elacruze '68 resto thread (Heavy photos)

[tan top]

   looking  good ! nice work 

[elacruze]

UCA's, ball joints, rotors installed. Monday comes Sway bar, calipers and brackets, steering links and idler arm.

[elacruze]

Got a lot of time in today. One thing that needed attention was the accessories, I had them all aligned but there was a belt clearance issue with the alternator. I had to re-bend the new alt bracket to go behind the ear, and re-space everything. Now I just have to polish it all up. I also moved the alternator tensioner from the alternator bracket down to the A/C compressor to make it more accessible and improve belt clearance.
I think I have a belt compulsion.

[elacruze]

I spent most of the day installing suspension parts. I received the 11.75" caliper brackets so I cleaned them up and installed, test fit the caliper. Of course, brake lines are going to be less than preferred, despite my efforts to secure a sway bar that allowed me to keep the front mount calipers, I still managed to order the one which forces the calipers to the rear. Oh well.
I need to find lower ball joint caps, as well as a pitman arm cap.
Man, that's a thick sway bar.

[clemfor]

Hello elacruze...Looks very kool.. Question ? why not loose, what looks like the old under coat or is it new ? in the fender & firewall area? Had that talk with my body shop guy today.
He said I guess we could scape it off.Thanks Blair ................attached is my 68

[elacruze]

Hello elacruze...Looks very kool.. Question ? why not loose, what looks like the old under coat or is it new ? in the fender & firewall area? Had that talk with my body shop guy today.
He said I guess we could scape it off.Thanks Blair ................attached is my 68

That's the factory undercoating, we decided to leave it on for all the same reasons the factory applied it-and it was so tough only a flamethrower and pickaxe would have taken it out. We'll apply new undercoat over the top of it and inside the fenders.

Nice car-what setup is that, your own custom? I've not seen it before.

[elacruze]

I hate the nickel-and-dime part of any project. These are things I think should have been taken care of long ago, but I do get to save money by ordering them myself.
Torsion bar boots, urethane
Suspension grease boots, urethane
firewall insulation and gaskets
I wanted the car on the wheels by today, but can't tighten everything up before the new boots arrive.
I'll get in the engine compartment and start figuring out where all the wires will go, and detail the brackets for the accessories.

Since I can't make up my mind what I'm going to do with the exhaust, I ordered an inexpensive Summit system. If I need to test modifications, it won't cost much if I screw it up. Their system is 3", H-pipe all the way to the rear bumper, connects directly to Hooker Super Comp headers and includes turbo mufflers, all for under $300. Aluminized pipe, so it shouldn't rust for a couple months anyway.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-680141-NM/

We'll see how well spent that money is in a couple days.

[twodko]

Good job buddy!  You went with Bilsteins in the front. Did you install the same in the rear? Last question, why did you chose Bilsteins?

[elacruze]

Good job buddy!  You went with Bilsteins in the front. Did you install the same in the rear? Last question, why did you chose Bilsteins?

Bilsteins front and rear. I chose them because my experience over the years is that Bilstein is second to none in performance and durability. Well, unless you want to spend on adjustable Penskes or Konis.

[NHCharger]

Awesome thread, car looks great, looks like a top notch job. I just picked up a 68 that was partial disassembled and have been trying to figure out where some of the parts go. Thanks to this thread I solved two more pieces of the puzzle. Also it was interesting that you can use a one piece trunk floor if the valance is removed, going to call tomorrow to change my two piece trunk pan order to one piece. This is another reason why I love this site.

[rarefish]

Got a lot of time in today. One thing that needed attention was the accessories, I had them all aligned but there was a belt clearance issue with the alternator. I had to re-bend the new alt bracket to go behind the ear, and re-space everything. Now I just have to polish it all up. I also moved the alternator tensioner from the alternator bracket down to the A/C compressor to make it more accessible and improve belt clearance.
I think I have a belt compulsion.

Nice work, but I would have one concern with your belt set up. The problem I see is that you have very little wrap angle on the A/C compressor's pulley. I would expect the there will be a slippage problem when the compressor is engaged.

[elacruze]

Got a lot of time in today. One thing that needed attention was the accessories, I had them all aligned but there was a belt clearance issue with the alternator. I had to re-bend the new alt bracket to go behind the ear, and re-space everything. Now I just have to polish it all up. I also moved the alternator tensioner from the alternator bracket down to the A/C compressor to make it more accessible and improve belt clearance.
I think I have a belt compulsion.

Nice work, but I would have one concern with your belt set up. The problem I see is that you have very little wrap angle on the A/C compressor's pulley. I would expect the there will be a slippage problem when the compressor is engaged.

That's primarily why I reconfigured everything and moved the alternator inboard. The Bouchillon A/C setup runs the compressor from the crank, then the alternator from the compressor. The load of both the compressor and alternator pass through the single crank belt. I know from experience that a single belt will only run about an 80 amp alternator, so their setup is not preferred for a large alternator and A/C on the same belt. I changed so the alternator and compressor both have two belts, although the compressor has only about 30% wrap, it still has two belts. I don't expect any trouble, but if it just won't work I can easily go back to their intended configuration, or put the compressor in the top mount position to get better wrap with two belts. We'll see. Much will depend on the efficiency of the A/C system and the high side pressure.

