512 cid C series on Dakota chassis- build thread

[John Rogers]

9 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

I remember when those were popular and many were using them .... I love it

 

I remember there was also a little one held on with a set screw for the dimmer switch.

                     John 

[Los_Control]

1 hour ago, John Rogers said:

I remember there was also a little one held on with a set screw for the dimmer switch.

                     John 

Surprised they are still available

 

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Gasket-9644-Barefoot-Dimmer/product-reviews/B000CMF29K/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_263_lp_cr_0?ie=UTF8&refRID=G6J3KEJEKMRR5F36BP9Z

[Radarsonwheels]

Oh wow hahaha I might keep the foot because it makes me feel like a little kid but I never saw a whole barefoot theme car! Maybe Jr should make a theme bike on Orange County Choppers it can have barefoot floorboards, gastank, fenders, exhaust tips, maybe even smell like feet! 

 

I sent my buddy a pic of it and he said he threw up in his mouth a little and asked if I was gonna do a hitch with truck nuts too. I’m not sure if that seals the deal that I’m keeping it or realizing my mistake! I’m only 40 and he’s well into his 50s so maybe the nostalgia is different for folks that saw this junk the first go around...

 

I also got around to drilling the bottom of the grille cavity for grommets so I could pass my rubber trans cooler lines between  the rad support and the new fabricated front crossmember to the hard lines I just made. 

 

And thanks to advice here I was able to quickly correct my droopy driver’s door handle- for such a ratty truck that angle really messed with the lines and bothered me.

 

That’s about all I’m gonna get done till next monday or Wednesday I hope you all enjoy Thanksgiving with your families!

Edited November 21, 2018 by Radarsonwheels

[Los_Control]

3 minutes ago, Radarsonwheels said:

I hope you all enjoy Thanksgiving with your families!

I hope you have a great Holiday yourself. I am getting a jump on dinner fixing a few things tonight, so less to do tomorrow .... my wife cant help much right now.

I have been telling the dogs all week about Tommy the Turkey who comes around and visits good dogs once a year .... They are so excited and cant wait for tomorrow 

[Radarsonwheels]

Got some more done today. I got a 17 gallon tank to go under the bed. 

 

I also welded in risers to hold the bench seat bracket and made a crossmember with three attachment points for lap belts. I didn’t weld that in yet.

 

I’m still trying to figure out if I am going to run the race harnesses I have on the shelf. If so I need to install a bar above the bench seat back that’s strong enough and high enough for mounts but tucked away enough to not touch anybody’s head in an unhelmeted accident... maybe I’ll just do the lap belts. Knees are softer than metal dashboards.

[Jomani]

That tank tucked in there nicely. Your progress is looking good - seeing you check off all the details reminds me just how much work I have ahead of me. Have you figured out the rest of the trans tunnel? I know I will have to build something for mine - can’t wait to see how yours turns out.

 

keep plugging along it will be on the road before you know it.

[Radarsonwheels]

Thanks Jomani.

The trans tunnel is going to get finished as a skeleton with the 1/4” round stock then faceted with 16g. The facets will get bigger and simpler around the right side and into the shifter console plate. The difficult part will be the top under the dash where I want to make the hump removable but I’m telling myself I can make a removable skeleton for that too so I can finish it on the bench instead of standing on my head under the dash.

[Radarsonwheels]

I had a lot of trouble getting the pipe thread on the tops of my rear airbags to seal. I cheaped out when I bought them because they came with nice thick brackets to weld in which made the bags effectively cost like $20 each so it seemed like a good gamble. The threading in the steel was very rough and wouldn’t seal brass fittings even with multiple attempts  using teflon tape, teflon paste, & different fittings. The closest I got was a slow leak that would air down overnight. I’m not planning on valves switches compressors or dumps- I just want the bags to require maintenance similar to a wheel and tire- pump to desired pressure and check once in a while. 

 

Well my last ditch effort before going nuclear with two part epoxy has now held pressure for two days- loctite 545 and 7649 primer/cleaner/activator. I’m a believer this stuff works!

[Radarsonwheels]

More slow progress. Some tiny details are coming together and some bigger stuff is moving forward like a glacier.

 

I got some 1.5” fuel filler hose to go to my marine deck filler thats already installed in the rear driver’s fender/tub. I already have a reducer and some 1.75” fuel hose with a 90° to attach to the fuel cell and I ordered three more steel 1.5” 90° elbows. The filler line has to go between the framerail and deck frame, forward to the rear of the tub, out through the bedside into the tub, then up to the deck filler cap. 

 

I’m not sure if I’m going to run the vent just sistered up to that whole plumbing nightmare or maybe just up the passenger side stake pocket? I am also thinking maybe a loop of hard line ending facing down or a little baby cone filter at the top would keep water out? I’m not going to do a charcoal can but the truck lives outside.

