Bmartin

Well I managed to break my bearing puller and the steering wheel has not budged. Any ideas??

Just a last picture before I tear her down. I guess I’ll start this thread to show my progress, or lack there of. I’m slow and have too many passions in life so this won’t be quick. My goal for this stage is a swap to a 230 with an overdrive tranny. I’m converting to 12 volts and refreshing/repairing a few things along the way. Oh, and lots of degreasing. In preparation for the engine pull I checked the compression on the existing engine. All cylinders were around 65 psi according to my gauge. So I’m questioning my gauges accuracy because I thought an engine wouldn’t even run at that low of a compression. I started by taping all the edges of the front end and pulling the hood. I don’t have anywhere to store the complete front clip so its coming off in pieces. That way it fits in the house. The wife is thrilled. Off with the rest. The next step was to get the steering gear out for a rebuild. That dang steering wheel will not budge! I used a small puller, no luck. Tried the bearing puller, split the stock nut. Now I’m trying this contraption with no luck. Soaking and letting it sit each night. Wondering if I am going to have to cut it off. I’ve got a 49 deluxe wheel coming from the bay that I hope will work (and be as good as the pictures). I removed and disassembled the heater box. Anyone know a good way to get the fan off the motor post? I removed the set screw and it won’t budge. Currently soaking in PBblaster. I took a wire wheel to the bell housing to get the grease/rust/paint off. This will be gloss black when finished. Anywhere to pick up new mesh inserts? I know no one will see it, but I’m OCD like that. And just a pick of a junkyard find. I love this dash. 33 desoto. The cluster may end up in the 40 someday if it’s salvageable. For now it’s destined for garage art.

I picked up a clamp on current meter for tests like that. Otherwise, you'll need to put a meter inline (In series). But need to make sure the meter can handle the expected current draw.

Winter is cruising time. Summer is too darn hot. Perfect time to work in the garage. (sarcasm!)

Ran all day! Great time! Now to tear it apart!

Took it for a test drive and did not find any leaks. Should be good to go for the day.

Well, it was leaking out of the rivets that hold the two halves together. Found out after I mad a new gasket. Ground the rivets out and there is not gasket, perhaps a little sealant at one time but maybe not. So I sealed up the two halves with fuel safe gasket maker and am letting it setup overnight. I'll check first thing in the morning. May have to add the gasket maker to the sender gasket as well. Gonna have to try and not fill it up so high.

I was wondering about cork. Just made one but did not think of a sealant as well. thx.

definitely leaking around sending unit. Pulled it and there are two gaskets on it. Screws were a bit loose. Any idea if I could find a gasket for this at a local parts store? It would need to cross reference to something newer. Any ideas on sealing it with a fuel safe sealant?

I just filled up the tank and got home to fuel leaking from the top of the tank. I assume its leaking around the sending unit. I've never dropped the tank and the previous owner carpeted over the sending unit. From looking at the manual, it looks like the sending unit can be removed from the top. Is this true? I'm going to cut away the carpet and check it out. Anything else it could be up there besides a crack. Does not look like enough room. Tomorrow was supposed to be the last cruise of the season before I tear it apart for the summer. Go figure. Gonna see if I can coax one more day out of her.

I'll see if I can find the boxes. They were the same part number as all the rest, just some had the 10 mm and some had the 8mm bleeder screw. Once I go one of them, I went to three other Oreillys going through their stock till I found the 8mm. I believe one was labeled Cardone and the other was labeled Breakbest as Oreilly was changing suppliers at the time. I still think that Cardone does all the rebuilds for all the brands.

You might want to go through this thread. Lots of discussion on lowering. http://p15-d24.com/topic/33585-new-ways-to-lower-the-rear-end/?hl=%2Bnew+%2Bways+%2Blower I think as a start I would pickup a pair of the moog coil springs and see what you think. They are $55 shipped to your door from Jegs. That way, you have your stock springs to go back to if need be. I'm on my second set since I was bouncing back and forth between uncut coils with lowering uprights and then stock uprigths with cut coils. Even with a coil cut off the moogs, they still need to be compressed to get the lower control arm back on, so no worries of it falling out. One thing I learned through all this is that the disc brake kit pushes the wheel out 1/8" to 1/4" and the dropped uprights push the wheel out almost 1/2". So if you are going lower and getting the tire close to the fender, it can cause issues. Stock brakes with stock uprights will have the narrowest track. My tire is a 16X6.5 and is up inside the wheel well in front. So this was a big issue. Also check tire clearance to the front side (front of car) of the fender. That is where I am rubbing right now, I clear the top but not the front on compression.

