67 GTS 4-Speed: Daily Summer Driver

[carfreak6970]

Thank you everyone for the kind words and encouragement.

This past weekend I went back to my parents place in hopes of installing the front suspension and doing some sanding. Well I ran into a little issue with the new pivot shafts I got. upon installation I ended up breaking one of them. Obviously I was pretty upset that a new part broke. But I was a little more upset at the fact that I wouldnt be able to get the front suspension in. (Discussion on that is going on in another thread as well as talking with the manufacturer. New shafts are already on their way)

So I tried to make the best of my time. One of the fenders needed it's bracing fixed, and emblem holes on both needed to be welded in. So we made the piece for the brace, and got the holes welded. I am heading back there again this weekend for Easter, So I hope I can drill for the GTS emblems and be able to bring them out to Pittsburgh for POR and some sanding.

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So with the remainder of the time I continued sanding the body (yet again forgot to take a picture of the quarters). Its a slow process but I hope to have it in paint by the end of the summer. The quarters are slowly shaping up, still need a little work but shouldnt be to bad. Started sanding the roof, and Oh Boy! talk about layers of paint!

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If I wasnt so sent on the burgundy metallic color (and if the fenders were original to the car) It would be pretty sweet to sand the car down to the multiple colors and just clear over that. That could be a wild looking ride. But as you can see, It was painted teal (the current color) and then it was sprayed blue over the original burgundy.

 

[carfreak6970]

This past weekend I was able to fix the area in the driver door and get the doors sanded and ready for paint this coming weekend:

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It was interesting to see the different colors of paint. At one time this was painted resale red and it appeared to be a decent paint job. They painted the door jam area red but left the door rubber there so you can see the burgundy underneath it. Then down the road someone resprayed the car in teal as you can tell from the pictures posted before. But heres a few pictures of the doors being sanded

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Hopefully I can finish polishing the trim panel for the convertible soon so I can get more time on the GTS. Wanted to have it done for this weekend so I could of sprayed the black the same time I did the inside of the doors, but oh well.

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend was successful. I had some family friends and family visit for a bit, so it was nice to catch up with them. I also got the interior side of the doors painted! With that I also painted the super-lite bracket for my dads polara as well as the rear trim panel for the charger. Sadly I did not get any pictures, drat... But I also got the front suspension installed!

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The upper and lower ball joints were replaced when I got the car so I just replaced the all the other bushings and joints. I also got new rotors and bearings. Got the bearings packed and installed the rotors as well.

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So now on to more paint prep in hopes of getting the car in paint by the end of summer. Then the engine and trans rebuilt and installed by the end of December.

 

[carfreak6970]

This past weekend I didnt get to much done. I got the inside of the fenders and truck lid painted with POR. It took a little time to chip off the under coating on the one fender but the passenger side fender was a replacement fender, it still had the part number painted on the inside and wasn't under coated ( So I painted around the number so It is still showing. Both fenders were drilled for the 273 call out and the GT emblem, So I do not believe they are original to the car. It would be neat to see what layers of paint are on them to decipher when they were installed on the car.

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend I was able to get some work done. I got the fenders out and got them sanded!! Again these had more than their share of different coatings of paint. Top coat was teal followed by black, dark green, white and then I believe primer.

Without power tools it definitely took a good amount of time. But I also smoothed out the welded up holes of the previous emblems. So this weekend I am taking these back to my parents place so I can paint them later in the summer.

 

[carfreak6970]

This past weekend I made it back to my parents place and was able to get some work done. I managed to get the hood sanded on both sides

and got the exterior surfaces of the doors ready for paint

I also got the truck rails and tail light areas ready for paint too. I am still working on the joint where the quarters were scabbed in.

So hopefully in the next coming months I can get some paint laid on in hopes of having the car painted by the end of summer.

 

[carfreak6970]

So for the past couple weeks I have been trying to get a lot of paint prep done for the spraying I managed to pull off this past weekend. So I was sanding the deck lid top and bottom, bumper braces for the Charger my dad and I are working on and finishing up polishing and paint prepping the deck lid trim panel for my 68 Dart GT.

The deck lid needed a little body work but I did get that finished before I brought it home to my parents place.

It turned out okay. So I brought the trim pieces, deck lid, bumper brackets and a few other odds and end for the GTS that needed painted (like door hinges and hood brace). In the picture below you can see how the paint prep finished out.

So I wasnt completely done with masking the parts and sanding. I painted the textured areas on the rear trim panel for the 68 Dart GT earlier in the week but I didnt get around to masking the non-black areas off and priming it. So needless to say that took longer than I would of liked. Then to top it all off I didnt sand all those little odds and ends for the GTS or rebuild the hinges. With set up and finishing the things off I didnt manage to do the week before, I didnt start painting until 8 PM that night and didnt finish until midnight... Very long day. But below you can see how everything turned out.

Here you can see the hood and some of the bumper braces for the charger painted (this is the day after). I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. The deck lid is in the photo but I only painted the underside of it.

I painted the inside of the door jams as well. They came out pretty nice, and I also painted the black for the GTS deck lid panel and clear coated over the polished stainless. I am not to happy with how the clear coat looks on the stainless, but oh well. you live and you learn.

Here you can see the odds and ends for the GTS.

Here are the rest of the bumper braces for the charger.

And this is how the rear panel for the 68 Dart GT came out. I am pretty happy with it, it looks pretty darn good at 8ft (which is good for a driver). Again cleared over the polished stainless steel. Not to happy with the surface finish. But oh well.

 

[carfreak6970]

This past weekend I made it to Chrysler's at Carlisle. I didnt get anything done on the GTS but I did get some good stuff for it! I got the paint gasket set from Detroit Muscle Technologies, I got the gauge bezel and lens ordered, I got the fuel tank, sending unit, filler pipe, filler gasket, tank strap, and sending unit ground strap. I got a new engine wiring harness and I found the console tach for a great price!!!! So I guess now this car is going to get a console, so in preparation I got a 68-69 hurst shift rod for it. Now all I need is the console...

Did find a few A body big block exhaust manifolds, but way more than I was willing to spend.

 

[carfreak6970]

So it has been a slow going the past three months. I have been trying some new polishing techniques to hopefully decrease the amount of time polishing. Then I have been having issues trying to find the time to actually get the polishing done. But I did manage to finish polishing the peak trim!

I think it turned out pretty well. The only trim that is really left is the rocker trim, which shouldnt be too bad. Then on to the grilles.... I still need to find a good set of headlight bezels though

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend I took off Friday to get some paint prep done in hopes of getting the body in paint. I got the body pretty much ironed out on Friday but needed to do a little more work for paint prep. Trying to get the drip rail moldings off was a pain in the rear end until we just said screw it, ripped them off and decided to go with getting reproductions at a later date. I also ran into the issue of having pot marks in the paint on the roof. So I thought I sanded them all out but after cleaning the surface I saw they were still there. I dont know how this could of occurred but basically these pot marks were from little rust spots forming underneath the original paint, which was pretty darn thick. So once that was finally sanded I was able to lay down some primer

Initially I am pretty happy with how the body work turned out. But we will see how it decides to settle in the next coming months

I am really happy with how everything turned out. Will definitely need final sanding and buffing, but should turn out really nice with the black interior, shiny trim pieces and the low rumble of a mopar big block!!

 

[FJRdoc]

You're getting there carfreak. Everything is looking really nice. It's hard to find time or energy to do all the work you want to do.

 

[carfreak6970]

You're getting there carfreak. Everything is looking really nice. It's hard to find time or energy to do all the work you want to do.

I appreciate it! but yes sadly time and energy are limiting factors. But the time spent is what makes it that much sweeter in the end

 

[carfreak6970]

So two weekends ago I went back to my parents again to finish up some painting. I managed to get the hood, deck lid, doors, & fenders painted. Everything that needs to be in burgundy is painted!! Thankfully there was little fanfare this time and everything went smoothly. getting pretty excited to finally start putting parts together and on the car instead of taking them off for disassembly and rework.

I didnt get good pictures of the finished product yet, but at the end of the month I am planning on taking the convertible back for winter storage and while I am there I was hoping to get the deck lid and doors on, and the engine on the engine stand to start tear down and start the process of machining. At that point I should be able to get some good pictures of the final product. It will still need to be sanded and buffed, but it will be pretty sweet.

 

[carfreak6970]

This past weekend I got a little more polishing done. I got the rocker panel trim and the deck lid panel all polished

Looking at this picture now, it really doesnt do the rocker panel trim justice. they came out really well. I am not entirely happy with the deck lid trim piece. But again that has more waves in it than the ocean during a hurricane. So hopefully I can find a decent one of them later down the road. I did however get in this polish for anodized aluminum. So I am pretty excited to see how it works on the grill for this car and the convertible. But after the grills and head light bezels I am done polishing!! thank God! however I am still trying to find a right side head light bezel that isnt dented to all hell. So far no luck. However I did see they are reproducing them, so that may be the route I have to take.

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend I got the chance to finish the polishing of the grill. It came out okay. It has some pretty good shine. A coworker suggested using a polish by Autosol for this anodized aluminum trim. It works great! the only thing I dont like is that the grill is kind of pitted. So up close it looks pretty bad, but from 5 feet away in the sun light it looks pretty nice.

Now it just needs to be masked and painted, but that probably wont happen until spring. So we will see how the finish product comes out!

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend I made it back to my folks place to get some work done on the GTS and get the convertible back for storage. On the drive back home I noticed I didnt have brake lights and the charging system was jumping all over the place. So needless to say its going to need some work before I bring it out for next season. It is what it is.

But the old man and I got the Packard engine off the engine stand and placed in the corner of the garage and we got the the 383 for the gts up on the engine stand

So the intake was already take off which is why it is not included in this photo. But I managed to get everything off the top end. Next I need to drain the oil and disassemble the lower end so we can send it out for machining! pretty exciting. Finally into the fun stuff.

 

[carfreak6970]

No pictures this time, but I got the engine completely apart and in the truck ready for delivery to the machine shop. I also got the A-body Big block engine mounts to send with it, so the machine shop can drill the block for them. I would of gotten more done this past weekend, but a lot of time was spent getting the interior in the charger

Next month I hope to have a good amount of time back at my folks place during the holidays (and birthday for that matter) to get the brake and fuel lines in, fuel tank in, doors and deck lid hung, some latch hardware in the doors, the engine back and hopefully assembled by year out, the transmission apart, parts ordered (money permitting) and reassembled by year out. Sadly it does not look I will hit my goal of the car painted and the engine and transmission installed, but I am pretty darn close!

 

[carfreak6970]

This past weekend I took friday off so I could get a little more done to car. I started to disassemble the transmission. I got the main shaft out but ran into a few issues when I found out I needed a press to get some bearings out. But so far it looks pretty good, hopefully it doesnt need much to put it back together

I also found out the shifter that came with the trans is the Hurst Competition Plus. Which is pretty darn cool!! I will probably rebuild that down the road but as of now it seems to be okay.

I did happen to run into a bit of a snag... I got the deck lid hung and noticed that the deck lid would get stuck in the closed position. Upon further inspect it became clear that the mount for the torsion bar lifting mechinism is damaged... not to sure how that could of happened. I am thinking of making a piece and riveting it onto the mount, like a thicker gage steel and call it a day, but not to sure yet.

Damaged side

Other side

you can see where the bar is suppose to be and I guess where the bar slid off and slammed into the brace below. It does appear that it has been that way for sometime now. I just never had a problem with the deck lid until now.

