The_night_rider
Sheriff of Rockridge
that looks damn good. it is really coming along!
The Darwin Project
- Thread starter Darwin
- Start date
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Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Now with engine in we got a better idea of the new stance. I think the ride height is pretty close to where it will end up. What do you guys/gals think.
hemitheus
19? Plymouth Scampenstein
Damn... thats som good work you have done. BEAUTIFUL car.
The_night_rider
Sheriff of Rockridge
that is so slick!
what are you doing for interior?
what are you doing for interior?
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Thanks for the kind words hemitheus.
night rider, as for the interior, the hard surfaces will remain pretty much as you have seen earlier in this thread. We're keeping the original dark blue metalic seats and door panels as they are perfect, no tears or dry rot. The carpet, I'm thinking, will be charcoal grey. I need to fabricate new door sill plates, the originals have a lot of corrossion, I'll probably make them from either stainless or polished aluminum sheet.
Look for more updates as this project is nearing completetion.
night rider, as for the interior, the hard surfaces will remain pretty much as you have seen earlier in this thread. We're keeping the original dark blue metalic seats and door panels as they are perfect, no tears or dry rot. The carpet, I'm thinking, will be charcoal grey. I need to fabricate new door sill plates, the originals have a lot of corrossion, I'll probably make them from either stainless or polished aluminum sheet.
Look for more updates as this project is nearing completetion.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
I had some time today to insatll the grill. chrome was all polished the old fashioned way, by hand, I don't have a mechanical buffer. Painted surfaces where redone in satin black and the same silver that I used on the wheels.
TNT440_Cbody
Well-Known Member
Almost time for Prom! :clock: :toothy10: You guys must be busy at work on it this weekend!
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
OK guys/gals, prom has come and gone...and nope, the car wasn't done. We worked our back sides off trying to complete it by then but hit a few snags that prevented us from making our goal. The carburator, which I sent out to have rebuilt six weeks earlier was not done 'til the following Friday, one week after prom. The guy I sent it to could not locate a metering rod to replace the totally deteriorated one that was in the carb. Second snag, the original radiator needed the brackets reattached to the top tank. After my failed attempt to fix, I decided to take it to my regular mechanic, he promptly put it on the back burner and got around to fixing it about a week after the carb was done. No big deal at this point as we already missed our deadline date. But the biggest road block was the transmission cross member. I completely forgot about it when I boxed out the sub frame torsion bar mounts. After getting the trans in and all the linkage and cooler lines hooked up we tried to bolt in the cross member, well as you can imagine, the cross member is now 1/4" narrower than the sub frames. The only practical solution was to fabricate a new one which you will see in the pics below.
On a good note, we weren't just sitting around waiting for the carb and radiator to show up. We buttoned up everything under the hood, starter, wiring, hoses, alternator, bolted on the fan and pulleys, and attempted to fire it up today only to find the battery, after sitting for two years, will no longer hold a charge. Oh well, I'll pick up a new battery tomorrow and go from there.
Pics are too large, I will resize and post tomorrow.
On a good note, we weren't just sitting around waiting for the carb and radiator to show up. We buttoned up everything under the hood, starter, wiring, hoses, alternator, bolted on the fan and pulleys, and attempted to fire it up today only to find the battery, after sitting for two years, will no longer hold a charge. Oh well, I'll pick up a new battery tomorrow and go from there.
Pics are too large, I will resize and post tomorrow.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Heres the pics of the trans mount crossmember we built.
The process went like this:
1. We made a pattern using the old crossmember and transfered the pattern to a sheet of 11ga. steel. I made sure to leave room on the passenger side to accommodate dual exhaust if we decide to put a V8 in somewhere down the road.
2. Had a friend cut out the pieces with his plasma cutter.
3. Drilled the mounting holes to match old member and bolted the new pieces in place on the car and tack welded everything together.
4. Removed mount and welded everything on the bench.
5. Grind, grind, and grind some more.
What you see in the last two pics is the final product before paint and install.
We then bolted it in place and installed the drive shaft.
11ga. steel plate: $12.50
Electricity: 6.00
Three hours quality father/son time: PRICELESS
The process went like this:
1. We made a pattern using the old crossmember and transfered the pattern to a sheet of 11ga. steel. I made sure to leave room on the passenger side to accommodate dual exhaust if we decide to put a V8 in somewhere down the road.
