Got one of those jobs I was putting off done... First the best aftermarket sending unit for A Bodies is one for A-100 Trucks. It has a long arm on the float so it does not stay full forever, start to move then drop to empty in 20 miles and stay there for the rest of forever.. The Dart is fairly accurate other than with about 4 gallons it reads empty so I put a bit of a bend up on the float to see if I can make it more accurate around E. First thing to do is throw the supplied ring and gasket where it belongs and get a Detroit Muscle Technology ring and seal. It is the original thickness metal and the original material seal. Same goes for the filler tube seal, only DMT parts. The trunk floor was for multiple years so you had to cut the hole for the filler tube.
A little epoxy primer from last weekend dabbed on with a finger and rubber glove on the bare metal and we are done... Nice I had the original grounding strap for the lines around the rubber hose.
Painted the inner door uppers Automotive Arts Motocryl single stage black. Got the rear spring shackles mocked up and ready to install the new 6 leaf springs.... if UPS does not lose them again.... Front end is all mocked up... Had a mess up with the polyurethane lower bushing... The LCA pins were so beat up that they had beat off their old bushing sleeves so they are too loose in the bushing... guess I order Firm Feel greasable pins. The gear box is cleaned/greased/resealed with new bearings using the Firm Feel kit. One of the lower ball joints did not come with a rubber boot seal... bummer. Tomorrow working on the rear axle.... If I get the new axle shafts and the springs come in she will be on wheels next weekend!!!! Oh they are on backorder too from Coker....
I am so close to having nothing to blast anymore! Brake hardware blasted and restored, brake pedal and jack the same. Put brakes on the daughters CRV with her help and then the front moved in and the wind is whipping... I am done for the day.
What to do on a rainy Sunday evening... try to figure out how to put your bucket seats back together.... Still don't know where the big spring is connected...
When items are restored on the shelf it goes real fast. Pirate Jack screwed up on the master cylinder. That won’t work. A little mock up for inspiration.
Just lots of assembly today. If you have all the parts and have restored/rebuild the subassemblies it goes together as easy as at the factory... Installed new 7 leaf HD springs which should solve the tire rubbing problem we have on the Dart.
Don't be staring at my trunk! The trunk mat was for a '66 and really the '63 I put in the Dart was closer but I can live with it. The jack I got out of the '66 in Northern Az is not the right jack.. this one is for 15" wheels. I can make it work here and look stock. I finallly found the dimple for the resistor on a V8! Tomorrow is working on the front end so maybe I can get it drilled and installed. If all the stars are aligned it will roll out of the garage on tires tomorrow. Call Coker and the backorder date was a fantasy. Unsure when the Magnum 500's will get here.
2 days of getting up and down off the floor was enough.. today I sat on a stool and gave the Valiant its face back... I tell you what those $150 bolt kits from Year One are worth the cost (and the wait time these days). It was so nice having all the correct new hardware to put this together. I have never done this before and will be doing the same on the next one, I never plan to do. Mocking up the factory AC... will be picking up the rest of the correct V8 under hood parts Friday afternoon. I have new desiccant and plan to cut this dryer open, replace the desiccant and weld it back up... stay tuned.
Someone had to be the guinea pig. No reason to cut the inlet side off.. .nothing there but a muffler chamber... oh well it is salvageable but 2x the welding. I am getting another one Friday so I will be more selective on the surgery. Next is to see how my desiccant I got of Amazon will fit and decide if I should do something different than the twine ball filter... it seems fine and is not deteriorated.