41 Plymouth SB Mopar Engine Swap

Monroe 33076. Check Amazon.

 

Here are a couple of pictures with a better angle view of the steering column.

My next challenge will be to free up some space that is occupied by the cowl vent linkage for my A/C. Anyone got any ideas?

 

Eric, I apologize. I looked back and did not post the pics of the electric locks. Here they are.

 

No problem Rock. Thank you for posting the pics. I'll running just the manual stuff, no electrics. Legislation here in the Netherlands stipulates that you must be able to open the door from the outside in a normal manner. (ie manually)

 

Well, that's no fun.

 

But I think rock is running manual handles too. That's what the pics look like. So he opens them manually, put has power locks..Or am I just seeing it wrong. The netherlands just won't let you have power door openers, but you should be able to have power locks..correct?

 

You're seeing it right. Power locks is not a problem here. Correct. I'm actually thinking of using an outside door handle with a lock built in. Thanks for the input!

 

Darn. I worked two days this weekend and don't feel that I accomplished much. I did a lot of head scratching and planning, however. I guess that counts for something.

I cut out some plywood and Experimented with different cushions I had around and tried to decide if I could make the original seat work. I don't feel good about it. So, I'm ruling that out. I see the potential for an expensive mistake. Also, I have a nice set of bucket seats out of a late model car but they don't look right.

I don't want minivan seats in my car. That's just me. So, I'm going to look at Tea's and others and try to come up with a bench seat that is both comfortable and looks right with the restorod look I'm shooting for.

While I was playing carpenter, I cut out the plywood for my rear bulkhead. I also screwed around with my trunk lid hinges and planning my AC install. I also came up with a simple and obscure way to unlock my doors, should the electric lock fail me. More on that after I get it installed.

 

1979 Buick Lesabre front seat, fits perfectly.

Here is the pick of what I have in mine:

 

****! I forgot that I posted that the other day. I don't have any pictures of my seat, and my car is in a million pieces over at ElPolako's shop getteing retweeked after some accident damage. But it doesn't look "mini vanny" in any way shape or form. Plain yes, but not mini van roundy shaped. I will eventually will trim it in a simple pleat design with some sort of body cloth inserts and vinyl outers. No vinyl in Phoenix - on a 118 degree day you don't just stick to it with sweat, you bond to it like a frying pan!

 

Here is the link to my steering column conversion. I submitted it for Tech Week.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=679895

Also, I think I have my seat deal worked out. More on that this weekend, hopefully.

 

Worked on my seat this weekend. I could not live with the springy original seats but I wanted the seats to look mostly original. With the help of DanTwoLakes of Hotrodders.com, I came up with this solution.

I built a 3/4" plywood base for the bottom and two 1/2" plywood seat backs with brackets to make them mount in the original frames.

I ordered a sheet of 3", 4" and 5" firm foam to try. I ended up liking the 5" foam in the bottom and the 4" in the backs. This will fill out the frame and make the seats look good and sit good. These things are better than my sofa in my house and I have the seat and steering angle to my liking now.

I had to make an adapter that moved the seat back a couple inches and will make a block that will get the inclination like I want it.

The seat frame will still need to be blasted and painted. Then, when I'm ready, I will take it to the upholsterer and let him finish t******* the foam and do the upholstery. I'm pretty happy how this turned out, so far.

 

Nice work rock. looks good and comfortable.

 

Wow....nice woodworking. Must have taken a lot of time to get the holes lined up and drilled out.

I might need that 3" foam for a new car I have coming next week ( I'll drive it over to your shop when it gets here)

 

Drive your damned truck over!

 

Now that I have settled on my seats and seating position. I was able to finalize the position of the steering column to my liking. Then, I re***embled the dash, positioned the air conditioning ducts and fabricated a pod for the AC controls and center vent. I think it turned out pretty well.

Next up is to mount the evaporator unit and figure out how to mount the darned compressor on this engine. Anyone have any pictures of a SB Mopar with an AC compressor mounted? Suggestions??

Also, I'm trying to decide how to finish all of this. I will have the dash and garnish moldings woodgrained. I'm thinking that I should woodgrain the bottom of the glove compartment door and paint the center pod black crinkle. What do y'all think?

 

A/C mounts on top a wee bit to the p*** side. should be plenty in junkyards, I'd think. There would be triangular brackets(front & rear) that have the A/C up in the corner twords the center & the alt bolts on to the lower left corner between the triangular brackets

 

I just searched my photos and came up empty on my A/C brackets. Vintage air and a couple others have a bracket, but it is blessed with a serious case of the double uglies. I took the same basic mounting ideas and made a bracket that bolts to four of the water pump bolts out of 1/4" aluminum, and picks up the front mounts on the Sanden. I then cut another chunk of 1/4" 6061 and made a plate that picks up the Sanden's rear bracket and mounts to the alternator hole in the head. Then I basically trimmed anything away that didn't look like an A/C bracket. I have to get over to ElPolacko's shop at some point this week, I will try to remember to snap some pictures.

 

Rock......man you do real nice work !!! thanks for the thread !

 

Thanks, Thomas!

 

Looking good Rock! I would move the outer vents as much as possible to the outside (close to the doors) or even hide them more under the dash. The rest of the thoughts are great. Nice one Rock!

 

Subscribed a long time ago Rock, then I got lost for a while. Just got caught up . . . Fantastic build! Love it.

 

I had them more to the outside but it interfered with the parking brake handle.

 

looks good rock. I like the polished glove box door, real nice.

 

I'm trying to decide whether to leave it like that or paint the lower half with wood grain.

 

Glad you saw the other vent option.....

 

I guess that would depend on what way your building your car wether it be stock, restomod, early 50's, late 50's-early 60's(ie; watson, winfield, lots of color candies, flake).

 

I'm shooting for mostly a restorod look. I want the outside to look stock and I will have most everything but the upholstery stock,as well. The upholstery will likely be a roll and pleat leather or vinyl. What look is that called? I don't know. I just know what I like.

 

I agree on the polished glove box door. And you can always change it to woodgrain in the future if you don't end up liking it......

 

I got my evaporator unit mounted today. That's a pretty hard project for one old dude and it's hard on the back. I made a couple of standoffs for the firewall to keep the engine comparment clean. Since the unit (southern rods) has a half inch offset along the backside, I made one standoff 1/2" taller. This worked out very well. The unit is barely visible from the seated position.

Also, I had previously installed a power motor kit from Rocky Hinge to operate my cowl vent. I made a mount of 1/4" bar that is attached to the stabilizer for my steering column and mounted it on that. This thing works slick and is simple to install. It comes prewired and even has a limit switch to cut the motor off at the bottom of the travel. I welded the stock cowl linkage to the Rocky linkage and came up with a nice adjustable unit. This clears out a bunch of space for your AC evaporator.

Now, the next challenge is figuring out how to mount the compressor, the condensor and plumb all this **** up. From what I've seen, it won't be easy doing a clean, neat job.