The State The Colonel....UPDATED!! "IT IS FINISHED"

[THE COLONEL]

As some of you know by now, The Colonel has gone in for a fresh rebuild of the 318.  I did find out that it is not the original engine as I was once told, but it really dones't matter too much to me, because that would have been the only thing that would have been original.  I can say now that nothing is original on the car now, but again is not that big a deal to me.  Anyway, here is the state of the condition.

12/14/09 The Colonel's last voyage...tired and old!







Out with the old!  Fast Eddy started on the engine & tranny at 8am, and was out and apart by 2pm. 12/16/09



















The engine was in pretty bad shape, as was the tranny.  The tranny was not far from buring up.  The fluid was about as thick as oil, and it really smelled burned......BAD!!

The bearings were all getting eaten up, and had dirt all through them.......we just threw those in the garbage.  There were many parts in this engine that did not make sense.  It had racing parts, pickup truck parts, stuff that was cast in 67, 68, 69...and so on.  Basically the car was put together with anything that would work to get it on the road.  The rad had also been repaired several times, and leaked many more times.  If you could see it, mostly likely something was worng with it.   The engine and tranny were on their last days, and it was a good time to pick to finally do a complete overhual.

After a couple days of bad weather, it came back to my house so I could get most of the front end off. 12/19/09
























After the new year, it will be sent off for paint in the bay, and under the hood which will be black, but the hood hinges will be yellow.  The front end will get rebuilt, and I will also be switching to a front disc brake conversion.  The grille will also get restored back to factory specs.  The rear end will get a new seal, and a new exhaut will also be put on.  It will be a process, but well worth it to have a car virtually new from the doors forward!!!  I will post more info and pics after the next faze.

[billssuperbird]

 

[73ChargerSE]

Seems like you're a whole year ahead of everyone! 

Looks good though. Progress rules   

[mikepmcs]

 

[THE COLONEL]

Well, here is some updated info on The Colonel, and what is going on.  Well, I took the grille to Harrisburg PA a week and a half ago to get restored.  I was going to do it myself, but found I have absolutly no time.  Anyway, I dropped it off to a friend of Tombo's. It will be getting restored back to factory specs, which will be nice!!  I can't wait until it's done!

Here are some pics of the grille before I took it to Harrisburg











I also got The Colonel in for paint last Monday...finally. I have been waiting for the roads to clear with all that crap on them. Anyway, the bay and under the hood will get a good steam clean, and some nice new black paint. After it gets paint, it is back to my friends garage, and rebuild the front end, swap to front disc brakes, change the seal in the rear, and put the engine back in. Then off for a new exhaust, and put the front end back on, like the grille, and bumper and things....but finally in for paint!!!!!

The engins is back from the shop, and here are some things that were done to it.  Some of this makes no sense to me, but I am learning!   There were oly a few parts from the engine that were used again, but for arguments sake, it will be a brand new engine.  The tranny is also rebuilt too.  This will be a dream to drive when it's done!


BORED OVER .030 

FORDGED PISTONS

CRANK SHAFT TURNED

NEW OIL PAN

MILD CAM SHAFT

340 VALVE SPRING

STAINLESS STEEL VALVES

HEADS .060

NEW HIGH STREET TOURQUE CONVERTER

NEW 4 CORE RAD

CARD BEBUILT

CONNECTING RODS REBUSHED

[THE COLONEL]

oops...double post!

[skip68]

    Black with those wheels looks real good.  I just about left mine black when it got painted.  The shop put a black coat on first to see the flaws.  The Colonel's gonna be happy and ready.   

[69bronzeT5]

   Black with those wheels looks real good.  I just about left mine black when it got painted.  The shop put a black coat on first to see the flaws.  The Colonel's gonna be happy and ready.   

The engine bay is going black, not the car

[skip68]

    ooooops.  sorry, my bad. 

[THE COLONEL]

   Black with those wheels looks real good.  I just about left mine black when it got painted.  The shop put a black coat on first to see the flaws.  The Colonel's gonna be happy and ready.   

