1968notch
Too many projects, not enough time/$$$
Hi all
Trying to get the fish back on the road. It's a 68 notchback with a 318/904/7.25 (none are matching numbers but they do match original equip). The 2bbl was shot (throttle shaft was so loose I could drive a mack truck through the hole). Did a thermoquad 850 upgrade (to be used on a 340 later) along with a mopar elec. ign. upgrade (blue streak module and part of a harness from a 76 volare @ P and P along with a horn relay to give a better feed of 12v to ign. sys). I used an eddy performer intake ported for a 318. Haven't hooked up linkage yet but it pops that secondary air door open like right now with no bog. It just plain rocks. Can't road test it yet due to no linkage and a tranny that has no reverse or 3rd (front clutch actuator not engaging the clutch pack, but the friction material is good because when it did occasionally hook up in reverse, I could smoke the tires, just testing it of course
). Plus it slips now in 1st and second due to low fluid level and I'm not going to dump in fluid at 4 bucks a qt just have to dump it when I yank the tranny in a week or 2. Have a JY 150 buck replacement sitting in the trunk.
Maybe I'm having brain lock but the thermostat housing leaked after I installed it on the manifold. It was one of those funky peel and stick gaskets. My main question is does the gasket go under or over the actual thermostat? It was years ago that I replaced it last and I didn't pay attention when I took it off. In fact I don't remember removing a gasket at all really. Also, that peel and stick was utter fail. All the new ones are like that. I RTV'd both sides and the stick-um peeled from the gasket when I removed it, like a piece of saran wrap. Bought a new roll of gasket material and I'll be cutting my own. Wish I coulda found the roll I know I have somewhere. My garage is hosed with the daughter moving her stuff in there when she moved back in.
The other question is, what have others done for bracket system and linkage for tranny kickdown and throttle cable on an a-body 318 TQ upgrade? I have to put some stress on throttle cable to put it in a position that I think would work (kind of an "S" bend and it pushes on the firewall penetration with some resistance). It'll probably be OK though if I could get a bracket to hold it there in that position instead of my hand. The TQ's I picked up didn't have the linkage studs in the throttle arm so I swiped the one from the 2bbl. I think it will work fine. The operating rod to the upper half of tranny linkage is too short as well. I could fix it with all-thread and a union type nut, but it may require cutting the original rod back as I think it would then be too long.
Future plan is for a 340 (NOT a stroker, it defeats the purpose of a 340, IMO for just a few extra cubes over a 360 which are much easier to come by). I have block @ std. bore with a spun #4 main but I'm sure its fixable as it appears to have only spun around once and the tang notches look pretty good and the fingernail test reveals only a slight roughness. Almost tempted to just slap in a new bearing and calling it good but worried about heat dissipation into the webbing without full contact on backside of bearing. Also have crank, rods (bushed), and .30 over pistons (all used, all forged and in good shape). Also have J-heads in excellent shape and a set of light single groove stainless 2.02 valves. Need a cam kit (XE275HL), rebuild kit, also, a mopar friendly machine shop in the Portland OR area that has reasonable rates. And finally, a lot of help. I have done a lot of work on cars, but I've only seen an engine overhaul once in my 53 years on this planet. I've owned the car since the early 90's and basically drove the wheels off it as a daily driver. Fixing just what needed to be fixed. It's time to get it fixed up and bcak to daily driver status.
Body is fairly straight, some bodo in rear pass qtr, a ding in the pass fender, driver fender may need replacing due to a tragic tire blowout. Very little rust on this California car that had the original bumble bee license plates on it when bought it off the car lot in San Jose for 4,000 bucks. He financed it and I dropped off 400 bucks a month in person for 10 months to pay for it (no interest). How cool is that? Funding for any work on this is very sketchy though.
I've already spent waaay too much just to try to get it back on the road. Found 2 bent pushrods which I had trouble (mostly of the brain lock type) finding replacements for the 2 bent ones. Also instead of buying new lifters to quiet some lifter noise that sometimes continued for a few miles of driving and avoiding a break-in period, I disassembled each one one at a time and cleaned and re-assembled them placing back in original holes with assembly lube on as much of the cam as I could see and on lifter bottom. I wasn't sure the car would run @ 500 RPM let alone 2500 for 20 minutes for a break-in, since it was my first ever thermoquad re-build with a bowl swap from a doner 9015 (it's a model 9034s from a 440 truck with a MT so the book says, non-smogger). I guess I did it right because that engine really barks now. Just need a way to control it from INSIDE the vehicle, so any help there would be appreciated. This is a long post for just 2 questions but since it's my first and there's no history on here of the car I thought I'd include some. Oh, I also replaced all the valve stem seals with the cheap umbrella type. Old ones were like they were made out of black rocks.
Next 2 weeks = electrical stuff (aftermarket ato fuse block, ralley guage/dash repair and firewall penetration clean-up) and tranny swap.
BTW, I've learned a lot from the many posters on here so thanks to all of you. I have been lurking for several years, but just recently joined though.
