Transmission woes

Well, forward progress is continuing on the Brick......

The evening in Gene's driveway was amazing.  I had honestly forgot how much fun it was to wrench with the OFB. 

We did a quick underside inspection of the car.  The upper and lower ball joint boots are shot, but I'll swap them out when I get to changing out the front end for disc brakes. We pulled the front shocks to replace them.  Under the light scaled rust on the shocks, we discovered that they were from a Kmart Car Care Center.....as car as I know, the Kmart Car Care centers were all converted to Penske Service Centers in late 1999, and have all been either closed or changed to Sears Car Care centers.  So that means the Shocks were at least 10 years old.  The rear shocks were Monroe Gas O Matics.  Swapped them all out for Gabriel Heavy Duty front and rear.

Working on the trans pan, we found that the bolts were just finger tight.  got a good 4 turns on each one and then set them to the proper torque.  Trans leak issue resolved?  Found out later - not so much.  Either leaking from the Speedo gear housing or neutral backup switch or maybe even the front pump seal.  The front pump seal is most likely NOT the issue as the fluid is pooling at the back drivers side, more than likely, it's the speedo gear housing. It's cool cause it is just an o-ring.  Swapping out the o ring on the neutral safety switch too, just to be sure.   Found that the metal trans cooler lines were resting right on the crankshaft pully, so did a minor bend job, and then wire tied them to the radiator -k member support. Waiting on the transmission mount to make it here so I can get that installed after the leak issue is resolved.  Going poly on that one.....

Wiggle test on the driveshaft showed that there was some pretty significant play in the U-joints.  Not surprised because they are probably 38 years old.  Grabbed a set of new ones to go in once I get the trans leak issue fixed.

We tried our damnedest to get that fuel tank out, but no dice for us.  No air tools really eats when trying to get it all loose and free.  Good thing my mother in law's mechanic, Paul, works on classic cars.  He was able to get it down and swap it out before working on the AC for me.  He is finishing the R134 conversion and getting it all charged up for me.

Should have it back this weekend so I can get it back to Kaiser, the paint guy, for the last 2 coats of black primer and ghost flames.

Woohoo - Driving it everyday!

Passed emissions with flying colors.  Tags cost $20!

I installed the Sunpro SuperTach II the other night. Actually pulled the fuse block out and installed it like factory.  Pretty clean install and mounted pretty nicely to the A pillar with the provided fitting.

Measured the Ash tray opening.  At 6.5 inches wide, it will be too small for a Sunpro Multi Guage Kit, so will go with the single pods instead.  The guages, oil pressure and water temp, will be larger and more closely match the SuperTach. Side by side, the two mounting plates measure just over 6 inches, so the install will look pretty clean.  And the best part is that the wiring for the light is already there.


Going over to my buddy Gene's house.  He has a pair of donor Barracuda's at his place.  May actually score some springs out of the trip, plus will be installing the parts that need to go underneath!  Shocks, tranny pan gasket, and fuel sending unit will be in, and then Friday night we head to Paul's for the AC fix.


Depending on the amount of cash left over after the AC repair, may invest in some new springs.  If not, then i will just try to steal a set off of the parts cars.....


Get to adjust my tracking in spending - Total with these parts - $1610.  Installing the trans pan gasket myself to save the $50.

The project starts.

Okay so the goal here is to build a classic daily driver for less than $5000.

Here is what has been spent so far:
The car - $1200
Body and primer - $250
Replace trans pan gasket - $50
Total - $1500

Ordered parts:
Fuel Sender unit - $80
Front and rear shocks - $80

Total with these parts - $1660

Proposed spending:
Window Tint - $200 (optional at this point)
Air conditioning repair - $300

When I got underneath the car to look at the fuel lines to order the fuel level sending unit, found that the leaf springs are shot and that the rear shocks are leaking fluid.  It's always best to remember that a project car is always going to have things creep up that are not expected. Best to just handle them as they are found and just move on with life.
Fun part is picking the car up tomorrow evening and then hitting emissions.  Should prove to be fun. This thing runs like a rabid rabbit, and handles like a dream.

More pictures of the Dart - Before pictures.

I've decided that I am going to keep a record of the things that I am doing to the Dart.

Here are a few more pictures of the car as purchased.

 

As you can see, this car is in very good shape. A lot better shape than my 1971 Duster I owned back in the day

Fix It List

• Fuel Gauge level sending unit replacement - currently not able to read the amount of gas in the tank
• Downshift linkage adjustment - no dollar investment here, just got to adjust it
• Transmission pan gasket replacement - Already have the part, just have to install it
• Air Conditioning Repair - Taking this to Paul, as I am not certified to work with it.
• Dark Window Tint - looking for a good shop to tint the glass
• Flat Black Paint - Kaiser is hooking me up on this

I'll post a list of the wants really soon!

It starts.......

So those that know me really well know I have a hard-on for Dodge Cars.  So last weekend I had to do some much needed shopping for a new ride.  With the kids starting school at the end of the summer, we need car #2.  Not wanting a car payment, we stuck together the money and after pooling $2500 to get a ride, we went shopping.

Let's just say that the shopping was the worst.  What people want good money for these days. Shopped Craigslist and the Auto Trader, but most were piecers.  Grade A Poop. The last car I looked at was the one we went with.  A 1972 Dodge Dart Custom.  68K original miles, 4 door sedan.  318/904 engine/trans combo. "But Mike, what does all this mean?"  It means I get my flying shitbox.  That is right folks, a flying brick to call my own.  So in addition to keeping track of miniatures I paint, I am going to start a little blog for the Black Brick.