Sept. 30,2000

Finally! Sunny and 84 degrees all weekend! Needless to say, I had the top down and a smile from ear to ear.

Sept. 28,2000

Took the car for a spin and there was definately a change. Was in third before 15 mph (hooked up the speedo cable and it worked!). Made a few more adjustments to the cable and the parts of the stock linkage that I'm still using and have it in the ballpark. Still isn't kicking down at full throttle. Tightened up the exhaust so theres not as many leaks too. Still waiting on the Spitfires.

Sept. 27,2000

Got the bracket in the mail. The kickdown cable had useless instructions and the bracket had none at all. Decided to tear into it myself and see if I could make it work. After surveying the situation, I decided that the best way to use the cable was to use the stock 65/66 273 kickdown bracket that bolts on the back of the block. After several attempts, I was able to bolt it to the back of the cylinder head and use the throttle end just like the vertical kickdown rod. I then took the cables throttle end bracket and used it on the kickdown end and bolted it to the tranny output housing. Haven't tried it out but it looks like it will work!

Sept. 26,2000

Took the 65 out for a test spin to see if it was going to shift into 3rd or not. Headed for the highway and nothing. Probably went about 30 mph and nothing. Decided that I'd see how it did merging and dropped her down in low. Sounded good as it opened up, barked out a second gear scratch then I threw it up into third and.... bam.... right into 3rd. That felt great. All the shifts were firm and hard! Received the Lokar kickdown cable in the mail. Still waiting on the bracket from Mancini.

Sept. 22-23,2000

Worked til about 2am putting the carpet and interior in, then got up this morning and finished putting the door panels and hardware on. Took it for a short spin and it's not shifting into 3rd. Didn't get over 25 mph and didn't have my licence with me so I will have to look into it more later

Sept. 21,2000

Took the steering column back out and soldered the wiring harness back together. Still haven't figured out how they got those things in there from the factory. It was actually the best soldering experience I have ever had. I learned a trick from a guy online. Take a single strand of wire and wrap it tightly around the two wires to hold them together. Worked like a charm. Made a couple of foam gaskets for the column mounting plates and bolted it in for good. Hooked up the shift linkage and found that the horizontal kickdown bar is completely in the way. Messed around with it for about an hour then pulled out a throttle spring and "tied" the kickdown back. Should be good no more than I'm going to drive it this weekend. I ordered a Lokar Kickdown cable from Summit and a bracket from Mancini Racing to take care of that problem. Put the rearend back down on the ground and bled the front brakes (something that I've needed to do since May)

Sept. 20,2000

Finished the "exhaust system" up this morning. Tightened up the tranny crossmember and pass side motor mount. Installed the remote oil filter adaptor on the block (more on that later) and cleaned, painted, and installed the fuel line, changed the oil and filter and filled the tranny with fluid. Whirled the motor over a few times to get the fuel to the carb and noticed that there wasn't any oil pressure. Went ahead and started it... no oil pressure. Pulled off the filter... oil in the filter. Pulled the pressure line at the block and cranked it... nothing. Not too happy at this point. Decided to check the lines of the relocation unit. Sure enough, I had them backwards. The oil pump outlet was heading to the "outside" of the filter. Switched the lines and boom... 40 lbs instantly. Man O Man does that mini starter crank!

Sept. 19,2000

Received an email (and later a call) from Harold at Spitfire Headers which said the headers were on there way. Figures. Went ahead and hooked up the exhaust on the pass. side. Also hooked up the remote oil filter lines, although I may go with the stock A body 90 degree adaptor. Also installed the steering column and pitman arm. Slowly coming together. Hopefully will cruise again this weekend!

Sept. 18,2000

Finally at the point where I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Finished up the steering column after "sleeping on it." Hooked up the kickdown linkage to the 727. The stock 727 kickdown arm is too long for the stock linkage so I had to dig out the 904 kickdown arm. Decided to go ahead and start putting the exhaust manifolds back on. Installed the drivers side and ran some pipe. Going to put temporary mufflers on it right after the torsion bar mounts.

Sept. 17,2000

Primed and painted the steering column. Tightened up the converter flex plate bolts and checked out the mini starter. Sure sounded good for the split second I kicked it over. Started assembling the column and quickly found out that it had been too long since I had taken it apart. Took me 5 tries before I quit for the day out of frustration. Needless to say, the fresh paint is scratched, marred, with a fresh coat of greasy fingerprints. Wasn't to happy about that.

Sept. 16,2000

Had a family reunion today, so I only got to work on the 65 for about 2-3 hrs. Ran the new starter cables for the new "hi torque" starter. Modified a stock cable from a late model K car so it looks pretty trick. Installed the 727s dipstick. The brace for it had been bent up by some impatient 17 year old kid (me 11 years ago), so I straightened it out and bolted it to the block like its supposed to be.

Sept. 15,2000

Installed the tranny access plate. Used some nutserts with #10 stainless screws to hold it in place. Pretty slick. Cleaned up the E brake cable and installed it. Amazing how oily and disgusting it was. Anything that touched it was stained with brown/black oily residue (sp?). The whole undercarrage was like that. NOT ANYMORE!!!

Sept. 14,2000

Finally cleaned up the garage, not that it needed it or anything. Sealed all of the seams and welds with "vulcum" and silicone. Also yanked the 24:1 box and found that the manual steering shaft wouldn't slide onto the new 20:1 box. Found out that the steering coupler had a thick spline in it. A little creative die grinding later and problem solved

Sept. 13,2000

Closed up a few more welds and scuffed all of the new metal and the weld marks underneath the car. PORd the rest of the undercarriage and then moved up top. Removed all of the factory tar/sealer around the top wells. Found a couple of spots at the base of the wheel houses that will have to be dealt with at some point, but not now. Finished off the top with POR. The pan is done!

