My $300 a month budget 69 RR project (AKA, Wholly crap, what did I get myself into)

[GearAddict]

If those are 1/4 ounce weights, it probably isn't excessive. Anything over about 4 oz. thought, and you should start looking for a reason. Are the tire dots lined up to the valve stem? No bent wheels or shifted belts? At any rate they sure should have stuck. Looks like the wheels weren't cleaned properly first, 'cause those weights are pretty sticky.

http://tires.about.com/od/Tire_Safety_Maintenance/a/The-What-Why-And-How-Of-Wheel-Balancing.htm

Thanks for the post Photon.. They are 1/2 Oz weights and it looks like there is roughly 3-7 oz's of them on each wheel. I bought the rims used, with the tires mounted to them, so I don't know if there is anything wrong with them, but I don't see anything obvious. I bought them for the rims more than the tires. If I take them back to the shop that balanced them, is there a way they can confirm the wheels are good?

 

[Coyoteduster]

Great write up Addict and congrats on saving another old Mopar! I will look forward to seeing your updates as you are an inspiration to gearheads everywhere that have a dream of owning one of these pieces of American automotive history. :icon_pray:

 

[GearAddict]

Great write up Addict and congrats on saving another old Mopar! I will look forward to seeing your updates as you are an inspiration to gearheads everywhere that have a dream of owning one of these pieces of American automotive history. :icon_pray:

Wow...that's a lot of pressure Coyote. Thanks for the kind words, I'll aspire to live up to them.

I'm humbled by many of the fellow members projects. It is amazing to see them resurrect cars from the dead. If I can accomplish even a portion of what they are doing I'll be happy. (Mopar4Don is making an entire Charger from scratch! Now thats inspirational)

 

[747mopar]

Nice looking Bird, that's a tight budget for sure but at least your car appears to be pretty solid. Don't quite understand the reason for wanting to go back to the factory harness after using a Francis harness? I rewired mine with an American Auto Wire kit and would never consider putting the problem proned, messy original wiring back in. Don't be to hard on yourself about the time it's taken, I've had mine 10 yrs and it's taking forever as well for all the same reasons "money". Instead be proud that instead of being one of those guys that say your going to fix it up you actually are. Good luck

 

[Photon440]

Thanks for the post Photon.. They are 1/2 Oz weights and it looks like there is roughly 3-7 oz's of them on each wheel. I bought the rims used, with the tires mounted to them, so I don't know if there is anything wrong with them, but I don't see anything obvious. I bought them for the rims more than the tires. If I take them back to the shop that balanced them, is there a way they can confirm the wheels are good?

If the tires aren't really of interest to you and you really just wanted the rims, then have the tires dis-mounted and check the bare wheels. It'll be easier to check for straightness and balance that way, and you'll remove a potentially bad tire from the mix. Plus, if the wheels turn out to be well balanced on their own, if excessive weights are needed with the next tires on then you'll know that it's the tires fault and can reject them.

 

[GearAddict]

Thanks again for the advice Photon, I think that's what I'll do... 2 of the tires have 2.5-3oz of weight on them and are a size I am fine running on the fronts, I was already going to replace the tires for the rears so I'll take the other 2 which have more weight on them and have them, de-bead, chek the wheel and then if good, replace with new taller tires and slap em on the rear.

 

[GearAddict]

Took the wheels back to the tire shop today...the manager was very apologetic after seeing the weights that were stacked and had fallen off. He said that several things were done wrong and that they would speak to and retrain the kid that did it as he is a new employee..truth or not it seemed like an honest response they redid the three wheels I brought them. Looks better than it did and they told me to bring back the 4th wheel that I had put on the car, so that they could confirm the balance on it.

I'm happier than I was, but wish it had been right the first time. At least I have them back and they didn't give me a hard time about it.

- - - Updated - - -

Also got some advice in the shop section of the forum...looks like I can save a little money on not buying a control arm bushing installer/remover and just use a 1 ton arbor press I have lying around at work and a socket as a die to press them.

Seems like I may not need a torsion bar removal tool as well, since I will be removing the lower control arms?

