OzyDuster74 full rebuild and hemi conversion!!

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So all the chassis connectors and torque boxes all modded and perfect fit. So got one of my carpenters to swing past and knock up the stands to sit car on whilst all gets welded in. As i only have a two post hoist dont want to risk welding in whilst car sags on hoist.
Its all nailed and batton screwed together it isn't going anywhere especially given car is basically a shell
If it looks stupid and works is it stupid haha.
I have left my run late but was wanting to get the underside sprayed by xmas........ I hope to pick up the 6.4 in next day or so and drop it off at engine builders shop. Basically i want 550-600hp send me the bill
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mygasser said:
that timber frame is ideal to paint the floors too as the lift arms can be swung out of the way.
neil.
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Yep after i did this i realised it had a few advantages!! Thankfully my carpenters are car guys so didnt think i was completely crazy doing this
 
you do what you have to do sometimes. i had to do inner and outer rockers/sills on a mk2 zephyr so propped one side on extended stands while the other side was still on the lift arms. you can see i removed the arms from the lift on the side i was working on. it was the best way i could think of to get good side access with my 2 post lift.
neil.
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So this happened got one of the final pieces of the puzzle. 6.4 from a 2014 SRT 300 with all the accessories. Was running with slight tick, not fussed as will go straight to my engine builder. Who will have simple instruction of i want 550-600hp call me when its done lol
Was a good buy as got it for 6k usually more up around 10k here. Parts a little more expensive down here in Australia haha
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Ozyduster said:
So this happened got one of the final pieces of the puzzle. 6.4 from a 2014 SRT 300 with all the accessories. Was running with slight tick, not fussed as will go straight to my engine builder. Who will have simple instruction of i want 550-600hp call me when its done lol
Was a good buy as got it for 6k usually more up around 10k here. Parts a little more expensive down here in Australia haha
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Very nice! the 6.4 is the main engine I would consider doing a new hemi swap for. Those things are beasts in cars that weigh twice what an Abody does haha. Should be a lot of fun!
 
Your engine guy should have an easy time with your 6.4. You can sneeze and get that power out of them.
 
408 swinger said:
Your engine guy should have an easy time with your 6.4. You can sneeze and get that power out of them.
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Yep i think 550-600 hp in the little ABody should still be decent on the st and pretty good down the strip. Building it to cruise with my two little boys who car nuts and maybe put it down the track a couple times.
 
Ozyduster said:
Yep i think 550-600 hp in the little ABody should still be decent on the st and pretty good down the strip. Building it to cruise with my two little boys who car nuts and maybe put it down the track a couple times.
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Nice! That will definitely be something they remember!
 
After watching all the recent install posts not looking forward to shoe horning the 6.4 into the bay as looks like the Holley kit is super tight.
Do you fit the motor and pipes same time
Can you fit with column and power steering in place?
 
Ozyduster said:
After watching all the recent install posts not looking forward to shoe horning the 6.4 into the bay as looks like the Holley kit is super tight.
Do you fit the motor and pipes same time
Can you fit with column and power steering in place?
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Definitely tight, but I do feel like it all fits. It's not as easy to service things as an LA, but it's the nature of the beast I guess. The only way I see to fix some of those issues is a COC kit and I don't have the funds for that.

Holley's instructions say the DS header has to be bolted up before dropping the motor in. Steering box has to be installed but no column as the steering shaft is captured by the headers so it has to be installed afterwards.

Make sure you do the dipstick while you are fitting the header, I know I can't get mine in with the motor installed and I'm not sure it can be done with the header bolted up either.

Make sure your mounts slip into the saddles on the k-frame. Easiest to do it when they are loose rather than with the motor hanging above you.
 
DionR said:
Definitely tight, but I do feel like it all fits. It's not as easy to service things as an LA, but it's the nature of the beast I guess. The only way I see to fix some of those issues is a COC kit and I don't have the funds for that.

Holley's instructions say the DS header has to be bolted up before dropping the motor in. Steering box has to be installed but no column as the steering shaft is captured by the headers so it has to be installed afterwards.

Make sure you do the dipstick while you are fitting the header, I know I can't get mine in with the motor installed and I'm not sure it can be done with the header bolted up either.

Make sure your mounts slip into the saddles on the k-frame. Easiest to do it when they are loose rather than with the motor hanging above you.
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Ok that makes sense, yep defiantly deleting as much stuff out of the bay as i can to save on space. Thank god i have a hoist etc as feel its going to be a frustrating fit, ill do it twice as once before painting bay etc
 
Oz - For “final” assembly I checked the fit for my engine, transmission, steering box, dipstick tube, starter and exhaust for my 440 on my k-frame sitting on blocks on the garage floor. I did not need to do exhaust and steering box when I put it in the car the last time, but just as easily could have. I then set it on a dolly and rolled it under the car. Then, lowered the car down onto the assembly. No lift, no hoist. Just jack, jackstands and two furniture dollys.

My son and I did this four times when it was at the body shop so we could have them modify the hood for clearance, fabricate the transmission tunnel for the six speed and etcetera. Fortunately the body shop owner was a good friend and he let us work on the car on Saturdays. I am a former shop foreman ASE Master Tech, so he trusted me in his shop. I brought my own air tools, wrenches, sockets. I even helped him and his guys out on a few things. Doing this work is very easy when you have a lift. The dolly we had access to at the body shop was about 3’ high. My then 10 year old son could install or remove the engine assembly in about half an hour and all I did was operate the lift and make sure he didn’t get in to trouble. Pictures below from when I was assembling it at home, and from the last time I had my son remove the assembly at the body shop.

