Really? I didn't know that about the nuts. I will just ruin a die up the threads on the bolts and blow the threads on the nuts clean then.

Thanks on the compliments. There are numerous imperfections on the door and fender, but I am not going for a show car and they turned out pretty good for coming from a junkyard. I am just happy to be able to use the door. I need to get some red pin striping tape form Napa though. The lack of the red stripes bugs me.

I will keep updating as things get done.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Wow, it looks really good now Reed! Is that the outline of the old pin strips under the paint on the door?

I cannot believe you pulled the axle yourself! I know your a big guy but Damn! I think the nuts Josh is talking about are nuts that where pinched in the outside, to make the inside (threaded part) slightly oval shaped. There are usually small indentations on the nut. I use these kind of fasteners (on a smaller scale) at work on aircraft body structure.

looking good reed I wish I still had my 81 diplomat it was a tank

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Nothing beats a slant six
1987 D150

Yup. I am going to stick the new pinstripes directly over the old ones, and I didn't have an effective way of removing the old ones quickly. Like I said, low-tech paint job, not a show car. I needed to get the door and fender painted ASAP, and only had time to pull the factory door guard off and rub the sticky residue off with my thumb. I got a big blister from doing that, but it worked.
Yeah, all four u-bolt nuts have a dimple on one side. I will chase the u-bolt threads to clean out the rust and gunk. Truly, the hardest part was the u-bolts. Well, getting the e-brake cable out of the backing plate was difficult too, until I got the hang of it. The 7 1/4 axle itself isn't that heavy. If I had to guess, I would say 150-200 pounds, tops. The 8 3/4 is a bit beefier, and getting it up onto my workbench took a little effort, but I was surprised that it didn't weigh more.
Yep. I always liked the Volares I used to own, and this 5th Ave is even more solid than they were. This car just feels sturdy. What is amaxing is when the fenders are off the car, they have a fair amount of flex. But once you bolt them onto the car, they simply will not budge. I also really like the ride. Even with dead shock absorbers, this car still is very comfortable to drive. I can't wait to replace the worn out shocks on this car with something nice. Some folks like a stiff ride, but I prefer floating down the road.

Check out this Plymouth Gran Fury crash test I found on Youtube: click me I just wish it showed the landing. I bet they didn't expect this to happen!

Here is a picture taken this orning (I had to adjust the contrast becasue it is hard to get a good picture of a black car):

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

WHEW! The 8 3/4 rear axle swap is 99% complete! The axle is in, everything is hooked up, I found a guy selling Mopar driveshafts for $5 each here in Tacoma and found one the right length. Brakes are bled, shocks are attached ( I really need new shocks) and new u-joints are installed and greased.

I say the swap is 99% done because I still need to get the right speedo gear AND I completely forgot that a 69 rear axle will have left hand thread lug nuts. D'OH! I went to put the driver's side wheel on and for a second couldn't figure out why the lug nuts weren't going on. Someday in the future I will take the driver's side axle and have right hand thread lugs pressed in, but not right now. I am not going to take it apart again...

So I am off on a quest to track down five left hand thread lug nuts, and then I will post some pictures.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

As promised, here are the pics:

Trying out the 71 Fury hubcaps EricW gave me. Still seeing if i like them or not:



I spy, with my little eye, an 8 3/4!



Yes, there is the removable (and heavy) third member:



The axle is happy in its new home:



But my rear leaf springs are getting worn out:



And here's the cause of this whole adventure, three teeth sheared off of each of the spider gears!



No wonder the old 7 1/4 rear axle was making banging noises.

So now I need to take a couple days to recover, and then it is on to swapping out the lean burn intake, carb, and ignition to an Edelbrock SP2P intake, Holley 4360 carb, and HEI ignition. I also need to get the correct speedo gear in the tranny since my speedometer now reads much too fast.

Late on I will replace the whole exhaust line with one that has no catalytics (instead of three) and a free flowing Walker Quiet-Flo muffler, and maybe a resonator. Boy am I glad this chore is done and everything worked.

I took the car for a shakedown cruise on some errands, and everything appears to be working well. Brakes are good, no inapprpriate noises or grinding coming from the back, thr car tracks straight and smooth, no tire rubbing over bumps or around corners. For the brakes, I used the rubber line, hard lines, backing plates, and all brake hardware off of the old 7 1/4. It all bolted right on and the rubber line was even long enough to make it to the new location of the junction block on the axle. All in all, this wasn't a very difficult swap. The trickiest part was drilling out the mounting pads, but lots and lots of cutting oil made that not as bad as it could have been.

However, if I could go back and do it all over again, I think I would have rather taken up Jason White on his offer of the rear leaf springs, sway bar, and 8 1/4 axle out of a Diplomat cop car. Cost would have been less, installation would have been easier, and it would have gone much faster. But I didn't and it all worked out okay. Now I need to go take some painkillers and muscle relaxants before my back spasms permanently.

Thanks to everyone who put up with my endless questions and offered advice and assistance.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Scince when did a project ever go according to plan, and never go over budget? It starts with a minor problem, that leads to another, and another, and another...
Oh c'mon, dual flowmasters (or knockoffs) would be sweet on that thing...

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'74 Duster 225 Super Six w/904
14" Cragar SS wheels

Cool beans...that axle will out last the car! If you search online, there are some tables that show what speedo gear to use with what gear ratio/tire size (tire height).

Kinda agree with dusterguy....get a little bark to match the new found bite!

looks nice Reed by the way I donot have the axle any more beause someone stole it from my yard talk about being mad

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Nothing beats a slant six
1987 D150

Someone stole the axle?!?! That's too bad. In a way, though, it's kind of impressive. That is quite a heavy thing to make off with. Sort of like stealing a boat anchor. I doubt whoever stole it even knows what it is.

As far as the exhaust goes, I am going to keep it simple. I can order a new bolt on Y-pipe for a Canadian M-body that doesn't have the cats, and then it is basically a straight pipe out the back. I'm not going to do duals since that would require moving the gas tank to do it right, but i might go wit a slightly more aggressive muffler. We'll see.

I really want to get the motor work done on this car. I took it for a test drive yesterday and the acceleration is greatly improved, and I actually peeled out a little when I was going up a hill from a dead stop. I know that once I get the lean burn setup replaced that the motor will really come alive.

Another cool thing is I purchased some fender-top turn signal indicators from the guy whole sold me the $5 driveshaft. I need to drill holes in my fenders to mount these things. Slowly but surely this car is coming together.

Now I need to figure out what to do with the bad door, fender, and 7 1/4 rear axle I have.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Glad that worked out Reed.

Change the studs to RH thread....

Dump that stuff off in the Walmart parking lot. .....Home Despot is good....they have the carts to move the stuff to a safe corner.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

You're such an anarchist Sandy....

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I have a 28 tooth gear and that appears correct with 205/75R15s and 2.94 gears.

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Joshua

This is how the rearend was really fixed:

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Reed,

Just driving back and forth to Everett on the back roads over the last 5 years I went through (3) 7 1/4 rear ends. I finally had a "C" body 8 3/4 rear modified to fit my 74 Dart and had Randy's Ring and Pinion build me a good 2.76 gear ratio Auburn Posi. I was running a 3.23 open diff and could only get 22.5 mpg average. Now I am getting 24.5 average over the winter. During the summer months on good gas I average 25.5 plus mpg.

Enjoy the new rear end.
Looks like a nice car!

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG