What OT crap are you working on

You got 6 grand ? A couple days after I bought it, it dawned on me that the car deserves to live indoors. Our garage belongs to the Mrs. ...
I'll throw in a pair of chromed rocker covers ...

 

Is that your shop / garage in the background?
If so I think I have garage envy...

 

Yes

 

@40FORDPU - Really nice! Enough house to keep any wife happy, garage space attached. @Atomic Reverend Alexander - you're a total car dude, focus is the shop!

 

Yesterday I learned that you need to keep hydraulic lifters pumped up to set the preload on a small block mopar. I rebuilt a 360 that started and seemed to run like a champ but it sounded like a slant-6 that had never had a valve cover off. I pulled the distributor and used a priming rod to ensure the lifter of the rocker being adjusted was fully pumped up. Success.

With my luck it'll be back to clattering today.

 

It looks like the garage is larger than the house will be, confirming you've got your priorities straight.

 

I have been married nearly as long and have accepted the fact that the only time that they truly look happy is when they are either shopping or talking to another guy.

 

The shop is 1560 sq ft, house 2038 sq ft, the garage attached to the house is 693 sq ft.

 

So I am still cranking on the mini truck daily driver gas sippy deluxe
I bought a quart of single stage urethane that matched the factory color, I sprayed it on Labor Day (yesterday) in the AM, in the driveway it looks fair but definitely not good when you get up on it I got stripes in the paint for some reason, I think my 20-year-old harbor freight spray gun wasn't quite up to the task of spraying a metallic lol and the used Binks the paint would not come out of it I assume it had too small of a tip on it... I enjoy the learning process and I am by no means a professional car painter spraying a metallic is new to me I have no problem screwing up I just wish it was a little cheaper it was about a $200- happy accident when all the materials are added in. Not the end of the world but definitely frustrating and I don't feel like painting the truck again I think I'm going to let the stripes stay around until a feel like fully shaving the truck and repainting it.
This is a picture of the hood and the roof as the sun was setting Monday evening after I pulled the masking tape off, for some reason my picture of the tonneau cover did not take so there isn't any pictures of that.
My next task is cleaning the carpet and interior. I am pretty sure the kid I bought it from was a pothead it smells like a hot boxed stale cheap doobie and since I don't smoke the devils lettuce it is in my opinion it smells terrible and because I quit cigarette smoking 4 or 5 years ago now I think I deserve a car that doesn't smell of some sort of smoke damage especially weed.

 

If you are referring to me being a huge gearhead the answer is yes I am absolutely.
As for a giant shop, I am a full time unpaid care taker to a parent who has MS and has typical senior health issues on top of the MS so my funds are pretty limited (I can still work here and there but lately I try not to leave more then a few hours).
So I got a half acre house here in the suburbs in the Riverside area that I have covered in fruit and nut trees of all different varieties but I have kept a area free to hopefully get a 30'x60' shop in the next few years but the one thing I have learned is the editor of Hot Rod magazine 30 or so years ago was right whatever you think something is going to take you time wise double it but assume it might take triple the time so I may not have my shop for a few years.
I'm just thankful that I got about 12 yards of concrete on the side of the house that's very flat and a 2 car garage (that is overly stuffed with tools, so much so I had to quit buying stuff I wanted because I want to buy more tools to fill that eventual 30x60 shop).

 

Got my Chevelle running again yesterday.

 

ready for the test stand

 

Hope yours is better than mine. But it works.

 

What’s the actuator on the side of the blower for?

 

Part throttle bypass. I would have preferred a b&m or wieand but neither is available.

 

This is the stand

 

Thanks, my experience with blowers is limited to the 1920s/30s.

 

My off topic project is my 49 Dodge pickup.
Under the sheet metal resides a Dakota 4x4 chassis. That chassis (1993 or so model year) has a torsion bar front suspension. According to everything you can read on the subject, the torsion bars are specific to the 88 to 96 model year Dodge Dakota 4x4. There were 3 options, a light duty 4 cylinder bar, the medium duty, standard V6 & V8 bar (rated at 1600lbs), and a heavy duty V6 & V8 bar 9rated at 2,000lbs). The problem I have is when the old body was mounted on the newer frame, the weight shifted forward, and the heavy duty bars are not heavy duty enough to support the front end of my truck.