2. Had a friend cut out the pieces with his plasma cutter.
3. Drilled the mounting holes to match old member and bolted the new pieces in place on the car and tack welded everything together.
4. Removed mount and welded everything on the bench.
5. Grind, grind, and grind some more.
What you see in the last two pics is the final product before paint and install.
We then bolted it in place and installed the drive shaft.
11ga. steel plate: $12.50
Electricity: 6.00
Three hours quality father/son time: PRICELESS
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Got the engine running today, well sort of. The engine runs but only on the gas you feed it through the top of the carburator. I think it needs a new fuel pump, not getting any gas to the carb. Ran out of daylight so I'll have to give it another go tomorrow.
Here are a few pics of the engine compartment.
Here are a few pics of the engine compartment.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
We're this close (hold thumb and fore finger about 1/4" apart) to completion.
Still can't get a good firm brake pedal, I have one line at the master that won't stop leaking and I'm sure its drawing air into the system every time I step on the pedal.
Need to finish the exhaust from the manifold to the muffler.
Front end needs to be aligned.
Need to get a set of rear tires.
And a few other odds and ends, and it should be ready for its maiden voyage.
Woohoo!
Here are a few more pics of "Darwin" in its almost road ready form.
Still can't get a good firm brake pedal, I have one line at the master that won't stop leaking and I'm sure its drawing air into the system every time I step on the pedal.
Need to finish the exhaust from the manifold to the muffler.
Front end needs to be aligned.
Need to get a set of rear tires.
And a few other odds and ends, and it should be ready for its maiden voyage.
Woohoo!
Here are a few more pics of "Darwin" in its almost road ready form.
4spdcuda66
Well-Known Member
Nice work on the car and great job on that home built crossmember. What master cylinder and booster are you running? That looks like just what I'll need when the time comes.
The_night_rider
Sheriff of Rockridge
Damn fine automobile.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Thanx guys for the kind words.
4spdcuda66, the power master is a Wagner "loaded" unit, meaning the master and booster come from Wagner preassembled with push rod. Keep in mind, this unit does not include the booster to firewall bracket, which I purchased from another member here.
Good luck with your project.
4spdcuda66, the power master is a Wagner "loaded" unit, meaning the master and booster come from Wagner preassembled with push rod. Keep in mind, this unit does not include the booster to firewall bracket, which I purchased from another member here.
Good luck with your project.
4spdcuda66
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Solved the fuel delivery problem today. Replaced the line from the tank to the pump with steel poly armour, used the old line for a template.
I picked up a pair of BFG radial TA's for the front and moved the old Daytona SR's to the rear, figured we could burn those off this summer and get two new TA's next spring. Tomorrow its going in for a front alignment and I'm going to have my mechanic see if he can get a decent brake pedal, still very spongy after bleeding several times. Then I'll finish the exhaust and it should be ready to hit the road.
We are trying to make our first car show July 4th, the carpet, kick panels and sill plates won't be in yet but my son is itching to show it off.
I picked up a pair of BFG radial TA's for the front and moved the old Daytona SR's to the rear, figured we could burn those off this summer and get two new TA's next spring. Tomorrow its going in for a front alignment and I'm going to have my mechanic see if he can get a decent brake pedal, still very spongy after bleeding several times. Then I'll finish the exhaust and it should be ready to hit the road.
We are trying to make our first car show July 4th, the carpet, kick panels and sill plates won't be in yet but my son is itching to show it off.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Nick and I took a week off at the end of June and went to Rhode Island to do service work with 67 other kids from our church, well worth it, and came back with a new perspective.
While we were gone I had the car over at my mechanic to figure out the brake problems. Turns out I had the wrong fitting at the front reservior on the master, not leaking enough to notice but enough to draw air into the system and give me a spongy pedal.
After getting the brakes adjusted and bled he took it for a short test run and found it wouldn't accelerate much past idle. No fuel to the carb again. He dropped the gas tank to find the sending unit was a giant ball of rust with just a pin hole allowing fuel to the carb and the inside of the tank was covered with rust. So, in went a new tank and sending unit. Thats where it was at upon our return from RI.
