1972 Canadian H-Code 340 Dart Swinger Special Resto - Finally started!

Swinger340Canuc · Jan 16, 2018

cliff guinand said:
Hey Danny, the tranny's were pretty marked up by the factory, with big stampings, inspection daubs, markings etc., and those do exist. I didn't go down that route on my 3sp tranny... would have had to order a number of custom numeral stamps, paint etc., so left it iron -

Hey Cliff, I was thinking probably the paint daubs since I have access to all the paint I need and if there were grease pen marks easy stuff like that. The stamps are likely prohibitively expensive, if some of us that are restoring this year had maybe shared the cost of the stamps that might have worked.

FJRdoc · Jan 17, 2018

Danny, I don't know if the A body 4 speed usedthe same codes as the E body but Cuda Cody over on the E body forum is a nice resource for regulator,axle and tranny stamps. I got a stamp for my Duster. I'll offer up my radiator hose stamps if you have interest. They're hiding in a moving box at the moment

Swinger340Canuc · Jan 21, 2018

Appreciate the offer on your stamp Kevin, maybe after you get settled in your new place I'll take you up on the offer if the shipping, which I would cover back and forth, isn't so expensive that it doesn't make sense depending on how anal I'm feeling. This project is starting to get expensive even thou I'm doing all the work myself.

Swinger340Canuc · Jan 21, 2018

Boy it's really starting to show that I haven't worked on this car for 30 plus years, everything seems to take way longer to do then it should. I did finally get my diff put back together and I think it turned out pretty nice, from this crusty rusty decades old piece

View attachment 1715132937

To a much nicer close to factory new look,

The emergency brake actuator and the equalizer bar were really corroded so I put them in Evaporust over night but they were still pretty scruffy so I buffed them up with the wire wheel but that left them too shiny and still open for rusting so I gave them a light couple of coats of cast paint,

I also need to clean up my bell drums but did confirm something that I wasn't sure about, when I started blasting them it revealed that they did have the area on the front face that was red so I guess I'll replicate that. So bolt on the springs and slide on the drums and it can go under the car. Really nice to be emptying boxes and gaining space back.

View attachment 1715132939

j061093409 · Jan 21, 2018

Those wheel cylinders are original, did you rebuild them?

Swinger340Canuc · Jan 21, 2018

No Joel, I bought them a couple years ago before I started, can’t remember where off the top of my head.

j061093409 · Jan 21, 2018

Sorry, looking at original photo which had original units with numbers. I see the replacement units now

FJRdoc · Jan 23, 2018

Your diff looks nice. It's such a shame that things get so nasty from brake pad residue.My buddy and I carried my 8 3/4 out of my garage and onto his trailer on Sat. They are a heavy hunk of steel!

Swinger340Canuc · Jan 23, 2018

Your right Kevin, everything about these suckers is heavy, I could barely lift that chunk up and lower it in place. Probably break out my picker when its time to lower it off the stand.

gerahead · Jan 24, 2018

Dany, for what it is worth, when I pressure washed my rear axle, there was a big "A" written on the back side of the diff in what looked like a white grease marker. I didn't look really closely for other marks at the time, but I remember that one for sure. Another question . . . didn't the exhause manifolds get painted with the engine? Or do you have some other plans? Thanks. L8r

Jim

Swinger340Canuc · Jan 24, 2018

gerahead said:
Dany, for what it is worth, when I pressure washed my rear axle, there was a big "A" written on the back side of the diff in what looked like a white grease marker. I didn't look really closely for other marks at the time, but I remember that one for sure. Another question . . . didn't the exhause manifolds get painted with the engine? Or do you have some other plans? Thanks. L8r

Jim

Thanks for the tip on the marking Jim, on the exhaust manifolds they did get painted on the engine but I deliberately decided to not paint mine on the engine. My concern was I wouldn't be able to get paint on the bare metal areas behind the manifolds, the factory didn't care too much about those areas rusting but I came to the decision that since the paint was just going to burn off it wasn't worth it. I got a mint set of manifolds from my bud Scatpacker already cast painted so I'm going to just bolt these puppies on and be happy.

Three40 · Jan 27, 2018

Outstanding work Swinger340Canuc! I know you say its coming along slow but at least its coming along and your taking your time to do it right. Keep up the great work and before you know it you will be out banging gears in it again :thumbsup:

Swinger340Canuc · Feb 11, 2018

Three40 said:
Outstanding work Swinger340Canuc! I know you say its coming along slow but at least its coming along and your taking your time to do it right. Keep up the great work and before you know it you will be out banging gears in it again

Can't wait for that Three40!

Swinger340Canuc · Feb 11, 2018

Managed to accomplish some progress since my last post,

Replaced the u-joints on my drive shaft and cleaned up the yoke as well as freshened up the paint on the shaft,

Did some more assembly on my engine, time consuming making sure each bolt is correct with the right finish,

Cleaned up my old differential bumpers which are a bit distorted, I think the diff must have been resting on them for 30 years with those bagged out springs. Just a good scrubbing with SprayNine and a scrubbing in my parts cleaner and some ArmourAll and the rubber looks pretty good, I sand blasted the metal brackets with fine glass and buffed them up on bench grinder with a fine wire wheel and a light coat of lacquer clear, should hold up pretty good.