Key to this is knowing how the weight shifts and making sure you have the lift positioned so when the weight shifts it doesn’t cause a problem. We used safety stands and tested each time we added or removed weight of the drivetrain.

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mosleyme said:
Oz - For “final” assembly I checked the fit for my engine, transmission, steering box, dipstick tube, starter and exhaust for my 440 on my k-frame sitting on blocks on the garage floor. I did not need to do exhaust and steering box when I put it in the car the last time, but just as easily could have. I then set it on a dolly and rolled it under the car. Then, lowered the car down onto the assembly. No lift, no hoist. Just jack, jackstands and two furniture dollys.

My son and I did this four times when it was at the body shop so we could have them modify the hood for clearance, fabricate the transmission tunnel for the six speed and etcetera. Fortunately the body shop owner was a good friend and he let us work on the car on Saturdays. I am a former shop foreman ASE Master Tech, so he trusted me in his shop. I brought my own air tools, wrenches, sockets. I even helped him and his guys out on a few things. Doing this work is very easy when you have a lift. The dolly we had access to at the body shop was about 3’ high. My then 10 year old son could install or remove the engine assembly in about half an hour and all I did was operate the lift and make sure he didn’t get in to trouble. Pictures below from when I was assembling it at home, and from the last time I had my son remove the assembly at the body shop.

Key to this is knowing how the weight shifts and making sure you have the lift positioned so when the weight shifts it doesn’t cause a problem. We used safety stands and tested each time we added or removed weight of the drivetrain.

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Love it mate, and yep a few of my mates have said just drop it in and out via the K frame. As sounds like a headfk to go up and out etc Got a handfull of mates with valiant which are similar all happy to throw down when i need. I am a holden man (gm owned australian brand) most of my car buddies Holden guys but a motor is a motor. So plenty of hands ready to help, my factory backs on to a mates factory who is a wiring guru as thats the bit that scares me most haha
 
So my diff guy is coming out to my factory to measure up the diff etc and see what we can cut off to tuck the wheels as much as we can. I have the DR Diff offset brackets etc as well so hopefully we can pull them in nearly 50mm from where they currently sit as currently have a two finger gap from rubber to leaf. As you can see the wheels hang out and i want them tucked in, i dont want to have an *** end up in the air. Just using the stock diff for mocking it up.
I have a B Body 8 3/4 that will be cut down to exactly what i need, trutrack centre with Ford xr6 turbo m80 axles so can run modern ford disk brakes. The aussie fords are the same stud pattern as mopars so no issue with wheel fitment and the brake parts very easy to get.

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mygasser said:
are the ford axles the same spline as the mopar 8 3/4 ones? as i typed that i thought as you'd shorten them you'd get them resplined to suit anyway, doh!
neil.
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The ford axles are out of a m80, you may be right potentially respline them, i know obviously he shortens them. This guy is a guru with the mopar stuff as specialises in it. He built my m78 in my ute with a trutrac and its taken a pounding. The main advantage of the m80 axles is all the brake options it gets me that are off the shelf stock items. So keen to get the diff etc in and floor sprayed as will motivate me to get stuck in as its at a bit of a stale mate faze of the build
 
So been slow with progress however got the connectors welded in and will do the torque boxes this week. Wanted it done by new years but went overseas for 4 days to Bali then its been 35-40 degrees Celsius every day so welding in the factory not been appealing.
So was a bit of a mission as had to carefully grind the primer paint off the floor without thinning the floor pan to much.
I used a flappy wheel and a speed file to make sure had nice metal to get nice welds.
Tacked the stiffeners on and then stitch welded with arc welder, will use a mig to get into some tight spots. Seam welded where the braces cover the original chassis points.
A keen eye may notice the handbrake slots on the wrong side, thats because these are made for a ozy A body which are right hand drive.
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We did burn the odd hole in the floor, mainly in the low spots. The floor did have a few pin holes that we patched and also some areas where the floor was a little pitted. However was sand blasted and acid washed i suspect the thinner metal in these area caused the holes.
You can see in the pic below we have linked all the seam welds up even where the hole is in the original chassis to avoid crack points
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Engineer was happy with the welds although mentioned we had the odd pin hole.
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The gheto stand worked although started to get in the way due to how i ran it like planks under the car. I will cut those sections out for when doing the torque boxes. Ans simply re brace it, however less critical as the connectors will be 100% finished. I also have the hoist under the car just not taking weight to be safe
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When we were welding i noticed one of my hand brake lines from the diff melting. Then noticed smoke coming from the brake drums hahah.
The earth was on the right side chassis connector and we were welding on the leftt. The current was going through the diff and cooking everything, the rubber was dripping out of the hand brake line. Not something i thought would even be remotely possible.
Luckily not the diff i am using
 
that earth will take the easiest route and that is across the floors. strange that you had issues with the brake cables and axle housing. i know in oz you call the whole axle the diff, but the rest of the world calls it the axle, lol. the diff is the bit in the middle with gears and (strangely) the differential, lol.
neil.
 
mygasser said:
that earth will take the easiest route and that is across the floors. strange that you had issues with the brake cables and axle housing. i know in oz you call the whole axle the diff, but the rest of the world calls it the axle, lol. the diff is the bit in the middle with gears and (strangely) the differential, lol.
neil.
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Yea we refer to the case as the diff and the axle is .... well the axle lol. We would refer to the differential as the diff centre haha.
But yea strange as thought the current would go through the floor pan but it decided to go through the spring shackles, leafs and through the diff making sure to melt the hand brake lines and most likely fry the bearings haha
 
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