I finally found a pair of the rebuilt GM's that did not leak at the bleeder. They had the smaller 8 mm bleeder screw. I went through 7 or 8 different calipers with the 10mm screw, most were NAPA's top line ones. The ones that ended up working were the cheapest ones that Oreilly sells.

Fred, I am at work now and have not had time to go through the entire thread, plus they block the pics. But just a note on relocating the shocks if you have not done that yet. I put the new mounts on and tried the monroes everyone recommends. It is extremely stiff, too stiff in my opinion. I still have them in because I have tire clearance issues and they limit the rubbing. Once I get that figured out, I'm going to try something else. I have my fatory shocks still and will try them first. Just something to consider, especially when checking shock travel vs mount location.

Yes, I will have scrub radius issues with the smaller wheel/tire. This is why I will need to come up with a different solution such as removing leafs and then going to a smaller block. That will bring the ubolts up and keep the ride height the same - hopefully.

Yes you have 5X4.5" bolt pattern. Going wider is definitly possible if you are not lowering the car too much. Just get the proper backspacing to keep the inner wheel/tire from hitting the TRE or possibly the upright. In back, its just the inner and outer fenders that are a concern.

Any advice on which leaves to pull, if and when I do? I'd love to see if you could assign a spring rate to each of the leaves and then decide on which to remove and which to keep. I'm also assuming that you need to keep certain leaves to keep the assmebly to together. I keep looking at doing a 4 link. But it just does not seem worth it unless you are ready to rebuild the entire rear frame and the rear floor. These frames are not setup for a notch in my opinion.

Good to know, thanks for the info. Here is the layout with the stock 15" wheel. Really not much different as far as the wheel goes. Hopefully the extra tire section width won't bite me. I think that is just 1/8" of tire width for every inch of wheel width.

I have about 1.5" of travel before I hit the stops as it sits now. The scrub line is pretty much even with the bottom of the wheel, maybe a little below. I did have a flat in the rear and the u-bolts were almost touching the ground. So that is a concern and will have to be addressed when I go to the smaller wheel/tire combo. I'm considering pulling some leafs and changing to a 1 or 2 inch block. I bottom out in the rear on large bumps. I love the way it sits and am willing to deal with the consequences. Keep in mind, our roads are smooth as glass so I have a lot more leeway.

Are you referring to the dust cap on the front rotors? If so, let me make sure I understand. You cut the dome of the dust cap off, reduced the height by 1/4" and welded a flat top back on the dust cover? Seems straight forward enough. Any problems with the rear's? I'm still running the stock drums. Thanks.

58prostreet, Thanks a bunch, that is very helpful. From my reading it looks like the Plydo kit is the same parts as olddaddy's so that should work. I'll need to hit the junkyards to see if I can find any.

I'm sitting a little lower than you are, 1.25 coils in front off the Moog springs and 3" posie springs in back with 3" blocks. Thanks for the info, it does help to see what others have done For everyone else, I've read that from about 49-56 Mopars came with a 15X4" wheel with 3" backspacing. Does anyone have these wheels and have the measurements from them? It woud also help to know if they fit over disk brakes (olddaddy's). Thanks.

They are currently a 16 X 6.5 bias ply. Yes, they are pretty big. From looking around, I only saw a 16 X 6 in a wide white. So thats only an inch smaller overall diameter. I was hoping to get a two inch smaller overall diameter. I also want to go with a 15" so that I can use hub caps.

Thanks, there some great places to take pics around my house.

Here is how I calculated the front spacing. Check my #'s and see if I missed anything. I did post incorrectly, the backspacing would be 4.9" on the FWD wheel. I have not bought anything to try yet, just working with numbers so far. I still need to measure the distance to the steering arm and upright in back to see if I have the room. Plus the challenge of finding one with at least a 2.75" center hole.