'74 swinger project

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Thanks!

Finally getting progress made, although it took a not so subtle threat to the shop that has the car. Will probably pull it and finish myself after it gets past initial start up, just to much BS and excuses for why nothing gets done days or weeks at a time.

I mean really, how long should it take to plumb up the oil system ? Accumulator, cooler, filter, provided diagram, hoses, everything. Even with needing to grab a few extra AN fittings (overnight, hand delivered the following day), it's been three freakin weeks and that's not done. This is the only thing holding up initial start.

About the only things that will be interesting is glass installation and aligning the doors, never had to do that before. Electrical finish out and and remaining mechanicals will jst take longer due to free time limits.

Upside, I guess, is I'll be able to loose some weight cleaning out the garage in 100+ degree weather over the next week or so. Not a job I've been looking forward to at all.

Should have some more pics in the next few days and maybe, just maybe, initial startup video
 
Well, it lives, mostly :)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuju2s5aG74"]1st start - YouTube[/ame]

Quick start to check things out, shut it down due to below:

Starter needs to be adjusted, need to remake an oil line for the valve-train oiling mod from MRL, somehow they managed to jack it up so it leaks, I'm guessing something bent the crap out of the line at some point in time as it's leaking on a crimped connection. One or two small water leaks, looks like around thermostat housing. minor stuff so far. Might actually be able to run it enough to get some heat into everything, run in the diff and drive it around a parking lot this time next week with no glass, no doors, not care :) Just glad to hear it fire off.

Mad props to Mike @ MRL having everything turn-key with the EFI setup. It was hit the key, crank it over and :cheers::cheers::cheers:

Still likely to self finish it but I'm going to let it get to "move on it's own" since there is a nice little punch list that I shoudn't have to fix
 
Congrats, man. I know its a great feeling hearing an engine fire for the 1st time. It's coming along great keep us posted.
 
Quickie update

Oil leak -- fixed
Water leak -- fixed
Starter -- arrgghhh...seems the "it'll fit" list on TTIs site sucks, the ROBBMC starter that is supposed to fit my combo doesn't. It's sitting on a header tube and therefore won't square up with the bell housing, it's slightly cocked in there. Sonnofa :( Trying a mopar mini from a 97 Dakota to see if it clears. And, to make things way harder than they need to be, the bolt locks for the header were already installed. That's one of those things you wait on till the end, oh well.

Hopefully it's all good by tomorrow for a good runtime, else Tuesday (long weekend time!)
 
James, it's always nice to hear it running for the first time!!
I used a mini from a Dakota and didn't have to pull the headers to install......but i do have a 340 instead of a 440.
Here's to making some long black lines soon.
:burnout:
 
Slowly making progress...

Redoing work on the bumpers, changed out the rear bumper supports again to lighten them up, sectioned out a bunch of the front one to get it tucked in tight (forgot to get a mock up pic). For now the bumpers are going to be painted as chroming cost have gotten out of control :(

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Need to figure out what to do about the dash pad with the down bar where it is, need to dig out the original one and see if it's worth saving or just hack it up to clear, who does good pad modifications ??

Also suprised how well placed the shifter was considering it's a temp stick that was lying around

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More sheetmetal hung also, now I need to find all the rest of the trim and get to cleaning it up, it's buried in storage right now

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Not pictured is the replacement hood since the one on the car, while sound, had the hole cut by the PO anywhere but a good spot for this combo, would have taken forever to repair and recut properly.

Shooting now for a very early Feb completion date, almost have enough space in the garage now :)

--finish and hang bumpers
--finish exterior lighting
--attach wiper arms to replacement 2 speed motor
--run A/C ducts
--install seatbelts
--finish sheetmetal alignment
--finish hood (scoop, latches, paint)
--install glass and exterior door handles
--rework the seat mounts a bit, both seats have a slight "to the outside" lean right now

Looks like finished interior will be on hold for a bit as other expenses are gonna get in the way early next year, will get the one piece headliner in and held up temporarily so I can install glass (pretty sure the halo bar will do that just fine)
 
Looks amazing. Quick question what did you do yo lighten the bumper supports?
 
dukeboy_318 said:
Looks amazing. Quick question what did you do yo lighten the bumper supports?
Click to expand...

Geez, I need to check in on myself more often....I'll have to ask later this week, I forget already

Random update pics

Side marker lights in

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Reworked the tail panel, blasted all of the old crud and lettering, painted hotrod black, painted the dodge in silver, did the trim around the lenses the same. Now to find all of the lens pieces….where the hell did I stash em dammit…

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Front grill done, almost finished up wiring front lighting (using the bulbs from Dan)

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Bumpers painted and waiting to hang

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Hood, two pics

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Looks great James should be done real soon. Now go out and make some black lines=======
 
Assuming I don't actually run into my screen name as an impediment I plan on it. Looking at your ride again, I noticed we took similar approach to the front grill treatment. Sure does make a beaker look better :)

Odds are I'll be putting miles on it with not much interior for a bit, decided I'm gonna tackle as much of that as I can solo, it's absolutely amazing how much that costs :protest: So it'll be loud, hot, and rowdy for a while!
 
Seats?? We don't need no stinking seats!!! Here's to getting her done.....:drinkers:

I also thought the black out on the grill makes the front end look better.
 
Gotta pay to play; you either do it yourself, or pay some one dearly to do it for you. Either way lots of time and or money. Nice project.
 
Rear bumper and some tail end shots. Will probably do a little more detail work on the tailight housings….now for the front bumper Monday and hopefully the hood mid week

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As to the bumper supports, I need to clarify here, when I ditched the original crush sticks, the support frame was WAY over built, went back and looked at it and removed about 60% of what was used to replace it.
 
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Waiting on door and trunk locks to arrive (Tuesday), install scoop for the last time, finish aligning bumpers, install passenger mirror, tidy up some wiring, filler neck, vent line, correct battery and a few other things and it'll be time to bring it home for final interior work and a few other things.:cheers:

Was hoping to be comfortable taking it up to TX Motorplex but that's a good haul and my luck isn't that good, something would go wrong.

Oh, and working on scheduling a full day on a chassis dyno to clean up the tune in mid April
 
So close :) Finishing up some metal work inside to seal off the trunk from cabin, waiting on rear inside panels so seat stays out for now, fixing front seat mounts (not level), handles, mirror, loose ends...maybe Saturday for it's 1st real good drive!

Got tailstripe on it, I think it made ALL the difference

Now, for the decision…leave the center of the wheels argent or black em out to match the rest. Open for opinions here, in fact, please, give em to me!

And, new trunk seal but dammit of the trunk will not close all the way. Wondering if I have the wrong one or just need to stare at it differently..any ideas ?

Now time to get all the interior stuff prepped to install before the 26th

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Getting close now! A few things to wrap up and a trip to a chassis dyno on the 12th to get the tune tweaked and everything getting a once over to make sure I didn't screw something up recently when cleaning up wiring etc. , it's decided to run pig rich to the point of a bit scary. Hopefully it's something simple.

Took it to show this weekend just for fun, good to see it out in the sun! Shop working on it entered it for giggles.

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Modified back seat, still waiting on stuff from Classic for the rear interior panels

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A few shots with carpet down and seats in, seat belts and kick panels next week

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Polished up with hood on :) Will be re-adjusting the rear ride hight this week, it's sitting just a tick to high right now.

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Gotta throw this one in, it was at the show. NASTY little beast when fired up :) And had tags on it !

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Was also a VERY nice 70 Dart 270 4 door there, belongs to a member, as well as a 74 Duster w/408.
 
Bah, when it rains it pours....Not once but twice, ECU has decided to crap out an injector driver. STILL haven't managed to get a final tune on the car, it's still with my tuner waiting patiently for round trip #2 on the ECU. And the damn continuous duty solenoid for the alternator crapped out causing a low charge issue which drove me nuts for over a week causing weird symptoms, bypassed for now.

And, to top it all off, the entire crew at the shop that was doing work on the car has up and quit due to management decisions. That's it, I'm gonna finish it out when I get the time at home.

Upside, I can get collector/classic car insurance thru my existing agent, waiting on a quote but it will be nice to have a local agent.
 
OK, I'll have the printout in the morning but.....finally got chassis dyno pulls done

478/485 @5K at the rear wheels on a conservative tune until I get some miles on it. All that's left is some piddly wiring cleanup, seatbelts and get the AC makin cold and a pesky inspection sticker. 1st real drive (30 miles) tomorrow WHOO HOO!!
 
I've been out of circulation for a while so it's good to see you having your 1st drive. How did it go?
 
1st drive....learned a few things:

1st and formost make sure the damn gas gauge is actually freakin accurate. Talk about a bummer :( Thankfully I was able to not sit and wait on the side of the road, rolled into a huge entrance to a subdivision and called for gas.

Once that bit of silliness was over :burnout::burnout:

Temps never climbed above 190, oil pressure looked good, charging system performing as it should. Oil temp gauge not working, need to get fuel pump control back onto ECU (bypassed when trying to figure out early issues). Need to take apart the column and figure out WTH is binding up the ignition key (flaming river column, you'd think for the $ it wouldn't act like a POS with s sticky switch).

Seatbelts....must install seat belts.

Getting used to the clutch will take a few more drives but this was expected.

For the fun, well, 1st is complttely useless :burnout:, pulls like a freight train in 2-4, not really trying lost the tires for a sec going for 4th :D Brakes haul it down nicely but need to readjust the hell out of the ebrake.

Handles way better than I thought it would, a couple of nce s-turns at 60 and never felt like I needed to lift. This was really cool given the weight on the nose with this setup. Need to get it over scales to see how it sits and adjust from there.

The punch list is getting short now! TIme permitting it'll be done enough to fully enjoy in two-three weeks. I won't say it's done ever, well, because it never is!
 
No it never is (dare I jinx myself) but mine has been mostly problem free for the last 10,000 miles or so. I still have a few things that I want to do but for the most part it's done.

My wife and I drove out to Stockton for my niece's birthday,
about a 150 miles round trip, and I'd almost forgot she loves to run.....:burnout:
and I still got 12.5 MPG for the round trip. :cheers:
 
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