AlV 69 Dodge GTS project
It's been a few weeks since our last post and I'm happy to say that we keep stumbling along :)
Lets pick up where we left off. Thinking we needed a K frame we picked one up from a member here on the forum. Once it arrived we started to strip and clean it and all I can say is that without a sandblaster this one messy awkward job.
Our methodology:
We started by pressure washing it, then we hit it with a bunch of different wire wheels followed by a long soak in degreaser. After that we hit it with the spot blaster and then another run under the pressure washer.
Here's what it looked like in the soak.
It turned out pretty good but I have to be honest I was really surprised by the welds. I kind of thought they would look a bit more finished but they looked like they were just done quickly.
Pulling the Front End:
Got the front end pulled from the Dart last Saturday.
Big thanks to Mark and Tom for letting me use the garage. Those guys rock and are great to hang with.
The process was straight forward and with access to their lift man was it nice.:thumbup:
The Steps:
1. Remove the wheels
2. Removed the Brake lines
3. Removed the upper control arm Bolts
4. Pulled the upper arms from the frame
5. Removed the shocks
6. Removed the splash shields
7. Placed a trans jack under the K
8. Unloaded the torsion bars by backing out adjusters (till they flopped)
9. Removed the torsion bar clips by the cross member
10. Removed the 4 K frame Bolts.
11. dropped the K about an inch
12 Using a wooden dowel and a hammer I persuaded the bars out of the cross member.
13 With the bars free it was a matter of lowering the whole assembly down and out of the way.
Using the jack it was easy to load into the bed of my truck. Once I got it home I used the Engine Hoist to unload it and now it's in my garage ready for disassembly.
Even got to get my first weld repair in. It turns out the K wasn't as hacked up as I originally thought. Tom gave me some pointers and I welded in a filler piece I need more practice lol
Once it's cleaned up and painted It'll be hard to notice.
Next steps:
Power wash the whole setup and break it down. We order the Super Kit from PST and will get that rolling when it arrives.
Oh, one last thing...we saw one of the forum members posted a great idea for an engine dolly, so we built some for the 318 and the 340 this site is so helpful.
Thanks for the idea!
It's been a few weeks since our last post and I'm happy to say that we keep stumbling along :)
Lets pick up where we left off. Thinking we needed a K frame we picked one up from a member here on the forum. Once it arrived we started to strip and clean it and all I can say is that without a sandblaster this one messy awkward job.
Our methodology:
We started by pressure washing it, then we hit it with a bunch of different wire wheels followed by a long soak in degreaser. After that we hit it with the spot blaster and then another run under the pressure washer.
Here's what it looked like in the soak.
It turned out pretty good but I have to be honest I was really surprised by the welds. I kind of thought they would look a bit more finished but they looked like they were just done quickly.
Pulling the Front End:
Got the front end pulled from the Dart last Saturday.
Big thanks to Mark and Tom for letting me use the garage. Those guys rock and are great to hang with.
The process was straight forward and with access to their lift man was it nice.:thumbup:
The Steps:
1. Remove the wheels
2. Removed the Brake lines
3. Removed the upper control arm Bolts
4. Pulled the upper arms from the frame
5. Removed the shocks
6. Removed the splash shields
7. Placed a trans jack under the K
8. Unloaded the torsion bars by backing out adjusters (till they flopped)
9. Removed the torsion bar clips by the cross member
10. Removed the 4 K frame Bolts.
11. dropped the K about an inch
12 Using a wooden dowel and a hammer I persuaded the bars out of the cross member.
13 With the bars free it was a matter of lowering the whole assembly down and out of the way.
Using the jack it was easy to load into the bed of my truck. Once I got it home I used the Engine Hoist to unload it and now it's in my garage ready for disassembly.
Even got to get my first weld repair in. It turns out the K wasn't as hacked up as I originally thought. Tom gave me some pointers and I welded in a filler piece I need more practice lol
Once it's cleaned up and painted It'll be hard to notice.
Next steps:
Power wash the whole setup and break it down. We order the Super Kit from PST and will get that rolling when it arrives.
Oh, one last thing...we saw one of the forum members posted a great idea for an engine dolly, so we built some for the 318 and the 340 this site is so helpful.
Thanks for the idea!