May 14-29, 2000

Taking a break from the Darts for a while. Helping my buddy Todd with his Chevelle.

May 13, 2000

Finally washed the car and cleaned it up inside and out. Not that it needed it. Changed the dash over to the "new" rechromed one. What a difference that made. Also did some rewiring and finally mounted the aftermarket guage cluster. Looks really good.

May 6-12, 2000

The tranny leak is back. Still can't figure out where it's coming from up front. Will probably yank the fittings and wrap them with teflon sealant. Nothing more annoying than a tranny leak. Still slipping as well. Will try to adjust the low/reverse band soon. Received the kickdown linkage for the 65 as well. No more screwing around with that.

May 5, 2000

Wanted to finally clean/wash the dart today but instead I yanked the grille and headlight trim off and blacked out the radiator support. Looks much cooler now than with the blue showing through the grille. Also checked the tranny leak that I fixed yesterday. Nothing there! Noticed some oil building up in the bolt cavities on the intake manifold. Retourqed the manifold bolts and boy did they need it. Also retightened the exhaust manifolds.

May 4, 2000

Damn tranny is leaking like crazy. Cleaned up the tranny and pulled the speedometer unit to check the o ring. Replaced it with the one from the /6's 904. We'll see if that works. Also tightened up the p/s control valve. Started the dart up and it was running terrible. FIgured out that it wasn't getting enough gas. Messed with the idle mixture and that helped. Going to have to pay attention to that. Drove the Dart for the first time with the hood back on and heard the old whistle again. Probably a piece of hood trim. The ride seems responsive but a little bouncy with the air shocks. I think that I can live with it for a while.

May 3, 2000

Put the airshocks on. Finally sits about how I want it.

May 2, 2000

As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to put air shocks on the 'vert. The rear just sits too low. At some point, I will get a new set of HD springs on it, but with the exhaust work that I'm going to have to have once I get the Spitfires, the wallet is getting a little light. Started installing the hardware for the shocks. The shocks are from the 66 (surprise) so there isn't a whole lot of cash out of pocket on this project.

April 30, 2000

Drove the Dart again to a swap meet with my buddies Darren and Todd. Darren scored a 67 Nova SS V8 4spd! Put the hood back on the Dart too.

April 29, 2000

Drove the convertible all over today!!! Had to buy a new battery as mine just wouldn't hold a charge. To many recharges I guess. Also bought a new voltage regulator for the future. Still need to bleed the brakes and do some minor finishing. Drove the Dart about 150 miles total and it was a blast.

April 28, 2000

Did a little rewiring and rerouting some lines. Replaced the alternator belt as the old one was a little frayed. Yanked the p/s control valve and replaced the o rings. I think I may have stopped the p/s leak. Took it out for a spin. Tried to drop it down into 2nd to see if I could manually shift from 2nd to 3rd at full throttle and the linkage bound up. Still need to do a little work there. Someday, this project will end.

April 27, 2000

Replaced the 750 Performer with the 600 Holley. Have to do a little fine tuning to it but it sounded good and the electric choke works! Have to work to keep it running for the first minute or so so I don't think its a blown power valve. Replaced the generic upper radiator hose with a molded one, so now I can get the hood back on as soon as I can get some help with it. Took a break from the mechanical stuff and installed the GT trunk finish panel. Really changed the look out back.

April 26, 2000

Redid the kickdown linkage to give it a little more "slack." I thought maybe it was under pressure full time. Put the sway bar back on and tightend the crap out of it this time. Took it out for a spin and may need to put a little more pressure back on the linkage. The p/s box is leaking at the inlet but steered much better with fluid in it LOL. Will replace the o-rings when I get ready to install the Spitfire headers. Still need to adjust the shift linkage. But I think its ready to cruise!

April 25, 2000

Took all of my alternators up and had them checked out. All good. Started searching for the 66s voltage regulator. That took a while but found it. Swapped it over and viola!! Instant charging. The tranny was leaking some fluid out the rear housing. Made a new gasket for the snap ring cover. Going to readjust the kickdown linkage tomorrow.

April 24, 2000

Took a break from the car and cleaned up the garage, not that it needed it.