I also got the doors hung. It came out pretty well. Door gaps lined up okay, not perfect, but good for a driver

the engine is still at the machine shop, had the pistons shipped there last week and I am currently looking into Cams.

 

[carfreak6970]

So I was lucky enough that work gave me the week between Christmas and New Years off. I was hoping the machine shop was going to have the engine machined and ready for me to assemble it over that week. Well that didnt happen. All I was able to get done on the GTS was fit the door latch hardware in the doors, removed the deck lid and fixed the torsion bar mounts for the deck lid then got that installed and realigned, and also got the transmission completely torn apart. I still have to look over the parts to see what all I need to get but I believe I am just going to get the rebuild kit from brewers with the syncros. I made it this far might as well replace them.

So with the rest of the time I helped my old man get some work done on the charger. We got the upper and lower door panels in, replaced the left rear window regulator, rear seat in, package tray in, front seats in and repaired the grille and installed that and the front bumper.

Id have to say he looks pretty happy with the progress! Makes it all worth it.

 

[carfreak6970]

So the machine shop finally finished up the machining work about 2 weeks ago!! So last week my dad picked up the engine in time for me to start the lovely assembly process:

I appreciate everyone's input on my thread 383-stockish build, really helped in figuring out the best way to go. With new bearings I got the crankshaft in and plasti-gauged. The ring gaps were good on the pistons and the rods were installed at the machine shop. I also got the connecting rod bearings plasti-gauged as well. All tolerances checked out according to the service manual. I got my crane cam lubed and in and degreed. I need to get longer bolts for the cam timing gear and the timing chain cover I got didnt have the timing marks. So that is all the further I got with it. So I need to talk to summit and get that timing cover issue resolved

So this coming weekend I am heading home to finish up the bottom end, get the heads, intake, water pump housing installed and get the engine painted. I also ordered the trans rebuild kit from Brewers so that should hopefully be in this weekend so I can start getting that together.

Its slowly coming along!!

 

[carfreak6970]

Finally got a chance to post this. Work has been pretty busy.

but last weekend I was able to make it home to finish getting the engine together. I ended up changing out the timing chain set with one from Cloyes. I degreed the cam again and got the rest of the bottom end assembled

We got the oil galley plugs in, oil pump and all the other internals squared away and on. Got everything up to the intake on and painted. Looks pretty good. Not to happy with this picture but it did turn out really nice

Didnt get much done on the transmission but got the case, tail shaft, and side cover cleaned up. Got the needle bearings, thrust washers in for the counter shaft and installed the counter shaft into the case (sadly didnt grab a picture). Hopefully it shouldnt take much to get the rest of the trans together now that I got the appropriate snap ring pliers

 

[carfreak6970]

So about three weekends ago I got some more work done on the GTS. I was able to finish getting the transmission together and the bell housing painted!!

I also got the clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, trans mount and fly wheel ordered. So the next time I am back home (hopefully in two weeks) I will be able to connect the engine and trans and drop it in!

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend I was able to get a little done. I got the flasher switch polished up, as well as the coat hanger hooks (both of which I got off of a member here).

I also finally got the deck lid GT emblem!! it took awhile to finally find one. Needs a little polishing but should be good for the time being

 

[carfreak6970]

So last week (in preperation for this past weekend) I was able to get some cleaning and painting done. I got the washer foot pump, fender braces and the trans cross member painted.

 

[carfreak6970]

So this past weekend I made it home to get the engine and transmission in. We got the engine off the engine stand and installed the new flywheel, that bearing that goes in the back of the crank shaft and clutch. This was the first timing doing this so it probably took a little longer than it should have. But got the transmission lined up and bolted to the back of the engine.

It went together fine. I ended up getting one of those engine levelers and was thankful I did. That made the job of getting the drive tran in absolutely simple and hassle free.

I must say it does look pretty good sitting in the engine bay, fills it out nicely