Putting a Chrysler Industrial Hemi in a 52 Dodge truck

great!! Looks like it was born there.....

 

Oops. Sorry. I thought it was an exhaust leak.

 

looks like a governor to me. just sayin.

 

Did you use any sealer? Spray on copper coat or gasket shellac if not a noticable gap.

 

So, I'm a dumbass. Got everything apart tonight and I only put gasket sealer around the water ports. Don't know what I was thinking when I installed everything...obviously not thinking at all.

I'll put some good high-temp gasket sealant around all the ports when I reinstall everything tomorrow. That should solve the problem for now.

 

Some of the timing cover bolts go into water & @ least one boes into the crankcase.

 

I just saw this thread and read through the hole thing. Dan you did a great job on this truck congrats!! My other half is from Stokesdale, NC and I'm floating around OakRidge, Summerfield, Greensboro, Kernersville every weekend and never see any old cars. Good to know someone is close by.

 

Got the intake manifold sealed up yesterday and the engine runs a whole lot better.

But now there's another problem.

I did the front disc brake swap with the rustyhope kit.

Not sure why this is happening...but I took the truck for a short drive around the block last night and heard a metal on metal sound.

Looked under the car today and this is what I found.

The wheels are leaning out at the top and the lower part of the spindle is rubbing the brake rotor.





What could be going on here?

When I put the rotors on, I tightened the nuts so that they were pretty snug, but not restricting the movement of the wheel. I'll pull the cap off tonight and see if there's any play in it.

The new engine is heavier, but not by a whole lot. I think the combined engine/trans weight is probably within a 100 or so pounds.

The kingpins weren't that bad...there was just a tiny bit of play in them..barely noticeable.

 

Did you ontact Charlie?? That seems to be a rotor mounting issue. Doens't the kit contains a spacer??

 

Good advice...I'll email him now. The kit did include a spacer and it's mounted the correct way.

 

Side grinder, Kingpins won't have any affect on the rubbing.

 

Do I see two lock washers on one of the bottom spindle bolts? If so, remove the extra washer and grind the bolts off flush. The 1st disc conversion we did, the rotor was dragging on the end of the bolts. We pulled the rotors and ground the bolts flush with the rotor side of the spindle, may have taken a little extra off the spindles to be sure they cleared. Didn't figure an extra .100" thinner would effect the strength too much.

Sure that spacer is right? I don't remember seeing any space between the spindle and the rotor, the grease seal ran on our spacer. Gene

 

What Gene said. Grind the heads of the bolts flush after you've torqued them. The "spacer" is not really a spacer. The grease seal runs on it, as Gene said.

 

Just wanted to point out, its not the bolt heads you need to grind off, it is the threads of the bolts that extend past the spindles. Gene

 

The bolts don't extend out past the spindle...I took care of that at the initial install.

I've been talking with Charlie and the parts I are correct (confirmed measurements and part numbers on the phone).

 

Dan, can you tell us what is touching?

.

 

Gary...picture is here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6910735&postcount=278

 

Hi Dan, I looked at the pics for awhile but still am unable to see what you see 'up close and personal'. What exactly is making contact? Perhaps the edge of the spindle?
Just curious...

.

 

On the bottom of the spindle, there are the two holes where the bolts hold the steering arm to the spindle. there's only about 1/32" of clearance between the spindle and the rotor/brake surface. The bolts are not coming through the spindle.

The rotor clears and it's mounted square on the spindle (the gap doesn't change as I turn the rotor), but when driving or turning, the rotor just barely makes contact and scuffed up the rotor a bit (enough to have it resurfaced). Driver side is worse than the passenger side.


I'm taking off some meat from the spindle to give a bit more clearance and have checked that all the parts I have are correct and fit right. Going to reinstall and see how it works.

I think that because the tolerance is so close, and my alignment is off a lot, the wheel was being pulled in just enough to make contact. I'm adjusting the toe setting too so I can get it closer to where it should be and hope that helps.

