falconvan

Thanks but I think the Mopar big block bell housing pattern is different than the small blocks. Does that have a bolt on bell housing? Maybe someone makes a conversion.

I'm thinking a 727 with a manual valvebody but might go back with a stick. I'll have to see what's available, you can do a 727 for a pretty reasonable amount of $$.

Yeah, I did. I don't think the stock Ford Ranger 5 speed with the 8" clutch would last behind it plus I could see the overall costs getting way up there. I can build the engine and throw a 727 behind it for quite a bit less, plus sell the whole SHO setup to offset the costs.

Nope, it's only money and you can't take it with you.

Yeah, not a big deal. If I wasn't working on this, I'd be working on something else.

I've been driving the 49 a lot but truthfully haven't been really happy with it. Once the novelty of the SHO motor wore off I wished I had gone with a V8 like I originally planned. The 3.2 runs really good but 180 cubic inches is still only 180 cubic inches. I thought about just selling the car and ran it on Ebay a few times but only got a lot of trade and lowball offers. So I think I'm going to finish out the cruising season with it and put it back under the knife this winter. I picked up a 400 Mopar B block and am planning on doing a 451 inch stroker with it. That should increase the fun factor a bit.

Doesn't look much different but I spent several hours and finished up 99% of the under dash wiring and added a tach. Laying on the floor working overhead was a back breaker; glad to have this part wrapped up.

I finished up the gauges today; I converted the fuel gauge over to a 0-90 ohm GM gauge, used the stock oil psi gauge and decided to use to aftermarket gauges for temp and volts. I'm putting them where the original radio was and put block off plates where the sat on the factory cluster. Also got some of the dash put together. My drive shaft is in and I did move it forward and back a few feet but I'm waiting on my buddy to finish up some touch up on the deck lid before I try to test drive it.

Yeah, I actually narrowed it a few inches. I think side by side trikes look disproportionately wide.

No, I do want tandem seating. Narrower body, less wind resistance.

Looking great, Paul!

Thanks, Paul. What kind of a Dodge truck did you get?

I went ahead a roughed together the frame today; I just used the front unibody rails as a guide and will transfer over the existing engine mounts and K-member mounts. It narrows right after the drivers seat and has just enough room for the passenger seat at the small end. Swing arm for the rear wheel will mount to the narrow end.

OK, all the junk is cut up and gone so here's my starting point. I need to get some things done on my 48 but should be able to start mocking up a frame soon.

I trimmed everything down to the width of the unibody rails and will use this front section as a pattern to build the frame. Still have the rear section to cut up but wont be using any of it. As soon as its gone I'll have some room to work.

Did a little more dis-assembly; I need to get rid of all the crap I'm not going to use and make some room. After some good advice, I think I'm going to use the front suspension as an assembly with the exception of a smaller manual rack, eliminating the strut towers and fabricating an upper control arm. Not sure how that's going to work yet but I've got some ideas. Also picked up some 2x3 rectangular tubing to start on a chassis as soon as I have the rest of the car stripped and out of the way.

Beautiful, my favorite car on here. Excellent job!

Lots done today; mounted the other seat, finished up several small things on the front suspension including putting on some shocks, and got the front gravel pan and bumper bracket mounted. Also knocked out a few small wiring things and finished putting in all the front sheet metal bolts. My buddy that did the paint is coming over this week to touch up a couple small nicks and buff the whole car. Once I get the back fenders bolted down and get the drive shaft cut and installed, I can take it down the street to see if everything is working.

Got most of my exhaust on today, just need to build the tailpipes to finish it up. It sounds really good. I also decided to go with these Omni seats rather than the Buick ones I had. The Buick seats were out of a 4 door and I didn't think about them not being able to hinge forward to access the rear seat. I think these will work good once they are re-covered and the headrest goes away.

I really wanted to take my 49 to the car show tonight but of course it rained most of the day and is supposed to rain all weekend. So I did some more chopping. Going to spend tomorrow on my 48; I got some parts in the mail today so I'm going to work on getting the exhaust on.

I got out the sawzall and trimmed everything down to the frame rails to get a good look at how the drive train and suspension mounts. The plan is to build a similar frame using 2x3 tubing. I'll be able to bring the frame rails in a few inches and duplicate the mounts for the drive train. The track width will stay the same with stock CV axles but I'll build tube upper and lower control arms and use a coil over shock rather than a strut. The cabin will be as wide as the frame rails and be center steer using a small manual rack; maybe something like a Geo Metro unit. Rails will taper in behind the passenger seat and use a single swing arm rear with a fairly wide tire. That's the plan so far...we'll see if it works out like I'm thinking.

Oh yeah, always loved Morgans; really classy looking ride.

Got it in the garage today after evicting numerous wasp nests and stripped a few parts off. Still tossing several ideas around; I'm going to strip it down to the bare body and drive train and then start figuring how to build a tube sub frame for the motor trans that will make the body wide enough for tandem seating. Lots of thinking to do......

Had to change the rack and pinion; the one I had in it was leaking bad. Bummer; I put it in rebuilt but it was 3 or 4 years ago and I don't remember where I bought it. Once I get a few more things done on the front end and finish fabbing the lead pipes for the exhaust, I can sit it on four feet again. But were getting closer to a road test!

Ok, I remember the 024 now that you said it. Man, hard to believe that was over 30 years ago.