6.1 Hemi into 72 Demon March 2018

-
In looking at these last couple of posts it dawned on me they sure don’t reflect the effort the picture portrays. Anyone who has ever wired a car totally from scratch will understand. Every wire you get dropped by circuit box is a small victory and one step closer to being done. To put it in perspective I worked on car for 6 hours straight for those pix. I also got ignition wire to starter solenoid that I spaced out!
 
It’s a tremendous job to tackle. I had a friend that was an electrical engineer and decided to take on rewireing his 53 Ford. Did a great job if you think signaling for a left was the proper way to turn on the wipers
 
It’s a tremendous job to tackle. I had a friend that was an electrical engineer and decided to take on rewireing his 53 Ford. Did a great job if you think signaling for a left was the proper way to turn on the wipers
Hah! Turn signals are actually a bit of a bugger, kind of like a three pole switch! You have the actual device, but you need to tie it to the steering column switch, and the light switch in addition to the circuit box. I use a jumper terminal to make it easier on my non electrical self. My ribs and back are killing me this morning from flopping around on the floorboard like a fish.
 
Eureka! I finally have every single wire pulled and dropped in floor board by circuit box. Dakota Digital is all daisy chained as well. All exposed wire in engine bay etc is fancy wrapped and done. Literally the only wiring left now is terminations and each wire is labeled. I will likely take a bit of a break because one of my good buddies has asked me to swing by and give him a hand with his Scamp. He is FABO Fred and has a great thread on a Scamp he built and painted. He is good people and has forgotten more than I will ever know about body and paint. It is about a 4-5 hour jaunt to his place. I think I will head up there Wednesday, drink his whiskey eat his food, provide some lame technical expertise grab me a hangover and head home. I always take the Harley since it is a nice putt to his place.

AAEFBFC7-D167-4DA7-A13E-EE33B2A567C8.jpeg
 
So I wrangled more wire again today, at some point I will be done. Holy smokes what a chore. I also sorted out power steering plumbing today. Keep in mind when going to “Mustang 2 rack and pinion” which is essentially what I have done. The Factory Mopar power steering pump on a gen 3 is way to much psi, as a result you have to throttle it back. Bouchiliion makes a reduction pump for exactly that. Then The law of thermo dynamics once again appears, byproduct of slower pump is elevated temperature on power steering fluid. So then you have to add a cooler. I am pretty focused on keeping the engine bay clean and simply did not want to have a yet another cooler in sight. What I did was when I purchased the radiator I got one for an automatic even tho I am manual. Then I can route power steering hose via the radiator tranny cooling fittings. All this resulted in some head scratching but if you take your time draw it out and label drawing with samples of fitting thread pitch your local hose shop can make your hoses for you. There is likely a more simplistic solution but that is how I solved it. Once I get hose built I will take a pix. Here is a quick pix of wiring progress. You all have got to be as tired of looking at wiring pix as I am of working on it. Sadly it is a huge aspect of building a car from scratch. I keep my terminations long so I can drop fuse box off the wall and wire it up neat and tidy then hang it all wired up, then tidy up the excess. This also allows you to troubleshoot gracefully later!

47CD7C8D-60CB-4AE7-B359-7809022DB881.jpeg
 
I like the idea for the power steering cooler. Way to think ahead!

I have often wondered how hard it would be to adapt the Mustang PS pump to the HEMI???? Maybe cleaner in the end.
 
So I am taking a break from wiring and focused in on plumbing foot pedals. Due to all the relocation etc the pedals are floor mounted which then leads to a plumbing problem. I decided to use a Bulkhead QD style panel. First pix is layout and creation of panel, then one with the fittings in place to make it easier to visualize. Once painted and plumbed I will take pix. It will bolt right up where old booster attached to firewall, solving two issues. Patches hole plus creates transition point for plumbing. Bolts are welded on one side so I can do it all myself. Of course my shop is super hot today and I was wearing flops. As a welder I strongly urge you to wear proper footwear, many of us have burned the tops of our feet welding in the summer with flops on. As a direct result of past experiences and perhaps some influence from my beer fridge I donned the proper PPE. Sadly my wife caught me, thus the pix.

