finally a little green

[kenny]

well i got the mounting tab welded back on my vapor seperator that had broke this past weekend and it is now mounted and those fuel lines are finished up. i was searching around on a couple mopar forums about info on vapor seperators after i broke mine this past weekend and i saw some info on people having trouble with fuel pressure using the repro's due to the fact that the return nipple is fully open on the bottom and allows to much fuel back out the return line. so i checked mine out and it was all the way open, a much larger opening than originals, also when compairing to an original i noticed that the tab i was having to repair on the repro only has a single spot weld while the original i was looking at had three spot welds and was much stronger has anyone here had trouble with the repro vapor seperators or had trouble with fuel pressure after installing a repro on their engine?

[kenny]

I got to work on it a few more hours this weekend i put in a couple new u joints new ball studs and fork rod kit got all my clutch linkages installed from pedal to fork and got my shifter shifter rods and bench seat shifter mounting plate installed went to put the drive line in and wouldn't you know it my rearend seems to have a different size yoke than all the drive line yokes so looks like I'll be changing another u joint you think i would stop assuming and start triple checking everything. Also with full weight on front end i got all the front suspension torqued also got my battery cables and that little frame rail cable bracket on.

[kenny]

this weekend i put in my h pipe it was from accurate exhaust and fit perfect i did not have my steering column in yet however i did have my starter and z bar transmission and all suspension in. did not have to remove any of it to install the pipe however if the column had been in i think i would have had to take some other things loose. i also put in my rubber brake hoses so the brake system is complete i also put my ballast resistor and volt regulator on the fire wall and put the engine harness in, furthermore i changed the valve covers from the 69 model stuff to my 71 covers, i also realized that the alternator i had rebuilt from the original 69 motor im using would not work with this 71 wiring harness because it only has one terminal and grounds to the case not through the wiring harness like the 71 so i have to get another alternator, i put in my water pump pully fan spacer and fan but couldnt put belt on due to alternator situation, i also started putting hoses on the motor and found when trying to put the heater hoses on both of my hose nipples were 5/8 im not sure if thats also a 69 thing but i have to pick up a 1/2 nipple to replace the back one so my reproduction hoses with the part # and pentastar will fit. finally i also got my throttle cable bracket and throttle return spring and bracket installed and have all the throttle stuff hooked up, put some break in oil in and put a filter on. since i had the exhaust in place i did try to get my steering column in but it did not happen before i ran out of light im going to have to make sure a the splines at the steering box and coupler are clean with a file i guess because i didnt remember it being this hard to get out. i have emptied several of those boxes in earlier pics and each week i make myself a little more room. sorry i have not took any progress pics the last few weeks ive been trying work on it until dark, i have it at a storage unit with no lights so daylight has been premium work time have not spent any on pics. i am sure you can tell i am trying very hard to get to fire up, once i can fire it, shift it, and stop it, i can move it in and out of the unit or to my home where i have a better work area, even if it doesnt have glass or interior in it.

[sdweatherman]

Sounds like fun Kenny! Little by little you will get there. Scott.

[gionni]

Looks really good!

[kenny]

this weekend i corrected the u joint problem from two weeks ago by changing the center section in my rearend as stated before the new u joint would not fit the pinion yoke and instead of changing the joint i swapped the center section for another i had the one i took out was a 741 case 3.55 no sure grip and the one i put in was a 489 case 323 sure grip which is what the car should have had per the build sheet. so now my drive line is in and the rear and 4 speed are full of lube. i also put the rubber hoses from the fuel tank to the vapor box in the wheel well, put my antena on, put my new square back alternator on and got the belt in place and put the new 1/2" hose nipple on and got all the hoses put on along with the radiator and fan shroud, and i put all the washer hoses and hardware on along with the strap kit that holds all the wires and hoses in the engine bay. last week i spent a little while working with the steering column and this week i did also but its not in yet. seems that some time over the last 18 months while it was out of the car the shaft may have been collapsed. at the time i rebuilt it it was not but it has been moved from my house to three other storage areas and back to the body shop since it was taken out and now it is about .75" to 1" short of fitting correct based on where the coupler will have to be to put roll pin back and have the allowable room between the coupler and the refrence mark drilled in the shaft. i ran out of patience and was tired of working in the 30 degree storage unit so its still not in, however i did spend some time trying to get it to slide back out with no luck so if anyone reading this has any suggestion on a way i can get it to slide out without taking it all apart again hopefully even without taking it out from under the dash again i would love the advise. i was thinking about it some when i got home and i had an idea about putting a long bar against the pin that holds the coupler parts on and hammering on it to move the lower shaft down toward the gear box the pin should be very hard steel and i dont think i would damage it. your thought please.

