finaly got something done..

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Picked up the new heater core yesterday,also bought a roll of sealer and a roll of brakeline and tubeflaring tools while i was shoping.
Painted inside of floorboards today.
making progress,slowly.
 
Put the heaterbox togheter again,darn those things do not age well,o well it will be good enough for me.
One step at the time.
That roll of window seal will probably work darn good,was probably a misstake to worry about it.
 
Heater box back in the car,i had forgot how much fun it was to wrestle that thing into place,and i have also forgot where i lost the bracket and seal that seal the firewall around the heatertubes,o well thats just another few little pieces to fabricate before i get to drive the thing again.
 
Slow progress i know. Got some new brakehoses,figured might as well change all 3 while im changing that rear hose that is visualy damaged,before i start making that long brakeline from distributionblock to rear hose.
 
She finaly got "new" to me rear wheels, those used 15x7 centerlinestyle wheels came up at the right price and got a set of brand new 275/60R15s Cooper Cobra Gt for them, love the look and realy need to put up a couple pics soon.
 
Got a nice deal on a 5.7Hemi out of 2012 Durango Months ago,have started dissasmbly of it and it appears as if the junkyards claim that its just a rebuildable core that cant be used as is due to a bad sound from one of the heads was just a severe exhaust leak:D o well got to have alitle luck from time to time.
 
Brougth home what seemed like a nice used 360 Magnum aswell to get me closer to a running and driving car.
So far i have found
#1 and #5 pistons are cracked.
#8 intakelobe on camshaft is toast
#8 cylinder has light scratches.
#7/8 rodjournal on the crank has very minor scratches aswell.

Cracked pistons instantly got me looking at buying flattops with valvenotches aswell as taking a good look at my old H-beams that have been resting in a box on a shelf pretty much forewer.
Damaged camshaft instantly sent me over to the other shelf with that good old solidroller that has been left over forewer,sadly dont have any lifters and doubt the hydraulic rollers will do much good on the solid lobes.
See where this is heading?
we will see where this lands.

On a positive note,got those four studs out of the exhaust side of the heads without much trouble,also got that bolt out fairly easy that the PO broke of.

Also found that my new in box swapmeet find Borgeson powersteering pump seems to fit the magnum power steering braket just fine.
 
Got the 904 back from the transmissionshop,newly rebuilt with a few good upgrades,tested and ready to run:)
Said 904 is back in the car,this time without atempting to create severe bodily and mental damage. Learnt that a cargostrap between the torsionbars is a great way to kind of secure the trans while lifting and keeping it hanging while car lacks an engine.
Starter is installed on transmission.
Shifter with its linkage is back in the car.
Driveshaft back in the car.
Backrest from rearseat back in the car.
Descided that the complete somewhat cobled togheter very simple stereo electrical mess does not have to go back into the car again, atleast it had a fuse ..

Have bought a bunch of gaskets, headbolts,oilpickup and an oilpan.
somehow managed to fail buying a set of coreplugs,a timingcovergasket,rodbearings and possibly mainbearings. Pistons are another questionmark aswell as a an alternator and so is finding a pulley for the powersteeringpump. o well im getting somehwere,not just the quickest or straightest path
Ooh and a camshaft with 16 complete lobes would probably be nice addition and not just an option.

Its probably a good idea to replace the complete electrical system aswell,im realy trying to do a bare minimum to get this thing on the road again but the electrical system is scetchy even by my very low standards and sadly an expensive and very time consuming part of the whole deal.
 
Need to add something that made a good impression on me,a whole bunch of the stuff i bought was made in the USA!
 
went to a swapmeet today and found a brand new to me petronix distributor with a suitable coil for a somewhat tollerable sum of money in case the old system that was last used 15+ years ago has deleted on its functionality since last it was run.
 
