I may not call it restoration but.........

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I am aware of the water jacket behind the stud, that is the problem, the threads and existing hole are so badly screwed up that I don't know if it can be adequately sealed no matter what I do. Buddy was over for beers last night, he's been a mechanic for 40 years, is now a service manager for an equipment rental company, he says it may be possible to seal it with a leak sealer, but I am skeptical and don't want to have to deal with any unnecessary aggravation, so I would rather wait until spring and go with the better 340 heads, patience is something I have plenty of. Another member on the site has provided me with a good deal of parts I have needed, and has a trunk pan available, just have to get it and get it welded in.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I'm afeered I'm gonna have to put a quarter on the left side of my Valiant, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. It ain't nuthin but a thAng, but it ain't happenin right now in this heat. I'm like you. I've done some bodywork in the past, but WAY more mechanical work. I think the best that's gonna happen with mine is, quarter repair panels both sides down low........but "we'll see". lol
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Really wasn't that bad to do the 1/4 panel, but if you are going to tackle a job like that, be patient, make dozens of measurements, cut small sections at a time, I cut the old panel in 8 pieces, but by all means get a good mig welder with gas, works far better than flux core crap. Tig is even better, but I have never used a tig welder, so I went with what I know and have. Weld slowly, by that I mean space the contact points well apart to prevent heat warpage, and take your time. You probably already know all of this anyway, so I'll stop preaching now lol.
 
I 2nd the Tig for panels. I have also had good luck with running the smallest wire possible in the mig.. helped me to avoid large welds that needed to be ground down.
 
missing linc said:
Really wasn't that bad to do the 1/4 panel, but if you are going to tackle a job like that, be patient, make dozens of measurements, cut small sections at a time, I cut the old panel in 8 pieces, but by all means get a good mig welder with gas, works far better than flux core crap. Tig is even better, but I have never used a tig welder, so I went with what I know and have. Weld slowly, by that I mean space the contact points well apart to prevent heat warpage, and take your time. You probably already know all of this anyway, so I'll stop preaching now lol.
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I have a very decent mig. Most here would laugh at it, but it does a damn good job to be as small as it is. It's impressed me every time I've used it, even before I put the gas on it. But I'll take any advice I can get.
 
Time for an update on the Black Dog.
I was able to get a reasonably decent trunk floor a few weeks ago, haven't gotten it in yet, it will need some minor surgery first. I also spent a good day in the garage working on the cylinder heads that I have, I managed to get one of the 360 heads cobbled up, the other one I doubt can be saved. My 340X heads will need more than I can afford to do at this time, I got them disassembled to bare castings, guides are in rough shape, got a quote of $1200.00 to rebuild them, they do appear to have had some port work done, but I just don't have the cash to do them. I followed up an ad for a 360 block and heads and pieced a second head together, plus I got another freshly machined bare 360 block for $150.00, not that I needed it, but couldn't pass it up for the price.

Today I got the heads bolted on, and torqued down, primed the oil pump, got 80 psi on the gauge from my electric drill, rotated the crank several times until I had oil circulating through the entire engine. Then I got out the spray bomb and gave her some color.
 
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Looks pretty snazzy there, Randy!
Keep up the good work, I'll have to come over and see it sometime soon.......
 
Over the course of the winter I managed to find some of the other parts I need or want, including an OE style hood scoop, (fiberglass repop), a good driver quality set of chrome sport mirrors, and a new in the box black carpet. I also found 1 14 inch rallye wheel with the earlier style cone center cap, I prefer them to the later acorn type, and a pair of 14x6 inch aluminum slot wheels in decent shape. I may not use any of the 14 inchers, time will tell, but they were quite cheap too, so if I don't use them I can easily resell them. I now have the majority, at least I hope I do, of the remaining parts needed to get it put back together, now just need the time and energy to get it done.
Raining and kinda crappy here today, might get out to the garage this afternoon for a bit and see what kind of trouble I can get into.
 
Been doing a few things over the past couple of weeks, got the trunk floor in, seam sealed and a little bit of paint on it. Bolted the water and fuel pump to the engine, and also the mounts. Still trying to decide whether to go with stock type rocker covers or the MP cast aluminum ones that came with the car. Got my hood scoop bolted on, plus the chrome sport mirrors today.
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Waiting for a few small things I ordered to mount the fuel tank, installed the new sending unit already.
I picked up the black pair of seats last week, they were originally white, now I have 2 sets of stock type buckets and a pair of aftermarket lightweight ones.
I hope to I can get the motor set in this week, gonna be a hot one if the weather forecast is to be believed. Still lots more to do.
 
Ok. I feel better. My 76 is a wreck. I have a donor for all the parts but no time lately to get started in it.

you are doing great! Keep up the good work.
 