Thanks in advance.
sincerely,
Paul.
Trying to get the fish back on the road. It's a 68 notchback with a 318/904/7.25 (none are matching numbers but they do match original equip). The 2bbl was shot (throttle shaft was so loose I could drive a mack truck through the hole). Did a thermoquad 850 upgrade (to be used on a 340 later) along with a mopar elec. ign. upgrade (blue streak module and part of a harness from a 76 volare @ P and P along with a horn relay to give a better feed of 12v to ign. sys). I used an eddy performer intake ported for a 318. Haven't hooked up linkage yet but it pops that secondary air door open like right now with no bog. It just plain rocks. Can't road test it yet due to no linkage and a tranny that has no reverse or 3rd (front clutch actuator not engaging the clutch pack, but the friction material is good because when it did occasionally hook up in reverse, I could smoke the tires, just testing it of course
). Plus it slips now in 1st and second due to low fluid level and I'm not going to dump in fluid at 4 bucks a qt just have to dump it when I yank the tranny in a week or 2. Have a JY 150 buck replacement sitting in the trunk. Maybe I'm having brain lock but the thermostat housing leaked after I installed it on the manifold. It was one of those funky peel and stick gaskets. My main question is does the gasket go under or over the actual thermostat? It was years ago that I replaced it last and I didn't pay attention when I took it off. In fact I don't remember removing a gasket at all really. Also, that peel and stick was utter fail. All the new ones are like that. I RTV'd both sides and the stick-um peeled from the gasket when I removed it, like a piece of saran wrap. Bought a new roll of gasket material and I'll be cutting my own. Wish I coulda found the roll I know I have somewhere. My garage is hosed with the daughter moving her stuff in there when she moved back in.
The other question is, what have others done for bracket system and linkage for tranny kickdown and throttle cable on an a-body 318 TQ upgrade? I have to put some stress on throttle cable to put it in a position that I think would work (kind of an "S" bend and it pushes on the firewall penetration with some resistance). It'll probably be OK though if I could get a bracket to hold it there in that position instead of my hand. The TQ's I picked up didn't have the linkage studs in the throttle arm so I swiped the one from the 2bbl. I think it will work fine. The operating rod to the upper half of tranny linkage is too short as well. I could fix it with all-thread and a union type nut, but it may require cutting the original rod back as I think it would then be too long.
Future plan is for a 340 (NOT a stroker, it defeats the purpose of a 340, IMO for just a few extra cubes over a 360 which are much easier to come by). I have block @ std. bore with a spun #4 main but I'm sure its fixable as it appears to have only spun around once and the tang notches look pretty good and the fingernail test reveals only a slight roughness. Almost tempted to just slap in a new bearing and calling it good but worried about heat dissipation into the webbing without full contact on backside of bearing. Also have crank, rods (bushed), and .30 over pistons (all used, all forged and in good shape). Also have J-heads in excellent shape and a set of light single groove stainless 2.02 valves. Need a cam kit (XE275HL), rebuild kit, also, a mopar friendly machine shop in the Portland OR area that has reasonable rates. And finally, a lot of help. I have done a lot of work on cars, but I've only seen an engine overhaul once in my 53 years on this planet. I've owned the car since the early 90's and basically drove the wheels off it as a daily driver. Fixing just what needed to be fixed. It's time to get it fixed up and bcak to daily driver status.
Body is fairly straight, some bodo in rear pass qtr, a ding in the pass fender, driver fender may need replacing due to a tragic tire blowout. Very little rust on this California car that had the original bumble bee license plates on it when bought it off the car lot in San Jose for 4,000 bucks. He financed it and I dropped off 400 bucks a month in person for 10 months to pay for it (no interest). How cool is that? Funding for any work on this is very sketchy though.
I've already spent waaay too much just to try to get it back on the road. Found 2 bent pushrods which I had trouble (mostly of the brain lock type) finding replacements for the 2 bent ones. Also instead of buying new lifters to quiet some lifter noise that sometimes continued for a few miles of driving and avoiding a break-in period, I disassembled each one one at a time and cleaned and re-assembled them placing back in original holes with assembly lube on as much of the cam as I could see and on lifter bottom. I wasn't sure the car would run @ 500 RPM let alone 2500 for 20 minutes for a break-in, since it was my first ever thermoquad re-build with a bowl swap from a doner 9015 (it's a model 9034s from a 440 truck with a MT so the book says, non-smogger). I guess I did it right because that engine really barks now. Just need a way to control it from INSIDE the vehicle, so any help there would be appreciated. This is a long post for just 2 questions but since it's my first and there's no history on here of the car I thought I'd include some. Oh, I also replaced all the valve stem seals with the cheap umbrella type. Old ones were like they were made out of black rocks.
Next 2 weeks = electrical stuff (aftermarket ato fuse block, ralley guage/dash repair and firewall penetration clean-up) and tranny swap.
BTW, I've learned a lot from the many posters on here so thanks to all of you. I have been lurking for several years, but just recently joined though.
Thanks in advance.
sincerely,
Paul.
