ckessel
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More.
Updating the Super Street Mopar
- Thread starter ckessel
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ckessel
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Today I did some mocking up of seat height, potential shifter dimensions, new sheet metal placement etc. The base of the level is sheet metal height. I was originally going to use a paddle shift unit but the company went away. Oh well. I got the dimensions for the shifter from Turbo Action. Theirs has a park/reverse lock out of sorts so that will be nice. Didn't realize just how tall that unit is from base to top of handle. Will keep looking at units. I don't like the ones from B&M/Hurst as they look cheap/cheezy to me plus the quality leaves something to be desired. Going by some of the dimensions in the Procar catalog, I set some wood on the frames to check height. My head brushes the headliner. That will be one of the things I'll be checking/measuring at the SEMA show when I'm there halloween week. The dimensions shown may be at the top of the bolster and not the sat in portion. Got to get that stuff figured out. Don't want to be in a high chair. When I was moving things around yesterday to get at the engine/trans, I found another TIG torch unit with the finger control that fits my unit. I swapped out the connector to the machine so maybe my next TIG job I can use the finger control. It's just on/off so I'll see how it does. Couldn't be any worse than me stretching out and using my toe on the pedal.
Kevin Burdette
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That thing is beautiful. The 65 grills are easily in my top 5 fav on any mopars. You got yourself a real gem there. Coronets just have a look to them that I cannot resist.
ckessel
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Thank you for the kind compliments. I'm very lucky the car is in great shape. Not a rust bucket, the trim is mostly great and there plus its not a bondo bucket.
What did you make your Kmember alignment dowels out of, or how did you make them? That's a great idea. Seating position with aftermarket seats is a pain, don't forget to rake them back a bit, far more comfortable for bigger guys.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
I got some foot long or so 5/8' bolts, gave them to my neighbor who has access to a lathe and he cut the heads off then tapered the ends. This was my first time using them, love them. Before, I was just using then non tapered with just the heads lopped off. And yes on the seat tilt. One of my quests in two weeks at SEMA. Need more seat dimensions too.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
I changed directions today on the car. Since I need to clarify the seat dimensions, even though I have the Procar catalog, I figured it would be wise to not do the center piece of the trans tunnel right now. Just in case I have to unzip the seat mount frames I welded in which will affect the sheet metal etc. So... I started on the front bumper. I had it and the two donor pieces chemically stripped awhile back to remove the plating. Even though they were in the back of the garage, still got some rust on them. The donor pieces especially. Probably should have washed them down with something to neutralize the acid that may have been leftover from dipping. I buffed off most of the rust from the three pieces then put the shorties and the soon to be welded bolts in the cabinet to blast off the remaining rust. From there I started welding the bolts to the bumper. Will continue on the next work day.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Had a little free time after my Monday morning duties. Got the heads of the tacked in bolts ground off. Tomorrow will weld the left over square to the bumper to finish the attachment. After that, measure and mark out my cut lines for the soon to be widened center opening.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Today I marked out the cuts on the bumper and commenced making sparks/grit. From there, de-burred all of the pieces then started putting pieces together. I have the basic unit together now. Tomorrow I'll start fine tuning it. For those going WTF? the reason I did this is because my three oil coolers are behind that opening. With it being now widened, they will enjoy the extra airflow.
Neat!
ckessel
Well-Known Member
I was able to do the rest of the welding today plus a little hammer and dolly time. Next time out will be doing some weld grinding.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Got the welds ground down late yesterday. Today I trimmed up the two horizontal portions of the opening to even them up some. Took the wire wheel through the backside where I could get it in. After that, I welded on 6 elevator bolts to the backside of the opening. This will give me some anchor points later when I make up a mesh screen for road debris. I was going to spray it down with some Ospho but it's too breezy here right now. Maybe tomorrow. This will keep it protected until I'm ready to do some lead work on it. Metal Bondo!
Last edited:
ckessel
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Basting in Ospho while in the shade.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Yesterday was an easy day. Set the bumper in place before I put it back on the bench in the rear of the garage. After that, did some wire wheeling of a piece I made that goes between the lower tie bar and the stone shield. After I get back from the show, I need to hunt down some proper hose for my blast cabinet on the pressure and suction side of the gun. Pain to use right now.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Thank you all for the thumbs up!
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Back on the car today. One of the many questions I needed answers for from the SEMA show was where on the seats I'll be using was where does the crotch belt come through in the cushion. Now that I have that basic info I saw there was going to be a need for some structure to anchor the belt to. Made some measurements to cut some material. 2"x.120 wall square and some pieces of 1/2" id heavy wall tube. I decided to put 3 in per side just so I have some angle adjustments of the belt anchors. Welded up the units today and tomorrow I'll place them in the car. After those are in, I'll get back onto the sheetmetal for the floor.
At the show I was able to get all of my questions answered plus found about one other thing I hadn't even thought of. That was LED headlights. I planned on putting them in, so nothing new there. The new part was when I talked to the guy from Dapper Lighting. He pointed out that their units don't require you to cut out the light buckets like all the other ones I've seen do. Nice info there.
The first item I needed more info on was for the FLIR system I want to add. There was a company there last year that I got a flyer from but needed more info on what I can use for a viewing screen/monitor etc. They have their own but I was curious if it could be used on the flat panel infotainment units from Pioneer/Alpine/Blaupunkt etc. The FLIR unit requires an RCA type of hookup to use. Checked with the rep from Pioneer and their unit has 3 RCA connections. Good to go then plus I'll be able to have back up and dash cam capability. Scoshe makes a universal mount for the Pioneer etc units. I'm sure some will wonder why I want to put a FLIR unit in. Some years ago my wife and I did a Cadillac ride and drive. In one tent they gave you a demo of their FLIR unit which comes on the higher end models or can be an upgrade package to the car. They had you sit in the car, headlights on high beam in a fog bank. What you didn't see due to the normal white out in the fog with lights on, was a guy standing 10' away waving at you. With the FLIR unit, no problem. The field of view is great in depth and width so you can have a better idea of what's ahead. Pretty neat tech. Might be pricey but how much does it cost to fix front end damage? The flat screen of the infotainment unit will be next to the flat panel instrument cluster I'm going to use from AEM. The info unit will be Apple ready so I'll have the same functions of my phone plus be able to control my a/c unit from Restomod Air on bluetooth.
