Dave, it off ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/41-4...tZVintageQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories It appears to be an exact copy but I haven't put it in yet. The filler neck is different, however. It comes with a molded rubber hose instead of the tubing that was original. The straps are not identical to the originals but can be made to work just fine. Hope this helps.
Well, EVERYTHING is now stripped and ready for the blasters. Here's a piece of advice. If you are doing a restoration, blast the damn thing before you start working on it. It will save a lot of mess in your shop. Trust me on this. I've learned this lesson twice and I think it's finally sunk in. Hopefully, it has.
That's probably great advice. I wish I could have done that as well, but if I would have had mine blasted, I would not have any car left to fix. Gene
Whatever goes away during the blasting process will have to be replaced anyway. If you have nothing left, you started with nothing but rust, Gene!
This has surprised me on several builds here on the Hamb. I see people fabricating parts where it's really rusty, only to blast the body later to find out there's a lot more. Maybe it's a money thing? I don't know, but in my opinion, like you said Rock, blast first, epoxy primer it and then start the metal replacement/fabrication. At least then you know what you have.
Yep, nothing but rust pretty much describes my car's body shell. Originally, it was suppose to be a body shell for a street version of a dirt track racer, complete with a roll cage and all, on the cheap. I bought the body for scrap price. The car is basically a Dakota with a 48 Plymouth coupe body covering it. Now that I have hours (and hours and hours) in the process, its starting to look pretty good and I'm wishing I would have started with a better body (its still cheap, but after all the hours, a better body would have been a much better start). Sad part is I always tell everyone to begin with the best body they can find, but I usually don't listen to wise advice. The reality is, when I get done, the body will be solid, and there will be more patch material then there is original sheet metal. I own a welding shop, so my cost will be for material only and a few sheets of 18 gauge steel is cheaper then sandblasting and sheet steel. On my projects, I figure my labor doesn't cost me anything. I'm not building them to make money, I'm building them for my enjoyment. I knew what I was going to have to deal with going into this project, I know what I'm capable of doing, and I have the equipment to complete the job. The car was junk and the truck was junk. When I get done, I will get several years of driving out of it before the rust devil will rear its head, then I can decide if I should fix it again, or junk it out. The advantage of starting with junk is you can't hurt it, and if you get to use it and enjoy it for a while, you can always return it to the junk pile when you no longer want to mess with it. Gene
Okey dokey. I worked on my suspension this past week and one of the things I did was shorten the upper control arm so that I could get a little negative camber into it. Before I could only get to 0 degrees, so I took about 3/16" out of the length. That should be plenty. I took my chop saw, which takes about 3/16" of kerf, cut the control arm in two and then welded it back up. I spaced the center back up to where it originally was and made sure I tacked it up all nice and square. I believe they came out fine but I'll know for after I reassemble. They are as close as I can measure, anyway. Also, I bent my shortened steering arms to correct for Ackerman. I will be looking for a Cavalier rack to install to make it handle better and eliminate the bump steer inherent in the original front suspension. Stand by for more pics of blasted/painted chassis and parts.
Nice work. Wish my truck had an independent front. I'm sure it's not too hard to install one, but I just don't have the patience or skills. I just want to get it done already.
I wish there was someplace around my area were I could get my body dipped. I'm planning on blasting the frame at work and having it powdercoated if I can scrape up the cash or just use the por 15 stuff. looks like your project is coming along Rockable.
Here are the chassis pics. The chassis is by no means perfect. There are lots of pits but it is solid and unbent/unhacked. They guys did a good job of cleaning and painting it.
You must be pleased with the way it came out, a great basis to start building on. Keep it going Rock!
Wow. I finally feel like I'm making some progress. This weekend I finished installing the rear axle, the front suspension pieces sans springs, the pedal system and the brake system. Next up.........figure out how to mount this Cavalier rack.
Rockable, what rear are you using and are those 3" blocks? Frame turned out real nice judging by your pics. later shawn
Looking good Rock, great progress during the weekend! Just curious, did you weld the small brackets on the rear axle for the brake line? I was actually thinking the other day how I was going to run the lines over the rear end.......
I had Addco make me a nice 3/4" bar for the front. I don't know if I'll need a rear or not. I've been wondering. Any real world feedback? I suspect I might. I used an '88 Dakota rear and I made those 3" blocks. The first ones I made I used 1 1/2" thinwall tubing. They collapsed when I torqued them down. I made these suckers out of some 1 3/4 X 3" Channel standing up. I welded 1/4" plate on the ends and the side to make them stout as hell. I welded a 1/2" bolt inside one of the pieces of flat iron for the locator. Take care to measure/punch/drill these accurately so that your axle will be located squarely with the chassis. No Eric. These were already on the axle but you can just weld you a couple of little strips of 1/16" X 3/4" flat iron onto the axle to use. I put some vacuum hose around the tubing as an insulator and then pounded the straps down. I had to redo the plumbing for the rear axle because the first time, I ran them like they did on the Dakota with the tubing along the top of the axle. After I bolted it up I saw that my bump stops would smash the tubing on the first good bump, so I re-routed it along the back.
Did you use the stock plymouth lower shock/leaf spring mounting plate or the dakota plate? Are you using the stock width leaf springs? I made new plates for mine because a friend of mine was concerned about the space between the leaf itself and where the u-bolt goes thru the plate. I'm wondering if it really mattered or not. I made 2" blocks for mine because I didn't want to go to far and have to make another set to correct the problem. Thanks for the help. later shawn
I changed the spring perch on the rear axle. I bought a pair of 1 3/4" wide perches at Tractor supply and radiused them to fit the Dakota Axle, then welded them on after setting my pinion angle. Also, the stock Dakota perches were too wide for the 1 3/4" springs. I think you should change the perches if you do this axle swap. I wouldn't want them to be wider than the springs.
There was an article in Street Rodder(I think) way back on the cavalier rack. One thing it mentioned was the arms going back from the spindle had to be heated & bent (upward?) to meet the new rack, but the attachment/joint point had to be @ the same angle as OEM before you heated it & started bending. Sounded a bit difficult to achieve.
I looked for the article and didn't find it. If you have a link, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, I think I can figure it out. It will take some fabricating but nothing I can't handle and figure out..............eventually.
Rock, Hello. Just got finished reading your Thread...Nice build, keep up the good work. Thanks so much for the tips and website listings that you provided, they will be very helpful in my build. We just returned from a road trip South to Myrtle Beach, and Charleston areas. Perhaps I will visit you in a future road trip in my rod. Did you paint your chassis with regular chassis paint or was it powder coated? I like other builders am considering powder coating, but when you make a "mistake" in the build, it hardly seems worth the expense! I am a fan of functionality, over glitter. The clas three hitches on my truck are powder coated and in time they show road rash, so what is the point? Too bad there are not more Mopar fans, but we have what we have and I thankful that we can connect on the internet through H.A.M.B. Looking forward to following your build to completion.
The Jalopy Journal
