Search the Community

Hi, Been a little while. My buddy Craig and I finally got moved into our new shop space. It's a 600 or so Sq ft shop in Mountain View CA. It's small but much better than where I was working. At least a car fits inside, under a roof! We're still getting set up. We have some electrical work to do for the welders and compressor. The Dodge is a Wayfarer Business Coupe. It's complete except for the drivetrain. It's missing the engine, transmission and drive shaft. Front floors are shot too. All the trim and other miscellaneous front end parts are in the trunk, except for the hood,that's in the garage. The plan is to take a bunch of parts from a 1997 Jeep Cherokee 2 wheel drive and adapt them to the Dodge. More likely I'll be adapting the Dodge to fit the Jeep parts. Parts from the Jeep that I will use in the Dodge: Engine 4.0L (244ci.) Inline six. Fuel infected and all. Automatic tansmission and shifter cable. Will be adapted to use the column shift for selecting gears. Rear axle. Chrysler 8 1/4" Rear leaf springs I'll adapt or make new spring mounts on the frame. Parking brake system (equalizer box and rear cables) I will adapt the Dodge front cable. Power steering gear box. I don't have a plan for how this will work yet but I would like to have the power steering. HVAC. The entire under dash evaporator box and controls. I'll have to use the passenger side firewall from the Jeep to mount the HVAC to. Gas tank with sender and pump. Some of the gauge guts to make the old Dodge gauges work with the electric sender's from the Jeep. So far the fuel gauge and speedometer. The power brake booster, master cylinder and pedal assembly. The driver's side Jeep firewall will be moved to the Dodge. I will be using most of the Jeep firewall, transmission tunnel and the front portions of the floor pans. I won't be using the Jeep front disc brakes, instead I'll get an after market setup for the Dodge. This will be a long project. I plan to just make it right. The thought behind using as much of the Jeep as possible is that I will be able to service the Dodge almost anywhere. I want to make this my every day car and keep my Ranchero (currently the daily driver) for when I need a pickup. I will post some current pictures too. Thanks, Greg

One of the things that's particularly satisfying for me is fabricating a part that I cannot otherwise find or does not exist in the real world. Sometimes it a special tool or fixture. They are usually smallish and involve fabricating something by hand to look like a production piece. Often it involves "re-purposing" something that already exists. Many of us do that as a routine. However, there are some of our fraternity who might learn something or be inspired to stretch their view of what might be achievable with a little ingenuity and encouragement. There are many of these little "nuggets" of inspiration buried in many of our threads,.... i.e. 40plyrod's "lower grill trim piece". Some may recall my wrench turned pitman arm (on the Hemi Build thread). Normally associated with a specific project thread, they might also apply to, or serve as inspiration for, any number of other subjects. Here's a start. I found a neat little tank that I wanted to use as an overflow reservoir. This is the special bracket that was made to mount it. - - -