Next was info on my seats. I think I'm good to go there for now with dimensions etc.
I plan on doing all of my exterior bright work plus wheels with Cerrakote in a mat bronze color. To me, this will look nice against the Ruby Red Poly[ maroon metallic] which is the original color. I wanted to know if the coating can be put over primer/paint. The guy said yes, as long as the primer is epoxy and good quality. He did say it's better over bare metal thats been blasted/roughed up with a 120-180 grit material. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to do the coating, so I want some sort of protection over the front bumper after I do the lead work on it.
Next was to ask the Miller rep about using spray transfer/pulse welding, with MIG, on sheetmetal. No issues there. A few years ago at the show the rep showed me the difference between normal/short circuit transfer and spray transfer/pulse on the MIG. WOW! I need one of those. Clean, no spatter, stack of dimes. Its like the difference, when stick welding, when you use a 6011 rod compared to a 7018 or 7024.
At the show I was able to get all of my questions answered plus found about one other thing I hadn't even thought of. That was LED headlights. I planned on putting them in, so nothing new there. The new part was when I talked to the guy from Dapper Lighting. He pointed out that their units don't require you to cut out the light buckets like all the other ones I've seen do. Nice info there.
The first item I needed more info on was for the FLIR system I want to add. There was a company there last year that I got a flyer from but needed more info on what I can use for a viewing screen/monitor etc. They have their own but I was curious if it could be used on the flat panel infotainment units from Pioneer/Alpine/Blaupunkt etc. The FLIR unit requires an RCA type of hookup to use. Checked with the rep from Pioneer and their unit has 3 RCA connections. Good to go then plus I'll be able to have back up and dash cam capability. Scoshe makes a universal mount for the Pioneer etc units. I'm sure some will wonder why I want to put a FLIR unit in. Some years ago my wife and I did a Cadillac ride and drive. In one tent they gave you a demo of their FLIR unit which comes on the higher end models or can be an upgrade package to the car. They had you sit in the car, headlights on high beam in a fog bank. What you didn't see due to the normal white out in the fog with lights on, was a guy standing 10' away waving at you. With the FLIR unit, no problem. The field of view is great in depth and width so you can have a better idea of what's ahead. Pretty neat tech. Might be pricey but how much does it cost to fix front end damage? The flat screen of the infotainment unit will be next to the flat panel instrument cluster I'm going to use from AEM. The info unit will be Apple ready so I'll have the same functions of my phone plus be able to control my a/c unit from Restomod Air on bluetooth.
Next was info on my seats. I think I'm good to go there for now with dimensions etc.
I plan on doing all of my exterior bright work plus wheels with Cerrakote in a mat bronze color. To me, this will look nice against the Ruby Red Poly[ maroon metallic] which is the original color. I wanted to know if the coating can be put over primer/paint. The guy said yes, as long as the primer is epoxy and good quality. He did say it's better over bare metal thats been blasted/roughed up with a 120-180 grit material. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to do the coating, so I want some sort of protection over the front bumper after I do the lead work on it.
Next was to ask the Miller rep about using spray transfer/pulse welding, with MIG, on sheetmetal. No issues there. A few years ago at the show the rep showed me the difference between normal/short circuit transfer and spray transfer/pulse on the MIG. WOW! I need one of those. Clean, no spatter, stack of dimes. Its like the difference, when stick welding, when you use a 6011 rod compared to a 7018 or 7024.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
I forgot one other item I needed info on. Brake pad recommendations. I have the Dr Diff 03-07 Stang GT conversion like many others with the 13" rotors in front and 11.7" rear. As many others have found, the pads supplied leave a lot to be desired. Not a surprise as this is a way to keep the cost down and they are easily replaced/upgraded. So I stopped at Stop Tech, Hawk and EBC to get recommendations for which of theirs to use. My intentions are severe street and some track day usage.
Stop Tech guy said to use the Z26 compound and highly recommended it as this is the same compound he runs on his late model NASCAR series car.
Hawk rep said to use their 5.0 compound.
EBC rep said to use their Yellow Stuff but if I ended up doing long track events to switch out to their Blue Stuff compound when at the track.
Stop Tech guy said to use the Z26 compound and highly recommended it as this is the same compound he runs on his late model NASCAR series car.
Hawk rep said to use their 5.0 compound.
EBC rep said to use their Yellow Stuff but if I ended up doing long track events to switch out to their Blue Stuff compound when at the track.
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Got the crotch belt anchor units in. From there, I cut 3 holes though the t-bar crossmember for pass throughs. One each for battery cables, e-brake cable and fuel line. Battery will be on lh side outer of the SFC, e-brake is inner lh side next to the t-bar socket, rh outside of the SFC is for fuel line. Tomorrow I'll grind down the excess material/welds, finish welding what I couldn't get to and grind a little more.
ckessel
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Thank you homies!
ckessel
Well-Known Member
Today I laid out, cut, marked and did preliminary bends on the center portion of the trans tunnel. Monday I'll do some fine tuning/tweaking then bead rolling. Used the blue PVC for the first portion of the radius then used a 4" or so fence post across the street to pull it in a little more.
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