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...ront-suspension-pro-tool-kit-more-than-I-need

That's $115 in tools saved by FBBO...thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

Nice looking Bird, that's a tight budget for sure but at least your car appears to be pretty solid. Don't quite understand the reason for wanting to go back to the factory harness after using a Francis harness? I rewired mine with an American Auto Wire kit and would never consider putting the problem proned, messy original wiring back in. Don't be to hard on yourself about the time it's taken, I've had mine 10 yrs and it's taking forever as well for all the same reasons "money". Instead be proud that instead of being one of those guys that say your going to fix it up you actually are. Good luck

Thanks 747... On the wiring... I guess it was really 2 things I don't like.
1. While the Ron Francis kit is not bad (quality overall was good except left and right front turn signals being crossed), I disliked the Access 24/7 fuse block that is hard wired...makes it really hard to make changes and if you don't get the cable runs/wraps perfect in length, you have to splice into the center of the wire to shorten it.
2. See #1 above plus my crappy harness job...just looks bad and I can't fix it easily.

If I had to do it over, I would either go OE style just for the fact that they got the wire runs perfect (I had nothing to compare to, my harness was missing). Or I would buy a kit with a screw terminal fuse block...which I might just do as the fix to mine.

This was a classic failure to measure twice, do it once....live and learn.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is a great thread which encouraged me to do my front end over in my tiny garage.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...ront-end-redo-Biting-off-more-than-I-can-chew

 

[Basket case]

save yourself alot of grief and cut the old u bolts off. $40 is a good price. The IH dealer i worked at made them and that;s a really good price.
you've broght that car a long way.

 

[HawkRod]

Hi GearAddict,

Great thread, and nice job!

Wheels: I agree it is a pain that they were not done right in the first place, but at least the manager did the right thing and fixed the problem. In my opinion, that is the mark of a good business. By the way, one other item I don't think was mentioned but if one of the wheels needs a lot of weight, often spinning the tire 180 degrees on the rim will help.

With the torsion bar removal: I simply used a rubber piece as protection and clamped a Vice Grip on to that. I then hammered on the side of the Vice Grip. Just a few reasonable taps and they came loose - and no special tools needed! If you want, you can check out my restoration thread "Hawk-Rod: The restoration" if you want to check it out.

Finally, with the steering: I am upgrading mine from manual to power since I will probably drive mine in places where I need to steer a lot (parking lots, suburban driving, etc.). When I drove my car around, the manual steering wasn't too bad. Maybe just have your steering box repaired. I would even try with the new wheels and tires - they can make a huge difference...

Anyway, best of luck with your car!

Hawk

 

[Mywifehatesmyhobbie]

Sweet ride! Bigger tires in the rear would be even Sweeter! I wish I could stick to a 300 a month budget. TOO MANY CARS IM IN OVER MY HEAD!!!

 

[GearAddict]

Hi GearAddict,

Great thread, and nice job!

Wheels: I agree it is a pain that they were not done right in the first place, but at least the manager did the right thing and fixed the problem. In my opinion, that is the mark of a good business. By the way, one other item I don't think was mentioned but if one of the wheels needs a lot of weight, often spinning the tire 180 degrees on the rim will help.

With the torsion bar removal: I simply used a rubber piece as protection and clamped a Vice Grip on to that. I then hammered on the side of the Vice Grip. Just a few reasonable taps and they came loose - and no special tools needed! If you want, you can check out my restoration thread "Hawk-Rod: The restoration" if you want to check it out.

Finally, with the steering: I am upgrading mine from manual to power since I will probably drive mine in places where I need to steer a lot (parking lots, suburban driving, etc.). When I drove my car around, the manual steering wasn't too bad. Maybe just have your steering box repaired. I would even try with the new wheels and tires - they can make a huge difference...

Anyway, best of luck with your car!

Hawk

Thanks! just spent an hour reading your project thread, great stuff. really torn on the steering issue...Can anyone tell me what they spent to do it? If I went a stock, budget route, it looks like I could buy the following and be good?

Power Steering column used off FBBO $200-$300
Reman Power steering gear $125
Reman Power steering pump $100
Hoses $60
Belt $20
Pulley $35-$60
Brackets $50-$100

is that it? So $600-$750 is the low end range for conversion? maybe a little better if I can get used parts in good condition for less.

I know I have read some posts debating cutting the steering column shaft and sticking a roll pin through it or hammering it up into the column, honestly the level of debate over this scares me away from these approaches.