April 21-23, 2000

Did some electrical work and buttoned up a few loose ends (but forgot one). Drove the car around but the tranny wouldn't upshift and the throttle was sticking. Did some "fine tuning" and was able to make the throttle work. Going to find the stock throttle and kickdown and quit messing around with it. Drove it on some errands saturday morning and ended up dropping the sway bar...meant to tighten it at least 14 times. In the process of yanking the bar, I shut off the car and then it wouldn't start... got a jump but it died again about .5 mile from home. The alt. is shot. Going to rebuild one and stick it on for the time being. Want to put on an NP late model alt. but not yet.

April 20, 2000

Bled the brakes again. Was able to get them decent but still not rock hard. Will bleed it again with some help. While I had the rear up, I replaced the shocks. What a difference that made! The shocks that were on it were too short and I actually had to jack the rear up to atatch them which basically made the leaf springs compress. The new shocks gave the rear another 2" in height. Just what it needed. Topped off the tranny and pulled the Convertible out of the garage finally! Had to mess with the throttle and kickdown linkage. I was about to jump in and take it for a spin when I heard a funny noise. The upper radiator hose had a tiny pin-hole in it. Replaced the hose with a generic one that came off of the 318 and was ready to go. Felt great to ride in it again. Responded well but may be wanting more gas, and it is a little hard starting. Have the 750's mixture pretty lean. The car seems a little more "nimble" on turns than with the 225. Center of gravity maybe? So far so good! Not going to make it to the alignment shop tomorrow though. Too many little things to do still.

April 18, 2000

Hooked up the passenger side exhaust pipes and filled the shoddy attempt at an H pipe made by the previous owner on the drivers side. Have a few leaks where the flexible tubing is clamped onto the regular pipes (speaking of shoddy :) ). Might take care of that before this weekend but really just want to get out and drive! Started the motor up again now that it has been quited a little. I'm not running any vacuum advance at this point. The Performer is a marine carb and only has one vacuum outlet that doesn't seem to have a whole lot of suction. May have to get a vacuum T off of a smog motor. Hooked up the throttle linkage but need to get a V8 linkage and adaptor but will wait until I have the 600 Holley rebuilt that I plan on using. Started working on the kickdown linkage but ran out of time before work. Will probably work on it tonight after work. I have an appointment Friday morning to have the convertible aligned. It WILL be there!....Worked on the kickdown linkage until 1am or so. Finally was able to get it working. It will still need some adjustment but at least I can drive it without the tranny grenading. Right now, if the kickdown linkage goes to far it might "wrap around" on itself and get stuck. I've got a pretty heafty spring on it to keep that from happening

April 17, 2000

Almost completed the exhaust but ran out of time. Piecing it together from the dual pipes that were on the 65 originally and the manifold pipes left over from the 318s. It's only temporary though. As soon as I can recoupe some cash, and get some Spitfire headers,I'll get some good pipes on there.

April 16, 2000

Reconnected the wiring harness and ran new starter wires, and shortend the coil wire. I will ultimately replace the wiring harness with a better one that I am going to recondition. Had everything hooked up and tried starting it. Couldn't get it to fire though. Everything seemed to be right and I couldn't figure it out. My friend Darren stopped by and ran the timing light while I cranked it over... 180 out!! I shouldn't have checked it that second time! Popped the distributor out and checked everything out and it fired right off!!! Let it run for about 10 minutes and shut it down before the radiator belched at me. Need to get some exhaust on it before I crank it over again. No need to upset the neighbors. They've been pretty good so far.

April 14-15, 2000

Went ahead and installed the motor after I got home from work with the help of my friends Todd and Darren. Worked on it until about 3:00 am. Started working on it again about 9am. Worked on the shift linkage for about 4 hours while my Dad hooked up the carb, plugs, valve covers, fuel lines, and other odds and ends. Made a priming rod and primed the engine.

April 14, 2000

Installed the automatic brake pedal and fixed the stop light switch which has alway been a problem. Installed the steering column, torque converter, and the oil filter relocation kit. Finally was able to clean up the garage and thought that I would have enough time before work to get the motor in. Was unsuccessful. I couldn't get the motormounts to line up. Always tomorrow.

