stylinmike

Thanks for the links, will keep you updated when I get to the point of mounting my rack and fabbing prototypes up.

I think ill actually make them from steel. Should turn out pretty nice. Thinking about making the balljoint receiving end to actually accept the cavalier tie rods so there would be no welding or adapters required. Can anyone tell me if the cavalier tie rods were the same length as the dodge/plymounth ones when installed? Also, is the stock hole in the steering arm tapered at all?

Hmmm....I may be able to design up an aluminum steering arm replacement. Anyone see any issues with it being aluminum over steel? Should be plenty strong if im using 3/4"-1" round stock

Yea, my car is a 47 dodge (coupe). Im from Canada, but its a Montana car. Ill be making my own (maybe many) r&p brackets, but the info is much appreciated. What is the limiting factor on the turning radius of the Fatman/Plydo kits, the stroke of the cavalier rack? Also, anyone have any info/pictures on the motor swap mounts?

Thanks. It appears that its just 1.5 square tubing welded to a 1/4" plate, kind of rough looking. I think once I have the motor and body pulled Im going to develop a nicer looking bracket that wraps around both sides of the frame and has some nice circles cut out of it for bonus points. Ill probably make it bolt in as well if I decide to sell it so that those who cant weld or have no access to a welder can use it. Ive got a powdercoat setup too so maybe ill go that route as well as long as it keeps price reasonable. Ill keep the forum updated when I get to that stage.

A buddy and I run a custom shop for mainly modern vehicles. I should just CAD up the brackets for motor swaps and the cavalier rack and sell them myself. Seems alot of people want them but PlyDo seems to be always MIA. Id leave the disc brake brackets alone as rustyhope already has that product covered. If anyone has the cavalier rack mount brackets or could take measurements let me know and ill fire up autocad and send them to the waterjet. I know alot of you hate the idea, and I can appreciate that, but im going to be putting an LS 6 litre chevy motor in my dodge. The car was given to me by my grandpa and I want to have both the speed and reliability of the new motor. As much as I can appreciate an all original car, I think at the same time the idea of putting a newer faster engine in the car embodies some of the original ideas behind hot rodding. Of course, we're not all here to hot rod these cars, and neither am I completely. Ill probably be keeping 90% of the car original with the exception being the drivetrain. Cheers!

Does anyone have pictures of the plydo conversion motor mounts? I can't seem to find any threads about motor swap with pictures in them. On a side note.....man are they hard to contact! Ive been calling everyday for the last week and I either get a busy signal, no answer, or picked up and hung up right away.

Half of Canada has a MANDATORY winter tire law. I pretty much sell a set of winter tires every second day lately.

Okay, bought a chrome water neck for a chevy V8. Bolt holes and outer shape are the exact same. However, the stock waterneck has a ridge in it for the large thermostat to sit in. This chevy one doesnt have a ridge because all the "v" style blocks from chev have the ridge built into the intake manifold rather than then water neck. So I bought a thermostat with the neck hoping I could make it fit. Unfortunately the thermostat is smaller and just falls into the head on my dodge? Any ideas?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/2328083638_5c11312dcd.jpg

If I have a factory neck that HAS the bypass, can I replace it with one that doesnt. I guess what im saying is, is the bypass neccassary? From what I understand it prevents hot spots in the motor before the thermostat opens. How important is that?

Beautiful! What are the firewall mounted objects? Coil and Remote Oil filter? *Edit: I think I see the coil mounted down low, so whats on the firewall? Vacuum can?

Woohoo! Congrats! I always find myself with problems where i dont want to remove certain items for troubleshooting (ie, starter) because it seems like too much work for a simple problem. Then when you finally do, the problem seems to pop up very quickly and it turns out being far less work than you intended.

He tried boosting the battery overnight with no luck. I agree tho, still sounds like a battery issue. Either that or my money is on the starter being toast or it's ground. The wire from the horn relay to the coil is just a daisy chain back to the ignition switch. It would be the same as running it straight to the ignition switch. Also, make sure you aren't confusing the voltage regulator and the horn relay, as the voltage reg also has 3 terminals. Not saying you are, but just throwing the comment out there to be sure. Back to the starter, for the amount of work it is, I would just pull the starter and bench test it. Then work backward from there.

If it is polished steel, would a clearcoat be enough to protect it from rust? Thanks for all the various info guys!

Gorgeous, would like mine to look very similar. Can you give details on the carbs, air cleaners, oil breather, and that water neck?

Loving the use of anodized fittings. Which head is that, doesn't appear to say edgy. Also, are those weber carbs? And the aircleaner?

I really like your setup. Whered you get the chrome oil filter housing, or did you just polish the one you had (are they aluminum?). Also, whered you get your air cleaners? Love the look of Pete's. Wish I had the money to afford that Edgy head <3<3 . What type of alternator pulley is needed for our cars? Will a regular vbelt pulley work? Side note, anyone know if there is a crossover chrome waterneck that fits these motors? Maybe some variety of sbc or something?

Looks awesome! Kind makes me want to shave the trim off mine when I paint it...something to think about for sure. On your tires, are those white walls the 'port-o-wall' add on type? Ive never actually seen them in person and have been contemplating buying some for my radials.

Anyone have pics of really nice, clean, non-stock engine bays. Im going to keep my original inline 6, but would like to somewhat of a rod-esque dressup (chrome, billet, paint, etc.). Just looking for some nice dressed up pics?

I dont think your issue is your ignition switch. Especially since youve tried jumping directly from a booster pack. I would say the issue is a toast starter or seized up crankshaft that the starter wont spin. Id more than likely say your starter is toast, or the wiring at the starter needs to be looked at. If you are really stuck, remove your starter and bench test it with your booster pack. Also, try turning the motor by hand to make sure its freely moving.

I know alot of the older guys might not like the style, but im really liking the car. Hadnt seen a chopped one before now. Nice!!

After re-reading your post I will say it's probably not the solenoid since you tried bypassing it. The lack of cranking and the spark from jumping it is either dead battery or dead starter. A spark would be normal, but it would also crank as well. I'm still gonna say it's the battery. I'd charge it, if that doesn't work then use the boost setting on your charger if it has one and see if it'll crank. A seized up starter is possible but highly unlikely given the background information. Also, check the battery cables at both ends, especially your positive ground. As well as remove any corrosion from the battery terminals. Loose cables would display similar issues.

Also a dead battery at the same time as a harness change sounds like there's a possibility of a current draw. Once you get it back to normal disconnect your negative battery cable and put your multimeter inline between the cable and the battery in amp mode. Make sure everything is off and the key is out. You should not be reading anything higher than 25 miliamps. Actually, if your clock doesn't work you really shouldn't be reading any amps.

I'd bet the battery is dead or the solenoid is shot. Even though it shows voltage it may not have enough amperage. Thow a charger on it. I'd bet 90% that's your problem. The other thing it could be sounds like how modern starter solenoids go out. Usually you can beat on them with a hammer. However I'm not overly familiar how an external solenoid like what we have would respond to that.