Radarsonwheels

Oh and I’m in love with this eastwood tube flaring tool the flares come out factory perfect quickly and with minimal effort. I didn’t even forget to put any tube nuts on before making a flare!

All cleaned up for the day! It was a pretty good thrash today. A little cold but not bad. After my last post I pulled my brake booster and slotted three of the the holes a little so it would sit level. I also painted the rest of the driver’s side firewall front and back so I can install the brake booster and plumb to it. I had already painted behind the new column flange. Hopefully the pedal arm still clears the column (which no longer wiggles around!). I’ll bolt it all back up and check before doing more plumbing. I also secured the clamp on the axle that holds the splitter end of the hose. Loctite and good torque on the clamp and on the splitter. Then I made new brake hard lines for the rear calipers and secured the short caliper hoses to the axle. The short driver’s side run of hard line doesn’t touch anywhere and is pretty sturdy but the passenger side is kind of a long run so I welded a little 16g fold-over hold down tab on the center section. The small tack weld seemed to sink into the iron just fine and now I feel confident the lines won’t move or snag on road debris.

This is what I came up with. The plate is 14g and the pie cut is 16g with 3/16 tapped lugs. Strong as houses. It would look amazing with a little body work- maybe later. I got the dash support bar finished too. I still have a few hours of daylight I’m taking a break but I’m thinking about running some brake hard lines. It worked out great that I welded the 1/4-20 tapped lugs to the inside of the column sealing flange. That way I can easily install and remove the bolts by myself.

The original firewall had a much larger hole in it and sealed to the column with a plate that was similar in design to the plate I want to make except all the angles are wrong and it would push the column up into the cab another inch or more that I don’t want. I very much want the column’s perforated outer shell and breakaway rivets to work as intended! They will work as designed to make the column collapse if needed. The universal joints and angle into the steering rack will help too. Anything is better than setting a 5’ x 3/4” steel rod up by the bumper and aiming it at your heart. The stock setup is scary. I put in lap belts too but thats about it for safety other than great brakes. Still has a steel dash...

I could be wrong- my truck is a C series- but the 5 bolts on a 4.5 inch circle is a common bolt pattern to a lot of ford and mopar up through the 80s when they switched to metric. The last chevy five bolt wheels I dealt with were 4.75 inches. Good luck with centimeters I have no idea

I am also struggling with the master cylinder and pedal placement. I didn’t love the first holes I drilled so I slotted them and now it clears everything but it’s a touch off level. It doesn’t hurt anything but I feel like it’s one of those times where you take the time and do it right for it’s own sake if for no other reason than to convey that the other parts of the build were not just thrown together. Ugh more work haha

Hmm maybe I shouldn’t ding the flange on the column. I’m not sure if it would affect the bearing alignment inside all those tubes. Probably better to just sand a small flat spot with the angle grinder- it’ll get any lost strength back with the addition of the bracket. Also gotta remember to never let the welder ground through the bearings that can cause some problems with smoothness later.

I had to be a janitor and run the buffer last nite at my shop and worked my day off but I still snuck in a little progress. I started some stuff and measured some other stuff. It’s always better if I have a plan of attack for the loud daytime hours so I don’t waste them planning. I chopped the factory firewall to column drop/lower dash bracket in half and got a new bracket tacked up that bolts to the new swinging pedal bracket and booster stud. I did it real quick so the parts are ugly and I tacked through the paint and dirt on the 54 stub but I figure now that it fits I can blast it clean, weld it up and smooth it a little. It’s a hidden part but there is no need to have it this ugly. The third corner of the triangle to resist flex under braking is the steering column where it pierces the firewall. I measured the angle that it hits the firewall and drew up my best idea that doesn’t cost any $. It doesn’t seem like too hard of a plan- make a plate that’s thick and tapped or has nuts welded to it with a big column hole in the middle, bolt it to the passenger side of the firewall hole. Heat and hammer back the 12:00 region of the column tube flange a little so it has a little more area that hits the plate. Stitch a nice strong tack between the column tube and the plate from 11:00-1:00. Then unbolt the assembly and finish the bottom of the column & bracket with a piecut of sheetmetal or exhaust tubing. ...Or I could just weld one or two tabs on the column tube that bolt to the firewall, then install a Mr. Gasket shifter boot with chrome trim ring. I’m open to suggestions but I’ll probably get after plan A tomorrow after my kid’s on the bus.

I got a new (reman?) pump from rockauto for my 230 flatty. It was pretty inexpensive and fed my weber carb just fine. And it even came with the little shot glass too! Before that I had a little inline electric pump- all that junk went in the trash. The rebuild looks pretty easy though. JBNeal has it right though- the mopar mechanical pumps have always made me nervous about cross threading the bolts since they go in under tension. At least it’s into cast iron and not aluminum like a later smallblock timing cover. It never hurts to chase the threads with a tap and make sure your bolts are clean with no burrs too.