 

alignment or kingpins wont do it because they are on the other side of the issue- it's the physical size of the rotor/spindle butting heads, and possibly a bearing issue-can you fit a spacer (only 16th or so) between the inner bearing and the spindle shoulder to push out the rotor?

That is, assuming you cant grind off enough spindle...

I'd look at the bearings. Worn tapered bearings move closer together....

-rick

 

Bearings look good. They only have about 5 miles on them. I had the shop that turned the rotors this morning check out the bearings and they agree that they fit correctly and don't have any slop in them.

I could put an extra spacer on the spindle shaft, but hoping that I gain enough clearance with my grinder surgery to avoid having to do that (I'd have to get the extra spacers machined to fit right).

I probably should have caught that I didn't have enough clearance between the rotor & spindle when I put everything together the first time...just another lesson learned the hard way.

 

With that tight of a fit-up I think that I would make a new spacer to shove everything outboard at least 0.200". Can Charlie make a longer sleeve for you or does the assembly allow for a separate spacer?

.

 

I started putting the driver side back together and now have more than 1/8th of clearance (almost 3/16"). If i put amother spacer on the shaft, i will have to drill the shaft for the cotter pin to fit.

 

You also won't have enought threads to hold the nut on!

 

Finished up the passenger side and everything looks better (although I haven't taken it for a ride yet).

Also moved the tie rod ends in a bit to compensate for the bracket. I'll measure the toe tomorrow to see how close I got it. I know it's better than it was...so that's a start.

If it looks good tomorrow, then I can get it over to alignment shop next week and call the project 95% done ( still want to cut a floor mat and do the HAMB iPod mod and put the heater in sometime before winter).

 

Basically the only thing that is adjustable (at least with simple hand tools) is your toe. And that won't make any difference in the rotor clearence. the king pin sets teh camber, and would only be adjustable with heat and or a lot of force. the axle to spring relationship determing the caster and would need shims and or force and heat to adjust, but none of that will make any difference where you need it.

I wonder is ssome one might have done a king pin repair at some point and got the reaming off center and allowed the relationship of the axle to be off moving the lower part in from its stock location.

jack up the car a bit and have someone turn the steering through it complete arch lock to lock and see if the clearence between the rotor and the kuckle changes as it swings through it's range of movement.

 

Took the truck out for it's first trouble free ride tonight. Didn't go far...about 6 miles total to get some gas.

The toe adjustment I did seems to feel really close. I'll get it to the shop this week to have it adjusted properly. All the gauges stayed right where they were supposed to (195 temp and oil pressure were all good.

Just ordered up some bulb seal to put on the doors...without it, the door doesn't stay fully seated against the latch, so it rattles a bit.

Need to find some material I can use to make up a rubber floor mat. The only thing I've been able to find locally is a truck bed liner that's about 1/4" thick. I used that before and it's hard to work with...would like to find something thinner.

I'll get some "it's done" pictures later this week when the weather clears up.

 

Took the truck out for it's first trouble free ride tonight. Didn't go far...about 6 miles total to get some gas.

The toe adjustment I did seems to feel really close. I'll get it to the shop this week to have it adjusted properly. All the gauges stayed right where they were supposed to (195 temp and oil pressure were all good.

Just ordered up some bulb seal to put on the doors...without it, the door doesn't stay fully seated against the latch, so it rattles a bit.

Need to find some material I can use to make up a rubber floor mat. The only thing I've been able to find locally is a truck bed liner that's about 1/4" thick. I used that before and it's hard to work with...would like to find something thinner.

I'll get some "it's done" pictures later this week when the weather clears up.

 

?? so you had a clearance issue, then you took it all apart and then you put it all back together and now everything is fine??

Or did I miss something?

Good to hear that you are on the road!!

.

 

Yes...but my grinder helped me pickup the needed space. I think the extra care I took putting everything else back together probably helped a bit too.