1960 Dodge 4 door sedan build

These are weird lookin, ugly if you want, huge, and bad on gas. But they are my favorite mopar body style.
I'd give a nut for a 60 Phoenix HT....
Whats the overall plan bTW?

 

Bad on gas? I get 17mpg all day long with the 383 and 2.93 gears...I'll get some pictures sometime soon, I haven't decided what's going to happen with my car whether I'm selling it or fixing it up, so I might need the doors and I might not...I know I need the rear doors for sure if I decide to fix the car, and my driver's door is horrible, but if I trade off the car I won't need any of them...

 

I think my driver's front is the best out of all my doors maybe.. I will have to look.

 

This will be interesting to follow. Not too many 1960 Dodges around anymore.

 

Cool build!!!

 

I can spare a passenger front door for sure, but it doesn't have a hinge spring on it...I'm over by Alexandria, MN which is 45 minutes west of St Cloud...I'm heading to the cities this weekend, but I know the door won't fit in my daily driver ...

 

You aren't heading to Jefferson over here are you?

 

Plans, as of right this instant:
Finish putting the engine together.
Finish the trans mount.
Rebuild the front suspension.
Disk brakes/all new brake lines/new master and possibly booster
New front to rear fuel line.
Carpet...
New doors, or at least non-trashed ones
Possibly a 61 chrysler front end... giving it a unique look.
Whatever custom touches I can think of as we go along.
Have some mexican blankets for the bottoms of the seats....

 

That baby lights up my MoPar freak light, so ugly they are awesome. Love all those sweeping forward look lines. We may have a Phoenix rising, really a cutie pie helper bro. Congrats on a fun cruzer project. H.A.M.B. folks, saving old cars, one at a time!! ~sololobo~

 

Wow, you've got a solid old Mopar on your hands. That will be a great cruiser for the whole family and plenty of room for a road trip. Rock on.

 

Tonight's progress... Its coming along...

But the cheap ebay headers didn't fit...
The intake has about a dozen holes to fill with plugs...
And I had to load my truck with some parts I am selling tomorrow....

 

Its starting to look like an engine now.

 

im really diggin your build. youre doin nice work

 

here is my 60 Dart Phoenix four door. I did all body work and paint last summer. Had the intierior finished this winter. It has the Slant6 with a single barrel in it and i am getting over 20mpg. Have fun building!!! I will be watching the thread!

 

Well, some good progress made!

 

I like headers... yet I hate them so.... If only they fit as good as they look. Going to have to solve the fit issue with the distributor and the heater box though.

 

Ok... So, I have started the rewire job. Stalled until I can see if I can make an early 70's headlight switch work. ONly cost 8 bucks new, so I figured I would order it and see. Should be here this week. So, I tackled the heater box issue. Figured out that the driveshaft from the 71 fury parts car is exactly the right length, so I finished that up and put a new rear u-joint on it. Then I did my plug wires. I am really starting to get arthritis in my hands, so normal hand tools suck anymore, so pushing the wires through some tight boots was a very painful job. All in all, things are moving well. I am however stalled due to funds. Waiting on another batch of ebay items to finish and I listed a couple items on Craigslist to see if I can't get what I need to finish it out. Still waiting on the guy who bought the 455 to pick it up. Still 450 left that he owes me on that one.

 

if you figure out how to use a newer headlight switch, I need to know. Last one didn't last very long.

 

Well, tonight, I started working with the headlight switch. Basically, I am working to avoid having all of the power running through the headlight switch. The wiring I am using is based more on a GM car than an early mopar in that it splits the power between the tail lights, stop lights, park lights and the headlights.

You can see what I did here below. Basically, I started with a 71 Dodge Polara headlight switch. It cost me a whopping $8.29 at Rock Auto. The later switch uses a triangle shaped center shaft verses the round style of our early switches. In inspecting the switch, I noticed that the part past the dimmer was actually more of a round shape. So, I figured out how to take the dimmer pieces off the switch. I did this by cutting off the nub on the bottom of one of the pieces of plastic that passes through the bracket. I then managed to squeak it out. I then fit the center shaft into the switch, and it worked. So, I drilled out the center of the triangle until I could fit the rounded shaft into it. I have to do some more work yet, as it is really tight, but I am working to shape the inside of that piece to better fit the shaft.

 

Ok.... There has been alot of progress, but it is kind of all over the board here.

I have the underdash wiring completed. The tail lights are all wired in.

The brake pedal is installed. The brake light switch is adapted. It is actually a leftover from the 59 olds. Slightly modified.

I have ran the front brake lines. I have the plug in one side for the rear, and the adapter in the other.

My rear end is leaking BAD! I have found another one close for $75. Picking that up either tomorrow or Sunday.... Depending. That one is supposed to have good brakes on it, no leaks and in good working order.

I have figured out my drive shaft is about 2-2.5 inches too long. Going to have to figure that one out.

The seatbelts that were on the shelf have been installed in the back for all the kiddos..

The bottom seat is wrapped in the mexican blanket that is going to protect the seat bottoms in the car until I can afford to redo the interior.

I started mocking up the shifter. I had help as you can see in the pics. It is a little unorthodox of a mount, as ratchet type shifters just do not fit well in our cars.

 

I finished the shifter Install.... Yes, it is a little unorthodox, but that is the only way it would fit!

 

Ok, so I haven't been doing a good job coming on here and updating. I have done a ton of work, including getting the front end of the car together. I got the exhaust started, brake lines mostly ran, wiring finished, carb rebuilt and on.... And yes, I do realize I didn't do anything to the fenders yet. Priority one is driveable.......

 

what a great build, it's nice to see so much effort invested to preserve a solid 4 door sedan, thanks for the inspiration!

 

Well, I am literally accelerator linkage and one spring perch from being on the road with this one. I have finished up the wiring, tested it, put the battery in, put the rear end in (with the exception of the one perch), put in the driveshaft, finished the exhaust, put in the choke cable, and well, Just about everything else that needs done.

Oh.... And since I didn't have the stuff to finish it up, (promised the linkage, but the guy has kinda proved to be a pathological liar), I was bored and rattle canned it to cover up the rust/dents/barely there paint. I figure I can't really afford to paint it too, and I want the damn thing on the road, so the paint would help, anyway...

 

Awesome Mopar. Hope to be starting on a '60 Polara soon, 2 door resto

 

Today, I installed all the shiny..... Looks better than I thought it would.

 

Oh man, you have a cool car. And some adorable little helpers. My little girl just turned 6mos old on the 10th.. she'll be helping me out in the shop soon. ha ha

 

The one in the pic is only a month over a year old. She has been chasing her 3 year old sister and has been moving through the milestones fast. She was walking a month before her 1st bday.