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512 cid C series on Dakota chassis- build thread


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Thanks CO54!

 

So while I had a bunch of clamps on the base plate it fell and cracked my wood grip! Sometimes that’s how it goes. 

 

I made another ipe grip, sewed up a vinyl boot, and made a new base plate and a trim ring. The vinyl is glued to the trim ring but I gotta repaint the ring- I wiped off some of the paint when I cleaned off some errant spray adhesive. The wood got pushed on over the metal (snug fit) with some epoxy, the button was screwed on, then the wood got pushed forward a little to capture the button before the epoxy set. 

 

In any case I’m happy to have this part kinda wrapped up. I might shape the handle a little more once the epoxy is 100%. I’m not in love with the bulge in the front and considering doing the finger grooves again. I should be able to keep moving on the floor console and firewall again soon. 

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Edited by Radarsonwheels
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I think I’m actually done messing with it now. It’s so cold out I don’t think I’m getting the brakes bled or welding in the cab today.

 

Lately I’ve been thinking about those radio holes in the dash. I actually bought one of those 2 pod finned cast aluminum inserts from mooneyes but it kinda clashed and the gauges really looked best in the passenger dash area. I really like the original red paint on the dash. What a shame that it’s got 1970s metallic green overspray mixed with 2000s krylon olive drab and black on the A pillars and green doors.

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38 minutes ago, CO54 said:

What size gauges did you use? How wide is the 54 cluster opening? 

 

I chose the autometer old tyme series because I wanted no digital odometer & quarter moons on the backs of the pointers.

 

When I made the driver’s dash I cut a fresh plate of 14g to fit the oval (actually slightly kidney shaped) and put in the biggest almost rediculous 5” plain white tach, modest 3 1/8” mechanical speedo odo, and 2 1/16” oil and water gauges. I also put in little amber and blue LED bezels for turn and high beam indicators.

 

The usual gauge package also has volts and fuel level but I was planning on using a spun aluminum round tank in the front of the bed that I already had. That tank had a mechanical level gauge in it like a small boat tank and I figured volts is easy enough to see if you’re not charging the lights get dim.

 

Plans changed with thoughts of how thirsty the 512 will be and not wanting to cover the ipe bed or drill it for an in bed tank. So now I have a drivers dash insert I don’t want to change because I like it and since I was buying a 0-90 ohm chevy style gas gauge I figured I might as well do the volt meter.

 

Neither gauge needs constant monitoring on a hot rod so I went back and forth about putting them in the console with the slap shifter & e brake, or to fill those radio holes, and decided to copy the spacing of the oil and water gauges in the driver’s dash. I cut the stock mesh insert so the heater could still have extra ventilation and I figure the gauge backs won’t show thru since it’ll be dark under the dash. 

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Driver’s side pic is before I installed the indicator leds. The driver’s dash is also already all wired with weather pack connectors- ain’t changin it or cluttering it more

 

The two gauges wouldn’t even totally cover these radio holes. I will probably end up welding these shut and painting the whole interior before carpet and doorcards. I might even make a headliner some day!

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Edited by Radarsonwheels
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New plan for the radio hole- I decided to fit a wideband o2 sensor in that spot. I’ll probably just make a plate to cover the radio holes and cut a new 2 1/16” hole in the middle for the gauge.

 

I am not into the Las Vagas bling of these digital led gauges but I used the oldschool innovate ‘lambda cable’ on a few hotrods. When I first started trying to be a holley carb expert I used one of these to tune my racing two barrel on a 225 slant 6. It needed a ton of wiring down of orifices and the real time AFR got me close fast and took a lot of guessing out of the tuneup.

 

Another attractive spot to put the AFR gauge is inside the glovebox. My cardboard is gone but my latch and door work perfect. I could just hang the door open when I want to check the tuneup. 

 

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Got some odds & ends done before work. I confirmed that the ends fit my gauges and plumbed the copper oil pressure line and the mechanical speedo cable from the block & trans thru the firewall with nice rubber grommets. 

 

I have the carb linkage stuff laid out to do next for the throttle and kickdown.

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13 hours ago, Los_Control said:

Can we get a mod to ban this guy?

His enthusiasm is making us all look bad   :D

 

Amazing how you are out there working and getting it did.

Kinda dropped below 60 degrees here and I been inside hibernating.

 

GO GO GO!

 

I know...right?  Too much energy and time!  I barely had the energy to pull a door off TODD last night to work on it.  He'd have the door rebuilt, painted and hung already!

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Those are the same gauges I've been looking at,  I leaning towards trying to keep the original speedo, and updating the other 4 in the original cluster if possible.  Only time will tell when I get to that point if it's possible.

Thanks for all the great pics and work though.

Eric

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Wednesday is my Saturday and it’s nice out!

 

My buddy came over and helped me tighten down the two front deck mounts and all the nylock nuts on the two central shovel strips that are a two man job since I went with round holes and 1/4-20 stainless machine screws instead of squares and carriage bolts. Now the wood deck is fully mounted and solid.

