Winter Project - ‘69 GTX Engine Compartment Rehab

[Black_Sheep]

I can’t believe I did it, but I had the x-pipe installed upside down. I took everything apart to put collector gaskets in place, that’s when I noticed the R and L in the part number stamping. After flipping the x-pipe section and putting it all back together, the fit was better and I was able to align everything without putting anything under tension. After setting up the welder using some scrap pieces of exhaust pipe, I’m ready to crawl back under the car to tack weld the joints…

 

[Black_Sheep]

The head pipe is done. I wire wheeled the welds and hit them with VHT high temp silver. It looked so nice I wiped down the whole thing with a Scotchbrite and some thinner, then sprayed a light coat over the entire x-pipe…

 

[Black_Sheep]

Mufflers are done up the same way…

 

[Black_Sheep]

Done for the day, tomorrow I’ll wipe down the headers and double check the tips to make sure they’re straight. Then I can fire the GTX up…

 

[Black_Sheep]

Before getting the GTX back on the ground I’ve been cleaning up the undercarriage using Wayne’s favorite general purpose cleaner, Scrubbing Bubbles. I did the area between the subframe connectors while the exhaust was out. I had a couple hours to kill so started cleaning subframe and sheet metal behind the rear axle. Underneath the 20+ years worth of road grime, dried mud and burned rubber it still looks pretty good.

Tomorrow I hope to drop the tank far enough to slide an isolator pad between the tank and trunk pan. I don’t recall putting one in there when I first built the car. I may even paint the straps so they look more like bare steel.

At some point the shackle bushings will get changed out too, the old ones appear to be dry rotted. The Moog K7308 bushings are advertised as rubber but they are so rigid I’m thinking they might be polyurethane.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I unrolled the tank isolator and put some weight on it to try and flatten it out. While waiting for that to happen, I spruced up the filler neck and replaced the filler grommet…

 

[Black_Sheep]

I dropped the tank, installed the isolater pad and refinished the straps. After getting everything back in place I replaced the vent and fuel line hose sections. While the filler neck was out I inspected the inside of the tank, which looked like new then reinstalled the previously refurbished filler neck.

Fuel system is officially finished…

This weekend I’ll finish cleaning under the car so I can get it back on the ground and replace the shackle bushings.

 

[Black_Sheep]

After much deliberation I decided to bed-line the floor pan behind the rear tires. Cleaning off all of the burned rubber revealed a lot of paint chips and general wear from 23 years of stuff being thrown up by the sticky Mickeys. I scuffed the surface with 120 grit, hit it with wax and grease remover and sprayed 2 coats of Duplicolor aerosol bed-liner. It should seal up the chips and provide a tougher surface to protect against future wear and tear.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I somehow misplaced a boot for the steering linkage and had to order a pair. They finally showed up today so I’m going to get the steering buttoned up before dinner…

 

[Black_Sheep]

I gave everything a once over underneath the car and discovered a small transmission leak. An AN fitting was either not fully tightened or somehow came loose, it took only minutes to fix. I made a crib for my floor jack to get it high enough to safely lift the car off the wheel cribs. It actually worked out pretty well.

Once on the ground I fired up the motor to hear how the new exhaust sounds, only to have a hard pop out of the exhaust. Currently waiting for the headers to cool off so I can swap the #6 and #8 plug wires to the right plugs. Once that’s resolved, I’ll shoot a video…

 

[Black_Sheep]

 

[Black_Sheep]

Longer version with a little throttle

 

[Black_Sheep]

New shackle bushings are installed. Now every suspension bushing except for the front spring eye bushings have been replaced…

 

[Black_Sheep]

Easy weekend projects. I discovered that the NSS was bad when I tried to fire up the GTX after the exhaust replacement. It acted up a few times this past summer but always cranked on the second or third attempt, so replacing it was probably overdue. I also want to replace the adjustable brake pedal pushrod because the hiem joint on the Dr Diff pushrod wouldn’t always reset the brake light switch. I had the pushrod but couldn’t find the original shoulder bolt with an o-ring to attach to the pedal so a new one was sourced from Mancini. I’ll probably find the old one now that I bought a replacement…

 

[Black_Sheep]

The NSS didn’t fix the issue, it turned out to be a bad wiring harness. There is no obvious damage but flexing it near the plug would cause the circuit to drop off. I didn’t want a splice in the harness, so I opted for an M&H reproduction from mega parts. I got that in and the GTX starts with the key again.

I still need to replace the brake master cylinder push rod, which I will probably take care of this weekend. I got a care package today with parts for the next minor project, new door weatherstripping and door bumpers. Since I misplaced the heater box hardware that I purchased last winter, I added another set to this order...

 

[Black_Sheep]

I decided to rip the Band-Aid off and get the brake push rod done. Nothing I hate worse than standing on my head under the dashboard trying to do things by feel. As usual, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Now the brake light switch consistently resets when I take my foot off the brakes.

 

[ckessel]

Contort your way in and back out very slowly.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I wasn't really thrilled with the height of the brake pedal because the transition from the throttle to the brake was kind of awkward. I posted in the brake and suspension forum to get an idea of stock pedal height and adjusted the pushrod to drop the pedal from 8.5" down to 7.25". The transition is a lot better and there's still several inches beneath the pedal during full brake application.

Tomorrow I'm going to start on the door weatherstrip which is the last item on my list...

 

[Black_Sheep]

New door weatherstripping and door bumpers going on the GTX today. Driver side is done…

 

[Black_Sheep]

Getting the GTX ready for Mopars in the Park next weekend…

The edges of the air cleaner decal were lifting, probably from repositioning it too many times. Fortunately I found the one I lost last winter while looking for something else…

Starting with the underside of the hood…