New lines, steering and diff
Slowly working at knocking a few things out each evening this week. On Tuesday I got the front main steering system re-installed. This involved mounting the tie rods and the main steering linkage to each other. The brake and fuel lines showed up from Van Steel as well. I had forgotten about re-painting the catalytic convertor cover that attaches just under the passenger side of the center frame. So I removed the rust from that and primed it.
Then last night I got the new diff fluid in the diff. Spins very nicely as you would expect. When you do this don't forget the positraction additive. I ended up having to get a rebuilt slave steering cylinder because the original was too Bubba'd to hold any pressure. Fortunately my local NAPA had one in stock....which was a first for this project. The better part of the evening was spent laying down the new brake and fuel lines. This is not as easy as you'd think. I even kept the original lines handy so I would know exactly how they looked put together again and it still took me close to 2 hours to do. Because of the shipping there had to be a "shipping bend" put in 3 of the 4 main lines which took figuring out which way to un-bend it to get it back the way it was supposed to be.
Then this morning, the wife made her contribution to the restoration. I needed a 3rd hand to hand screw in the 4 main bolts that attach the diff to the cross support member. She was gracious enough to screw them in while I held it up. She almost broke a sweat! :-) Next thing you know she's going to think it's HER car! That's what happened with a Mercedes C240 I had a couple of years ago. "Oh honey, you deserve it. It's your car". This was after driving a Toyota Tercel back and forth to work 26 miles each way and NO AC for the last 5 years of that! Well, 6 months into it, I had to beat her off with a stick just to be able to drive it a couple times a week! As I like to say, that little story was for free! ;-)
Plans for this weekend:
* get the u-joints replaced in the half shafts
* mount the t-arms, half shafts, shocks, struts, and rear spring for a complete backend
* clean and paint the brake calipers, attach the flex lines
* put the tires on and officially have a rolling chassis!
I've got to find someone that can weld for me. I've decided to NOT try to teach myself to weld to replace the body mounts. Hopefully I can find someone reasonable that can come to me.
I also have to make up my mind on the motor. I know what I want to do but I keep going back and forth on the heads. Summit has a nice set of heads, SUM-15123, that are self branded versions of some Dart Iron Eagle heads that have put out good dyno numbers and are about $650/pair. The we have the tried and true Vortecs with modified spring for extra lift and loads of dyno data and real experience. I can get a package from Scoggin-Dickey that comes modified, gaskets, new Edelbrock intake, and stamped steel rockers for $900. At this point, the better economic choice is the Vortec head kit considering it has the rockers, gaskets, intake and bolts as part of the package. The gaskets, rockers, and bolts alone would cost me an extra $200 over the $650 which leaves the intake at parity between the two options. The engine builder that is local that I will get the short block from has several mid 70's 350 blocks on hand for $400 which is a complete re-man short block with new bearings, rings, pistons, and a complete bore and grind of the crank. The $400 is with a core exchange but at that I'd be hard pressed to get my existing block machined and then buy the pistons, rings, and bearings for that price.
The motor break down then looks something like this:
* Short block: $400
* oil pump and pan: about $75
* head kit: $900
* cam kit: $150
I plan on re-using the Q-jet carb and HEI dist from the original motor. That's going to put me at about $1500 for the motor. Not bad on the whole and should be able to lay down some rubber when done!
Then last night I got the new diff fluid in the diff. Spins very nicely as you would expect. When you do this don't forget the positraction additive. I ended up having to get a rebuilt slave steering cylinder because the original was too Bubba'd to hold any pressure. Fortunately my local NAPA had one in stock....which was a first for this project. The better part of the evening was spent laying down the new brake and fuel lines. This is not as easy as you'd think. I even kept the original lines handy so I would know exactly how they looked put together again and it still took me close to 2 hours to do. Because of the shipping there had to be a "shipping bend" put in 3 of the 4 main lines which took figuring out which way to un-bend it to get it back the way it was supposed to be.
Then this morning, the wife made her contribution to the restoration. I needed a 3rd hand to hand screw in the 4 main bolts that attach the diff to the cross support member. She was gracious enough to screw them in while I held it up. She almost broke a sweat! :-) Next thing you know she's going to think it's HER car! That's what happened with a Mercedes C240 I had a couple of years ago. "Oh honey, you deserve it. It's your car". This was after driving a Toyota Tercel back and forth to work 26 miles each way and NO AC for the last 5 years of that! Well, 6 months into it, I had to beat her off with a stick just to be able to drive it a couple times a week! As I like to say, that little story was for free! ;-)
Plans for this weekend:
* get the u-joints replaced in the half shafts
* mount the t-arms, half shafts, shocks, struts, and rear spring for a complete backend
* clean and paint the brake calipers, attach the flex lines
* put the tires on and officially have a rolling chassis!
I've got to find someone that can weld for me. I've decided to NOT try to teach myself to weld to replace the body mounts. Hopefully I can find someone reasonable that can come to me.
I also have to make up my mind on the motor. I know what I want to do but I keep going back and forth on the heads. Summit has a nice set of heads, SUM-15123, that are self branded versions of some Dart Iron Eagle heads that have put out good dyno numbers and are about $650/pair. The we have the tried and true Vortecs with modified spring for extra lift and loads of dyno data and real experience. I can get a package from Scoggin-Dickey that comes modified, gaskets, new Edelbrock intake, and stamped steel rockers for $900. At this point, the better economic choice is the Vortec head kit considering it has the rockers, gaskets, intake and bolts as part of the package. The gaskets, rockers, and bolts alone would cost me an extra $200 over the $650 which leaves the intake at parity between the two options. The engine builder that is local that I will get the short block from has several mid 70's 350 blocks on hand for $400 which is a complete re-man short block with new bearings, rings, pistons, and a complete bore and grind of the crank. The $400 is with a core exchange but at that I'd be hard pressed to get my existing block machined and then buy the pistons, rings, and bearings for that price.
The motor break down then looks something like this:
* Short block: $400
* oil pump and pan: about $75
* head kit: $900
* cam kit: $150
I plan on re-using the Q-jet carb and HEI dist from the original motor. That's going to put me at about $1500 for the motor. Not bad on the whole and should be able to lay down some rubber when done!
posted by Steve at 1:26 PM
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