 

I rolled my front fender lips with a combo of hammering and a neato roller tool. The tires should clear well as long as I go easy over bumps during sharp turns. 

 

The parking brake lever mounting plate is tacked in and should work nicely in my console. 

 

I got the lokar brackets and cable ends mounted on the carb. The kickdown (or mopar snobs will correctly say ‘throttle pressure’) cable housing needs to be cut down a little to show more inner cable at the carb end and the throttle still needs to pierce the firewall above the pedal before I tune it’s length. Half the fiddly linkage is done though and the trans side got done ‘last year’ haha.

 

I started gravity bleeding the new four wheel disc brakes. Everything is new and empty between the bench bled MC and the calipers which were full of old fluid. I’m re-using the dakota calipers and I mounted the 90’s jeep ZJ discs on my early 70s ramcharger 9.25 rear. The adjustable proportioning valve is wide open to encourage flow. Maybe I’ll get lucky and have a pedal after I close it all up but that almost never happens. At least it will be close and any old fluid thats dirty and or water contaminated is all getting flushed. 

 

The dark wood on the passenger side of the bed pic is just in shadow from the afternoon sun.

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Edited by Radarsonwheels
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I had some trash behind a copper washer on the front passenger caliper banjo bolt. I pulled it off and cleaned it up with brakleen and scotchbrite, and re- gravity bled that corner. Now the pedal feels decent, won’t go to the floor, and sustained pressure doesn’t make any new puddles.

 

Got the firewall pierced for the throttle cable fitting. Check off the woah, back to work on the go!

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Got the floor frame traced onto the panels in place, removed them, and drilled every 3” for spot welds (rosette welds)

 

I dont want moisture to get inbetween the sheetmetal and frame! I think I’m gonna paint the floor and frame then just clean around the holes and thru them a little bit with a wire wheel. I thought about seam sealing it but it might be better to just let water have somewhere to go so it can dry?

 

For some reason I never messed with weld thru primer maybe I should.

 

edit: After some web browsing and asking around I decided to paint the frame, sand the top clean, and paint that with weld thru primer. I’ll also do a stripe of weld thru under the paint on the bottom of the sheetmetal near the holes.

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Edited by Radarsonwheels
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Got the bottoms of the floor pans painted. I wiped them down with acetone, painted them black, sanded around the holes, then painted that raw metal with weld thru primer. 

 

I also had to re-up my welding supplies- got 12lbs of .030 wire, a new bottle of shielding gas, and spent like $50 on the deepest reach set of vice grip welding clamps I’ve ever seen. I’ve done the ‘press down with a hammer handle’ thing and even screwed panels in with self tappers then removed them and welded thru each hole instead of clecos, but this should make the job neater since I can use both hands on the torch.

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Radar

Since you'll be done with your truck here pretty soon it seems, maybe you should start planning a vacation to drive around and kicking a few of us in the arse that might be slacking on progress, skills, or imagination.  Your sketching skills could also be beneficial. 

Thanks.

Eric

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Thanks CO54

 

I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my addiction to this build and oversharing about it on here. We all know once you drive it around the block for the first time the work is just beginning ;)

 

It’s been a mountain of neverending work- most of it fun or at least satisfying. It’s pretty cool to see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

 

Speaking of which, my headlights and front turns need a harness made for them- I used to just run high and low beams both on all the time and the trim rings and mounts are in really rough shape... never. ending. :)

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I snuck an hour in the driveway today. My cab floor frame has been outside and bare metal since june or july or something and was starting to have some surface rust that I sure didn’t want to trap where it could fester when I weld in the floor.

 

I wirebrushed it all pretty clean with a drill then busted out the Por15 and slobbed the whole under floor area and anywhere that will never be seen again unless I remove the cab.

 

I’ll have to reinstall the floor pans, mark where the rosette welds will be, pull the floor, sand the paint off, and hit those spots with weld-thru primer. 

 

The peace of mind will be worth it.

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The house across the street is for sale!

2 car attached garage...

 

I got the driver’s side floor in and fully welded except for in the nook where the gas filler used to pierce the cab. It’s kind of a shame- I was just getting super good at taking the pan in and out! 

 

I also cut out the cross bar that sits above the transmission tailshaft and re-connected it to the bench pedestal  crossbar 1” higher. It had a good 1/2” of clearance in the rear of the bar but because of the slope of the trans it only had 3/16” in the front. I’m running poly motor mounts and a rubber trans mount so it -should- have been fine and not banged around but it only took 30 mins to be sure it never will with access from above and a sawzall.

 

 

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And the passenger side is in and painted now too. Next thrash I get to weld in the top plate for the bench pedestal and start making templates for the passenger toe board, and pedestal sides and back.

 

Inner fenders/splash aprons and the whole tunnel/setback will come after that.

 

I also gave the sparkle green doors a quick spray bomb- I couldn’t take the Christmas decor any more.

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