68 GTX Project

[rakort]

Went on a parts run yesterday and look what I came up with! The drive train is nearly complete!



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Took apart the rear axle yesterday as well. Wanted to know what chuck I had in there. The body tag tells me it's a non sure grip, but when the chunk came out it was revealed to be a cone type sure grip. A nice surprise, but unfortunately the cross pin is loose in the carrier and chewed up, so it looks like the chunk is junk! Hopefully the parts care will provide a good donor sure grip

 

[rakort]

Iola car show today was HOT, literally, not too many mopar parts to be found to say the least. However I did come up with a marine mopar alternator for $10 to donate parts to my original busted up alternator. We joked all day how we couldn't find something as simple and common as a mopar alternator! this marine version was the only one I saw all day in this HUGE swap meet.

 

[rakort]

OK, there is one part restored!



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Extracting the rear axle the hard way! Not much left of the '69 'X

 

[rakort]

Heater box restoration on going...



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of course after all these years...

View attachment 273351

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not real pretty...



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cruddy motor, tuned up inside and out, works well now!



looks better...cleaned up inside out out



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before and after a bunch of media blasting....

View attachment 273359

Now that's better...

View attachment 273360

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many many cracks to repair in the old fiberglass housing....


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new seal kit, heater core, firewall nuts, and screw / hardware set in route to put this old thing back together....should get me through my lifetime after this!

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Keeping my pops busy on this sub project (a true old car guy) and he is loving it! Loving having his help too!!

 

[Habib]

Keep at it Brother this car will be awesome when done.

 

[rakort]

ok another epic day of progress on the '69 parts car!

again...taking the rear axle out the hard way!

 

[rakort]

Picking the bones clean!

 

[rakort]

good day when score the correct OE radiator for the '68 GTX at the local swap meet

 

[zyzzyx]

68 & 69 are internally balanced. They didn't start externally balancing them until 70 when they put those 900 gr. 440 Six Pack rods in. I have a 68 GTX also! Good luck with the resto! If you needreference pic's, I've got them.

 

[rakort]

A couple more essential drive train items acquired today at the Jefferson (huge) swap meet!

 

[rakort]

OK, getting ready to put the steering column together:



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My rig for straightening the bent steering wheel...worked quite well



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Completed Heater Box ready to go:



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Alternator before and after....took two to make one, plus fresh diodes and brushes....works great:



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Now on to the 4-speed and related items, or wait should I do the instrument cluster or or or...

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Ohh, regarding the steering column, I took a smashed up column from a '69 floor shift and the OEM '68 column shift unit and merged the good parts into a good floor shift column ...

 

[rakort]

Completed Steering Column

 

[rakort]

OK progress continues with a new welder and a frame jig / stand.



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Since on the frame stand, I have unloaded some forward weight to better balance rig before I level it all up and start cutting out the rear frame members. So this is the front end minus a lot of metal.



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so yeah, that is a pile of scrap metal that did at one time resemble a radiator support.

 

[kiwigtx]

Looks like a very thorough job going on here....keep up the good work. :headbang:

The steering column came up real nice. :notworthy:

 

[MT_Mopar]

You have been busy to say the least, keep up the good work Rakort. Great progress.

 

[Glenwood]

x2!

is the heater box new?

 

[rakort]

No, that is the OEM box, with fresh foam, glass beaded, and painted. New heater core also.

x2!

is the heater box new?

 

[Glenwood]

wow, didn't know that was possible! Great attention to detail.

 

[rakort]

wow, didn't know that was possible! Great attention to detail.

It did come out well, thanks. I actually let my 84 year old father do most of the work. He is a detail nut and an old car guy.... he actually worked for Chevy in the day as a field service engineer. That's where I get it from!

So the 50 year old fiberglass heater box was a pretty hot mess. It was quite brittle and full of many many cracks. There was a many many small fiberglass patches performed on the interior of the box.....can't even tell from the outside. Should be good to go for another 50 years.....now if I can just find a stencil for the part number that goes on the cover.

 

[rakort]

Couple more pixs for an update....also been cleaning hardware with a new vibratory cleaner.....working pretty well. I have a thread else where on that.



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Suspension is in the process of being dropped out