasn't come off already remove the recoil spring, you may need to rotate the nut to release it (clockwise)

Assembly, here is where it gets tricky.

1. Coil the recoil spring up as much as you can (not important to get all of it)
2. Place the spring in place and insert the nut, rotate till it hooks the spring.
3. Hook the tail of the spring on the lower pin, check while tightening.
4. With a wrench coil the spring up more, it needs to be inside the guide pin. Rotate nut counter clockwise to tighten. Don't worry about getting it fully tightened. This is a three handed job so I doubt you'd get it anyway.
5. Once the recoil spring is inside the guide spring place the spool in but not centered, more to hold the recoil spring in place.
6. Place the ratchet back in. This cold be done first but it got in my way trying to get the recoil spring back in.
7. Hook the ratchet spring on its pin.
8. slide the spool in place and insert the bolt (do not thread)
9. Fully load the recoil spring (counter clockwise) Hold wrench on when done.
10. Thread and tighten the bolt.
11. Test.

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Assembly time was about 10 minutes.

Hope this helps,

Alan
 
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The other day while working on the seatbelt I took delivery of an aluminum radiator, $203 shipped from Champion. They do not list a radiator for a C-body with a 318 so I looked at different options first being the big block unit they did list. I saw a couple problems; first was the inlet/outlet locations didn’t work and would cost more to relocate, second was the size, I wasn’t sure it was setup for the standard core support or if I would need to swap the 26” one I also have.

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In looking through all the different radiators they had listed for Mopars I only saw one that was ready to go for an early small block (driver side lower radiator hose). The Champion model EC1635 was listed for several different applications including the 1967 Fury. I felt I could adapt and drill holes easier than relocating fittings and swapping core supports so I ordered it.

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Coolant drained I removed the old unit and then test fitted the new one, it dropped right on the lower two bolts so located the upper holes through the bolt hole and drilled them out. That do I bolted it up and connected al the hoses and lines then filled it up with 50/50. 2-1/2 quarts in and I was good to go, fired it up and checked everything, great no leaks. So I go to close the hood and bump? Good thing I didn’t just slam it shut like I typically do, the radiator was too high, and to double check this I put some putty on the cap and lowered the hood and pressed down yup zero clearance.

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Great $30 in coolant and I wasn’t going to loose that, nothing to transfer it to I looked at options. First I put a jack under the radiator and removed the bolts, I then lowered it to a set of holes that were already there on the top and bolted it up. The lower two bolts were going to be difficult as the core support is double walled at that point and you cannot but a punch through them.

I loosened the two bolts and spaced the radiator out so I could see the holes in the core support, a little measuring I was able to locate the holes and drill in place. Once again I bolted it up and tightened everything again, closed the hood, done!

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After a spirited drive I checked everything again and all go, didn’t even need to top off. The entire time the temp needle never left the bottom of the operating range.

Alan
 
Excellent!! You dont sit much do you?

I like to sit, in the driver seat, not working on cars. I only have old stuff and they need work, but when I do work on a project I like to get it done. The problem is I have been dedicating all my resources to the CHP project and this car has been neglected, as my daily driver I need it to better than it has. I found I was using the truck more and more and it wasn't as nice on the road and the Polara gets better mileage.

I think if I had more time (and money (and space)) I would probably be busier than I am.

Alan
 
I like to sit, in the driver seat, not working on cars. I only have old stuff and they need work, but when I do work on a project I like to get it done. The problem is I have been dedicating all my resources to the CHP project and this car has been neglected, as my daily driver I need it to better than it has. I found I was using the truck more and more and it wasn't as nice on the road and the Polara gets better mileage.

I think if I had more time (and money (and space)) I would probably be busier than I am.

Alan


Of course you would...I think that goes for most of us on the board
 
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