C0104324-5224-45F4-9532-988870AAAAF8.jpeg


253AD0FE-36D8-442D-9A11-7F07F8F2BC54.jpeg


DC74CF2B-6E8D-448D-AA9A-F688AC1C7B22.jpeg
 
So in yet another complete act of cowardice with regard to doing more electrical I thought I would put the front end together. Anyone who has read some of the history of the build knows I selected a HDK front end. Hemi Denny is one of the vendors on this site. Now I am not going to say he walks on water or anything but I can tell ya if you want to go fishing in the middle of the lake he don’t need no boat. Without his K frame I would still be trying to figure out how to do it. Great product, super well built, and very tight tolerances. I bring all this up as I had assembled the unit then sent it to powder coat. As a result I had to file holes I did not plug due to the powder coat impeding the bolts. It was just another reminder how well built the HDK rig is. Shameless plug I know, but putting it all together yesterday really made me appreciate it all over again. I won’t even mention his super customer service and unending patience to personally take your calls and answer question after question. Anyway here are some pix of progress.

8EB695EB-E4FF-47A4-8023-C94F694B3221.jpeg


9AE89A8B-2801-4CA5-928F-1DADB1BFA599.jpeg


B8636C1C-F227-44B8-8698-622295765119.jpeg
 
So in related vein of thought, unlike the tv build shows this has taken me a couple of years to get to this point. When doing final assembly I was looking at lower control arm trying to figure out if side orientation made a difference. There was a attachment plate on one side but I looked at everything I had laid out and did not see any additional parts. So in my infinite wisdom I figured it does not matter as the small plate was for a different application....... Yep, that would be incorrect. Like many of you I have limited space so I tend to do my best to utilize it. The front sway bar is unwieldy and clunky. I had put it somewhere special so that it would be out of the way. Thus it was out of sight and out of mind. You guessed it, the small bolt pad is for the sway bar. Naturally the Tab is now on wrong side and unusable. By same token as Mopar guys we need that super special socket for ball joints. I bought one then put it somewhere special so I would not lose it. Yep, had to purchase another one as I could not find it. The absolute quickest way to find it I assure you. Anyway, rather than completely disassemble the unit to attach the front sway bar I will simply make a couple tabs grind off the powder coat and weld them in corrected position. As a fabricator that is just easier for me. Or perhaps next time read the directions, watch a you tube, etc. then install them on correct side!

D6C4C513-DEFB-4987-86AA-1C0F9D27644F.jpeg


B83F5140-2C4B-4BB5-9FB2-821659E99E8A.jpeg
 
So here are some caliper pix. I fully realize many folks are not fans of Wilwood. I have used their kits on multiple cars and simply find that while pricey, virtually everything fits and works. I have just never had any trouble at all with them. Fit and finish is always perfect. For the most part I am in over my head doing front end type stuff. For me to be able to simply assemble a kit where I don’t have to sort it out really helps me. I just do not have the knowledge or skill to figure it out by myself. One thing I have learned for sure is that the front end suppliers will sell you whatever you order regardless if it fits with companion pieces in the order. Ask me how I know. My very first effort at doing a modern front end on an old car I figured I would sort it out and order individual parts as needed so that I could save money instead of buying the kit. Epic fail!

45939C11-521E-4463-9BA8-CCB62122F099.jpeg


68C7DC0A-92AA-48D8-8A95-D60AEBE04B2E.jpeg


5E3A5607-20D3-4227-9639-45DF17ACA2C7.jpeg


A24E9503-4F52-4E34-8CB3-15695BC4E457.jpeg
 
So I finished up the firewall plate for plumbing today. I will tidy up plumbing but have it pretty close to sorted out. Think of it like a bulkhead connector for plumbing. Plus it hides the booster hole. The other pix is of a small clip mother Mopar uses on throw out bearing. Rest assured the clips are impossible to find. I used a Dorman 800-019 then I sanded it just a bit to get it to fit. Then I stole some string from my plumb bob to tie onto the clip as a safety in case I dropped or clip sprang off. Go head ask me why. Yep that is what led to the clip search in first place. Old clip went Schwang! I could not find it anywhere. And for all you young guns out there the brass pointy thing the clip is leaning against is called a plumb bob. We used them to build things long before a laser! Hah! Man I love my lasers but the plumb bob brought back a lot of memories. Many of my hand tools came from my grandfather.