I had dropped the engine in last weekend, bolted up the trans, convertor, installed the starter, etc. but something was binding and did not seem right. I used the SFI flexplate and balancer that came with the car, as well as the torque convertor, but once assembled the engine no longer turned freely. I pulled the engine back out, swapped the convertor, flexplate, and balancer, and re-installed it yesterday, plus I installed the headers. No more binding, but I did notice some witness marks on the bottom of the new water pump, so I loosened the bolts slightly and moved it a bit higher, may have been the whole problem, but I don't regret putting the stock parts back in. I've lowered my expectations some as far as performance is concerned, I'm just looking to get it running and driving now.
I'm finding that the aches and pains of late are more than I am accustomed to, getting old sucks, so does dealing with arthritis in both hands, the result of a workplace injury 7 years ago where I broke both wrists.

The TTi headers went in without any great amount of grief, though I would recommend not doing the install by yourself if possible. No tubes were damaged in the process of installation, the only hammer needed was a rubber mallet to tap the slip fit pipe into the main body of the driver side header. The overall fit was snug, but everything went well, too bad they will be the best part of the damn car when it's done. LOL.

Taking today to rest and recover, still have much left to get done, re-install the starter, replace the heater core, still waiting on the grommet for the fuel filler neck so I can finish the tank install, interior is non existent currently, lots of plumbing to be done yet, and no idea what shape the electrical will be in, can hardly wait to find out.
 
Got the heater box out last week, easily an inch of mouse crap throughout the thing. Washed it out thoroughly, cleaned and lubed the cables, tested the fan motor, put a new heater core in, re-assembled it and back in. Found a good (hopefully) used radiator and shroud from a 73 340 4 spd car. Finished up the plumbing, all new hoses, started filling the rad and the lower hose was leaking at the water pump inlet. Checked the clamp, tried repositioning it lower on the inlet, still leaking. I can't see anywhere else that it could leak from, water pump housing was dry, plus it appeard the water was going up from the end of the lower rad hose. Took the hose off, checked for burrs on the pump housing, it's clean, as is the inside of the hose. Tried it one more time, still leaked, so I took the hose off and bought another one on Monday, haven't got it installed yet. Next up is rebuild the carb, re-install the MSD box, and tackle the interior, there wasn't much there when I bought the car, have found some parts and will likely use what I have for now at least get it running.
 
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Also got the battery box in and did some of the wiring, hope it don't burn down, LOL. New rear axle seals, pinion seal, rear brakes , e-brake cables, and drums done, had to replace the pinion yoke as the PO broke one of the bolts, tried to drill it out, but the easy out broke.
Need to post more pics.
 
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Sometimes with the hoses, if you coat the inside of the hose with permatex "indian head" gasket shellac then clamp the hose on it wont leak.
 
missing linc said:
Got the heater box out last week, easily an inch of mouse crap throughout the thing. Washed it out thoroughly, cleaned and lubed the cables, tested the fan motor, put a new heater core in, re-assembled it and back in. Found a good (hopefully) used radiator and shroud from a 73 340 4 spd car. Finished up the plumbing, all new hoses, started filling the rad and the lower hose was leaking at the water pump inlet. Checked the clamp, tried repositioning it lower on the inlet, still leaking. I can't see anywhere else that it could leak from, water pump housing was dry, plus it appeard the water was going up from the end of the lower rad hose. Took the hose off, checked for burrs on the pump housing, it's clean, as is the inside of the hose. Tried it one more time, still leaked, so I took the hose off and bought another one on Monday, haven't got it installed yet. Next up is rebuild the carb, re-install the MSD box, and tackle the interior, there wasn't much there when I bought the car, have found some parts and will likely use what I have for now at least get it running.
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I left my cuda sitting in my yard under a car cover with no trunk floor, a cat had a litter of kittens in it.
When I removed the car cover it smelled like cat piss bad, I bought a bottle of Urine Remover from Lowes, sprayed it in the whole car, and hosed it down. Let it dry overnight and it had no smell what so ever.
You may want to consider doing that to the heater box, before you assemble it, the stuff amazed me how well it worked.
 
The trunk pan came out good! You got this junk runnin yet?
 
RustyRatRod said:
The trunk pan came out good! You got this junk runnin yet?
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Thanks, I'm happy with it, she's good and solid.
Getting closer! Will post some pics later this week, gotta do the carb yet before I can try firing it up. Gdrill loaned me an intake, mine's still in border purgatory. Then interior will get some attention.
 
Looking good! I like her! Fellow beaker here! :thumbsup: I like the rat rod look. I think my next project thats what I'm gonna do. That engine is too pretty tho you gonna have to rub some grease or something in it! Haha Btw what headers are those? I like them alot better than mine
 
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