65 Dart Wagon Conversion to a Sedan Delivery
My clutch leg’s hip is so bad I’m not able to get it up high enough to push the clutch in. So I made the decision to go with an automatic. The only one I currently have is a rebuilt A500, so that’s what I’ll use. I know that the early A is gonna require some major floorpan and crossmember mods. I after looking at the upper crossmember at a Barracuda carcass I had, I thought that if I cut it out and modified it, it just might work rather than fabricating a new section. So I removed the center part of the part of the upper crossmember, then sliced it in half in the middle and added new metal so that it had plenty of room around the A500 transmission where the lower transmission support is mounted. It turned out pretty well and leaves an inch or so clearance on the sides of the A500. I felt I could adjust the height during installation to the crossmember in the wagon.
Well, nothing ventured nothing gained and time to start slicing and dicing as the saying goes! After rolling a core tranny under to see what I’m working with before any cuts were made. First remove a decent section of the tunnel to see what’s what. Then time to cut out the upper crossmember support leaving plenty of material on each side for fine tuning and adjusting the height of my fabricated piece. I see that more of the front and rear of the tunnel is going need to be removed for additional clearance. I knew this mod wasn’t gonna be done quick!
My clutch leg’s hip is so bad I’m not able to get it up high enough to push the clutch in. So I made the decision to go with an automatic. The only one I currently have is a rebuilt A500, so that’s what I’ll use. I know that the early A is gonna require some major floorpan and crossmember mods. I after looking at the upper crossmember at a Barracuda carcass I had, I thought that if I cut it out and modified it, it just might work rather than fabricating a new section. So I removed the center part of the part of the upper crossmember, then sliced it in half in the middle and added new metal so that it had plenty of room around the A500 transmission where the lower transmission support is mounted. It turned out pretty well and leaves an inch or so clearance on the sides of the A500. I felt I could adjust the height during installation to the crossmember in the wagon.
Well, nothing ventured nothing gained and time to start slicing and dicing as the saying goes! After rolling a core tranny under to see what I’m working with before any cuts were made. First remove a decent section of the tunnel to see what’s what. Then time to cut out the upper crossmember support leaving plenty of material on each side for fine tuning and adjusting the height of my fabricated piece. I see that more of the front and rear of the tunnel is going need to be removed for additional clearance. I knew this mod wasn’t gonna be done quick!