Brought home another 360 Magnum,this one came in the flavour better known as well done.
Is the camshaft any better in this new specimen? well kind of but nope.
Pistons then? well i did take a good look at two of them and i could not find any cracks in those two pieces so thats good since all i needed in the piston department was two pistons in the not cracked variety.
Cylinders sort of not perfect and the crank could use a very good polishing,so im going to pretend that the crank doesnt need to be cut to undersize. ooh yeah its rusted in more places than i like to admit and deaper to. I might just make that one a runner.
Ohh and it came with an alternator and a powersteeringpump with the correct pulley aswell so im getting to the point where i might just be able to piece something togheter.
Nobody in their right state of mind would waste money on getting the less terrible core running so lets do the wrong thing.
 
Ok back on track,unless something goes sideways i think i have a plan for the engine that is somewhat doable.
Will use the better block with its heads,crankshaft,lifters and pistonrings.
will use the complete set of pistons out of the worse core,they are all stamped with id numbers and i just cant bring myself to have an engine with 6 unmarked rods and 2 marked.
Will run the hone thru all boress.
cam will probbaly be decided by a cointoss. one has a not so great lobe and the other has seen more damp conditions than i would prefer.
got the tool so will hammer in some new cambearings.

Still have to order a set of mainbearings, timingcovergasket,and a rear mainseal.
Funny how the old mainbearings look excelent except for the fact that the core is shining thru the totaly worn down surface but not even a scratch in them otherways.

Maybe i should put a baffle in the oilpan,not realy required for this build but will make one if i have to drag out the welder for something else.

And yeah im busy enought as is but stuff gets done in some kind of order,yesterday was a big cleanup day in the garage creating some space.
 
Hammered in the new cam bearings,that seemed to work ok,all the holes are in the right place and even tried putting a camshaft in them and yes it does spinn with ease so i guess i did something somewhat right..

Also descided on measuring the main bearings and they will be reused,they are all at .002 clearance so that will be fine i guess, i have no interest what so ever in spending another $250 where its not required.
Now the block rests in its bag again, will need to do more cleaning before assembly,but no point in doing final cleaning before i hammerd in the cam bearings so that is next i guess.

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broken pistons for future reference and the fact that people tend to like pictures.

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This my friends is why we dont rip cars apart and then leave them taken apart for ten+ years unless everything is named. i have no idea where that part of the wiring harness is supposed to connect to but im sure it will become obvious at some point. found those cables in a box. who knows they may be for something else but i do suspect that they came of the duster.

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Got a few more things done, the 20 year old plastic fuelcell is probably not a good idea,so why not spend some more money and do the right thing the somewhat right way.
The new fueltank has a a 3/8" outlet and a 5/16 return, aswell as a fuellevel sender,that will be a nice feature,im probably to old to guess the fuelmilage anyway.

Would have been nice to just install the tank,but i figured i might just paint it first,so first a good coat of primer,then a nice coat of white paint.
Oh and darn im happy about how i desgined that table alitle to tall and with the bench removable.
 
Then i figured,i just cant have an oilpan without a baffle,why i need a baffle to drive to get me a burger or tunnbrödsrull i have no idea but i just couldnt help myself.
Oh and yeah i know i shouldnt be left anywhere near sheetmetal with tools but i guess i just had to learn that lesson again.
made the piece from 1.2mm sheetmetal,could probably have done the piece just as good with 0.8mm or so and with less effort but why do things the easy way when there is a more difficult way. Started out making a template from an old box.

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The i made the final piece out of 1.2mm sheetmetal. Thats metric and im sure it can be converted into both fractions out of inches or decimalinches (in any of the comonly used flavours of inches,old Swedish inches,withworth or why not imperial) aswell as gauges but its probably ok this way to.

This was just half a day of frustration and missery to create. i cant wait to try it again and see if i learned something.

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oh and yeah i just couldnt help myself,of course i had to practice my skills as a painter some more in case i ever want to start a brand new failure known as "terrible paint with drips and runs inc"

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The engine is coming togheter step by step aswell, crank is back in the block and two pistons with rings aswell.
I realy prefer to bring old blown up or worn out racengines to life over these engines ripped out of neglected dailydrivers.
A worn out or blown up race engine is most of the time just filled with broken stuff or missmatched stuff and a whole lot of oil,rarely full of carbon,carbonised oil,thick residues and blocked up passages.
 
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