Got a project 70, now the fun/pain begins

[toocheaptosmoke]

Yup, wheel mounting surface.

You need the metal brackets that bolt to the engine.. easy to find 318/360 mounts are the same should be a million of em' out there, Dodge used that same bracket all the way into the 90's

Ok, thanks.  I figured it had to be something common, but must not be any demand for them as I haven't seen any body trying to sell any.

I went through something like that when I built a Challenger 10 years ago. The car was incomplete when I got it. The missing parts were E body specific and I had NO E body experience. It sucks when you don't even know what you are missing!

This car came with a few parts, but it has turned out to be a lot less complete than I originally thought.   Even just random pieces that are nothing special have gone missing, and like you said I don't even know what's gone! 



Here's another one, I ordered headlight bulbs, but I think I need something else to have functioning headlights. 

[Baldwinvette77]

These things i think, they are used on pretty much every sealed beam car ever

I think they are called headlight mounting cups, but theres probably more names 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Looks like they go by headlight buckets.   




Worked on the motor a bit.   I got it from a junkyard, 97k miles and supposedly ran when wrecked.  From what I can see it looks like it should run, but have to wait and see for sure.  The bores and pistons look to be in good shape, and the motor didn't really have any sludge buildup. 





Worst thing I found was some mouse stashed cat food in a couple of the exhaust ports.  Had to remove a few pieces from one cylinder with compressed air.







Stock timing chain had quite a bit of slack in it, so I threw a new one on.  I'm almost afraid to see how much slack my truck's 318 with 227k has!






Had to change the pan and oil pickup, so I figured I might as well put on a fresh oil pump as well. 






Then we ran into the oil pan debacle...   I had ordered a new stock replacement pan with one of my previous parts orders, and accidentally ordered one for a 318.   The magnum 318 uses a 360 style pan.     So, I now had a pan and one piece gasket that wouldn't work...  Hop on the net, do some research, find I need the 360 pan and the old style gaskets.   Since the car is old school, I guess it won't matter if it has an old school oil leak from the pan. 





Oil pan arrives, I try to fit the gaskets and things don't go well.  The POS cheap oil pan and the multi piece gasket fit together like crap.    So, had another beer, then decided this was a problem that could be fixed with a hammer.   The cheap pan is of thin enough metal that it was no match for a ball peen hammer and a chisel!   (right side is stock)





So I got to use the one piece pan gasket after all.





Fingers crossed it doesn't leak.







Put on the Edelbrock intake (damn thing cost almost as much as the whole engine!!)  and the new ignition.  The HEI unit is one of those cheap pro-comp jobs, I read a lot of reviews and decided to give it a shot for the money.





Front of motor got all new gaskets, new water pump, and new idler pulleys.





Here's the engine mostly back together, might be the only part of the car that looks respectable. 

[Baldwinvette77]

For some reason looking at that finished engine reminded me of eddie, the iron maiden mascot, has the same pissed off zombie look ( i mean that in a good way) and is there anything a hammer can't fix?? i even used hammers to fix leaking tires before  

Also a bucket is just a large cup 

[Finn]

Great project!

You're at the fun stage 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Got a set of hooker headers, seemed to be slightly better than the summit brand.  Didn't have a very good inside shape around the exhaust ports, had to grind quite a bit.  Probably should build up some weld in the low spots, but not sure if I want to risk warping things.  Put some better  paint on them, the stuff from the factory was very thin.

[Baldwinvette77]

looks nice  are you going to paint the block and heads? 

[PocketThunder]

Dude, you have snowmobile tracks for a driveway...?..??   

[toocheaptosmoke]

looks nice  are you going to paint the block and heads? 

Naw, that's why I painted the heads orange, so it would take your eye away from the rust. 

Dude, you have snowmobile tracks for a driveway...?..??   

Better than solid mud. 

[charge69]

Everything looks great just as it is but, if you want a cheap paint for your motor, let me know and I will let you know where to get some.

Either way, it is a fun build to follow.

[Baldwinvette77]

yeah i guess that works    i still have no idea what engine to use, want more power than a 318 though 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Everything looks great just as it is but, if you want a cheap paint for your motor, let me know and I will let you know where to get some.

Either way, it is a fun build to follow.

I might be interested down the road, thanks.  I picked up this engine with the hope that it will be a decent runner and just get me on the road for now.  Once it's on the road I'm going to keep an eye out for another 318 or 360, and that's the one that will get some more attention.  Port the heads, put in some upgraded higher compression pistons, 1.7 ratio roller rockers, different cam, etc.  I know the 318 is a small motor, but I like the underdog.     I got parts like my intake with the intention that they could be easily swapped onto a new motor later on.  If I tore the engine the whole way down I'd lose another month and probably a thousand dollars messing with it, you know how that goes. 

[Baldwinvette77]

Turbo-charge your 2nd 318  Or no, get a roots supercharger and then slap a turbo ontop of them, or maybe 2 to be safe 

[Kern Dog]

Is that distributor cap going to clear the firewall? The stock cap was pretty close when I had a 318 in my Charger.

[toocheaptosmoke]

Is that distributor cap going to clear the firewall? The stock cap was pretty close when I had a 318 in my Charger.

I don't know, I am bit concerned about that, guess we'll find out when the engine goes in. 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Turbo-charge your 2nd 318  Or no, get a roots supercharger and then slap a turbo ontop of them, or maybe 2 to be safe 

[Baldwinvette77]

A nitrous system should cool that right down 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Started tearing crap out of the front end with extreme prejudice







Upon closer inspection I found that my K frame had a close encounter with a ditch or something, and was turned into a Special-K frame. 





Hammer time!






Making room for the sway bar





Welded up the seams and some potential weak spots.  Everything else looked good.

[Baldwinvette77]

Oooooo Nice job 

[moparsr2ast]

  Some nice black paint on there, and it will look factory fresh 

[toocheaptosmoke]

Next problem was getting the upper ball joints out.  I tried a huge crescent wrench, no dice.   Tried an even bigger pipe wrench, got one to budge but that was it.  It was war, I was not going to cave and waste 40 dollars for one of those sockets.  The first wrench I made was from re-forming a piece of 2" square tubing, but it just didn't hold up.  I had almost given up when I spied an old 350 connecting rod laying in the corner!   GM parts ARE good for something.    Cut 4 pieces of 1/8" thick steel and welded them inside the rod to make the square shape.  Had to grind the bottom edge of the rod to clear the control arm.





Then the "wrench" kept popping off the ball joint, so I used a c-clamp and some plate to hold it on.  That in conjunction with a 5' cheater bar got things turning.





Of course, the f$#%ing post for the car-port was right in the way!













The LCA bushing on one side came right out, because it was so worn it ate through the side of the sleeve.  The other didn't go so easy.   I welded on a big washer, but it blew off while in the press.  So then I had to sacrifice a big bolt, built up enough weld so that it was coming out one way or another.

[Baldwinvette77]

seems like you took it well  Thankfully i dont have any suspension  ........ oh wait.... 

[six-tee-nine]

LMAO

The pic with the middle finger..... I also do that sometimes when I just won the battle with the part I was fighting with.

On a side note I once removed a pair of these suckers and I first heated them, then a couple of whacks with a large sledge hammer before simply putting a wrench on them with a pipe and loosening them fairly easy...

[toocheaptosmoke]

seems like you took it well  Thankfully i dont have any suspension  ........ oh wait.... 

You can have all my old parts if you want. 





Threw on some quick paint







Fedex man brought some more gifts.

[Baldwinvette77]

whats in the boxes?