5F1B4157-A3DE-48A4-A12E-3D61AAC1F825.jpeg


61329D14-75FE-474C-9F71-0E1852F61C98.jpeg


52D9ABB9-0790-443C-A29E-408EE3A65724.jpeg
 
So I finished up the firewall plate for plumbing today. I will tidy up plumbing but have it pretty close to sorted out. Think of it like a bulkhead connector for plumbing. Plus it hides the booster hole. The other pix is of a small clip mother Mopar uses on throw out bearing. Rest assured the clips are impossible to find. I used a Dorman 800-019 then I sanded it just a bit to get it to fit. Then I stole some string from my plumb bob to tie onto the clip as a safety in case I dropped or clip sprang off. Go head ask me why. Yep that is what led to the clip search in first place. Old clip went Schwang! I could not find it anywhere. And for all you young guns out there the brass pointy thing the clip is leaning against is called a plumb bob. We used them to build things long before a laser! Hah! Man I love my lasers but the plumb bob brought back a lot of memories. Many of my hand tools came from my grandfather.

View attachment 1715564224

View attachment 1715564225

View attachment 1715564226

I still have 2 or 3. Call me old and wrinkled but if I want spot on, no questions asked i'm dropping a Plum bob..... I keep one in my box at work for locating equipment placement in regards to running Emt in the ceiling.... No batteries and no hassle.

Looks like you are seeing light at the end of the tunnel on the car...

JW
 
You are correct SLP72, I am getting closer with each passing weekend. I did not take pix but I got the power steering sorted out this weekend as well. I don’t like one of the fittings as it is impeded by motor mount so I will take it off and make a new hose with a 45 on the end. I really think I can have it on the road by winter.
 
Well my apologies to all of you who actually read this mess. I have had to focus on things that generate income here of late vs things that drain income (Demon). So back in shop today after completing a bunch of certifications and licensing junk for my real job. I swear this thing is one step forward and three back. I decided to tear apart front end and swap parts I put on backwards rather than just weld up new tabs. And pix of my hound included just because we are both happy I am home again. A lot of traveling here lately for professional junk. I was sitting under the car and Hemi was watching me as I sipped an adult beverage with some good jams in the background. Thinking to myself I was glad to be home. Thus the pix of Hemi my fearless hound! The other pix are with the front end tore apart for about the millionth time. And the sway bar now connected. For you eagle eyed readers I did not tighten any front end parts just got it close and will tighten it all up once I get it on alignment machine.

B2DE601A-4776-4B8D-9982-7964270B3C50.jpeg


802A59F7-90C0-45DE-96C2-AF2361088DF5.jpeg


80ED575C-757F-4887-84BA-33DBA441FA09.jpeg
 
Well my apologies to all of you who actually read this mess. I have had to focus on things that generate income here of late vs things that drain income (Demon). So back in shop today after completing a bunch of certifications and licensing junk for my real job. I swear this thing is one step forward and three back. I decided to tear apart front end and swap parts I put on backwards rather than just weld up new tabs. And pix of my hound included just because we are both happy I am home again. A lot of traveling here lately for professional junk. I was sitting under the car and Hemi was watching me as I sipped an adult beverage with some good jams in the background. Thinking to myself I was glad to be home. Thus the pix of Hemi my fearless hound! The other pix are with the front end tore apart for about the millionth time. And the sway bar now connected. For you eagle eyed readers I did not tighten any front end parts just got it close and will tighten it all up once I get it on alignment machine.

