I know I haven't posted in a while, but Logan and I have been doing quite a bit of work on his Dart. I'm not doing much on the Dart when Logan isn't here, as I'm trying to teach him. Since my last post we've removed the tie rods and centerlink so we can drop the oil pan (leaking). A friend of mine loaned me a tool he made to lift the engine enough to get the oil pan out (see pic.). I'm glad he had that tool as I was stumped as to how I would support the engine. While the pan was off, I changed the rear main seal as a precaution. I would like to run full synthetic oil once we know there aren't any leaks. While I was changing the seal, Logan was doing the "fun" job of gasket scraping and cleaning, good experience for him! I also double-checked the cam gear alignment as I wasn't sure I installed it correctly when we changed the gears & chain. With the grill off and the radiator out I was able to see I was off a tooth on the cam gear, which explains why it didn't have enough power to drive up car ramps. The engine is buttoned up now, so we turned our attention to the steering.
The power steering gear box is shot, leaks from the bottom seal, and a lot of play in the wheel when driving even after adjustment. We got a quote of $400.00 to rebuild it, ouch, when we were at Mopar Nationals. We had a swap space this year and we were next to a fantastic couple who were selling parts from their '72 Barracuda. They replaced good parts with better parts (8-3/4 rear to a Dana, 727 to a 5 speed stick, etc.). Another item he replaced was the power steering gear box with a light weight Borgensen unit. They sold Logan their good used gear box for $40.00. I tried to remove the Pitman Arm from the old gear box, bought a puller from Harbor Freight, but one of the arms on the puller bent. We took the old gear box, and the box from the 'Cuda, to a buddy of mine who has better quality tools, and he will change the Pitman Arm for us.
The power steering gear box isn't the only good deal we found there. I saw an old friend I knew when I lived in Joliet, IL. He had a couple of Slant 6 parts, an Offenhauser 4 bbl. intake, and a set of headers (see pic.). They will be installed at a later date.
Last weekend we went to the Holley Moparty, and more good deals were had! Logan turned 15 at the show on Saturday, so I found a new chrome valve cover and breather caps as birthday gifts. Also found some long T-handle valve cover hold down bolts for when we install the cover. Engine will be looking good! One of the swap meet vendors at Moparty gave Logan a Holley 4 bbl. carb for free as a birthday gift. I told him to cherish these times, soon enough you'll be paying full retail...lol (see pics.).
We've also bought fully rebuilt upper control arms, a recovered dash pad, which I installed today (see pics), and some '70 Dart taillight housings and an extra pair of lenses. The '72 bumper has 2 taillight openings per side, but the '70s has only one per side. We bought them as my buddy who loaned me the engine lifting tool, has a brand new '70 rear bumper he will sell Logan for $100.00. He also gave him a free hood (Logan's has a bend in the front from a P.O.). Only thing wrong with it there is a hole in the hood for a large scoop. I have an old fiberglass 6 Pack scoop that will work perfectly!
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Old Dash Pad.jpg [ 127.8 KiB | Viewed 2557 times ] |
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Headers & Intake.jpg [ 194.75 KiB | Viewed 2557 times ] |
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Engine Lifting.jpg [ 172.02 KiB | Viewed 2557 times ] |
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Chrome valve Cover.jpg [ 132.04 KiB | Viewed 2557 times ] |
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Carb.jpg [ 234.23 KiB | Viewed 2557 times ] |