 

The running boards are now bolted to the rear fenders and zipped down to the forward brackets with self tappers. Now they’ll stay put and not rattle. A 50 pack of fine thread 5/16” bolts and nylock nuts from McMaster Carr is turning out to be the gift that keeps on giving in the form of way less trips to the hardware store. I just got a box yesterday with 1/2” fine bolts for my seatbelt ends (that you could probably lift the whole truck with one of em but why not overkill on safety) and 1/4-20 allens & nylocks to bolt my throttle bracket to the firewall. The bracket has recesses that wouldn’t fit hex heads. 

 

The trans hump is coming along. The piece in the picture is the only facet that has a complicated potato chip shape. The rest are pretty flat. I don’t know if I’m doing dynamat and carpet or not. It is nicer that way but my windshield and cowl leak a little so a painted steel floor won’t hide or fester problems. 

 

I got my fuel cell brackets in the mail. I was overthinking how to mount it so these will be easier I can just make four mounting points welded and dropped down from the frame crossmembers.

[wayfarer]

...dang...you are a workaholic.......

[ggdad1951]

1 hour ago, wayfarer said:

...dang...you are a workaholic.......

 

he just like making me feel bad for not touching my current project for 6 months..

[Radarsonwheels]

I’ll take that as a compliment! The seatbelt mock up looks good with the seat riser and sealbelt attachment points welded in and the belt feels solid and comfy. 

[Radarsonwheels]

I had already made a loomed harness for the distributor, alternator, and water temp sender but I got the front of it installed- new autometer H2O sender, alternator field, reference, ground, and charge wires have shrinkwrap, ring terminals and are all bolted on. 

 

The only wiring loose end up at the front of the motor is the distributor- I have a new stock style vac advance unit with that stepped two wire push on connector that’s orange and black and the one from the msd is spade connectors. I want to put on a nice 2 terminal weatherpack and be done with it but if it won’t fire right up for break in I will be swapping the trigger wires- been there. Anybody know the answer for sure? I can always make an educated guess then swap the pins in the connectors later I guess.

 

Man it gets dark early! 

[Radarsonwheels]

Done working outside, just messin with my phone searching- looks like black and green is negative while orange and purple are positive. Whatever that means- distributors produce an alternating current trigger pulse. But it’s a good educated guess I’m goin with it.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Radarsonwheels
Added pic

[Los_Control]

I would be careful with that wire .... next thing ya know, will be trying to start the beast ...... oh what a tangled weave that path produces  ?

[Radarsonwheels]

1 hour ago, Los_Control said:

I would be careful with that wire .... next thing ya know, will be trying to start the beast ...... oh what a tangled weave that path produces  ?

 

Do you mean I should route the electronic distributor trigger wire seperate from the other wires that go to the front of the motor especially the alternator? Because of rf interference or something? It’s my 1st big block mopar my distributors were always on the back of the motor on smallblocks or on the side for slants and flatties so I never had an alternator and distributor in the same  area that needed to wire up to the firewall.

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Radarsonwheels

[Los_Control]

No, I mean you are getting so close to starting this truck up, because of all the hard work and effort, I know you been researching all along.

 

I totally expect this engine to run perfect after it is started.

 

Then you going to need to buy gas

It will next want several clean changes of oil

I only have a guess at how many sets of rear tires it will want

The list just grows ..... and it all starts with connecting the final wires.

One could ignore and look the other way and not connect that wire .... once connected, you simply can not unconnect it.

 

Like seeing a beautiful woman naked, once you see it, you cant un-see it.

Only if we were wiser and never looked at a beautiful woman .... telling ya buddy, you connect those wires and there is no going back!

 

[classiccarjack]

Can't wait to see how this truck looks when completed.

[Radarsonwheels]

Thanks fellas.

 

I got worried for a second I know ignitions can be sensitive to RF and not to run the purple and green back trigger wires right alongside any high tension plug/coil wires!

 

Thanks also for the vote of confidence on the motor. I forget the name of the gameshow from the 80s but whenever I start a fresh motor to break it in I still say “no whammies no whammies no whammies”

 

When I built my ‘72 demon pretty much through my whole 30s I started out making an old pile into a daily driver, then a ratty big motor hotrod, then a kind of low buck resto-mod with a gorgeous stock interior, paint and fancy decals, 500hp. It turns out it was the most useful in its first incarnation, the most fun in its second and the most impressive but least fun in its last. 

 

I am not into the ‘ratrod’ thing but I do like honest patina, beaters, and sleepers. Some important visual stuff definitely already happened- stance, wheelbase, upholstery, rims & tires, and some is in the works- gauges, controls, tidy but not hidden wiring & plumbing, ipe wood bed. So there will be some mix of fanciness and crustyness.