View attachment 1715578261

View attachment 1715578262

View attachment 1715578263
Love the fury pics SLO , brings back pleasant memories .
 
Well my apologies for the lapse of progress. I had to focus on real life for a bit and earn some actual money. Of course then I can just throw it in this black hole I call a hobby. Today I had to make some stainless lines, I know everybody has their own way of handling stainless braided line. While we may all do it differently, the one thing for sure we all have in common is you will bleed! I have some soft jaws that fit in my vise that can grasp round objects. I use electrical tape stretched tight on cut seam and no more than two wraps worth. Otherwise you will never get the pretty worm screw clamp housing in place. I use my high speed grinder with a cut off wheel, be sure and rinse the inside of the hose as you will have debris inside. Pictured is both vise, hose, and pretty clamps. And I use AN alum wrenches on them as needed. I know alum wrenches are pricey but nothing says you are a hack like a nice fancy aluminum fitting that looks like a dog chewed on it during install. More tomorrow!

2AC5EAB7-13AA-4BFC-A04A-8E118307BC31.jpeg


152BA7E9-7F97-45AE-81B4-BEABF95A64EF.jpeg


4806B82D-C847-45BF-A006-4BB22CA34E8C.jpeg
 
Well if anyone is still reading this whimsical build thread, I am back on the Demon. As some may know I am also a competitive shooter and professional firearms instructor. I spent most of the summer behind this gun or that one. A lot of traveling and also picked up some additional professional credentials. Primary one was becoming a certified Defensive Firearms Coach. It was tuff to get, runs right at a 50% failure rate. In a shameless plug for the Company I teach for Get Trained Be Ready I will enclose a promo pix of me doing the pistoleros thing! But alas, none of that has anything what’s so ever to do with stuffing a Hemi in my 72 Demon. Today I finished the wiring and plumbing on the foot pedals. Not to be redundant but again showing my racer pedigree it is modular so I can pull it for repair. I also finished a bunch of wiring up. I may actually get to the point I can tidy wiring up and remount fuse box tomorrow. I am super slow at wiring as I am not good at it. It felt good to be back in tantric yoga positions under the dash again after a full summer of standing erect. Summers are short up here and winters are long. The break from the car let me save up some cash and sanity to keep on keeping on. My apologies for the long break!

06EAEF34-E3D6-4E6E-9915-38E97FD46CB9.jpeg


DB0F2279-8BCB-48FB-9240-DD0EB0ECCD0D.jpeg


B810DB4A-BF18-478F-9A34-525C93D86242.jpeg


99BD313B-268A-4094-B4A8-35CFE4C4F2BB.jpeg
 
Well if anyone is still reading this whimsical build thread, I am back on the Demon. As some may know I am also a competitive shooter and professional firearms instructor. I spent most of the summer behind this gun or that one. A lot of traveling and also picked up some additional professional credentials. Primary one was becoming a certified Defensive Firearms Coach. It was tuff to get, runs right at a 50% failure rate. In a shameless plug for the Company I teach for Get Trained Be Ready I will enclose a promo pix of me doing the pistoleros thing! But alas, none of that has anything what’s so ever to do with stuffing a Hemi in my 72 Demon. Today I finished the wiring and plumbing on the foot pedals. Not to be redundant but again showing my racer pedigree it is modular so I can pull it for repair. I also finished a bunch of wiring up. I may actually get to the point I can tidy wiring up and remount fuse box tomorrow. I am super slow at wiring as I am not good at it. It felt good to be back in tantric yoga positions under the dash again after a full summer of standing erect. Summers are short up here and winters are long. The break from the car let me save up some cash and sanity to keep on keeping on. My apologies for the long break!

View attachment 1715634580

View attachment 1715634581

View attachment 1715634582

View attachment 1715634583
Triton pedals?
 
