Look what followed me home today...

[YellowThumper]

I will go against the other posts and say the black covers look better. Gives nice contrast to all the shiny.
X2 on the powder coat.

Mike

[burdar]

Yep, I really like the black.  With a black alternator and a black ps pump, it will all come together.  The engine comp braces will be black, along with the blower motor, horns exc... 

The radiator came in today.  I was a little nervous about ordering a Champion.  I read posts about horrible looking welds and twisted cores.  I went with a cc526.  A lot of people use the cc2374 but I'm not a fan of the angled upper tank.  I like the looks of the 526 a lot more.  This one looks pretty nice.  The welds look good and it's not twisted.  It even bolted up to the existing holes.

[anlauto]

Should paint the tranny cooler high temp aluminum

[twalker]

I used a champion rad on my previous build, was very happy with it.  Love what you are doing with the car, fantastic work.

[anlauto]

What's the plan for routing the passenger side cooling line ? I really like the clean look up front

[burdar]

That cooling line will make a "U" and connect to the passengers side radiator fitting.  It doesn't look like I'll be able to use the factory cooler lines.(with these headers)  Once the engine is in, I can see what I have to work with.  I might have to design something custom from the trans to the rad.

[burdar]

I spent Friday night and all day Saturday in the garage.  On Friday I cleaned up an old mini starter off of a 92 Dakota.  I thought it was going to be a direct bolt-on but it wasn't.  There was a bump on the side of the block that the starter was hitting.  I started by grinding down the case of the starter a little bit but ended up having to grind the bump on the block.  Luckily I was able to get the angle grinder in between the header tubes.  I also installed an old fuel pump for mock up purposes.  I'm going to mock up a small denso alternator and want to make sure it clears the fuel pump.

Saturday I started out by cleaning up the power steering box.  What a nasty job!  I was originally going to install a manual box but decided against it.  I was afraid the steering ratio would make it feel like I was driving a tractor.  I plan on sending the ps box to Firm Feel for a stage 3 upgrade sometime in the future.  The steering box was very close to the header tube with the engine sitting on he stand.  I hoped there would be more clearance with the engine in the proper location.(in the car)

At that point I was ready to lift the body over the engine.  I went to remove the front dollies and install the lifting arms when I realized I didn't have any jack stands.  My stands are all under the Challenger at the moment.  My wife was out shopping so I called her up.  She went to Sears and bought me two more stands. Once she was home with the stands, I was able to change out the front dollies and get the engine installed.

It was a little slow going since I was working by myself but I got it in just fine.  The trans mount gave me problems at first.  I had to loosen the motor mount nuts in order to pull the end of the trans to the passengers side a little bit.  After that, I was able to get the x-member and mount bolted up.  With the engine in the proper location, I had plenty of clearance between the ps box and the header tube.








I read a post about the Pertronix distributors not fitting A-bodies.  I was worried so I test fit the wiper motor for clearance.  The Pertronix distributor is a little taller an wider then a stock Mopar distributor.  It was pretty tight but it should work as long as I use angled boots.

[HP_Cuda]

Looks great!!!

She is coming together really nice!

 

[burdar]

I pulled a 225-50-18 tire out of the shed tonight.  This is the size that comes on the previous model Chrysler 200 S.  I thought this was the size tire I wanted to run on the Dart so I grabbed one off of the old tire pile where a friend of mine works.  Here's what it looks like on the Dart.
 

I've got plenty of room between the LCA and the frame with the suspension in this location.  I only have 1 5/8" from the top of the tire to the top of the inner fender though.  How much suspension travel should one have to be safe?  I plan on running 1"+ torsion bars so that should help somewhat.


After seeing how close I was to the inner fender, I did some checking and it looks like I had the tire size wrong.  I want to run a 225-40...not a 225-50.  The 50 series is 27" tall where the 40 series is 25".  That would give me an extra 1" of room from the top of the tire to the inner fender.  I might even be able to lower it a little more and keep 2" of suspension travel if that's enough.  It would be nice to find a junk 225-40 to use for mockup. 

I also checked the header to ground clearance.  It's just a rough measurement since the back end is higher then the front at this point.  Right now I figured I have 4 1/2" of clearance.  With a 1" shorter tire and -1/2" for tire squat(with weight on it), that leaves me with 3" to the ground.  If I lowered it a little more(with the shorter tire) that would leave me 2 1/2" or so.  That's pretty tight.  Maybe I do need to sell these and get the shorties.  I could dent the bottom of he head pipes that connect to the shorties for even more room if I need it.

[Plum6Pak]

  The car that followed you home a couple of years ago is looking pretty dang sweeeeet! Keep up the good work, can't wait to see the finished product!

[ShelbyDogg]

2 inches is not enough for front travel. Maybe add a custom top hump to the inner fender? How does it clear the fender during extreme turning? Simulate turning extreme right, with the bottom arm raised all the way up.

[anlauto]

Air Ride Man..

[burdar]

 



This Dart runs 225-40-18's and stock inner fenders.  His front end is lower then what I'm showing mine at.  He has an RMS front suspension but that doesn't change the tire to inner fender distance.  Large torsion bars will allow less travel then the stockers.  If I can't get the front stance the way I want it, I'll have to rethink the whole project.  I might as well run 15" body colored steel wheels at that point.

I've sent a couple messages to some A-body guys that have their front ends really low.  We'll see what they have to say.

[brads70]

If it were me I'd like to see at least 3" of suspension travel , and I'd use bigger torsion bars 1.125"+ and GOOD shocks for ride quality. You have sub frame connectors right? Only thing with bigger bars and being a convertible.... not sure how that will work out? FYI, On my car I have 4" of ground clearance at the lowest point , the tranny pan is lower than my headers. I've never bottomed out yet , even on speed bumps.

[burdar]

It will be getting sub frame connectors.  That will be the last thing going on after the car is on it's wheels.  I haven't researched torsion bars yet to know all the different sizes available.  That's why I just said 1"+.  Stock on this car was .88 I think.  With the shorter tire I'll have very close to 3" travel if you add 1/4" for the undercoating that's on there now.   I just looked through a post on Moparts about a 67 Valiant.  I think the wheel wells are the same between a Dart and a Valiant.  His is very low and is also running a 25" tall tire.  Not sure why other people haven't said anything about inner fender clearance.  It shouldn't have anything to do with suspension.  The tire is either going to fit or it isn't.

I do appreciate all the input!