I finally drove the car again...and boy did I need it.

[Dino]

Last summer I decided it was time to take my car off the road and do some work to it.  The shocks were completely worn out, the trans was leaking, heater didn't work, A/C didn't work, and most of all I was tired of having so little electrical power at idle so I bought a 90 amp Denso alternator. On 8/18/13 I put the car on stands and went to work.  Within weeks I had so much school work to do that time spent working on the car became less and less of a possibility.  Still I added some projects and bought new fuel lines, sending unit which I installed my old unit's resistor to, vapor separator.  I rebuilt the heater valve, got new repro heater hoses and installed the classic air under hood kit I bought used from a member here.  IT is now ready to be charged.  The heater works great but let's leave that one off for a few months!  If that wasn't enough I bought the Firecore RTR system and upgraded the charging system.  Of course that was still too easy so I decided to make a volt meter.  When I then saw pictures of led powered clusters, I did all that as well and painted all the gauge needles.

Just as I start to work on upgrading a tic-toc-tach, I finished the car and for the first time in almost a year I took it back out on the road.  I drove it to my mechanic who will be the guy to check my work.  Doing this over a long period of time is inviting mistakes and I need to be sure all is as it should.  He's also tuning the car and fixing a rear axle leak, pinion seal probably.  My bad, must've done it with the jack as it just happened.

For once I was glad there was a detour so I had to take the long way over there.  Without tuning the car it already runs like a trooper.  I give praise to Firecore for that.  For the first time all the gauges read correct, including the fuel gauge.  The led's light up the cluster and interior like never before.  All this work really paid off and I'm going to enjoy it!  By the way, the Edelbrock IAS shocks are awesome!  Before, the potholes would kill me and now it's a softer ride than my daily.  Incredible!

I will have to wait until next Tuesday before he can take it in but that's okay, I feel better now that I took a long drive.  Besides it'll give me some time to tie up some loose ends.

There are still more upgrades to do but non pressing so I'll just take them one at a time, hopefully.   

Dino is happy now.   

Many thanks to all those who helped me accomplish this, I could not have done it without you guys.   

[twodko]

Way to go DinoMan! I know that kinda high well and it never a gets old with a MOPAR.
As soon as the bird of paradise drops $600 on me I'm going for a full FireCore upgrade myself.
There's nothing wrong with the MSD system I have now but everybody raves about FireCore......
So why not it's just more money right.  It sounds like its a simply swap-out anyway.

Drive Long and Prosper!

[TUFCAT]

Great news!! 

[flyinlow]

 

[ACUDANUT]

If it ain't leaking somewhere, something is wrong. 

[lasvegas69charg]

That's awesome 

[Bob T]

Cool, good to hear.
Maybe make a vid clip and put it up if you get a chance, interested to see how the cluster turned out.

[bakerhillpins]

 

I can't wait to make a post along these lines.  

[tan top]

 Good stuff Dino     

[bill440rt]

Excellent, excellent, excellent!!
Congrats, Dino! That's gotta be a great feeling. Well deserved! 

[myk]

You earned it man, good job!

[Dino]

Once everything's tuned and it's good to go, I may buy a GoPro to celebrate.    

I'll take some pictures later on and tonight to capture the lit cluster.

[Ghoste]

That is good news Dino, with everything you have going on I thought it would be a while yet for you.

[PlainfieldCharger]

  Great Job on the upgrades and getting it back on the road. Nothing like getting them back out after having them down for work..

[RIDELIKEHELL]

So happy for you Dino that's a great feeling isn't it  I took my for 2 good cruises and it ran great but my carb still needs some tweaking.

[Homerr]

Nice list of fixes and upgrades, must feel great!

[Troy]

Troy

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Nice!!! No better feeling than a cruise after a bunch of upgrades.     Now don't you wish you installed those shocks way earlier.   

[69charger2002]

Sweet!!  

Trav

[timmycharger]

 

[Dino]

It sure was a great feeling.  The weather was perfect as was the time of day so the road was mine!  As if I don't make that claim every time I Take it out.   

Those shocks should've been installed the day I got them!  Geez what a difference.  Of course, you can push my old Monroe's in to their shortest point and it'll take a few days until some of them actually bounce back.   

Here's a few pics.  First is the cluster back in with a volt meter.  Once I am finished with the tach I need to pull the cluster again and I'll be redoing the gauge decal again.  I think I found a better material.  It looks good already but there's room for improvement.

[Dino]

more

[Dino]

last ones, all led

[Ghoste]

The bluish look reminds me a lot of the electroluminescent dash in the 1st gens.

[Back N Black]

I'm diggin the LED's