Then I managed to finish getting my differential together,

Then tuck it back under the car, that was a bit of a bear getting the brackets to line up but finally got it,

Big improvement from the 80's,

Swinger340Canuc · Feb 17, 2018

Decided that I'm up to my neck already in this project and everything is new or refurbished to a new state my old clutch setup which I think only has a couple thousand miles on it but its been so long since I installed it and the flywheel looks a bit rough I'd just replace it all.

I got the engine off the engine stand and on the K-frame stand and installed the flywheel and bell housing so I could index it,

Unfortunately the bell is out enough I need some offset dowel pins and won't be able to get them until hopefully mid week so move on to other stuff,

Coated the insides of my exhaust manifolds with Eastwood's ceramic coating, don't know how effective it is but probably can't hurt,

And got all my fuel and brake main lines installed, some progress

Dartnut · Feb 18, 2018

And merrily we roll along!
Great progress again, it's getting closer..............
Do yourself a favor and take out the over center spring before the pedals are installed for that diaphragm clutch.
BTW, where did you get it and the flywheel as well?
What are the part numbers and prices?
I am in the market for a new clutch etc. for my next project, and was thinking of going with McLeod products.............

Swinger340Canuc · Feb 18, 2018

Thanks Tom, on the spring you mean this big *** spring? Maybe you can explain,

On the clutch set up I did remember you liking the centreforce clutch, I did consider it but did see some negative comments that they can be a bit noicy but the truth is it came down to my wallet is getting a bit exhausted on this project and the McLeod was in my price point. I bought it at “ Mopac Auto Suppy “ and was quite surprised that their price almost matched exactly the price on McLeod’s web site. This is the MCLEOD STREET PRO CLUTCH KIT - part number MCL 75109 - $239.00 and the FLYWHEEL ( 0 -balanced for internal balanced engines )- partnumber MCL 46410 - $410.00. They have a store in Calgary.

j061093409 · Feb 18, 2018

I think I heard that with that clutch you are suppose to remove the over center spring

d55dave · Feb 18, 2018

Yes, correct. With a diaphragm clutch the over center spring can, in some cases, be strong enough that it prevents the pedal from returning up from the floor. Diaphragm clutches require much less pedal effort.

I have removed the spring before and replaced it with a much lighter one to pull the pedal all the way up so there is no weight or force on the throw out bearing when the clutch pedal is released. I used a jack hold down spring from the trunk of a parts car to replace it.

H22A4 · Feb 18, 2018

Wow, this continues to be a phenomenal restoration; the gold standard in terms of attention to detail. Well done.

Swinger340Canuc · Feb 18, 2018

Thanks guys and good information on the spring, Joel what type of clutch did you end up using?

j061093409 · Feb 18, 2018

Original 3 finger, borg & beck (?) that I had rebuilt. Had 2 clutch & pressure plates done - stock. I don't plan to drive either Special very hard!

Dartnut · Feb 19, 2018

Thanks for the info on the clutch kit etc.
Yes, the over center spring is the big one in your picture with the orange paint on it.
The usual way to remove it is to depress the pedal and stack shims, coins, what have you and pull the pedal up and pop the spring out. With my car, i tried this with the assembly in the car and fought with it for about an hour and finally gave up and used a cut off wheel to destroy the spring and take it out. A real PITA is an understatement...........

As for the Centerforce set up i used, it has about 1500 miles on it now with no noises, vibrations, chattering, or funny stuff and works well.
I can speed shift it without any problem and it grabs good and releases properly at any speed or revs.
As a matter of fact, it wasn't my first choice, but i got it for Christmas, and thought why not try it? Lol.
However, all of my linkage and bushings, ball studs, etc. were new and an important thing to note is that it has a factory spring that goes between the fork and the bell housing that most guys lose or for some reason throw away.
I didn't install a lighter spring in the over center spring's place and mine works good without it............

Thanks also for the heads up on Mopac in Calgary. They are located on 16th Ave. just off of Deerfoot Trail.
I've been to there store lots of times and their prices were usually about double what i could buy stuff from Summit or Jeg's. I haven't been there for a couple of years though.
I usually have parts sent to the border at Sweet Grass Montana and zip down there to pick them up.
It's about a 2 hour there and back round trip including going into customs to pay the duties and G.S.T.
Sometimes, they don't even ask you to pay at the border if it's under $500.00 Canadian and just wave you through..........

Swinger340Canuc · Feb 19, 2018

Dartnut said:
Thanks for the info on the clutch kit etc.

I wondered the same on prices and checked Summit's prices and they were very close too Mopac's and I would still have to pay for shipping and duty so I was pleased I could purchase everything I needed for virtually the same price and they had it in stock.

Messed around today and accomplished not a lot but somedays that's the way it goes, emptied out a couple boxes hanging my power steering parts on and reinstalling my exhaust manifolds,

And had my original bell drums and rotors machined on Friday so re-cleaned them and installed the bearings and seals as well as masked up my drums and I'll take them to work tomorrow and get some paint on them,

Nice to be emptying out my storage areas finally and gaining space.

Swinger340Canuc · Mar 4, 2018

Got these drums painted up and on the car,

Then got back to work on my engine tranny K-frame suspension assembly, but after a number of issues mating my engine and tranny one of which I should have noticed before trying was the bolt holes were pretty striped and had to be repaired so I got some Helicoils and drilled out the bell and installed those,