Backstory:
I stumbled across this car in my Grandfathers barn when I was a kid. It was my uncles car and was tucked away as an unfinished project of his. My brother, cousins and I would climb on it when we would play in the barn (I later hammered out those dents). As I grew older I became interested in the car. When I was 15 I moved the car from the barn to my parents garage and took over my uncles project. I've owned this car since 1994 and did a little work on it as a teenager which consisted of stripping old paint and priming body parts and general disassembly. I graduated high school, then college, then began working and the car sat
and waited. While the car sat an unfortunate accident occurred and the barn burnt down along with some of my parts that were removed and stored but thankfully no one was hurt and life went on.
Fast forward to 2012:
An opportunity presented itself whereas I had the time, money and space to work on the car and after the encouragement from my girlfriend I began to bring the car back to life (she had no idea what she encouraged). On August 19th I transported the car from my home (east of Pittsburgh, PA) to where I was working (Erie, PA) and there I disassembled the rest of the car, made a list of what I needed and managed to find a complete parts car to replace what was lost in the fire. I made the decision that my money was better spent on buying high quality parts and doing the work myself rather than spending money on labor and skimping on materials. With help from friends, internet forums (that's where you all get an "at a boy") and suppliers tech support I put in countless hours after work and on weekends to slowly breathe life back into this old gal. This is the first car I've restored so I learned while I worked but sure enough she came together in the end and I couldn't be happier with the results.
I completed the car and entered it in its first show on August 24th, 2013, 53 weeks after I started working on it. During that time I worked full time at my regular job and took a 1 week vacation so ultimately it took me
1 YEAR almost to the day to complete this car.
The work I did not complete was: machining of the block, rebuilding/strengthening the 904 transmission, welding in the new sheet metal, reupholstering the rear seat and tinting the rear window.
Here's a list of work I performed on the car with some photos to follow. I did keep a spreadsheet with all the parts, part numbers, suppliers and cost (oh God the cost). I'm sure I'll forget some things but hey, I'm human...
Rebuilt the 318 with the following parts:
'69 318 Block, Bored 0.040"
Factory Steel Crankshaft Turned 10/10
Reconditioned Rods w/ New Bolts
Clevite Bearings
Keith Black Hypereutectic Flat Top Pistons
Balanced Rotating Assembly
Edelbrock 750cfm Electric Choke Carb
Edelbrock RPM AirGap Intake Manifold
Edelbrock Aluminum Heads, 63cc Chambers, 2.02" Intake, 1.60" Exhaust
Comp Hydraulic Flat Tappet Cam, 275 Int./287 Exh. 0.525" Lift
Comp Double Roller Timing Chain
Stock Timing Cover
Melling High Volume Oil Pump
Ishihara-Johnson Crank Scraper
Mopar Performance Water Pump
Proform Distributor
MSD 6AL Ignition Box currently running a 6,500 rpm limiter chip
MSD Blaster 2 Coil
Taylor 8.2 mm Wires
CVF Racing Billet Aluminum Pulleys and Brackets
Doug's Ceramic Coated Headers
Mopar Performance Valve Covers and Air Cleaner
K&N Air Filter
90* Oil Filter Adapter
AMSOIL Products Used Exclusively
A904 Trans has a B&M shift kit, B&M fluid cooler, deep sump aluminum pan, new clutches, 2800-3000 stall converter
8-1/4" Rear end with 3.55 gears & a sure grip
Interior:
POR-15 on floor, inside of roof, firewall, wheel wells, everything
New carpet throughout
New headliner
Racing seats w/ brackets
Folding back seat from parts car reupholstered to match racing seats
Door panels sourced from parts car
Console from Craigslist
New dash pad cover
Hidden antenna
New dimmer switch
New glove box liner
New 4x10 speaker in dash
6x9 speakers in rear cargo area
new Alpine headunit
AutoMeter carbon fiber gauges:
Speedo
Tach
Oil pressure (in console)
Water temp (in console)
Fuel (in console)
Voltage (in console)
Instrument cluster and console wrapped in Avery carbon fiber vinyl
LED lighting throughout entire interior
New trunk mat
Exterior:
New front of hood seal
New hood to cowl seal
New weatherstripping (all)
New body gasket set
New trunk finish panel
New grill housings
PPG primer, base and clear
Avery matte black vinyl for hood/trunk
Dupli-Color trim paint used to black out chrome
Plasti dip used to black out bumpers
Body:
New 1/4 panel skins (both sides)
Drivers side front fender lower patch panel
New drivers side rear floor pan patch
New trunk extensions
New rear inner wheel wells
Weld in subframe connectors
Steering, Suspension, Brakes:
New steering box w/ pitman arm
New power steering supply & return lines w/ filter
Hayden power steering cooler
New steering U-joint
Energy Suspension polyurethane bushing set (whole car)
Just Suspension torsion bars
73-76 Upper control arms
73-76 Spindles
KYB shocks (front & rear)
Rear springs re-arched
Added factory front sway bar
Hellwig adjustable rear sway bar
Homemade pinion snubber
New manual brake master cylinder
New stainless steel brake lines throughout
Wilwood 4 piston front calipers
Slotted, drilled front rotors
Adjustable proportioning valve
Wheels/Tires:
American Racing Torq-Thrust M, Black, 17x8, 5.68 backspace (front), 4.5 backspace (rear)
Nitto NT555 tires: 245/45-17 front, 275/40-17 rear
AC, Heating, Cooling:
Aluminum radiator
Removed all AC components under hood
Mopar Performance water pump
New hoses
Overflow catch can
Fuel, Exhaust:
New gas tank
New sending unit
New stainless 3/8" fuel line
Doug's headers
Manual cutouts
2-1/2" stainless Pypes w/ X-pipe & street pro mufflers
Electrical:
Optima battery in trunk
Painless wiring harness
LED brakes, backup, licence plate & front turn signals
No-load flashers
Projector headlights w/ black housings
I think that about covers it. Any questions, ask away.
Below is a link to my dropbox account where I've uploaded a lot of my photos, no need to re-paste them here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9of2pdnq2171g9f/Zyo3daeoN2
