1949 Mopar More-door build

[falconvan]

Got a few more things bolted on today; spent most of the day on my 48.

 

[falconvan]

More stuff done; the grill and all the little panels behind it are bolted on, plug wires on, swapped to a Demon carb, accelerator cable and pedal done other than hooking it up to the carb, battery tray built and installed, and the radiator came in today. It looks like it's going to be a good fit; just need to build a mount for it.

 

[falconvan]

The good news is; it's running and sounds great. The bad news; it's pumping oil out the rear main seal like crazy.:CRY: I bought a Fel-Pro gasket kit from Summit and the seal that came with it did not look like the original one. I think the original was a rope seal and the replacement was a mechanical seal. I called Summit, they said it was right and checked with Fel-Pro and they insisted it was the retrofit seal. I went ahead and put it in even though it seemed like it was a little small in the groove. Im really aggrevated about this. So now I guess the motor comes back out.

 

[ronnysplymouth]

I'm pretty sure the la series small blocks never had rope seals......are you sure its a 318 and not a 360?

 

[falconvan]

Yeah, I checked the numbers on it; it was an 87 318 from a truck. I was surprised to see it in there, too. I didnt think they used rope seals up into the 80's.

 

[falconvan]

I just didnt feel like pulling that pan yesterday so I worked on other stuff. I got the grill and bumper back together and mounted my fuel and volt gauges. I had several 3/8" holes in the floor from the three differnt seats I had mounted when this floor was in the other car so I welded them up, hit all the edges with seam sealer, and gave it a final coat of paint. Finally I put it up on jack stands to pull the pan today. Back to work tomorrow; bummer.

 

[falconvan]

I bought a Mopar Performance seal this time and it fit much better. It's back together, running great, and no leaks! I also got my brackets cut to mount the front brake calipers. Those water jet machines sure make some slick cuts.

 

[falconvan]

Now that I've got a running engine I figured I'd finish up the front end work since it's up on stands. I started trial fitting the Explorer front brakes tonight and everything worked out good. I needed some spacers between the new plate and the caliper bracket so I drilled the threads out of some 1/2" nuts and they worked real nice. Other than that it was pretty much a bolt on. Now to clean everything up, paint the brackets and put it back together for good. I've also got a heavy duty sway bar from a Grand Cherokee that looks like it will fit good once I make some mounts for it.

 

[falconvan]

Brakes and tie rods are on, now just need to run the brake lines to the calipers and I'm ready to bleed the system. He's the Jeep swaybar next to the original; about twice the diameter. It should help handling quite a bit.

 

[bob w]

Nice upgrades to the brakes. Did you design the caliper brackets?

That sway bar should make it handle much better in the curves.

 

[Dirtyrat]

I like the sway bar upgrade, should be a lot better on body roll now!

 

[falconvan]

Thanks! Bob, a guy on the P15D24 site came up with the brake swap and was nice enough to post a bunch of pictures, including the one for his caliper bracket with the dimensions. It'll be nice to have Explorer disc brakes front and back. The only drag on the front is that the stock wheels wont fit over the calipers but it's not a big deal. I'm just going to run stock wheels and hupcaps so I'll pick up some later model ones from the boneyard.

 

[falconvan]

I finished plumbing the brakes tonight, just need to bleed them. I got some front shocks ordered so I fugure I'll wait until I've got them mounted before I mount the sway bar. I also found this cool old tach on Evilbay, I painted it to match the dash and I think it looks pretty spiffy.

 

[Johnson]

Neat. I`ve got some cool old gauges, but I`m hording them until I build something cool enough

 

[falconvan]

I was going to have to run 3 relays (fuel pump, ignition, and cooling fan) so I pulled this from a Dakota while I was at the boneyard. This gave me all the relays with fuses and puts it all in one convienient spot. Plus just the one power supply wire off the battery prewires all of the line sides so it'll keep things tidy once I've got it all wired.

 

[bob w]

With all these improvements you are going to have a very dependable, comfortable ride.

Nice work, falconvan.

 

[falconvan]

I hope so; so far my days off I took to to work on the car have been a bust. I got a bug and have been on the couch sick for three days. I had 9 days off, only six left and I havent stepped a foot outside. I might try and get a half day in today or at least a few hours.

 

[falconvan]

I got my sway bar finished up today along with wiring up the fuel pump relay and some other misc wiring. I've been sicker that a dog since last week and am just starting to feel human again. I worked in the garage about three hours and I was wiped out. Im off the rest of the week so hopefully we'll make a little better progress tomorrow and Friday.

 

[falconvan]

I felt much better today and was able to get a lot more done. I finished the underhood wiring and installed the cooling fan and bled the brakes. For some reason one of the back calipers is not getting fluid; I'll have to figure that out. Even still, it's got a good solid pedal. The stock wheels wouldnt fit over the disc brakes so I pulled a set of steel wheels off of a Crown Vic last time I was at the boneyard. I've got a set of full wheel Plymouth hubcaps, i'll just use those and get some fresh rubber. I didnt like the rearward angle on the shifter so I cut it and welded it back together to be more upright. Im real close to a road test; just need to get a driveshaft made and put an exhaust system together. A couple of bummer notes; my cool old tach doesnt work and Im having a fuel gauge issue. I've got a new VDO 0-90 ohm gauge and a 0-90 ohm sending unit. I dumped about 3 or 4 gallons of gas in the tank and I read 34 ohms on my meter going from the sending unit to ground. I checked it up at the gauge and I read the same from the sensor terminal to ground. But when I turn the ignition on, the gauge goes past full. Any ideas???

 

[Dirtyrat]

Looks like you are making some good progress, perhaps the gauge is bad?
I assume it is wired correctly? can't hurt to re-check the wiring at both ends...

Here is a testing guide for VDO: www.egauges.com/pdf/vdo/0-515-012-178.pdf