Rocky's Road Runner

[ckessel]

I was looking at their pullies too. I'm glad to hear they lined up. Quite a bit less dough then Mancini, Bouchillon etc and most likely made in the same place. I changed out the radiator on the 67 wagon this weekend and had a good look at mine. Both crank and wp are aluminum but I saw that the crank is 5.25" or so and the wp is 6.75" or so. Underdriven. Also the repop shroud I picked up for 67-9 with 26" radiator didn't match up with what I got. Then I remembered the shop owner listed out what all it fit and got a clue. It fits c bodies also. Aha! I guess with the manufactures supersessions over the years that they stopped posting the shroud needed to be for a c body. I made the other work for now so along with pullies, a correct shroud will be on the list. The new unit is way better than the massively undersized and boogered in radiator/shroud/fan I took out.

 

[ckessel]

While I'm thinking of it, what size belts did you use, lengthwise? Have any part numbers?

 

[RJ Squirrel]

The belts are 46" alternator and 45" steering. My new 26" radiator from Auto City Classic just showed up today, haven't even taken it out of the box yet, I need to order a shroud for it too. Had a busy day, dropped my leaf springs off to get them rebuilt/arched, picked up my new axles for the rear end build and cut the old bearings off of them outside on the sunny side of the shop! Can't hardly feel them sparks hitting your arms on a day like this!

 

[ckessel]

Thanks for that. I looked at the p/s yesterday and it has the solid pulley. 440 doesn't give dimensions for that so I guess that doesn't matter. Looking at pics of the c-body shroud from Mancini, it looks like what I need. I mowed off the mounting studs so I could use the correct for the car but not radiator unit. I did drill and tap through the remainder of the stud so I could use 10-32 fasteners later when I acquire the right one. So that and pullies to be added later on.

 

[Rich H.]

Great progress!
I love the old aftermarket valve covers but am admittedly partially stuck in the '80s.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Got the rear axle, diff and leaf springs all rebuilt and ready to assemble on the car. The diff is now 3:55 sure grip. All the parts came from DR. DIFF. I polished the pinion bearing journals on my drill press for easier setup and assembly, 001 oversize on inner bearing and snug “tap on” fit on the smaller outer bearing.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

The housing that was in the car was from an E body and bent up. I bought a set of B body axles and rebuilt the E body housing. The new axle bearings are Green ball bearings.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

I have a spare case from a C body rearend I bought for the big brakes. The carrier bearing adjusters were turned to fit a stick of 1 3/4 OD DOM tubing I used for alignment of the axle tubes.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

With the alignment tube in it I could see that both ends were bent, not just the obvious end. I had to salvage one end of the C body housing to make it work.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

I used the new axles with the housing ends bolted on and the new diff put in the housing to align the ends, and tacked them to the tubes. Then pulled em back out along with the diff, put the setup tube back in and checked for true. Had to do this a couple times to get everything straight. It was well over 100 degrees now and my shady side of the shop was now on the other side. I was regretting my decision to do all this outside by this time!
The paint dried quick though.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Earl gets a drivetrain and suspension installed next. Named the car Earl after my sister Earlene, who had a new 68 Roadrunner, the first one I ever saw and rode in. I never forgot the sound it made when she would smile and stomp the gas pedal. The reason I am building this car.
I pulled the front clip back off for the engine bay, vinyl top and windshield work.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Had to take my clutch fan off to put in the new ACC radiator, not enough room for it. I have 3 1/4” to work with which is the total width of the clutch fan, so now looking for a 7 blade 18” fixed fan.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Assembling the rear end and suspension on the car is turning out to be a lot easier than muscling it in all at once.

 

[ckessel]

Check out the Hayden 2947 clutch. It's shorter than the 2747 unit. My 67 had one of those on due to the aluminum radiator installed by the PO. I've installed a copper/brass oe replacement unit in the car and am using the 2747. But just thought of something. I was mixing and matching the clutches for clearance issues, the 2947 put the fan into the p/s pump. Anyway, this data from Hayden may be of help.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...QQFnoECFEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2FKtrq5sblBcgdcg3MzRvd

 

[RJ Squirrel]

I did look at the short fan clutch, and you are right it would put the fan into the PS pump. Thought about trimming the fan blades a little bit, but I would rather have plenty of clearance everywhere. Looking at a 6 blade 18" fixed steel fan from Summit, made by Derale (not a flex fan) plus a short spacer, I will go this route if I cannot find a Mopar fixed fan.

 

[ckessel]

On mine, it didn't dawn on me till I took the old fan off of the short clutch that the fan was on backwards along with having the blades bent. Blades were bent to fit the cut down shroud so it would fit the el cheapo radiator I took out. You may be able to find a clutch unit that will work on Haydens site. There are several pages on dimensions. Maybe a parts store close to you has a catalog to peruse. I was thinking about getting that ACC unit. Glad I didn't now.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Gotta love it- date stamp on the u-joint straps

 

[ckessel]

Thousand bucks right there to a numbers correct, restoration fanatic.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Bled the brakes yesterday, only leaks I had were at the only original part I re-used- the tee block on the rear axle.
Here is my master cylinder bleed setup

 

[RJ Squirrel]

TTI exhaust just jumped out of the box and went on there by itself with not much help from me. Gotta love it when aftermarket parts fit this good. I used Flowmaster FX mufflers, the Dynomax they reccomend are too quiet for my liking. They are offset both ends and fit right in there with no modifications needed.