Anyway, I have blown half my budget for the month, so it's something I will have to research more for the future.

- - - Updated - - -

Sweet ride! Bigger tires in the rear would be even Sweeter! I wish I could stick to a 300 a month budget. TOO MANY CARS IM IN OVER MY HEAD!!!

Bigger tires are in the future for sure...the new"ish" tires that I got are pretty small for a B Body, but they have tread and will hopefully improve the handling over the drag skinnies (never knew how bad the sidewall roll was on a 4" wide tire).

Good luck with all the cars....I nearly bought a $18K "Barn Find" matching numbers 68 Charger R/T this week....That would have really blown the $300/month budget!

 

[Lowhound]

I have been doing a similar budget type deal as you have. I may not buy anything every month but I still try to put some money back till it adds up to something Im wanting. So far I've invested a little over $13000 in parts doing things this way. At this point I have 90%-95% of the stuff I need to put it back together. Yes it takes awhile doing things this way but when Im finished it will be paid for. I look at it like I am financing the car & making payments monthly in advance. Now I need to get the Bee painted so I can put it back together.

 

[GearAddict]

I have been doing a similar budget type deal as you have. I may not buy anything every month but I still try to put some money back till it adds up to something Im wanting. So far I've invested a little over $13000 in parts doing things this way. At this point I have 90%-95% of the stuff I need to put it back together. Yes it takes awhile doing things this way but when Im finished it will be paid for. I look at it like I am financing the car & making payments monthly in advance. Now I need to get the Bee painted so I can put it back together.

Thanks...I figure at after I'm done getting it looking good on the inside, running and corning I'll be ready to tear it all apart again to start on the metal and paint. By that time I should know the car intimately, so putting it back together should be a breeze!...right?

 

[Coyoteduster]

Wow...that's a lot of pressure Coyote. Thanks for the kind words, I'll aspire to live up to them.

I'm humbled by many of the fellow members projects. It is amazing to see them resurrect cars from the dead. If I can accomplish even a portion of what they are doing I'll be happy. (Mopar4Don is making an entire Charger from scratch! Now thats inspirational)

No pressure, just encouragement. Restoring these old cars takes time, determination, and money. (and lot's of all three) The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time and every now and then you're going to get tired of the taste of elephant, but the accomplishment will also be rewarded with immeasurable pride.



ps: ... did I mention money?



pss: ... lot's of money?

 

[hunt2elk]

ps: ... did I mention money?



pss: ... lot's of money?

LOL. Yeah -bags of money. Sometimes it just never seems to end does it?

 

[steved033]

No pressure, just encouragement. Restoring these old cars takes time, determination, and money. (and lot's of all three) The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time and every now and then you're going to get tired of the taste of elephant, but the accomplishment will also be rewarded with immeasurable pride.



ps: ... did I mention money?



pss: ... lot's of money?

I can second that. I'm working on 3 at once. '71 240z, '71 GTX, and '66 C10 pickup. FINALLY got the pickup running right this weekend...felt so good to have it tuned right and pulling....like a truck.

GTX has been 4.5 years in the making, and i'll be doing and undoing things as I go....it's definitely been a labor of love.

sjd

 

[GearAddict]

Seems like a shame not to post some sort of progress each day...so I'm cheating today...here wa a previous months $300 score. A set of 68 Charger buckets...there in pretty good shape overall, with working tracks. Tracks are a little rusty, so I will strip prime and paint them before mounting in the car. Due to budget I will hold off for a little while on reupholstering them.

 

[Propwash]

$300 for a set of Charger buckets...Wow that is a good score. I need to get pointers from you on finding deals like that!

 

[sleepar]

I would suggest a set of cal Tracs and new springs. And mancini sells the stock bottom plate if you go that route

 

[GearAddict]

$300 for a set of Charger buckets...Wow that is a good score. I need to get pointers from you on finding deals like that!

Yeah, I was stoked to get such a good deal, especially after seeing bare, rusted out frames getting $600-$800! I saw a set recently that was held together with duct tape and the guy wanted $1,200....rediculous.

The secret is patience I guess...if you can wait long enough on a part and keep it in your sourcing rotation (the list of parts I'm searching for deals on every week), you'll eventually find a good deal....sometimes