Project WannaBEE

[nstyle73]

As my primary project is idle at the bodyshop, here is my #1 backburner project. I bought this as a parts car for my primary project, but found it too nice to cut up. I acquired it for $1200 in 2009, as a running, but barely drivable 440/727 conversion with an open 8.25. Originally it was a 340 Rallye Green/Green but has no buildsheet or fender tag. The VIN indicates 340, the original Rallye stripe is still visible on the doors, rallye dash, and dual exhaust hangers are intact. The plan is to do kind of a budget driver that will eventually be sold to fund a bigger more important project. I have a Superbee hood and the previous owner had cut in part of the body in purple so I am thinking a '71 Super Bee "tribute" in Plum Crazy with a white interior that came with my third parts car.

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[nstyle73]

The second parts car will be donating its rear end, trunk lid, spoiler, wheels and tires, its new white interior and a few other parts to this car. Its engine, transmission, hood, radiator and several other parts to my 73 SE.

 

[Photon440]

Looking forward to seeing this take shape!

 

[GetX'd]

Good luck my friend! You've got a nice looking project car sitting there. I hope you get it like you want it and enjoy the process too. You're lucky to have a good parts car like you do to do organ transplantation.

 

[cudas426]

Gorgeous parts cars man. Purple with white guts is a great color combo. Good luck.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Cool car are you interested in selling it by chance? I was looking for a 73-74 style rallye to go with my 72 rallye .

 

[nstyle73]

I did get pretty lucky on this car. Someone had spent some serious money on several new parts that I initially stole for my other car. New carb, distributor, 1.14" torsion bars etc. The body is pretty solid with most of the bondo actually just being for dents to my pleasant surprise.

The first order of business is ditching the 8.25. I am swapping in an 8 3/4 with green bearings out of the third parts car. It currently has 3.23's with a Sure Grip, but depending on the end product, I have a set of 3.55 and 4.11's that might make their way into it. New shackle bushings, $2 each, new poly isolator pads, and one new wheel cylinder were required for the swap. The axles look fairly new as well as the brake hardware. Note the new gas tank that the PO felt needed to be painted purple. I am probably keeping the air shocks too for the time being.

 

[nstyle73]

Sorry, to clear up a little confusion that I was contacted about, my 73 SE that is my primary project is B5/B5 and is not shown in this thread. I started a thread on it in the 71-74 section a while back. The orange SE car is donating to the primered car above and to my blue SE as it is the farthest from finished and has more rust issues.

 

[nstyle73]

After a couple of offers to buy the car, and a new project arriving, this car got pretty stale, but I am going to continue it for a while. The car originally had a rear sway bar, but there was an Addco 1" bar in the trunk and I found the instructions as well as all of the hardware so that is going on.

 

[Ron 73]

This is on my list for reading and checking out the pictures, cool project you have going...

 

[nstyle73]

It has been sitting idle for quite some time, but progress on one project has required progress on this project as well. The engine and tranny came out, and as a little Christmas gift from the MOPAR Gods, I found that this little guy had a big block K-Frame. I was pessimistic previously, thinking the oil pan issues were because they didn't use the Schumacher mounts, but turns out, they just used the wrong oil pan. When I got the engine out, I sprayed the engine bay while I could still roll it out of the shed before I rebuild the K-Frame. The insides of the doors were blasted, primed and painted.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Very cool ,I figured you gave up since I haven't seen progress. I'm glad your still going on this ,I forgot you had a ram charger hood are you going to use it? My RT could benefit from that hood

 

[nstyle73]

I finally pulled the K-Frame to repair and rebuild. Here is the engine ready for swapping in the 971 oil pan. It is a '69 383, 9.5:1, 3 angle valve job on stock heads, with a Lunatic Cam: 228/235 at 0.050", .465" lift. I had it on a test stand with a Holley 770 Street Avenger and 1 3/4 headers. It currently has the stock 4 barrel intake manifold but that probably needs upgraded. The cam is supposed to be high performance street oriented so I have a 3500 stall and 4.10 gears that will go in as well.

Here are the Schumacher mounts mocked up, but I overlooked swapping the pickup for the 971 oil pan. I will have to get that on order.

 

[nstyle73]

Someone beat me to it though, this just sold on Ebay.

 

[nstyle73]

It takes so long to do everything. Cleaning gaskets, installing gaskets, painting etc. And I am not even doing it to a show car level. A better shop might help in some tasks, but I see why people can get burnt out.

 

[nstyle73]

Seems like it might be mating season.

 

[nstyle73]

This is the first shot with the the Schumacher engine conversion mounts. Thus far, I really don't see an issue. I have heard negative feedback, but I also do not have the engine in the car yet. I drilled the 9/16" hole on the driver's side, and modded the top of the front mount for oil pump clearance. This shows the driver's side and what appears to be an interference issue with the oil pump. So I lifted the engine and ground on the edge of the mount a little, and when I let the engine back in, it turns out I had not let pressure off on the first try, or I would have had more clearance. The passenger side dropped right in. This is my first engine swap, so perhaps having the entire K-Frame out helps considerably.

 

[nstyle73]

Second try. Looks like a water pump and front accessories, steering box and headers are up next.

 

[nstyle73]

TCI Streetfighter torque converter with a slightly upgraded 727 trans is bolted in. New poly cross member, trans mount and k-frame bushings were installed and the engine slid right in with the headers bolted on and the trans lined up perfect.

 

[nstyle73]

Its been a while, but since this is a low budget project and not exactly done to a show car level, I skipped the small stuff as pictures of dirty cars on gravel floors do not really turn on the gearheads. The stock starter lasted about two revolutions, the radiator had a small leak and I got my first taste of priming an engine all by myself. Actually, that part went great, as you can see, it seems to idle fairly well. A new aluminum radiator and a mini-starter have been welcomed additions. Truth be told, it was 27 degrees today, so it took a little starting fluid to get it going, but fairly uneventful other than two small, easily fixed coolant leaks. Tomorrow, I will see if it will move. No brakes right now as the master cylinder was going to require more work to clean than it costs to replace.