[FLG]

What if you ran a single groove WP pulley and ran the second belt around the alt-compressor-crank or just ran a single belt from crank to compressor?

Looking good, been keeping an eye on this 

[six-tee-nine]

What about a serpentine setup?

I can understand that you might want to save a buck running a V belt setup but I think the serpentine belt was one of the better inventions of the last 20 years....... no more squeeking or slipping belts.

[elacruze]

FLG-I have power steering too, so at the moment the front belt will run around all 4 pulleys, just riding in the groove of the WP. If the compressor just doesn't have enough grip, I have the option of running a single belt on the alternator, which is no worse than the BP setup for the alt but still gives 2 on the compressor with much better wrap. I don't know yet what the normal load on the alternator will be-A/C, lights, wipers, stereo, EFI and MSD. I expect I'll be using 20-40 amps regularly.

Six-tee-nine- Nobody makes a simple serpentine setup yet that doesn't reverse the water pump rotation. I'll be looking into marine applications, to see if reverse rotation 440s had reverse rotation WP housings. Then I can use Jeep pulleys and some custom brackets for a serpentine. I won't have a bunch of tribal-art aluminum hanging off the front of the motor.

[six-tee-nine]

This setup gives you the correct rotation (same as the crank).....

I dont want to talk about simplicity i hear your point......

http://www.marchperf.com/pg48a.html

[elacruze]

This setup gives you the correct rotation (same as the crank).....

I dont want to talk about simplicity i hear your point......

http://www.marchperf.com/pg48a.html

Ew.

[twodko]

Hey MRAPman, thanks for the info on Bilsteins. I can't justify buying big buck shocks when quality shocks are available at affordable prices. BTW great build! I anxious to see it on the road. 

[elacruze]

Gear Vendors is pretty highly regarded for their customer service, and they've taken care of me on that front-but I'm less than pleased as a peach that the first adapter they sent me was for a 23 spline trans, which I didn't find out for a year then had to pay freight to have the right one sent out-then go to put it in, and find that I need a crossmember for an automatic transmission. HUH?
Yes, I know that '70-only 4-speed used the auto crossmember...but why would you build this thing to use a one-year-only or automatic piece? Or if you had some unknowable reason for that, why not cast in a boss with both sets of holes? So I had to go eBay-ing, fortunately got a very nice usable crossmember in the door for $40. Hmph.
Here's also a gratuitous shot of all the Firm Feel stuff, and showing how close the 11.75" caliper brackets are to the police rim.

[aone415]

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW I just spent a good hour going thru this thread... amazing stuff.

[elacruze]

I finally ended the Gear Vendors crossmember saga by hacking up and remanufacturing an auto trans member. If I had more time and patience I could make this look better; maybe I will someday. The only thing left is to shim the GV up a little to make space between the adapter and x-member; right now I can pull the tailshaft and make contact between the xmember and GV adapter if I try. I have about 1/2" between the GV housing and floor pan, so I should be able to make it all work without punching knobs into my tunnel.

I blasted, cleaned, painted and installed bearing needles in my pedal assembly, but forgot to take any photos. I'll post them tomorrow during assembly.

[elacruze]

Finished assembling the pedals and part installed them today. I made seals for the clutch pedal bearings out of pin-type caliper bushings! Perfect size, just needed care with a brand new razor blade.

[R2]

NICE WORK...............thanks for all the pics....

Question: Is the silver A4 ?

Would you mind letting me know the brand paint as well ?

I am seriously thinking of going with Silver for a re-paint on mine ............

Thanks

Doug

[elacruze]

NICE WORK...............thanks for all the pics....

Question: Is the silver A4 ?

Would you mind letting me know the brand paint as well ?

I am seriously thinking of going with Silver for a re-paint on mine ............

Thanks

Doug

Sorry for the long time responding. All the paint is PPG, I don't know the color code but I believe it's actually an Audi mix, which has only slightly more pearl than the original Dodge Silver. I'll try to remember to ask about it.

[elacruze]

Finally got more time in with the car. Installed the wiper pivots and linkages. Do not fail to take a picture so you get them right going back together-the long rod is on top of one pivot arm and below the other.
Started putting sound deadener in. I'm using B-Quiet products, after a lot of research and opinions. http://www.b-quiet.com/index.html
Price is much less than Dynamat brand. I put a layer of B-Quiet Ultimate deadener on, then V-Comp on top of that. All together it takes up about as much depth as the stock carpet jute. The deadener is pretty messy to work with so use clothes you can throw away as the cost of doing business. The V-Comp doesn't have its own adhesive so you can cut and trim to fit better before gluing in. I mounted the heater box on top of the deadener and used the factory insulation between the box and firewall. I didn't try to use the VComp there because it's too thick and smashing it would defeat the purpose.
I put deadener up inside the cowl also, as the cowl drums directly into the vent housings, and on both sides of the vent area below the outer cowl. Hopefully I'll finish the sound material tomorrow and move on to the engine. I still have to run the tubing underneath and fix the axle before installing the fuel tank, but we're picking up steam finally.