 

I plan to get rid of the green on the door interiors and put in red upholstered panels over black paint on the floor and doors asap and finish weld the join from sectioning the bed sides but it’ll be a while before I address the body work or start thinking about spraying an actual color. I want to enjoy it for a while!

 

Here’s pics of my demon in all 3 stages just for fun

[Radarsonwheels]

Wednesday! It threatened to snow this afternoon but never started in earnest.

 

I got the previous owner installed triangular rear bed reinforcements trimmed off. Thankfully my bed floor frame seems to be keeping things square and the gate still fits the same so I’ll call that a win. 

 

I also fabricated painted and welded in some brackets to hold my new fuel cell, split some hose to act as rubber insulators, and bolted in the tank. 

 

The marine deck filler I installed in the driver’s rear wheel tub two gas tanks ago on the old chassis got re-used and I connected it up with steel 90°s and good 1 1/2” and 1 3/4” fuel hose. I’m a little concerned that I pierced the bed side too low and the run has to go slightly uphill along the bedside to go over the frame rail before turning toward the tank filler neck but I think it will work fine.

 

The tank has three 1/2” ID bungs- a return which is plugged, a sender which has a 90° push lock hose barb fitting but I still need to reduce from 1/2” to 3/8” and plumb hardline up to near the mechanical fuel pump, and a vent with a ball bearing in it for rollover protection.

 

I ran the 1/2” vent line over to the driver’s bedside, reduced it to 3/8”, pierced the stake pocket and ran it up to the top where it is folded back down to keep rain out. It didn’t seem crimped when I blew through it but this will all get tested quickly when I try to put 17 gallons in it at the station and see if it fills smoothly or if you have to go slowly...

 

The yellow thing in the last shot is a worn out leather glove. I taped them over the backs of the rolled bed tops so the edge doesn’t rub through my car cover. You can see the folded over 3/8” vent hose in the stake pocket. I’d like a better solution- maybe a little black cone filter?

 

 

[Radarsonwheels]

And here’s a shot where you can see how the run of filler hose from right to left (edit: from R to L in this picture but front to rear in the truck running along the bedside) not exactly downhill like it probably should be. I’m thinking if the trap on a sink drain flows good this will too it’s a much bigger diameter than a gas pump nozzle and the uphill is subtle

Edited December 6, 2018 by Radarsonwheels
Clarity

[Dave72dt]

Would it have been easier to put the filler on the other side of the truck?

Edited December 6, 2018 by Dave72dt
applied to wrong post

[Radarsonwheels]

1 hour ago, Dave72dt said:

Would it have been easier to put the filler on the other side of the truck?

I thought about that but it would have only saved a couple feet of 1 1/2” filler hose. Everything else would have been the same labor wise and I would have had to patch the hole in the top of the driver side fender.

 

The deck filler was already there- I had installed it a year or two ago in an attempt to get a plastic fuel cell to work that my buddy had put in there. His filler neck was almost level and at a gas station the fuel would slosh back out almost as fast as you pumped it in unless the pump was on a hill!  My marine deck filler solution worked back then but the tank was too old and crusty and I wasn’t able to convert the rollover vent into a hosebarb- the vent needed to be higher than the fill or else it would get full then pour out of the vent on top of the cell before filling the neck and shutting off the pump.

 

Besides, the ‘suspect’ run is the one that goes front to back not the side to side one. My buddy said to just take it off the tank and run a hose down it and I’ll find out quick if it will fill ok! Now I just need a day well over freezing...

[DJ194950]

Looking at you picture I see nothing but trouble getting fuel to that tank as is.

 

Only way to help this I see would be raise the filler neck and fuel opening up 8"-10" just below the stamped in line below the bed sides, I realize that that will but the filler pipe up through the new floor to be installed later. Make a metal cover  ( with all the metal work you have shown so far-piece of cake) to sort of hide it. Many cars/trucks had such in the old vehicles/maybe newer than just old. 

I just remember seeing such in vehicles I have seen in the past- getting older and memory just not that great now it seems?.

. ?

[Radarsonwheels]

7 hours ago, DJ194950 said:

Looking at you picture I see nothing but trouble getting fuel to that tank as is.

 

Hmm... DJ- did you see the earlier pics of where the filler is installed in the wheel tub? If you only saw that last set of pics it’d be easy to imagine the filler is quite low.

 

 It’s well above the stamped body line in the bedside and the vent terminates well above that so it should fill all the way up till I see it climbing the filler- probably will even click a modern pump off. 

 

I can still raise the hole in the bedside to get a proper grade on the whole run but I figured if a P trap in a sink can pass water fast this is a very subtle restriction in comparison.

 

Here’s a pic of the filler and it’s connection to the under deck connections in the other picture the pic on the right is laying on my back looking up into the wheel tub/inner bedside

Edited December 7, 2018 by Radarsonwheels