Sept. 12,2000

POR 15ed the top pass. side pan, fabricated the tranny access cover, and finally cleaned up the garage a little. Getting a little cramped with all of the stuff in there.

Sept. 9-10,2000

Big Mopar show and swap on the 9th. Didn't find anything for the Darts though. On the 10th I finished up welding the floorpans in. Had to connect the rear of the pans to the sections under the rear seats and also replace the vertical sections under the rear seat. Decided to stick with the column shift. Look for the shifter on Ebay :)

Sept. 8,2000

Finished up the pans today!!!! Still have to fabricate the rear ends of the pans that I wasn't able to get from the junkyard. May have figured out something on the shift linkage as well. If I use the column shift bellcrank and add a lever on top, I may be able to make the cable shifter work. We shall see

Sept. 7,2000

After posting a question about the cable linkage on moparts.com, I went to a Junkyard and picked up a couple of shift cables to see if I could make something work. After about 3 hrs of trying I couldn't really come up with anything. Just not enough travel of the cable to overcome the linkage of the tranny. Need more mechanical advantage

Sept. 6,2000

Worked with the 65 shifter and after about 1.5 hrs of trying to come up with an idea I decided to just stay with the column shift. Prepped everything on the drivers pan and test fit it. Everything looked good so I POR'd the top of the frame connector and then began tacking the pan in.

Sept. 5,2000

Seemed like I was able to get a lot done today. Welded in the pass. side floorpan. Looks pretty good and went pretty fast. Received my floor console brackets and cables today. Now, I just need to figure out how to hook them up to a later model 727. Going to try and figure that out before I weld in the drivers side pan.

Sept. 4,2000

Finished up the welds on the subframe connectors and POR 15d them plus some more of the floorpan underneath the seats. Did some more fitting of the floorpan and cut off the excess material. Fabricated a new emergency brake bracket. With the frame connectors in place, the stock location for the E-brake cable is covered up.

Sept. 1,2000

Finished up the floorpan sections today. Cut the pinch weld off as it will not be needed. Set them in the car just to see the fit. Was tempting to throw the seats back in! Lined up the subframe connectors and welded them in. It's slowly going back together!

August 31,2000

Man is it hot! Made an access panel near the gas pedal for ease of access to the tranny lines and linkage. No more contortionist moves for me!

August 29,2000

POR'd the bottoms of the new floorpans as well as some of the insides of the frame. Also completed some clearance modifications (read cutting and hammering)of the tranny hump areas.

August 28,2000

Holy Cow! Guess I forgot about my website huh? Been almost 2 months! Well, in that two months I actually have been working on the convertible (and getting married!). Mounted the Spitfire Headers and took some measurements for the guy making them. Unfortunately, I had to send them back to him for some adjustments. In order to put the spitfires on at this point, I have to convert over to manual steering, so I am in the process of changing over my column shift P/S column to a manual one as well as swapping in a rebuilt 20:1 box. While waiting on the bottom Y collectors, I decided to tear into the floorpan of the convertible. Boy, was it bad. I now have the entire floorpan cut out and two recondition halves almost ready to weld back in. I am also doing a tranny swap as well. Swapping the 904 out for the 727 I had in the 66. Also installing some frame connectors while I've got nothing in my way. POR 15ing everything as well

June 29,2000

Replaced the fuel pump on the convertible. When I finished with the carb swap, I noticed a puddle under the car and gas was shooting out of the pump.Received my Carter in the mail today. No gaskets, power brake plug, or instruction booklet. Figures.

June 27,2000

Finally got tired of the Holley and dumped it for the 750 Edelbrock. Remade the throttle linkage and got it going. Ordered a Carter 625 from Jegs. Finally get to put on a carb and forget about it.

June 22, 2000

Finally worked on the convertible today. Reworked the "bellcrank" for the column shifter. I lost it one day a couple of weeks ago and had to make one on the fly out of drywall cornerbead. That got me home and that was it. Took my time and made it much better than the stock mount. Still need to get some actual shift linkage rods that are adjustable.

June 13, 2000

Picked up my car and got my fiances car running again. Whew. Need a break from wrenching for a while.

June 12, 2000

When it rains, it pours. My daily driver crapped out this weekend. Rear upper ball joint snapped on our way to a weekend at the lake. Now I am driving a borrowed car, my car is 200 miles away at a Sears AutoCenter, and my fiances car is still in a thousand pieces. Sometimes you just have to wonder....

June 4, 2000

Had to pull out the Convertible and clean up the garage for the first time in a couple of months. Unfortunately, the radiator in my fiances car decided to kill itself and take the engine with it. Just what I was in the mood for. I thought classic cars were expensive. For the price of one aluminum 4 cyl head I could almost buy two ready to run Edelbrock Aluminum heads for the 340! Anyway, progress on the convertible and the 66 will probably be halted for about 2 months (sigh).

June 3, 2000

Helped out my buddy Todd on his Chevelle the last couple of weeks. Been making a lot of progress and he's really close to final paint. Did a lot of little things to the 65 to get it more road worthy. Finally fixed the chokes power wire so that it's not running rich all the time. Still drinks gas and is leaking even more. Darn Holleys. Fixed some of the wiring problems under the dash as well. Installed the new dash assemblies a couple of weeks ago. Looks really sharp. Also, fixed the tranny leaks and adjusted the kickdown linkage. Still slipping a little but it's better. Had some problems with the shifter linkage that is still plaguing me but getting better.