The engine is finally back in!

[Dino]

Thanks to Jeff (71 SE3834V) helping me on numerous occasions, the engine is finally back in place!

As some of you know, I'm about a week away of starting grad school which will leave little or no time for car fun. I tried to get the car finished before school but I realized a while back that it wouldn't happen. So the new goal was to get engine, trans, and K member back in place. For a moment I thought that even wasn't going to happen so I decided to leave off the suspension bits and get as much done as I could.

I started this project in August and have since stripped much of the car, repaired and repainted the engine bay, made some electrical repairs, stripped the engine and trans and repainted all of it. I also installed a new cam and new seals in the trans.

Much of my time was spent installing power windows and a bunch of electrical upgrades. All that went pretty good but as always you find more stuff that needs attention. In the end I could have ignored doing the upgrades and stuck to what's in the engine bay and I may have been able to get it done, but then I would never get the power windows and all the stuff I really wanted!

I'm very happy that at least much of the work is done and the car is now sitting n such a way that when I do have a few minutes here and there it'll be easy to bolt on some stuff and make some progress.

Tomorrow I'll hook up the wiring, a/c lines and torque some bolts. I'll then clean the car, stick my boxes of parts inside and put a cover on the old girl.

When time is available again I'll strip and paint the hp manifolds and install those, and I'll repaint and install the hydrobooster.

Most of the suspension is good to go but I still have to paint the upper and lower control arms.

The install today went well except for getting the trans mount installed. What a pos part that was! I had to grind it to make it fit the trans and then it took a lot of elbow grease from the both of us. Aftermarket parts are not what they used to be!

Dropping the car over the engine went very well, we just had to go slow to not bump the steering box against the frame. I forgot how tight it is in there. I can barely stick a business card between the box and the frame!

We also had a stubborn K member bolt but in the end it all worked out. No scrapes or dings along the way and everything's looking good!

I'll be glad to get rid of those valve covers though but that's something to worry about later. I'll get more pics up tomorrow when everything's a bit tidied up.

[Dino]

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[Dino]

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[charge69]

Awesome work and a major milestone !  Congrats !

[igozumn]

Nice!

[rebby]

Congrats! I remember when we installed the engine in the GL. Great day and nice hurdle to be over.

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome!, if your engine installs are anything like mine, youre only a year away from being able to start it again! 

Good work 

[Chargerguy74]

Looking good!

[cdr]

 

[Mopar Nut]

Nice job Dino!

[crj1968]

Wow looks really good Dino!

Hey what is that red box above your bulkhead wiring connections?

[redgum78]

  very nice

[johnnycharger]

God dang that is pretty Dino. I am very happy for you.

[myk]

As always, impressive work Dino. 

[b5blue]

You got it!!  Dirk I advise not filling the car with parts. Even with my nasty interior I kept it empty, even the trunk. Along with not messing up the upholstery there's a Zen moment that comes from just being able to sit in the car and think. (Even if you don't wiggle the wheel and make VAROOM! noises.)

[1974dodgecharger]

Im coming over Dino and you can put a new engine in my car 

[tan top]

looking good Dino !!      nice work 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Nice work!

[Dino]

Thanks guys! It's been a labor of love...and other feelings. 

I'll see if I can get some before and after shots up as well, that should be interesting. I sometimes forget what it used to look like.

Wow looks really good Dino!

Hey what is that red box above your bulkhead wiring connections?

It's a maxi fuse holder with a 50A fuse. It's replacing the fusible link. I rewired my charging system and have a 6 gauge wire running from the alternator to starter relay and another from the battery to the relay through an ANL fuse. From the starter relay an 8 gauge wire goes to the maxi fuse and another 8 gauge wire runs from the fuse to the power wires under the dash. The original ammeter wires have been removed and I'm running a volt meter.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Hey! Hey! Way to go Dirk! Looks so nice and shiny      

[Mytur Binsdirti]

It's about damn time!

Nice work. 

[RallyeMike]

Looks great. You should be able to squeeze in enough time to get in driving soon!?

[CDN72SE]

Good for you, nice job. 

[firefighter3931]

Nice work Dirk ! 

Engine looks fantastic in the sparkling white engine bay 



Ron

[BLK 68 R/T]

Looks really nice