Updating the Super Street Mopar

[ckessel]

The diff, springs and shackles are in. Did good for the days work.

 

[ckessel]

Today I was able to finish up mounting the rear sway bar. Been busy the last few days doing homeowner stuff so car work was a little here, a little there. Had some undercoating come in so the new areas on the underside got an extra coat plus went ahead and made the wheel wells look fresh. I removed the e-brake cable mount brackets from the cut out sections of the original frame rails, will add those on later when its cable time. I'm going to route the cables differently than oe. If you look at newer trucks, the cables go from the right wheel, over the diff, come alongside the left spring or control arm, mount to a bracket on the left side rail[ both cables], go to a a connector for both with the up front cable in between those two. You can get this stuff and more including custom cables from controlcables.com in Santa Fe Springs. I got into my stash of cupped, shock bushing washers, [gotta love keeping leftover parts] and put those on the sway bar link bushings to help keep them from mushrooming out when snugged. After the bar was in I re-set the back end with cribbing under the springs. From there I placed the vacuum nozzle on the front end of the wheel tub hole, got up front where the cap plug was in the rocker, then proceeded to blow out the rocker. Went back and forth for awhile using some holes on the backside to slip the air nozzle in. After about 20 minutes I had as much of the debris out as possible. This will make it better when its cavity wax time later, keep from coating the loose junk. Cleaned off the floor and lift, vacuumed out the passenger compartment and trunk picking up the current shavings and crud. I need to figure out what I want to start on first in the passenger compartment. There will be plenty of work to do in there. Some others have asked if I intended to put a cage of some sort in. I will be doing this, going with an 8 point unit and make the door bars swing out. One of the things I wanted to do was mount a bar across the b-pillars, side to side, to mount the shoulder portions of the belts. Since I'm not going to run a back seat and am concerned about safety rules at the tracks plus with the pass area being a blank sheet, I figured what the heck. It's easier to work in now as opposed to later.

 

[ckessel]

I had planned on some car work yesterday but my best laid plans went out the window in the morning. After taking my honey to work I took the dogs for a walk in the big field down the street. When we got back I noticed a pretty strong poo smell on Toga, the Cattledog. Sunday I gave them both a bath since she rolled in some crap, enough to imbed it into her collar. Yesterday she managed to do it AGAIN. After having a serious dad to daughter discussion about said activity, she got another bath. After that was done I was able to go under the house to put a couple of items in designated containers for my honey. Since I had my headlight on and was there, I did my usual inspection of the sand under the house for leaks/wet spots. House is two levels but living quarters are on top, lower is "crawl" space which is 12"on one end and just under 6' on the other, with perimeter foundation and posts for support on the inner areas. Anyway, found a wet spot. Did some exploring and found a copper line seeping where it goes through the floor and up to the shower mix valve. The copper had a bend in it to make the transition through the floor. And the source of the leak. So...Pex and Sharkbite fittings to the rescue. Picked up what I needed at the local hardware store then went to SLO[ San Luis Obispo] to pick up my honey from her work. When I got back I played plumber. All is good now. Sprayed some bleach solution on the affected floor area since it's moldy. Will do that once a day for awhile. Down the road we want to gut the house and totally redo the inside. The damaged floor will get squared away then as it's not an issue for now. Today I was back under the house to re-inspect and finish what I had planned on doing under there. Going to put some more of the house items in that area which will yield more shelf space in my garage.
Finally got to some car work. When I put the SFC's in and made the seat mount frames, I wasn't paying full attention to the fact that the rails are offset between front and rear. So, when I looked at the seat mount brackets they were canted towards each other. Clockwise on lh, counter on rh. I decided to weld up the holes I drilled, for mounting to the frames, to correct the issue. I'll reset them tomorrow and punch new holes into them.

 

[ckessel]

Today I re-set the seat mount brackets on the frames and marked them from the bottom. Pulled them off and drilled in the new holes. After several tries with various bits, I ended up using one of my uni-bits to finish the holes. Guess I need to spend some time with the Drill Doctor on some of the regular twist bits. All is good with the mounts now. After that, I started working on the rear brakes. I was digging out some other stuff from my shelves, not car related, and figured this would be a good time to get the rear brakes going. Popped out the rh shaft, put the caliper mount on, reinstalled the shaft Like Greg has pointed out, the instructions are a little vague from Dr Diff but Greg looked at a text pic I sent, then sent a shot of his back so I'm good to go. Thank you Greg. Next will be setting the caliper clearance up with the shim washers that were supplied. After reading about the brake fun he's been having on Ginger, I'm going to boot the pads that were supplied with the kits and get some better ones as the ones supplied are pretty much used car specials. I'm working at offing one of my high end heaters to a friend, I quake too much to hold still with something thats good for up to a thousand yards. We were talking about heaters and I mentioned I would like to sell mine so that I would have the funds to upgrade my welders to two new ones plus score my roll cage. In the meantime, I'll be working on some other stuff while funds are being generated. I have quite a stack of parts and supplies that were purchased many years ago so they will keep me occupied for awhile. When the new welders show up, I'll sell the two older units which will give me some more car dough.