The engine bay is going black, not the car

Yeah, just the bay and under the hood.

[THE COLONEL]

Well, the engine and tranny are finished, and ready to be put back in the The Colonel.  It is still in for paint, and we found that the hood had pin holes in it, so that is getting taken care of as well, in the propper way.  So, both sides of the hood are getting painted right now, so it is a little longer wait, but it will be worth it, when all done.  The headers are done too as you can see in the picture.  Once The Colonel is out of paint, it will be sent back to my friends to put it all back in!  The front end will be rebuilt still, along with the disc brakes added to it, the new seal in the rear, and also the new exhaust will probably be the last thing.  Anyway, here are some pics of the engine!

[RD]

looking good!! dont forget to scrape the paint of the exhaust ports hehehehe

[The70RT]

Great job.......

[Mike DC]

 
Looking good, Jason.  It was never a bad car to start with and you keep improving it. 

Old & Busted --> New Hotness.

[rav440]

  looks great 

who did the engine ?

whos doing the paint and rad work ?

[mikepmcs]

Looks awesome. So clean and shiny.

[THE COLONEL]

Thanks guys!

the guy doing the engine is Ed Eckenrode.  He has worked for Chrysler for years, and just retired a couple months ago.....good move there.....!  He has raced, and built race engines for years, and with his more then 40+ years building Mopar engines...well, he has probably built more engines then most of the members here combined.  His work is amazing, and he is one of those people that you have to know him for him to do work on your car.  I have been pretty blessed to have him do it.  He also did my dad's 64 Sport Fury a couple years ago too. 

As for the Rad, I can't remember where he said he took it at the moment.  The paint work is being done at Percise Auto just outside New Brighton.  He has worked with them for years too!

[THE COLONEL]

Well, here is the latest update!

I did change it up a little from what was told above.  The engine bay, and under the hood...well, I decided to keep it yellow like the car is now.  I am in no rush to change it right now into a General lee, so that was a huge decision of why to keep it yellow. 

The Colonel is back at my friends garage, and will be back on the road within the next month if the front grille gets done in time.  I also bought reproduction front parking & turn signal lenses.  I tried to polish the old ones up, and make them more presentable, but they are just too aged, and will look out of place with the rest of the front end.  So I went new, and they are AWESOME!!!! Exact in every way to the originals!!

Anyway, here are some pics of the engine bay now.  Compared to before...WHAT A MAKEOVER!!!!

[THE COLONEL]

BEFORE



AFTER

[bakerhillpins]

Looking great! 

I thought that you had signatures under the hood? Or was that the trunk lid? Did you save them?

Personally I am happy you decided to keep the engine bay the same color as the body. Can't wait to see that dolled up engine back in there! 

Bryan

[THE COLONEL]

Looking great! 

I thought that you had signatures under the hood? Or was that the trunk lid? Did you save them?

Personally I am happy you decided to keep the engine bay the same color as the body. Can't wait to see that dolled up engine back in there! 

Bryan

Thanks.  yes, the signatures are under the trunk, and out of the weather!

[mikepmcs]

 

[THE COLONEL]

Here are some pics of the grille, and the things that were broke on it.  Thanks to Tombo, and his friend Keith, it is getting takinen care of it.  It will be BEAUTIFUL when it is done!!.

[THE COLONEL]

Well, it is almost finished.  i stoped by today, and it is running, and does it ever sound good!!!!!!!!!  Just a few odds and ends to complete, and it will be good to go.  I am still waiting on the grille, but hope to get that back soon, and put it all back together and get it complete again.  Torsion bars and things need done, but it went for a 5 mile ride today, and runs great...even without the grille! LOL  I will probably bring it bacvk home in the next few days, and clean it up, then when I get the grille back, it is ready to go!!!  Here are the pics from today.   

[skip68]

    WOW !!!!!   That should make you proud.      Looks real nice.     Damn nice.