That Dakota frame has had about 15" removed from the front of the frame (everything forward of the radiator support holes) and about 15" removed from the rear (everything behind the rear leaf spring shackles). The chassis sports a 5.2 magnum with the RE46 auto trans, coupled to the 4x4 transfer case, all are mounted on factory replacement mounts. The front 4x4 axle has a fixed center (bolted to the front motor mounts and frame), with exposed axle shafts that extend outward to the wheel bearing hubs mounted between an upper and a lower control arm. The axle shafts pass through the spline front hubs pressed onto the bearings and the front disc brakes. 4x4 steering is the old fashioned steering box bolted to the frame and is front steer.

The torsion bars have a hex end (both ends of the t bars have the same hex) that fits into a matching hex socket that is part of the lower control arm. The lower control arm is an A frame with two frame mounting points (the rear one on both sides of the truck are right beside the hex socket). (left side of truck, right side of pic is the front of the truck ) That hex socket is 2 7/8" long, the torsion bar slides through it, with only a roll pin at the very front of the socket to keep the bar from sliding forward. Nothing other then the twisting force applied on the bar keeps it from moving in the socket.
(right side torsion bar, from the front to the rear)

(T bar in the duck's head key) (adjusting bolt in the bill of the duck's head sorry I didn't get a picture of the key out of the truck)
At the rear end of the torsion bar there is also a hex head. That hex head has a key (company listed item, not mine), That key, from a side view has the appearance of the side view of a duck's head (the slang name for the key). At about where the eye of the duck's head would be, is a hole in it in the shape of a matching hex of the torsion bar. The key is about a 1" thick forged piece, and it slides onto the end of the torsion bar. Again, nothing but the twist on the bar keeps it in the duck's head key.

The part of the duck's head key that would be the duck's bill has a vertical hole in it that the torsion bar adjusting bolt passes through.

There is a crossmember that is factory welded to the Dakota frame referred to as the torsion bar crossmember, and its only function is to anchor the rear end of the torsion bars. That open channel (open end facing down) has a pair of notches cut out of the front side flange, for the torsion bar to clear the crossmember, but the rear flange does not have the cut out. Once in place, the rear flange of the crossmember will stop the torsion bar from passing through (with everything in place and centered, there is about a 1/4' of clearance between the end of the bar and the back flange of the crossmember).
(you are laying on your back looking up, this would be the right side of the truck, the front of the truck would be on the left side of this pic. This is the bottom of the duck's head with the bar through its eye, and the adjusting bolt through its bill. you can see the front notched flange and the rear un-notched flange of the crossmember.)
On the top of the crossmember (for each side), there is a hole for the adjusting bolt to pass through, with a notch across the crossmember for a 1 1/4" diameter round anchor that is 3" long to sit in. Those round anchors each has a threaded hole at its center of its 3" length that the adjusting bolts thread through.

Now that you have a picture of all the pieces, on each side of the truck, the torsion bar has the key (duck's head) slid over the rear end of the torsion bar. Then the torsion bar is slid into the socket at the front lower control arm (both ends slid towards the front of the truck at the same time). When the key (the duck's head) clears the rear flange of the crossmember, the rear key is lifted between the flanges. Then the adjusting bolt passes through the duck's head's hole in its bill, and through the hole in the crossmember, and is threaded into the round anchor bolt (its way easier then it sounds). The adjusting bolt is about 5" long and completely threaded and it screws into the threaded anchor round piece very easily for the first inch or so (that is when you start to put twisting tension on the bar). Then you put the impact gun on the adjusting bolt (15/16" socket), and run the threads in, as you position everything as it lifts everything up tight. It will self align by the time the adjusting bolt is about an inch above the anchor.