 

[Kern Dog]

Like Greg has pointed out, the instructions are a little vague from Dr Diff

Yeah, that is the truth. Vendors seem to think all their customers are seasoned mechanics that have done this stuff since birth.

Next will be setting the caliper clearance up with the shim washers that were supplied.

Hmm...I don't recall getting any of those. My calipers fit the adapters directly with no shimming. Mine were bought back in 2006. Maybe something changed since then?

After reading about the brake fun he's been having on Ginger, I'm going to boot the pads that were supplied with the kits and get some better ones as the ones supplied are pretty much used car specials.

Yeah, I have been on a long road with my brakes in that car. I finally have it to a respectable level but as you're alluding here, I also think that the pads that come with these brake kits are NOT the ultra high end stuff. Dr Diff surely needs to keep prices within a limit. The EBC product line is interesting to me and I'm considering them.

 

[ckessel]

I'm going to look at EBC, Performance Friction, Hawk and some others. For now the pads will be for mock up.

 

[ckessel]

Other than I need to take the rh side back apart, forgot to put a light film of antisieze between the rotor and axle, the rh side brakes are on. Like the instructions said, I put the caliper mount bracket on first then eyeballed the clearance between it and the rotor on both sides. It was closer on the outside of the rotor, so I put one shim in and checked again. One shim is good. I checked the slider pins for lube, good to go there. Pulled the bleeder screw out and put a little silicone grease on the threads to stop rust from happening there. Antisiezed the caliper to bracket bolts, blue loctite on the caliper mount to adaptor bolts then secured the caliper on. Put the flex hose on after a dab of silicone on the banjo bolt threads, installed it. Went to put the cable in place and found the hole a little small for the cable to slip in. Out came the 9/16" bit to enlarge the hole a tad, now good to go. Working on the lh side now.

 

[ckessel]

Today I was able to get the lh side done on the brakes. Took one shim on that bracket too. From there I took the rh side back apart to put a light film of antisieze on the backside of the rotor, the re-assemble. Also went ahead and put 3 quarts of oil in the diff. According to the instructions for the cover, I could put in one more as the fill plug is in a higher position. Decided to just go with the 3. It said the fill was 6.5 pints but left it short the half. Cut down on the partially filled containers. I held up one of the cable brackets I salvaged off of the rail pieces to possibly use later. The drawing gives you an idea about how I'm going to layout the cables later on. Should work fine running down the rail from the pedal cable.

 

[ckessel]

I went ahead and added one more quart of Amsoil 75/140 into the diff since the cover allows for it. Yesterday I made up a tool so I could spin the pinion, in both directions, to circulate the gear oil around. At first I tried using my 1/2" DeWalt impact gun to spin it but it didn't work so well for just spinning with a load. Whipped out the B&D 1/2" drill with a socket adaptor and that worked well. I got some of the floor below the seat, not going to put that back in, that I had slit for SFC access. There are also spot welds on the floor that I had cut to pull the rails in for better contact to the SFC's when I welded them together. The flaps you see pulled up are what I had cut. Those were wrinkled up some from my work in the area so they got some hammer and dolly work to iron them out prior to welding. From there I blew out the areas to remove grit then vacuumed the area. I hosed in some of the Eastwood inner frame coating as once those flaps are down where they need to be, the access to them will be limited. Tomorrow I'll start welding those areas. I think the trans tunnel area ahead of the x-member will be the first area I'll tackle with fabbing up the new unit. From there it will be the area behind the x-member.

 

[ckessel]

I've been busy the last few days getting my truck cleaned up so it's more presentable to the prospective buyer. Today I finished getting the SFC access flaps near the wheel tubs back in place along with welding some of the floor back onto the rails where I cut some of the spot welds. From there I hopped on the rear bumper brackets. Since I modified the rear rails in those areas for the shackles, I removed one nut per side that the brackets attached to. I ended up welding a pair of nuts in a different portion of the rails for the brackets. Today I measured out where the new bolt holes needed to be in the brackets. Trimmed the excess material from the brackets since they would interfere with the shackles. Got one hole punched into a bracket and was almost through on the other when my hole cutter broke. Have to wait till next week for the replacement. Oh well!

 

[ckessel]

Today I marked out the first floor section to cut out for modified new section. It will be taller ahead of and behind the upper crossmember plus give more space around the trans for airflow etc. Front section is first. Once I new where I would be cutting, undercoating was scraped away in those areas. From there I put some tape on the road side then drilled holes using the lines I marked out on the topside then marked out cutlines on the roadside. Placed several sheets of my poster board over the topside to catch sparks/debris from the cutting and made a big hole. I went ahead and cut at the pinch weld flange at the firewall. Next will be to de-burr and clean the edges, prep a couple of other areas then make a template for the replacement.