The bracket is done & painted, the mc is bench bled, bolted up to the prop valve/front splitter, and plumbed up ready to hang on the booster. Gotta make the brace from the firewall to the column drop and a bracket to bolt up and seal the column thru the firewall.

Scratched my head and went back and forth for a while and decided to mount my front splitter/ rear proportioning valve under the master cylinder. I started making a bracket to use the mc bolts.

Also welded in a bracket for a negative battery terminal disconnect switch. That way I can cut the battery for maintenance or storage or emergency. It’s not an nhra style killswitch since the motor can still run off the alternator but it will be more convenient than the battery all tucked under the wood.

A valid concern- thanks good lookin out! The cast center has a rib on the top and I contoured the sheetmetal side of the clamp so it keys to the rib. I think if I use red loctite on the bolts and get a good torque it’ll hold as good as anything else. My hose came two days faster than the tracking predicted which is always nice. The mockup looks good! I welded in the bracket to terminate the chassis side of the hose. Now I’m ready to make and install hard brake lines from the proportioning valve back. Actually I have to mount that too, and bench bleed the master and plumb the fronts. Lots left it’s a start though.

Like this but with the hose I ordered which doesn’t have a hard line extension on the block and has better output angles. The chassis side bracket will go where ever the hose tells it then I can finally have the rear all plumbed.

Thanks Farmer! I’m still undecided about doing carpet I might just do carpet in the footwells and maybe cover the console in vinyl. It leaks a little in the rain so I have to address that before I do any rugs. The metal will look cool for a while until I get tired of heat and noise and it sure ain’t gonna flex! It’s just sitting there for now. I’m going to spot (actually rosette) weld the panels to the floor frame and weld the seams up solid later when the plumbing is done. I got a big huge exhaust clamp in the mail today. It looks like it will be a great solution for mounting the rear brake hose splitter to the axle. I just need to notch the top folded metal piece so that it indexes to the ridge on the iron tube, a little loctite and it’ll do the job nicely!

Yup my truck was 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern when it was born and after the rusty hope kit.

It’s only metal don’t be afraid to open the hole a little. You can gently scrape any burrs off when you’re done.

The ‘89 dakota I got for a donor was $700 and needed a radiator, fuel pump, and condensor. The front was bashed in but the panel gaps were all good and the frame turned out to measure pretty square. The front frame graft is not exactly what I did but it is as easy as the fatman etc. All plymouthy’s advice is solid!

Ah I missed that it is a 1 ton. Good luck with it!

I drilled and tapped mine in place for the rusty hope kit. My kingpins were siezed real bad and my little hydraulic press couldn’t get the pins out! I ended up taking the whole axle to the machine shop- the new pin bushings have to be align reamed anyway dead nuts straight. If you’re set on removing the knuckles to get the RH guy to drill them for the brackets then I’d say yes file those tacks off. Make sure you remove the bolt that goes in from the side- it locks the kingpin in there. You probably already know that but can’t hurt to say.

Still have to finish off the back behind the seatbelt bracket bar and the vertical part of the bench pedestal. Then on to the hard part making the removable trans tunnel/motor hump

My nice upholstery has been mocked up in my cab since before christmas. For some reason my wife thought it looked better in there than in the dining room for holiday guests? I stashed the bench inside this morning so I could get to work on my floor. Farmer had me inspired to do a good job and use the biggest pieces I could cut for less welding and seams. Last night I hit wally world after midnight with all the other wierdos and bought two packs of posterboard. I like measuring but I am a bigger fan of tape and scissors for all the complex shapes. I have this little 110 plasma cutter with an onboard compressor that is awesome for sheetmetal. It’s kinda slow but I like it better than a grinder or beverly shear for a lot of jobs- more accurate & less distortion. Anyway, it’s coming along. Hopefully we have a nice cold day soon so I can peel up that nasty dynamat without too much neverending asphalt/rubber goo problems so I can weld to the passenger toe area.

I think it’s a 70’s ramcharger axle. I’ve never seen one with a divorced vent like this either- I only ever worked on the ones where the bolt is also the vent. If I was building for the track and weight was a concern I wouldn’t be happy with my rear situation but for what I’m doing I like it- the worn out super stock springs locate the axle, the bags hold up the chassis and offer variable ride height, and the slapper bars should resist wheel hop and spring wind up. A four link with adjustable coilovers would have been a more elegant and lighter solution but the 1” thick ipe bed weighs a ton anyway. Should be good for traction!

Re-read my post but a picture explains it better

Here’s a pic (old pic! No wires or gas tank or battery yet) of how little space I have to work with- the traditional splitter bolt spot is gone. Figuring it out as I go along!