Machmeter1
Well-Known Member
It is a pleasure to follow your project, thank you for sharing all these little details and videos (with Elvis).
Cheers,
Wolfgang
Cheers,
Wolfgang
1963 Dodge Dart 270 Convertible for the Wife
- Thread starter Jim Kueneman
- Start date
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Pulled the last greasy item to restore and knocked it out. The Harbor Freight pitman arm puller worked ok... the problem with all these HF tools is the threads are not hardened and they chew themselves up... add grease to help reduce the friction.... First manual box I have done... super easy... Pull the 3 bolts and the pitman arm shaft will pull out with the small cover. Break loose the giant lock ring at the steering coupler shaft and spin out the giant plug and the cross worm comes out... be careful with the caged bearings... mine where still caged and stayed together.
The seal are easy to get out and mine were hard as a rock and just crumbled. Now clean clean and clean some more. I got a reseal kit from Firm Feel a while ago so I was all set. A little time in the bead blaster (make sure you seal up the gears, bearing races, bushing so you don't ruin surfaces or get glass bead into the gears) and it is like new. Then clean some more.....
Pack the bearings and worm with grease and put in the cross worm gear and tighten down the big nut... you will want to clean the threads extremely well and make sure that the plug screws in by hand all the way before doing this. Never screw it in without lube... Aluminum to aluminum threads will eat each other without lube. Snug it down then put a piece of tape around the shaft and slide the new seal on. I used a deep socket to drive it home.
Slide the pitman shaft in and make sure the top adjusting screw is backed out so it is not binding the gears. If you stare at it long enough you will see how the rack and pinion gears are cut on a bevel so when you turn the top adjusting screw it picks the pitman shaft up and down engaging the gears tighter. Tighten the 3 screws. I put the seal on the pitman shaft in the housing before the shaft went in because I did not have a socket deep enough and large enough.
Slip on the new pitman arm and it is ready to get shot with clear coat before final install and final adjustment per the factory manual. Really easy except for the 60 year old grease to clean...
The seal are easy to get out and mine were hard as a rock and just crumbled. Now clean clean and clean some more. I got a reseal kit from Firm Feel a while ago so I was all set. A little time in the bead blaster (make sure you seal up the gears, bearing races, bushing so you don't ruin surfaces or get glass bead into the gears) and it is like new. Then clean some more.....
Pack the bearings and worm with grease and put in the cross worm gear and tighten down the big nut... you will want to clean the threads extremely well and make sure that the plug screws in by hand all the way before doing this. Never screw it in without lube... Aluminum to aluminum threads will eat each other without lube. Snug it down then put a piece of tape around the shaft and slide the new seal on. I used a deep socket to drive it home.
Slide the pitman shaft in and make sure the top adjusting screw is backed out so it is not binding the gears. If you stare at it long enough you will see how the rack and pinion gears are cut on a bevel so when you turn the top adjusting screw it picks the pitman shaft up and down engaging the gears tighter. Tighten the 3 screws. I put the seal on the pitman shaft in the housing before the shaft went in because I did not have a socket deep enough and large enough.
Slip on the new pitman arm and it is ready to get shot with clear coat before final install and final adjustment per the factory manual. Really easy except for the 60 year old grease to clean...
The last real assembly left in the pile got attacked today... Not going to say much as the photos say it all.... Step by step pulling the convertible top off and breaking down the frame for blasting and prep for paint.... One last surprise for me as you can see in the later photos...
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More...
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More....
Scamp Rhonda
Well-Known Member
Good thing you have the whiskey on hand, that's gonna test your skill set for sure. Lol. But I know you can do it
Good thing you have the whiskey on hand, that's gonna test your skill set for sure. Lol. But I know you can do it
The wife bought me 2 bottles because they were on sale...... she doesn't understand
Not feeling good today so I just got the parts not needing major repairs painted. The parts needing repairs are only needed when it is time to put the top canvas on. These parts will be enough to get it reassembled and put back on the body..... A quick weld for a crack in one of the cross frames and it was time to shoot the epoxy.
Also got the early oil breather from AMD today so shot that too. Needed to the hinge mechinism a few times both extended and collapsed to make sure to not miss areas covered by the hinges in each direction...
