68 GT convertible project
It looks like I have a lot of pictures to fix in this thread. I'll look for another photo hosting site and see if I can't get them to reappear.
Not a lot happening with the Dart lately. We adopted a little girl in May so she is taking up most of our time right now. I have been getting little projects done though. Basically things that don't cost much. Here's a small piece I worked on over the weekend. I think it turned out nice.
The air cleaner is very close to the under side of the hood. A standard wing nut is way too tall...and ugly IMO. I needed something short and custom looking. I had the idea of making a wing nut out of a button head bolt. I found some stainless 1/2x13 button head bolts on Ebay. I started out by drilling a hole through the bolt on my father-in-law's lathe. I just went slow and used a lot of oil and it didn't go too bad. Then I ran a larger bit through to get the "proper" sized hole to start tapping. That's when the problems started. That stainless did NOT want to tap. I ended up drilling the hole a lot larger then the chart said to but still it was fighting us at every step.
My father-in-law had a two fluted tap that wasn't quite 20 threads per inch. He said he's used that to chase a hole and then come back through with a 1/4x20 so we gave that a shot. We would use that tap until it got too tight, then follow it with the 1/4x20. We literally worked for hours trying to cut threads in a 1" piece but we finally got it done. The last thing we did on his lathe was to machine the threads off the outside of the bolt. Yesterday I sanded the top a little flatter and gave it a good polish. I had to drill out the hole in the air cleaner lid and cut 1/4" off of the carb stud. All in all it turned out decent and I have a wing nut that looks custom. It might even be a little harder for someone to walk away with my air cleaner as well.
![thumbnail_DSC03691[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/thumbnail_dsc03691-1-jpg.1715066523/ "thumbnail_DSC03691[1].jpg")
![thumbnail_DSC03692[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/thumbnail_dsc03692-1-jpg.1715066524/ "thumbnail_DSC03692[1].jpg")
It looks like I have a lot of pictures to fix in this thread. I'll look for another photo hosting site and see if I can't get them to reappear.
Not a lot happening with the Dart lately. We adopted a little girl in May so she is taking up most of our time right now. I have been getting little projects done though. Basically things that don't cost much. Here's a small piece I worked on over the weekend. I think it turned out nice.
The air cleaner is very close to the under side of the hood. A standard wing nut is way too tall...and ugly IMO. I needed something short and custom looking. I had the idea of making a wing nut out of a button head bolt. I found some stainless 1/2x13 button head bolts on Ebay. I started out by drilling a hole through the bolt on my father-in-law's lathe. I just went slow and used a lot of oil and it didn't go too bad. Then I ran a larger bit through to get the "proper" sized hole to start tapping. That's when the problems started. That stainless did NOT want to tap. I ended up drilling the hole a lot larger then the chart said to but still it was fighting us at every step.
My father-in-law had a two fluted tap that wasn't quite 20 threads per inch. He said he's used that to chase a hole and then come back through with a 1/4x20 so we gave that a shot. We would use that tap until it got too tight, then follow it with the 1/4x20. We literally worked for hours trying to cut threads in a 1" piece but we finally got it done. The last thing we did on his lathe was to machine the threads off the outside of the bolt. Yesterday I sanded the top a little flatter and gave it a good polish. I had to drill out the hole in the air cleaner lid and cut 1/4" off of the carb stud. All in all it turned out decent and I have a wing nut that looks custom. It might even be a little harder for someone to walk away with my air cleaner as well.