When there is about an inch and three quarter of adjusting bolt threads between the top of the duck's bill and the bottom of the cross member, you are pretty close to the correct ride height.

The vehicle needs to be set on the tires (all 4) and and bounced up and down a couple times before the ride height measured on both sides of the vehicle. To adjust the bars (up or down), it is recommended that the front tires be lifted off the ground. As the bolt threads into the anchor, it puts more tension on the torsion bar and that lifts that side of the front of the truck. If you back the threads out of the anchor, you remove the pressure on the torsion bar and that would lower the front end. after an adjustment, the vehicle needs to be set on all 4 tires, and bounced up and down before measuring the ride height. Obviously, if the bolt is too loose, the bar can move more freely.
The torsion bars are specific to each side of the truck. The side of the truck is determined by the driver sitting on the front seat facing forward. The left side is on the driver's left side, and the right side is on the driver's right side. If the bars are installed on the wrong side, the chances of the bars breaking increase dramatically.

 

So, my issue is the HD torsion bars for the 88-96 Dakota do not have the capacity to support the weight on the front end. I know this because I installed the HD bars as the truck was being built. The ride height was set, and I was happy, everything cleared everything. Then about 2 months later, I heard a tire rub on the big bump on the road. The thread face of the tire was touching a place on the inner fender flush, but then only on big bumps, so it wasn't causing any damage to anything. Then the rub got more consistent. I simply jacked up the front of the truck, and turned the adjusting bolts up another few threads, and all was well, no tire rub at all. a few months after that, the tire rub was back. I twisted the adjusting bolts up a few more threads. This has been going on about every 2-3 months since the truck has been on the road in 2022. I am almost out of adjustment. Something needed to be done.

When the issue first surfaced, I started looking into the torsion bar deal. Dodge changed the Dakota truck body in 1997 and carried that body style over to 2003, but from under the trucks, it sure looked like everything concerning the torsion bars was the same. All the available literature said the bars were different, all having different part numbers. To make things even worse, with the 97 body change, Dodge added a 4x4 Dodge Durango, based on the Dakota chassis, and everything on it looked just like everything on my 93 torsion bar suspension. The Durango was suppose to have a 500lbs higher capacity torsion bar then the 2,000 units under my truck. I figured that extra 500 lbs would probably solve my problem. Every measurement I could take under the truck said the bars were the same, the only possible difference would have been the length, and heavier torsion bars would have been a larger diameter. The size of the hex ends were all the same. I had an opportunity to get under an 05 Hemi Durango (also looked like the same set up) with much larger diameter bars. The only measurement I couldn't get was the length, but all the distances were about the same, with in an inch of being the same length.

I was ready to buy a pair of the 97-03 Durango bars, but they carried a $200 each price tag (for used bars), pretty expensive guess if it was wrong. I've been watching, those prices have been dropping every year. A few months ago, all the stars line up, the price of torsion bars dropped to $120 for the pair, and I had a few extra bucks in my pocket. I made the 200 mile round trip to the closest yard that had a pair of T bars for a 2,000 Dodge Durango.

Armed with the old bar I removed when I was building the truck, I made that trip. The "new bars" are 1" shorter then the original bars were, but I don;t believe that is going to cause a problem.
That socket on the lower control arm is 2 7/8" deep. The length of the machined flats on the ends of the torsion bars are machined for only 1". (This is the hex ends of the three torsion bars. The longer one on the bottom is the original bar to my truck frame. the two above it are the two bars from a 2000 Durango with a 5.9 (360 motor). The other ends of all 3 of the bars are in line with each other. The "new" bars are exactly 1" shorter then the old bars.)
The depth the original bars were in from the front of the hex socket was 1" from the front end (and a 1/2" behind the roll pin that kept it from moving forward). The current bars have never moved once the tension was set on the adjusting bolts. My measurements told me that even with the 1" shorter bars, the full machined flats on the bar would still be completely inside of the hex socket on the control arm and still be fully engaged with the key at the other end. This is the shortest bar as seated in the hex socket.

