joel d. snyder
Well-Known Member
another vote for spring! come on!
another vote for spring! come on!
honestly.....the engine side of thing was the fastest part of my project id say. I had it bought,built,painted and ready to dunk in after jsut a few days time. The sanding,primer,painting ,wiring etc...etc... of the engine bay however was a different story. but once I had it painted and ready for the engine...it literally took me and my father 15 minutes to get the engine on the cherry picker and down into the engine bay and mounted on the engine mounts.not sure what you need to do to the engine bay?....tidy up wiring?....or overhaul the paint.
either way ...I would say get to work on it now!....you could have the old engine out in a night easily.....and if you do need to paint and tidy up some wiring.....you might be looking at a weeks worth of work maybe a little less or a little more depending on if you have an extra set of hands....to get it prepped and painted. and the wiring is nothing...that would go fast.
I would say that if you had another guy helping you and jambed on it...you could pull the engine,restore the bay,install the new engine in about 2 weeks.
I know i kow...easier said than done lol...cold weather,space to work,family time,finding someone with time to help,cash....and so on....just trying to let you know it can be done.
as for material cost .....I would think that around $100.00 would cover (even less if you still have left over paint from doing the exterior!).
but...if you could get it done now...you would be ready to rock come spring time!. or you could do the same stuff come spring....BUT you will have to live with the agony of not being able to drive it while its out of commission lol.
boils down to how bad you want to get it in there,your funds and your free time to get it done.
if none of it meshes wells,then you may just want to put it on the back burner as a project for next winter.
I'll even it out by saying I'd wait on the new engine until next winter, just for the reasons you just said. Being so close to spring now, I wouldn't want to risk not having a car to drive this summer (or for part of it), having new bugs to work out and so on. Unless there's something wrong with what you have now, and it's fun to drive as-is, why not just leave it? Get the Cordoba done (I LOVE Cordobas, want one so bad!), get your interior & shifter worked out, then it will be spring driving weather! But, that's just me. Maybe you work faster than I do. I have a whole lot bigger of a project with my engine swap, since I have to swap brakes, rear, radiator etc at same time, so that could be influencing my feeling about your swap unnecessarily also.
Yeah, that's the main thing... getting the engine bay done. Small block to small block swap alone shouldn't be bad at all. Either way, you have an awesome car to drive this summer!
That is so true. I am so envious of people in warmer climates. We get literally HALF the time, unless fortunate enough to have a large heated garage.
:wack:
Nope, not really saying yay or nay... Just trying to look at it from both sides of the fence. But considering your situation and the order of which you plan on doing stuff to the car. I think I would probably just hold off. Get your seats and shifter and everything taken care of (projects but not with considerable down time). Drive it and enjoy it for the summer. And then come fall or winter go through on the rest of it.
I'm sure it would kick your *** to do it this spring or summer and not being able to get to drive it. Us folks that have to deal with snow only have a few good months out of the year to enjoy our rides so any down time is an issue lol.
Not to mention... You wouldn't want to rush it along and cut corners or sacrifice quality. Just take your time and enjoy it and do it when you think the time has come!
Maybe compromise and do it late summer, say after the Mopar Nationals. That way, You can enjoy your car when the weather gets nice (no salt) AND you will have time to get it done before the white stuff starts flying and enough time to work out any bugs...
hey speedracerx i just read your whole build from page 1 and gotta say you and your group do great work . The dart looks awsome . makes me want to get started on my duster but with this being our slow season and me being the only income we have I definitely cant afford right now . maybe over the summer i can start .
Thank for a great read on a sunday afternoon and for the ideas and motivation. keep up the great work and enjoy your car .
I'm with Harry on this one. You have enough stuff to do now to keep you busy. Plus you'll be less inclined to rush through the engine install if you do it going into winter. You can take the time to dress up the engine compartment. It's probably your best bet to minimize lost cruising time.
BTW, I've been working on my Dart on the weekends. I only use a propane torpedo heater and foot warmers to keep warm. Winter really sucks! I'm ready for spring!
SWEET, get me a pair also? I'm waiting too Thanks LOL. Kidding aside great to see more car **** is on the way.