July 5 I took it to get new exhaust from the manifold to the muffler (muffler and tail pipe are like new), I figured two to three days and I'd have it back so I could get it to the front end shop and have it aligned. Well they over booked the shop and I didn't get the car back til the following Tues. But they did an awesome job at a reasonable price so it was worth the extra few days. I picked the car up that afternoon and headed for the alignment shop.
I was promptly notified the next morning that they could not align the front end with "that loose lower ball joint" on the right side... WHAT?...I put all new parts on when I did the disc brake conversion. Apparently got a bad lower ball joint from Just Suspension. I'm currently in the process of trying to get a replacement from them, hope it doesn't take more than a day or two.
Thats where it stands right now. Hopefully my next post will be a picture of the car heading down the road on its maiden voyage.
While we were gone I had the car over at my mechanic to figure out the brake problems. Turns out I had the wrong fitting at the front reservior on the master, not leaking enough to notice but enough to draw air into the system and give me a spongy pedal.
After getting the brakes adjusted and bled he took it for a short test run and found it wouldn't accelerate much past idle. No fuel to the carb again. He dropped the gas tank to find the sending unit was a giant ball of rust with just a pin hole allowing fuel to the carb and the inside of the tank was covered with rust. So, in went a new tank and sending unit. Thats where it was at upon our return from RI.
July 5 I took it to get new exhaust from the manifold to the muffler (muffler and tail pipe are like new), I figured two to three days and I'd have it back so I could get it to the front end shop and have it aligned. Well they over booked the shop and I didn't get the car back til the following Tues. But they did an awesome job at a reasonable price so it was worth the extra few days. I picked the car up that afternoon and headed for the alignment shop.
I was promptly notified the next morning that they could not align the front end with "that loose lower ball joint" on the right side... WHAT?...I put all new parts on when I did the disc brake conversion. Apparently got a bad lower ball joint from Just Suspension. I'm currently in the process of trying to get a replacement from them, hope it doesn't take more than a day or two.
Thats where it stands right now. Hopefully my next post will be a picture of the car heading down the road on its maiden voyage.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Just Suspension is giving me the run around. They are in denial that they sold me a defective lower ball joint. I am hearing every excuse from them, first it was "get a second opinion". I guess they don't respect the judgement of a mechanic with 30+ yrs experience (my brother who ordered the parts for me) who happens to have spent hundreds of dollars with them over the years. So I have a second opinion from the alignment shop, and I guess thats not good enough either. My brother called them today and now they're telling him things like "this has never happened before" and "this is very rare". Now they want him to remove the part and send it to them, at my expense, so they can determine if it is really defective, they even gave him an RA#. I say BS on this one. Just Suspension is in the business of selling parts to guys like you and I, and other professionals in the auto restoration business. They don't manufacture parts, they buy from the J.A.Pan Co. repackage it and sell it to the unsuspecting customer. And they're telling me they NEVER sold a faulty part? How tough would it be for them to send me a new ball joint, then I could return the one I have and we could work out the details later, all in the interest of customer service.
I went and ordered a new one from the local parts house today, I'll have it in the morning and I can move on. I will send their junk one back and follow up to see how long they keep me JUST SUSPENDED! Sorry for the rant, just needed to vent.
I went and ordered a new one from the local parts house today, I'll have it in the morning and I can move on. I will send their junk one back and follow up to see how long they keep me JUST SUSPENDED! Sorry for the rant, just needed to vent.
4spdcuda66
Well-Known Member
The very least they could do is give you the benefit of the doubt, send you a new ball joint and have you send the defective one back for inspection. That's just lousy "customer service" if you can even call it that. I hope your parts store ball joint works for you. Car Quest sells Moog brand suspension parts.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
The Cuda hit the road Monday afternoon. We picked it up from the alignment shop and, of course, I let Nick drive it home. You should have seen the look on his face:toothy7: priceless. Of course the car isn't completely done, but are they ever. Still needs carpet, sill plates, kick panels, radio and a few other odds and ends but for now he just wants to drive it. Can't blame him, its been two yrs and two months since we started on it. I took a few pics earlier today but haven't had time to resize yet, hopefully get them up later today.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Here she is in road ready trim. Hope you like.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
A few engine and interior pics
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
A few more, in case you missed something the first time around.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
This shot is my favorite, since I have not had an avatar to this point, this may be the one.
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Turned out looking very goodly!!!! L8r
Jim
Jim
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