This is the depth the end of the bar is from the front end of the socket. Its pretty hard to read, but the end of the bar is 1 1/2" in from the end of a 2 7/8" deep socket.

From the last post, the farthest the bar can move backwards is 1/4". That should still have the full engagement of flats on the hex inside of the hex socket. Remember the current bars have not moved at all in 3 years and over 20,000 miles. That is something I will be watching.
the only difference I can see is that the torsion bar is now at the rear edge of the control arm socket instead of at the center of it. If that becomes a problem down the road, it would only require replacing the lower control arm. I'm not expecting to put that much weight on the front end of the truck.

So what has all this gained me? The current ride height of the truck is back to where it was when I first started 3 years ago, and I have an inch and a half of adjustment between the duck's head bill and the bottom of the crossmember. The current bars are 3/16" larger diameter then the old bar were. I don't feel much difference in the ride quality (which was pretty good). I'm happy again.

 

I narrowed the I beam axle 10 inches and split some 1940 wishbones and then made a crossmember to mount a 23" transverse leaf spring. I tested it with me and the Mrs for a total of 300 lbs and the shackles dropped to 45 degrees.

 

Finally getting around to installing the Gear Vendors overdrive in my 70 Grand Prix. I don’t have a lift so I’m doing everything on jack stands, it’s a bit of a pain constantly getting under the car and then getting back up to get another tool. So much sontbat I’m shopping for a lift. Had to perform some minor tunnel surgery as well so the passenger seat and console had to be removed and the cut off wheel was put to use. Just ordered the driveshaft today after taking several measurements. With 4:11’s I’m currently buzzing my 400 at 3k plus on the highway, this should help out quite a bit. I’d considered a 2004R transmission because their OD ratio is really nice, but they need quite a bit of work if you plan to make them live behind lots of torque.

 

You will like that. Best mod I did to my '53 Studebaker. Make sure you get the shim stack right in the coupler between the trans and OD.

 

Thanks for the tip. I installed every shim they sent and I’m right at the .020 or one thousandths above that. I’ll probably just cut a new shim at work on the waterjet and get it closer to the .015 mark. I’m looking forward to getting it installed since it will make the drivability much more pleasant. I also took the time to get my pinion angle set correctly and centered the rear axle in the car. I had previously fabricated my own adjustable upper and tubular lower control arms for the rear axle. After watching several videos on youtube I was able to get everything dialed in before taking my driveshaft measurements.

 

I mounted the 8" with triangulated four bar that had to be shortened due to the narrow frame.


Then built a crossmember for the T5 with a removable center section.


And started on the motor mounts. I passed on modifying a rack and pinion because of the conflict with the wishbone. I have a Vega mocked up here that should work. I'm waiting on the pitman arm.

 

Just wandering how “ new” the heads intake and blower on your engine are ? Love the build by the way

 

Wheel bearings on the Ms’ Peugeot. Had to bodge together a puller with bolts and sockets to get them out, hopefully a little quieter on the way to work now. I don’t think I’ve ever had to do sealed wheel bearings before, I can’t believe how noisy they were yet had no play.

 

What is that a Continental?

 

I decided to tackle the job I've been putting off, of course I pick a day that's cold and damp so my bones ache like a bastard.
The job was re-setting the coilovers to get a little more shock length but keeping the same ride height.
First you have to jack it up, put jack stands under frame, let rear end down until the bolts in the coilover brackets come out easy, adjust the brackets and coilover spring height, jack up until bolts go back in easy, tighten it all up, jack it up until you can get the jack stands out, let it down until it's on the ground and give it a bounce or three, then measure the height.
No matter how much you measure, it doesn't exactly corelate to the desired height so you get to repeat the process all over again, then again until you get it right.


3rd time was the charm repeating that nonsense, man am I sore

 

I hate jobs like that

I'm the guy who puts a car on stands and leaves it there because surely, undoubtedly there's something else I need to do under there. And I always remember it right after I've put the car back on the ground.