SPI Black Epoxy with a bit of reducer in it to make it flow out a bit better.
Also got the early oil breather from AMD today so shot that too. Needed to the hinge mechinism a few times both extended and collapsed to make sure to not miss areas covered by the hinges in each direction...
SPI Black Epoxy with a bit of reducer in it to make it flow out a bit better.
Here is the trick with the manual top springs. To take them out put the top down to stretch the springs then put bolts in between the coils to hold it open. When you put the top back up the springs will just fall out... reverse this process to put them back in.... easy peasy. Making the patches for the front top rail hold downs. These are not visible so they don't need to be perfect but I am anal so they need to be almost perfect.... Simple tools and some careful shaping is all you need...
Just work slow and shape and cut the patch as you weld it in. The other side is not as bad. Both patches took maybe 3 hours total...
To fix the front rail only the "U" was rusted so a 3/16" rod fit in there perfectly so I just clipped it in and welded the ragged edges to the rod. Mixed up some SPI epoxy (for the last time?!!!) and shot the parts and the visible screws that can be seen from inside with the top up..
This week I will be able to fully reassemble and adjust the top frame!
Ez-On that was in the trunk when I bought it.... they seem like a quality piece.
mygasser
Well-Known Member
i chuckled when i read ''mixed up some spi epoxy (for the last time?!!!)'' and thought to myself 'until the next one' 
neil.
neil.
i chuckled when i read ''mixed up some spi epoxy (for the last time?!!!)'' and thought to myself 'until the next one'
neil.
you saw through to the double meaning there Neil! I was thinking the same thing as I typed that.
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Dropped the last batch of parts to get chromed. I was going to buff out the rust pits but the rest of the car looks so nice it had to be done right. Plus it was the in your face stuff (convertible latches, visor supports and where the top latch clips). Went to the first car show since February with Kaelyn Saturday. Today I shot the last batch of parts.. I will still have a few small parts here and there but this gave me a feeling of being done.... Clear coated the aluminum parts that will really be seen in the engine compartment, shot the second color on the rear seat side covers and put some real product on Kurt's speaker housings that is much tougher than the OER vinyl paint... Still a lot of little things to continue with while I wait for the engine but the major projects are really done... Oh and forgot to take the convertible top weatherstrip moulding in to be buffed with the chrome parts.... dang....
Baca did not charge me to do the rear arm rests so I could not take them back and complain. He did not realize how the ashtrays seem to work or there is something missing. He assumed the hole in the plate was size of the ashtray but it is actually the size of the outside of the bezel. I think this was so it would sit low in the padding or something... Well I made some shims out of Luan and pealed the vinyl back and stretched it so the cuts where not visible.. a little adhesive and they are ready to go. Note that these "correct A-Body" ashtrays are not like the originals exactly... If it bothers me someday I will have the originals rechromed... I doubt it will bother me that much....
mygasser
Well-Known Member
you could get 2 decals printed with the lines on, at a glance it'd look right.
neil.
neil.
Not a lot going on. Just tinkering around... waiting for Kurt to get his production rear side panel upper covers going (week or two) so I can get the rear seat interior completely assembled. Engine is a number of weeks out.... Last batch of parts in for rechroming so can't get the front interior done either.... Polished a few parts today but that is it....
Whoop the engine is in full machine shop mode.... crank is done with a 0.010"/0.010" undersized. Cylinder is CC'ed at 58.5cc's and the Deck is blocked 0.060" to give me a real 8.8:1 static compression ratio and with the Oregon Cams 2604 grind a 7.6:1 dynamic compression ratio. Dave then put it on the boring machine and punched it out ready to accept 0.040" over pistons and an void in the wall of one of the cylinders appeared. Looks like an air pocket in the casting so we went to 0.060" and then 0.080" and it got bigger.... looks like a sleeve for that cylinder. Ordered and will be installed tomorrow. Looks like we will be going 0.040" and he will order the pistons tomorrow when he is sure and then final hone to fit when they come in on Thursday! After that it is just assembly!
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Sleeve in, all bored to 0.055 over waiting for pistons to hone the last 0.005 to match each piston. Should be done machining on Monday.
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