[kenny]

i am thankful that i have my steering column in place finally.

i know it is shallow but today is thanksgiving and i did not have to work so i did work with the car about an hour while waiting on lunch. i did get my steering column shafts to seperate. what i did was took an 18mm open end wrench and put it around the shaft at the coupler and then hammered against the wrench forcing the lower shaft down to where it needed to be on the steering box i decided fitting the wrench around it like that then striking the wrench would help desperse the energy accross more of the coupler housing and keep it from binding anyway it worked and i am glad to have "install column" off my list.

[mopar71]

Looks Beautiful!

[kenny]

only thing i did this weekend was finish up steering column installation and got my parking brake stuff installed. also i started filling the brake system with dot5. i thought i would use the gravity method since all parts were new and dry i opened all the bleeders and put fluid in while working on finishing steering column at first seemed like it was going to work i was getting air bubbles back up through the master cylinder and fluid was going down i even got to a point where i added some more but after a short period no more bubbles and no drop in fluid so before leaving i closed the bleeders and put the master lid back on guess i will try again later anyone here use that method? have any pointers for speeding it up? did i screw up by not starting when i had enough time to finish filling system?

[kenny]

This weekend i got my brake system filled with dot5 and bled kind of surprised didn't find any leaks yet did find that my 4 speed is letting some oil through the reverse switch did some searching and found that that does happen with some of the original switches and that it only happens when you fill it to bottom of fill plug and it will only leak out a little until the oil level gets to the bottom of the switch so I'm going to just watch it for now. Spent most of my time stripping and repainting the air cleaner and polishing on the pie tin. I have some new mufflers on the way i think next weekend I'll try to get those on a new battery and fill the cooling system then see if i can get it fired up.

[NOrrTH]

Phenomenal! My car is supposed to be F7 buts it was painted Arcadia Green, a different dark metallic green, kinda teal'ish.

You see a lot of F8 but not F7 cars. Can't wait to see it rolled out in the sunlight. Great job

[kenny]

well this weekend i put the inner fender rear splash shields on i filled the coolong system put the front half of the fuel vapor line in place on the inner fender, put my mufflers on, and when i was under the back i found a very small brake fluid leak at the t block on the rearend and snugged that line down a little more, that was the only spot i could find that had lost and brake fluid. and then i installed a new battery, put a little fuel in the carb, put the air cleaner on in case of backfire, and you guessed it had my wife hit the ignition switch. it rolled over a couple times then roared to life but that only lasted about 90 seconds and had to shut it off due to a flood of fuel out the choke side of the carb. cleaned the fuel up tightened the fuel line and all the screws around the top plate on the carb because it seemed to be coming around that gasket between the top plate and the main body and had her hit it again, but that only lasted a few seconds and same thing. the second time i cleaned up the fuel from the intake and took the carb off i guess i will take it back to the shop that i paid to rebuild it and have them fix whatever they missed the first time. although i would have rathered that i had no issues with running the engine that actually was not my biggest disappointment. i was more disappointed that now with a battery in place i didnt have any lights, wipers, radio, or blower motor. of course it was not on long enough to know if the temp gauge was working and i have not put the rear harness in yet so the fuel gauge could not work, but the oil pressre gauge moves to the far high end with just turning the key to acc. horn worked and ignition switch worked the only thing i could confirm. when i redid the wiper motor i tested it and it worked, when i redid the heater box i tested the blower motor and it worked, when i cleaned up the radio i tested it and it would power up, so i have a power problem to track down. every harness on the car is brand new m&H harnesses i really was not expecting any power problems. any advice on trouble shooting power issue or advice on carb issue would be appriciated ill also post those two questions in q&a also i guess.

[kenny]

alright today i was able to run my engine break in period 20 minutes 1800-2500 rpm since last post of when i tried to start the engine for break in i have been able to correct the two problems i reported then thanks to some very helpful information in the question/answer area. my carb flooding fuel out the side was fixed by having the float on that side adjusted. and my headlight and dash power problems were fixed with a new headlight switch my oil pressure gauge will be fixed with the correct sending unit for use with gauges. however it is not all peaches, i have a substantial oil leak that could be coming from around the filter but it was on as tight as i could get it may need the sealing surface cleaned or something but it really looked like it was coming from where the pump meets the block when i say substantial in 20 minutes 200orpm running it lost a puddle about 16" in diameter. i did notice the leak after the car had run a just few minutes but i chose to continue with break in period and keep a close eye on it. furthermore i also have a little coolant leaking out around a few of the exhaust manifold mounting studs. i also got my front and rear valances on the car and more of the inner fender splash shields in place. the bigger stuff i still need to do is get the rear tail lights cleaned up and put in the bumper so i can get the rear bumper on get my glass in polish the trim and put it on and get the interior in.

[mopardog]

awesome progress on the resto. The more I look at these pics, the more I love that color green and can't wait for the fresh green to go back on mine and the better the wife feels about going back to that color! I do have one question though. What color silver did you use on the grille? I am needing to restore mine and love the way your grille looks.

[kenny]

I used these rustoleum products that were approved for plastics