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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/28/2013 in all areas

  1. Excellent job and excellent report! I'm going to move this to the Technical Archives so it will be easier to fine.
    4 points
  2. After the resin cured I sanded the rough edges and stray fibers. It's good to do this before removing the foam core because the foam backs up the fiberglass and makes it easier to sand with some force. Then I used a spray bottle to spray acetone on the foam from one end. (I didn't tape up the ends) The foam dissolved easily and not much acetone was required. The packing tape, glue, and plastic film that was on some of the foam was untouched and remained in the duct, while most of the foam dripped out with the acetone onto the cardboard I had underneath. The mess was pretty minimal. Using rubber gloves I pulled out most of the stuff left inside the duct and then peeled out the packing tape liner, which came out in one piece and took all the mess with it. The acetone evaporated and I was left with dry scraps of hard plastic, all that was left of the foam. I think this could probably be thrown away or recycled. Any chemists here? The duct came out nice! The inside is smooth and shiny, with no foam or tape left. I think the car wax made it really easy to remove the tape. With two layers of fiberglass it's plenty rigid. I can handle it without worrying much about damaging it. When I tap it with my fingernails it is a bit noisy, so we'll see if it acts like a drum in the car. Might have to put some Dynamat inside on the flatter areas. I don't think smell will be a problem since the acetone evaporates very quickly and the smell of the resin is going away. It fits ok; I had to trim the rubber seal a bit and I'll have to put some safety wire around it to actually seal. Definitely need a thick gasket at the firewall since I didn't get the angle quite right. Should work though! Next I'll paint it flat black, hook up the heater hoses, and final install everything.
    4 points
  3. Thats the best duct repro I have ever seen! Congratulations on your awesome project and thanks for showing how you did it! Bob
    3 points
  4. Thought I'd share my latest project with everyone. Maybe someone will find it useful. As we all know, the original cardboard duct linking the underhood heater core to the firewall on many of our cars is less than durable. I got my '51 Windsor with a galvanized steel, riveted, duct taped abomination in place of the original duct and I couldn't stand to look at it in the engine compartment (there are a lot of other interesting no-noes in this picture too; see what you can spot): Unfortunately, replacements are either very expensive or very low quality and sometimes both, so I didn't like that option. I decided to make my own out of fiberglass using the lost foam method. This is where you make the inside shape of the part out of styrofoam, lay up fiberglass on the outside and then melt out the foam core with acetone. More on that further down. First I needed to get the rest of my heater in working order. My heater control valve under the dash was missing and replacements are expensive and contain 60-year-old rubber, so I did some poking around and it turns out the 1975-91 Volvo 240 uses a very similar valve; in fact it's made by the same manufacturer, Ranco. I decided to see if that would work. Plenty of old Volvo 240s at Pick-n-Pull, so a valve was easy to find. It's hidden in the driver's footwell behind the plastic cover to the right of the gas pedal. You have to disconnect the heater control cable, two heater hoses, and extract the capillary tube from the adjacent heater duct. The right way to do this is to pull the whole dash out of the car, then separate the halves of the heater box and pull out the capillary tube. I expedited this by breaking the plastic duct around the capillary tube grommet and pulling it out the new hole. Apologies to Volvo enthusiasts. Back in my garage my Chrysler control cable needed the loop clipped off the end and then it was easily attached to the Volvo control valve: A couple differences between the original Chrysler valve and the Volvo valve: the pipe/valve assembly is rotated 180 degrees, so the inlet faces away from the direction the control cable comes from. This means either the control cable or the heater hose that connects to the cylinder head must loop around to the far side of the valve. The pipe/valve assy could be uncrimped and installed the other way, but that seemed like an invitation for leaks and my control cable was long enough to make a big 180 degree turn under the glove box. I installed the valve with the short (inlet) pipe facing the cylinder head: I also had to gently bend the inlet pipe away from the firewall to be able to fit a heater hose and clamp on it. I had to cut away some of the firewall sound deadener on the inboard side as well, to get a better angle. The original Chrysler part has longer brass pipes that aren't such a tight fit. I put a tinnerman nut on the firewall and one on the heater valve; one screw is installed from the engine side and one from the interior side, since the pipe blocks access from the outside. I coiled up the capillary tube (don't kink it!) and stuck it into the interior heater duct through a conveniently damaged area so it will pick up heat:
    2 points
  5. Cooper and I went for a short ride in the Plymouth this afternoon, just had to share
    1 point
  6. Probably sunset for you especially if the light is accompanied with an air horn.
    1 point
  7. 1 point
  8. I left six of the longest leaves in the rear on mine, front as stock. Originally it had eleven leaves and sat quite high at the back. Its now OK , even with the caravan attatched . I would suggest leaving it alone until project is complete, its not hard to remove springs later. Gordon W
    1 point
  9. Does this count? Our farm equipment light parade. Fun, had my grand kids in the bed. On a side note, one of the entries was a very nice mid 50's Oldsmobile. Seems the plastic oil line broke, oil accumulated on the engine worked it way to the manifolds and at the end of the slow parade it burst into flames. Lot's of damage even though the fire men were not far away. Bummer.
    1 point
  10. While that is possible it involves quite a bit of fabrication. The original shock mounts on these trucks are not designed to support the weight of the vehicle. A structural suspension system would have to be made. There are several folks here that have lowered their vehicles by removing leaves from the springs. Pflaming comes to mind. You may want to try contacting him.
    1 point
  11. My heater core and blower fans were ok functionally but all the housings needed some TLC, so I took them apart and cleaned and painted everything. Wired up the defroster and blower fans per the factory wiring diagram. I used Evapo-Rust on the linkages and then clearcoated them. This linkage needs to be adjusted so both dampers in the box have their forward edges touching the heater core when the lever on the dashboard is in the "OFF" position. I added a couple flat washers under the control arms so they wouldn't scrape my pretty paint: Next up: the DIY duct. I'd never worked with fiberglass before so I took this really slowly. I bought a 2x4 sheet of 2" foam insulation and some cheapo brushes at a hardware store and fiberglass cloth and resin at Autozone. I cut and glued together the foam and then carved it with a hacksaw blade to shape the duct. This is a very messy process; little bits of foam get everywhere. Tip: use Gorilla Glue. It won't eat the foam and it expands to fill less-than-perfect foam interfaces. I used wood glue and it didn't dry for a week. Make sure your corners are smooth and rounded so the fiberglass cloth can conform to the shape. Test fit about a million times, and when you're satisfied with the fit wrap the outside in packing tape. This keeps the fiberglass resin from going into the pores in the foam and prevents any possible melting of the foam. I made a sheetmetal bracket for the firewall end and a rubber seal for the heater core end. The bracket has holes in the flange that mates with the fiberglass duct; the idea is that resin will flow throught the holes and make the bracket integral with the duct. I also pre-drilled the screw holes that will attach it to the firewall, since this will be difficult once it's all one piece. The seal is cut out from an old inner tube and also has holes to trap it in the fiberglass. I left and inch or so of rubber hanging off the end of the duct; this should fold inside the duct and seal to the heater core. The ends of the rubber are stapled together: I applied car wax to the taped surface of the foam blank. Hopefully this will act as a parting compound and make the tape come off easily later. Finally I used a piece of wood as a stand, drilled some holes through it and stuck bamboo skewers though it up into the foam blank. This way the piece stands up by itself while I lay the fiberglass. I also screwed the bracket down to it to hold it in position. I cut my fiberglass into strips, mixed up some resin, and laid on two layers: Now waiting for it to cure, then I'll melt out the foam and see what happens. Got my fingers crossed.
