late model hemi into early b bodies

[69 Runner]

Good to hear!!

 

[Tincup]

Hey Zack, how the heck are you? Glad to see you are still progressing on the build. I have been getting some work done, both the floor pans are welded in. It took a little longer than I anticipated due to having to rework the pans for the tranny. After the floors, it's steering then paint the engine compartment. I'll post some pic's this weekend.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Progress is a relative term for me right now. My much better half has to have her gall bladder and a hernia removed, father inlaw has to get some sort of bypass surgery done so his legs will get the life blood to his legs, and my dad is now done with surgery, so next is chemo&radiation, this has damn near put a hold on my wrenching. So with so many family obligations I manage a few hours of sleep and go to work just so I can relax, lol! But on the bright side, I keep coming up with ideas(hid or halo lighting, superstock grille, fiberglass bumpers, so on). Maybe I'm worring too much about the family, but I have big shoulders so I'll manage it. Glad to hear your still plugging away with you project, I look forward to seeing some pics.

 

[Tincup]

Hey Zack, how much trouble was it to get all your gauges to work? I am planning on doing something similar to what you did with your dash.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Very simple. I just followed the directions on the gauges, and they worked. Just be sure to use the tach lead from the engine harness to the tach. I haven't hooked up the speedo yet so I can't comment on that, but it should be just as easy. Everything I hooked up work worked the first time around. Do you have the wiring harness from Dave Weber or Street & Performance? They are one in the same, so it should go easy.

 

[Tincup]

I haven't purchase the wiring harness yet, I was debating between S & P and Hotwire. I'm pretty sure that Hotwire makes them for everybody else. There is really no price difference. Did you have to drill & tap your block for a water temp sending unit?

 

[5.7 hemi]

You're right, Hotwire does make all the harnessrs. Don't drill the block, do either of these. 1. Drill the water pump near the top of the peak, there is a small raised circular boss, this goes directly to the water passage. 2. get the thermostat housing from XV Motorsports or another place, it has the hole tapped for a sending unit, that is what I did. I just looked at yours, and I see that you have it drilled already. By getting the thermostat housing, if the water pump takes a dump on the road in BFE, you just change the pump and keep rolling, no trying to get a new hole drilled and tapped.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Well I got a few hours this weekend to worrk on the grille to convert it over to a super stock. Now if only I can find the bag of bolts for the grille, gotta be somewhere in the cabinet???

 

[5.7 hemi]

Bolts were nowhere to be found, so I had to improvise. One grille is mounted on the car, the other grille has been cut in half and I should get some pics of this soon, also the got to mock up the cut lines, so this will be delicate to say the least. Did I say this was gonna be easy?, I retract that statement.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Here are some before and after shots of the grille converted to superstock.

 

[5.7 hemi]

A few more.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Sorry that I can't get a total frontal shot, my work space is way too small as you can see from the last pic. Well now there are 2 less perfectly good grilles around, but I think the end result will be worth it. Now I just gotta weld it up at work on Monday, sand down the welds, blend them in, then either polish the whole thing or send it out to be chemically done----still on the fence for that.

 

[Donny]

nice!

 

[5.7 hemi]

Still working on the details, cuttin', and filing. I thought there would be more questions, might not be everyones cup of tea, but I thought alot of people might see this and figure they could do it themselves.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Still working on the grille. Hope to weld it up next week.

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

Nice Work ! ....I bet you measured twice before you cut once ! .....It really looks GREAT!!!

 

[dantrap]

Looks Good 5.7

 

[5.7 hemi]

Yeah, I double checked all measurements before I cut both grilles, but I cut shallow to allow me to sneak up on the right spot with a file. I was going to have 4 bars in the addition, but after looking at numerous superstock grilles, I was finding that it's only 3 bars additional, so I had to cut 1 bar out. I checked out Moshers website and that sealed it for the 3 bars instead of 4, they seem to be the guys that would know this stuff. Thanks for the compliments.

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

Still working on the grille. Hope to weld it up next week.

How do you weld this stuff up ?

 

[5.7 hemi]

I have some aluminum rod that you use with a propane torch or soft flame from an oxy/acet set. The rod melts at around 700 degrees and the aluminum melts at 12-1300 degrees. The trick is to get the base metal clean (since this part was bright dipped from the factory all of this has to come of at the weld joint) once you got it clean, heat the metal and the rod will melt when the tempeture is right. I did some practice on the leftover grille and it worked great, sands real nice and polishes nicely. The tig at work kept melting the grille leftovers, so I switched to the rods. Got some done today, hopefully I'll finish it this week.