Recently Mannix reruns have been added to Direct TV's FE channel, one of my younger days TV show favs... I've been tuning lately... Every year he sported a new car, most often a rag-top Mopar. Why do I bring this up, well quad lights on an A Body is nothing new for Mannix:

See Joe's custom four eyed Dart here.

Short YouTube of the 1968 GTS pictured above.

Now back to the regular secluded thread.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Finished the grill install and the revised radiator ducting today.
Relocated the material trimmed from the center of the 67 Coronet grill to the outside of the head light bezels to finish those spaces
Installed the turn signals / parking lights behind the main grill to keep the keep the look of the front end uniform.
I will wait for warmer weather to do the polish and paint.
For the trim around the grill perimeter, l probably will hire that out to get a nice professional metal finish.

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Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

The OE steering wheel in the 68B, for a 50+ year old part is about perfect, no cracks, scratches, or wear so I really did not want to subject it to a lot of hard tugging like one would get into with Autocross.
I also wanted a wheel with a little thicker rim and a more racey appearance. For me a Mopar Tuff Wheel was the answer.
Getting the Tuff Wheel was easy, getting the steering column adapter to position the flat Tuff Wheel about where the dished OE wheel sat was more difficult. New adapters have been out of stock at the aftermarket suppliers since at least last August. Occasionally the OE adapters from the 70's are listed for sale and last month I bought one.

Finished up the install today. I like it.
The OE 68 steering wheel and the Tuff Wheel are in the photos below.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Nice! I have a floor shift column and Tuff Wheel that will go in my Duster one of these years. It really is a nice upgrade.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Looks really nice John!

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

The next couple of weeks are dedicated to getting the valve train in the slant that I call the HINA motor in the 68B as good as it can be.
The valve spring removal tool worked like a champ. Super easy and Super secure.
When building the cylinder head I took it to a shop to get the intake valve seats cut to hit the target on the spring pressures. The guy did not have a hollow mill that left the ID of the spring seat in tact, I was pissed. This is the plan is to fix that. While at the PRI show I spoke with a couple of valve spring suppliers and they all agreed that the spring should be retained at the bottom, either on the ID or the OD. One of the guys said that if I could find a washer of the right ID and OD and thickness and epoxy it to the existing seat area that would stabilize the bottom of the spring.
Found a steel washer at Mc Master Carr that has the correct OD, a workable thickness and the ID is close enough that I can do some minor honing- grinding to make a custom fit. I have those ordered.

Also working with b3racing to get custom rocker shaft shims to set the shaft and rockers in what should be the best possible alignment.
http://www.b3racingengines.com/techpage ... metry1.asp
I will post again as that progresses.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Finished the project of adding the valve spring bottom retention that had been machined away on the intake spring seats.
The McMaster Carr thick washers were about perfect. I had to hone out the ID to get a good fit over the valve guide, the OD was fine.
I cleaned up the cylinder head valve seat surface with brake cleaner then acetone, then used JB Weld epoxy to fix the washers in place.
The valve spring removal tool worked great.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Nice work John!

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Made the trim to surround the front grill and headlights. Used aluminum angle stock from Lowes, heated it with a torch to get soft enough for bending and then braised the ends together using a propane torch and aluminum brazing rods. Practiced some new skills on this project.
Some of my goals on this project were:
1) maintain the OE shape-size-attachment points to make it easy to return to the stock grill surrounds
2) utilize qual head lights with one opening being a cold air intake
3) the change is to have a positive effect on the front end aerodynamics and remove weight.
4) have the new front end look like something that Chrysler/Plymouth could have done back in 1968

The 1967 Dodge Coronet grill insert and head light surrounds have not been cleaned or re painted. That will happen with warmer spring weather. That gives me time to decide to: black the grill and bezels, or make them all shiny, or a combination of both.

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Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Nice work John! You have way more patience than I.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Getting some work done there.

Do you have hood pins John, or is some of the behind the grille structure going to be reinstalled to latch the hood?

I want to do some baffling and radiator ducting as well. I have read that for a street / track car canvas works well due to the fact if it ever gets mushed up a bit it does not cause damage to the Radiator. It just bends like a heavy t shirt.


Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Yeah you ain't the only one getting short on patience these days haha

This post shows the Roller Rockers and the valve cover revisions made to provide clearance for the rockers inside the valve cover after the B3 spacers were installed.
The B3 spacers moved the rocker shaft up a bit over .200 I checked the clearance with molding clay, rolling the engine over by hand. The outboard adjusters hit the valve cover hard. The adjusters below the valve cover internal baffels just touched the baffels. This is with a valve cover gasket installed in the valve cover.
Link to the B3 discussion viewtopic.php?f=19&t=66466
To provide a safety margin I repeated the clearance test with the valve cover gasket removed and the valve cover bolted in place and made modifications for clearance.

Photos below show the Roller Rockers, the valve cover modifications, and a side by side comparison of a stock valve cover and the modified valve cover.
I applied Loctite 290 to the welds. Loctite 290 is a wicking fluid intended for sealing porosity in welds and metals.
The cylinder head I am using is a 1987 Hydraulic Head and valve cover.

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Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

The cylinder head being used is a hydraulic head and the camshaft is the stock 87 core reground, so the rear journal has the groove for full time rocker oiling.
I had previously added a brass bushing to the outside diameter of the rear rocker hold down bolt to restrict the oil flow up to the rockers. That worked.
With the .200 thick B3 spacers installed I needed longer rocker shaft hold down bolts.
I made the rear bolt by welding a steel bushing to a standard 5/16 inch grade 8 bolt then grinding the manufactured collar down to the same diameter as a special OE bolt collar.
I then installed the brass oil control bushing that I had used earlier.
It is understood that with the mechanical rocker shaft being used the special rear bolt no longer serves as a mistake proof device to get the rocker shaft set in the correct orientation.
I use the collar on the special bolt to position the brass oil flow restrictor so that is why I duplicated it on a longer bolt.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Back on the grill work, this has been a cold spring in Indy, been waiting for the temperature to get up in the mid 60's to spray paint.
photos below are of the bezels and grill sections. Polished and painted.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8