On the same page as you I think but
Well if anyone is still reading this whimsical build thread, I am back on the Demon. As some may know I am also a competitive shooter and professional firearms instructor. I spent most of the summer behind this gun or that one. A lot of traveling and also picked up some additional professional credentials. Primary one was becoming a certified Defensive Firearms Coach. It was tuff to get, runs right at a 50% failure rate. In a shameless plug for the Company I teach for Get Trained Be Ready I will enclose a promo pix of me doing the pistoleros thing! But alas, none of that has anything what’s so ever to do with stuffing a Hemi in my 72 Demon. Today I finished the wiring and plumbing on the foot pedals. Not to be redundant but again showing my racer pedigree it is modular so I can pull it for repair. I also finished a bunch of wiring up. I may actually get to the point I can tidy wiring up and remount fuse box tomorrow. I am super slow at wiring as I am not good at it. It felt good to be back in tantric yoga positions under the dash again after a full summer of standing erect. Summers are short up here and winters are long. The break from the car let me save up some cash and sanity to keep on keeping on. My apologies for the long break!

View attachment 1715634580

View attachment 1715634581

View attachment 1715634582

View attachment 1715634583
You'll get it done and will be a sweet ride but remember one thing I get a ride in it when it's on the road an I will bring a bottle to celebrate.
And Hemi treats as well. lol
 
Well SHOOT!
You really took a POWDER.
You are obviously well ARMED to finish this and the electrical work is within your RANGE.
Keep BANGIN away at it.
Do you have a TARGET date to FIRE your 6.1 BULLET?
 
Well SHOOT!
You really took a POWDER.
You are obviously well ARMED to finish this and the electrical work is within your RANGE.
Keep BANGIN away at it.
Do you have a TARGET date to FIRE your 6.1 BULLET?
Ok Kosmic that was funny right there! Not sure if it was the adult beverage in my hand or it was just plain witty! Either way I had to chuckle. The electric scenarios give me fits but I generally solve them eventually. I run a lathe the same way, while I have a lathe and a mill, and try and do my own milling and turning I recognize full well somebody who actually knows what they are doing will get it done in half the time. I am just a bit stubborn and the farmer in me just won’t hardly pay someone to do something I am capable of. Regardless of how long it may take me. I had never done any serious body work in my life till this car. FABO Fred came down and 1/2 a bottle of crown and a full day later I was cutting out inner fenders and replacing them. (Thanks Fred) This car has been by far the most ambitious build I have ever done. I simply had no idea what I was getting into! As for my target for firing this 6.1 bullet I am looking to be on the road spring of 2021. I want to turn motor over as a Xmas present to myself. Thanks for the feedback!
 
I wouldn't sweat getting it done.... If you look back the progress will show how close you are. I have been working on mine for 5 years and it can sit 5 more. Life changes and we get involved with other projects. But you will get there. The difference is you have skills where someone who doesn't would have already sold it!

On the topic of Self defense, I think there are just too many myths about how things play out if you end up in a scenario using a firearm. I'm 2A all the way but having now used one for protection and impacting a family it will change a persons perspective quick so I hope people understand the reality of pulling the trigger.... JMHO

Keep the build going, you're close....

JW
 
Ok Kosmic that was funny right there! Not sure if it was the adult beverage in my hand or it was just plain witty! Either way I had to chuckle. The electric scenarios give me fits but I generally solve them eventually. I run a lathe the same way, while I have a lathe and a mill, and try and do my own milling and turning I recognize full well somebody who actually knows what they are doing will get it done in half the time. I am just a bit stubborn and the farmer in me just won’t hardly pay someone to do something I am capable of. Regardless of how long it may take me. I had never done any serious body work in my life till this car. FABO Fred came down and 1/2 a bottle of crown and a full day later I was cutting out inner fenders and replacing them. (Thanks Fred) This car has been by far the most ambitious build I have ever done. I simply had no idea what I was getting into! As for my target for firing this 6.1 bullet I am looking to be on the road spring of 2021. I want to turn motor over as a Xmas present to myself. Thanks for the feedback!
You did all the work on your car Me and Hemi set in the easy chair and ate treats and drank all your boose.
 
-
Back
Top