1970 swinger build

[Jay28g]

Hello,
well another 70 swinger build here. I just found this gem north of LA and have some high hopes for it. Its a 1970 swinger, the radiator to the rear of the car has been replaced from a donor car, a 1975 valiant. It has the valiants 318 and 904. im not sure what type of rear end it has or what gears are in there.

Its been sprayed with sublime green.. no body work was done prior. there are some rust spots on the rear quarter panal and other dings in some places. The roof has its old vinyl on.. so its going to need some attention asap. Over all the body IS however pretty straight, and i think its managable for myelf.

the transmission is shot and will be needing a rebuild, not to big of a deal. the transmissions last leg of life was driving it on the trailer when i bought it, It threw fluid all over the trailer.

I found this car knowing that it will fit a 360. I bought a 360 when i got back from my last deployment and have been building it since. now i finally have a car!

lets get some pictures up.

 

[Jay28g]

since i have had it. i got with my buddy and we started taking the transmission out. im trying to get it running and driving as soon as i can. this has taken me 3 days! wow. sun is going down early and work is running me late. so annoying.

I have a picture of it the night i bought it. ill post that too.

 

[Jay28g]

heres a shot after i got the drive shaft out, and now we are starting on the transmission crossmember and linkages.

mind you im doing this in a parking lot with basic tools. instead of buying a 200 dollar floor jack i have a weak 12 inch jack, and a 17 inch bottle jack. adding some wood to that and taking off a tire gave me the clearance to drag out the tranny. i measured the bell housing at 18in and knew i would be okay.

 

[Jay28g]

taking out the driveshaft, and transmission.

I am using a conjunction of one 12in jack, a 17in bottle jack, and some 2x4 wood. i also had to take off a tire to get the transmission free. i measured the bell housing at 18 inch and knew i would be okay after all that.

im doing all this work in a parking lot =/

 

[Jay28g]

since pulling the transmission i have also been working on some other problems. Before the passenger door was stuck closed. i kicked it opened and sprayed liquid wrench on the actual latch and that freed it up great. it was just grimy and sluggish, leading to sticking problmes. the drivers side cylinder lock was clogged. i replaced both and had them keyed to my ignition by a local locksmith.

also the owner before me redid the gauges with Auto-meters. wow. nice, however there is no tach. i recently bought an equus or something like that and am painting the bezel to somewhat match the others FOR NOW. when i redo the guages i will finish the set with an autometer. but i need to see my RPMs for my 2500 stall converter, im also putting a TCI pro overhaul kit in the 904 with a shift kit and 2500 hughes stall.

 

[Jay28g]

i recently took the transmissionn down to an auto shop on base and power washed it to get it ready for the overhaul.. what a difference.

 

[Jay28g]

you can see my finger prints on the shell, i actually got it dirty after touching it.. what originally got me dirty.. payback

cleaned up nice though

 

[JustinG]

Looking good Jay, same route as me.

Was a 318 and 904, now going 360, 727, and a 8.75

I also changed from non power drums to power discs up front.

A couple of things I came across, if you move decide later to go to a 727 box you'll need to make sure you have the 360 converter. Also if keeping a column change you'll need the right linkage. I just binned the column shift and went for a floor shifter.

You'll also need the right engine mounts for a 318 to 360 conversion

At least you live in the US, can you imagine how much this stuff costs over here in the UK !

 

[Jay28g]

Thanks for the info justin, I'm looking to do a floor shifter as well.. Maybe soon. Not sure yet. Is the 8.75 you mentioned your rear end size?

 

[Jay28g]

Well I rebuilt my transmission. I ordered a TCI overhaul kit with a shift kit from summit and a Hughes torque converter with a 23-2600 flash stall rating from jegs. I did all the work at my step dads shop. Everything came out real nice, one of the clutch packs was burnt up pretty bad. Should run like a champ now. I'll get pics up when I get to a computer.

 

[Jay28g]

While I was home I also got to work on my mopar 360 that I've got going on. I lube and inserted my thumper th279 flat tappet cam, both the springs and timing set did not fit. I'm still sorting that out. Since I had the time, I did my first self port and polish on my heads. The heads are actually 318 heads. I'm doing a gasket match for the port. The runners have a nice degree to the chambers and the valves are oversized for the head at 1.88 and 1.6's. I don think they will be too restricting. I did it all with a peanut grinder! It was an awesome learning experience. I'll get some photos up soon.

 

[/6 Matt]

Lookin good jay. Not that it matters cause I know you bodywork ahead of you but the sublime looks very pale to be sublime. Is it sunbleached or what?

also if you dont mind sharing, when you pressure washed your trannie what did you do to keep water out of the speedometer pinion hole on the tailshaft? I have a 904 of my own that will soon need a pressure washing.