April 13, 2000

Bent up the tranny lines and hooked up the tranny cooler. Converted the P/S pump from the later model slant 6 pump and outlet to the 63-66 version (scavenged from the 66). Set the car back on the ground and marked the firewall where the block/tranny bolts are. That way, if I ever need to pull the tranny again I can just drill a couple of access holes in the floorpan and not have to spend an hour removing two bolts. Drilled a hole in the firewall for the mechanical guages (oil and temp). Pulled the torched clutch linkage and small brake pedal so that I can replace it with the larger, automatic pedal.

April 12, 2000

Painted the area under the master cylinder and also the frame rails and in front of the radiator. Remounted the M/C. Installed the radiator from the 66 and bent the hardlines from the tranny cooler to the radiator. Bolted the tranny and crossmember in. Used a comealong, fan belt and two bolts to hold up the front while I jacked it up in back. The cut-out on the crossmember looks like it was always there!

April 11, 2000

Bent up some new master cylinder lines and replaced the temporary ones I used for the brake swap. Looks much better now. Pulled the wiring harness and everything else in the engine bay and cleaned up the firewall and inner fenders. Going to be rainy this weekend. Good engine swap weather. At least it won't be prime convertible weather.

April 10, 2000

Modified the tranny mount for dual exhaust. Also cut the pass. side exhaust pipe off back to the muffler so that I can redo it after getting the 318 in. Modified how the steering column mounts. The previous owner installed (cobbled) a 67 up column and it really didn't fit the firewall well. Actually, I think it may be a Chevy column as it has a Saginaw rag joint on it. Hopefully it will fit much better now that I have modified it. I was going to start installing the 65 council/shifter and put in the column from the 66 in, but decided one project at a time. I hope to get the engine compartment cleaned up tomorrow.

April 9, 2000

Ended up pulling the motor today! My friend couldn't use the puller on his van so I was able to yank the 225! It went extremely smooth. My buddy Darren (who helped me pull the 318 that's going into the 65) helped me out and had it out in a little under 3 hours.

April 8, 2000

Was planning on starting the engine swap today but a friend of mine blew his motor in his daily driver and needed to borrow the engine puller. A little bummed about that but I can wait to pull the motor. Plan on pulling the tranny tomorrow so that I can at least get a jump on it. It'll probably take about a week to complete the swap since I want to detail some stuff and reroute the brakelines.

April 7, 2000

Assembled the rest of the motor (exhaust manifolds, bypass hose, etc.) and put the motor back on the floor cradle. Put the 904 back up on the engine stand and installed the shift kit. Amazing how easy that job is when the trannys out of the car and turned upside down.

April 6, 2000

Painted the motor. Looks awsome! Sprayed it Chrysler Red including the intake. Used some of the aluminum shavings from the porting job on the intake (where I ground off the Edelbrock Performer badge) to make it look like a stock, cast iron manifold. I'm going to use the hi-po finned valve covers on the convertible since they won't be doing any good on the 66s 340. It doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate on Saturday so we'll see if the swap happens.

April 5, 2000

Assembled the rest of the block today. Motor is all together except for the distributor. Picked up some paint for it. Going with the stock Chrysler Red and also going to paint the intake (sneaky huh?). Also got my new fuel cell today! WooHoo!!! Hopefully, tomorrow I will get the motor painted and clean up the garage a little to get ready for the big swap this weekend.

April 4, 2000

Finished off the second head and reassembled it. Cleaned out the water passages in the block (the mineral spirits worked really well) and bolted the heads back onto the block. Progress. Gotta love it!

April 3, 2000

Polished out the intake (not completely smooth) and exhaust runners as well as the combustion chamber. Actually was able to get the passenger side head put back together. That is extremely exciting! Started cleaning out the coolant passages in the block. The passenger side was rusty but not bad. The drivers side has some very heavy buildup in it. I poured some mineral spirits in the drivers side to see if it will loosen up the gunk. Hopefully, I will get the drivers side head together tomorrow. The swap this weekend is looking good.

April 1, 2000

Sold the Convertible today!!! April Fools!!! Finished up porting the first intake and then moved on to the second. Was able to get the 2nd completely ported in about 8 hrs! The first one took me about 16! Still have to polish out what I've ported.