 

[ckessel]

Today I finished up my template then marked out the cut and bend lines on the new piece. Once I de-burred it I then marked out a couple of trails to follow for the bead roller. Just going to put in some shallow beads which will stiffen that piece up nicely. After that, grabbed a couple of PVC remnants to get the ball rolling for the curves. Will continue fitting tomorrow. Once fitted, I'll roll the beads in prior to welding the new unit in.

 

[ckessel]

Not much done today. I've decided to Tig weld the new piece in as I can control the heat better than the Mig and hopefully not blow holes through the 20ga new and 21ga old floor. Blew the unit off as it hasn't been used in like 5 years, put the various pieces into the torch head and did a little practice/test run on some scrap. Good to go there. My replacement cutters showed up in the mail for the Blair units so I decided to finish off the one hole I started on the bracket. Just started getting some chips and then nothing. Tried a smaller unit, same. Tried a 3/4" twist bit, same. I'm guessing there is an occlusion in the material causing a serious hard spot. Tomorrow my neighbor will take it to work and let Mr. Plasma take care of the issue. Tomorrow I'll finish fitting up the new section, bead roll it then weld it in. Unless life takes over.

 

[ckessel]

Today was cleanup time with the vacuum to remove the latest debris in and out prior to welding. After that I pulled my bead roller out from its place along the wall, dusted/blew it off and tested for operation. Good there. From there I unpacked all of the dies for it. They've been in individual velvet bags since the beginning of 2018. Have them on some padding in the drawer with some pipe through the centers so I can see the profiles. Also had some skateboard wheels modified for use when profiling aluminum. Keeps it from tearing. Unpacked the opposing wheels for the English wheel, unpacked the dies for the shrinker/stretcher unit. I sprayed a towel with some Kroil for rust prevention prior to setting all the stuff on the towel then spritzed more on the metal items and covered them up with another towel. I'll choose a profile to use for the new trans tunnel piece, roll the unit then get it in place to start welding. I haven't used any of this stuff in 6+ years so these floor pieces will be great to re-aquaint myself with them.
On the brake cable, I'm going to run it through that brace in front, then through the rocker outrigger and make a pass through on the SFC. This will get it tucked in and on the other side of the SFC to mate up with the back cables later.

 

[ckessel]

So I decided on a pair of dies to use for the panel. I figured it would work out better to not get crazy with contours/styles etc when I put sound deadening on. I put the lift up, got the unit in place, utilized my screw jack to hole the front portion in place, then climbed in and put some tack welds down on front and back. From there I put the lift back down and contorted myself around inside with one leg hanging out to reach the Tig pedal. Got most of the back end tacked down then went to the front to get it secured. HELLO McFly! ANYONE HOME? Since I have all of those tacks on the back end, I can't pull the front up to weld the panel to the firewall. What a dumb move! Put stuff away and called it a day. Figured the next go around I'll cut the majority of the read tacks so the front portion can pull up to meet the firewall. Two steps forward, one back

 

[ckessel]

Today, by starting up front by the firewall then heading to the rear, I was able to get the piece better situated. Tomorrow I continue.

 

[ckessel]

Today I was able to get 80% or so welded up. Had to stop since I'm out of Argon. To be continued.

 

[ckessel]

I finished getting the front piece in today. After I wrapped up the welding I took the flap wheel to the areas for some smoothing then hit it with the hamburger wheel to rough it up for when its paint time. My next section will be after the cross member. In the picture you can really see the height difference between existing and what it will gain.

 

[ckessel]

The last few days, in between other homeowner duties, I scraped off/out the seam sealer in the areas where I'll be making new pieces and welding in. Once that was done, cut spot welds with two different cutters depending on the weld size. The inner seat belt attaching plate bridges between two panels, so those got cut too. I'll change their placement, go forward a bit, when I make up the new section there. After that, I separated the panels with a chisel and then took a sawzall to the front portion. Now I have another big hole in the floor! On the replacement parts, I'm going to do those in four separate sections. This will make it easier to whip them up.

 

[ckessel]

Yesterday evening I got to thinking it would be wise on my part to set the engine/trans in before I do anymore sheet metal work. So first thing on the to do list was move the cribbing up front to under the lower tie bar for room and support. After that, cinched the straps back down in front. I started to move stuff out of the way to get the engine/trans unit out but there were household items leaning against it, so I couldn't jut pull it out. Went on the other side and moved that stuff out of the way, pulled the engine/trans out and re-configured the house stuff. Put my k-frame alignment bolts in, raised the lift, moved the engine/trans into the general area then lowered the lift. Those tapered bolts work great. Engine/trans in, up with the lift to pull the dolly out, put it back into the corner with the jacks and cribbing stacks. I sure have plenty of room now around the trans, way better than before. Probably on Thursday I'll start laying out the first piece. Going to go from the t-bar hoop to the back end of the seat frames for that one. My current thinking is make it like an inverted U but the top will be flat to help with shifter mounting. At the front few inches of the flat portion, I'll run it through the English Wheel so the contour will better match the hoop. The wheel is great for this kind of stuff or fixing damage/screw ups. I then removed the seatbelt reinforcements from the old floor. Ground down the spot weld lumps and prepped them for welding.