    1 point
  12. Doug...have you personally done a sub frame and or the fatman frame stubs and eventual install of the MSII IFS? regardless of which one you do...you have the front bumper to contend with..unless like lots of folks you do a front roll pan and thus do the ole ostrich head in the sand trick. I cannot after doing three Dakota clips see how it could ever be easier...the Fatman I will assure you will be every bit as involved...and remember you have not even addressed the steering in this Fatman IFS setup.. And for the Dakota subframe..depends again on the year car you stubbing out...49 and up..the early Dakota will insert some 20 inches into the Plymouth frame..super strong....the 39 - 48 frame however is tapered...a slight mod needs be done to make a receiver for the Dakota to fit..this is super simple. It is nothing like the GM stubs that are done at the very firewall and do not incorporate any overlap/insert of the two frames.. I am not surprised of the price increase in pieces parts though..I looked long ago to the Fatman and ruled it out for way to much cost involved...and was not impressed with the stubs they provide. There are those that have also cut and boxed the original frame rails but man is this totally involved also. For the money and time...subframing as I did it (not saying there are other ways nor saying you should do it the way I did) but considering the last early Dakota entire frame less rear axle was bought and loaded at the wrecking yard and included both front wheels, hubs, brakes, R&P and sway bar for 150.00...this is math my way... My latest subframe was done a bit different as I used a much later model Dakota donor...buying a low mileage V6 with 5 speed and using all components and then selling some bumper parts and body panels not used, the rest to scrap metal I have <500.00 in total for front clip, 210 HP V6 3.7 engine, 5 speed tranny, bucket seats, console, firewall/floor transfer, factory AC, ABS brakes and 3.55 rear ratio all electronics and fuel system carried forward to the Plymouth...I cannot in any logic justify a Fatman over this type set up.....plus the very install of the front subframe is simply a cross X dimensional check..the frame centerline of the stock 48 chassis continues its identical line onto that of the 2004 Dakota frame whereas only the forward mounts had to be transferred to the Dakota part of the chassis...and remember the center line measurement,..this makes mount alignment so simple anyone can do it.lay it on the line and make the install...some may not want to go this extreme with electronics and such...it is not a mandate..only an option open to the builder... Now I am not saying this is not without a lot of measurements and a bit of cutting and welding but again, you going to be doing as much with the Fatman install...probably a bit more involved on the stubs as they are not tied front and rear as the Datkota is when transferred making leveling and paralleling much much easier with the subframe...
    1 point
  13. blucarsdnSenior Member, have way too much spare time on my hands Members 152 posts Posted Today, 01:03 PM I have known several guys that tried to make a "silk purse out of a pigs ear" by attempting to convert the stock front end of older cars to disk brakes and rack-pinion steering... This conversion usually results in an accident looking for a place to happen.. there is nothing wrong with a properly installed front clip....and nothing wrong with retrofitting old to new...the very Fatman kit you described and applaud is every bit the exact process you are condemning...and for the Fatman to work on a stock 39 and up Mopar car chassis...will require you to cut and stub in front frame rails..if this is not a form of clipping then it is very evident that this procedure was farmed out and you have no first hand experience with this..oh and even without shipping and labor cost involved...a modern clip of Mopar design can usually be had for under 300.00 complete with brakes where as just the front frame rails for the Fatman are 600.00 uninstalled and no freight yet paid...not to mention the MUSTANG II copied Fatman IFS is going to run about 2000.00 of course you can go higher priced or lower price depending on completeness and parts finish...or buy a kit that again is quite a bit more expensive over a clip..this kit must be properly installed and welded by either yourself or farmed out again at a higher labor rate compare to a engineered front clip where in the end the geometry will not come into question.. I am not condemning your response or your choices..I am only saying that both routes involved similar processes...it is what you want, what you can do yourself, what you wish to spend...but never one better than the other....the modern suspension are in my humble opinion better engineered than aftermarket IFS stubs and kits/components..and..as for safety....modern clips have built in crumple zones for absorbing energy on impact without transferring to the passenger compartment like in the older cars and straight frame rails and IFS attached.. So in reality there are many side to the equation and lots to consider on the build....many options out there...
    1 point
  14. I'm still trying to figure out why people like to get so worked up about a technical question. Thank you shel for your informative response. I am missing the pressure relief valve. So I am assuming that that is where I have located my oil lines. I didn't completely cut off the cam bearings, I restricted them to 1/16" which is what mopar supplied as a rebuild reccomendatiin from what I have read. Also my later rods did not have squirt holes. And the new bearings did not have holes for the squirters either. The oil spewing out of the sides of the rod journals should splash all over everything. Let's see if I can get facts without attitude. I didn't think I was being disrespectful when I posted.
    1 point
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