65 Glassback fish

[zoltan c]

I took some pics of some of the work I did over the last 6 months. It has been a slow progress but it is getting closer. I thought I would share. The first two are when I brought home the car with a partially disassembled 273, no tranny, 9" drum brakes. Next came the fabrication of some frame connectors. Then I boxed in and re-welded the K-frame. Installed tubular upper control arms, adjustable strut rods. Welded re-enforcing plates to the bottom of the lower control arms. Installed .920 torsion bars. Upgraded to the 11.75" brakes on the front. I'm still waiting for my Wilwood calipers, they are on back order. Next will be the rear spring relocation as well as the E-body 8 3/4 housing getting narrowed to the standard A body length.

 

[zoltan c]

I was going to use these American Racing Outlaw II wheels but I don't think I can get them for the rear with the correct back spacing. So, I will have to get some different wheels.

 

[zoltan c]

Here are the pictures of the frame connectors welded in, as well as the 727 tranny in place to check for clearances. The engine (360) is going in next just to mock everything up.
Also you will notice that I have modified the tranny crossmember for dual exhaust. I will run the new TTi headers if my wallet can hold up!

 

[socal_65dartgt]

Keep up the good work. I'm doing similar mods also.

I'm in the middle of getting my 340/727 fitted in my 65 Dart. I have trans tunnel fitment problems. Will have drop the combo and use a "precision clearancing" tool (BFhammer) this weekend.

If you are going with the TTi's you will have to balance clearing the trans/ trans tunnel vs. the TTi's and steering/idler arms. It is a tight fit on mine and it looks like the body/frame are straight. With enough precision force we'll make it fit.

 

[howco4]

I like what you did to the tranny mount. You've got a lot of good work done. Howard

 

[zoltan c]

I put the engine in place today to check for clearance issues. I set the ride height on the lower control arm and put the rim on to see how much ground clearance I will have with the deep oil pan on the engine. Looks like it will be about 1.5" above the lower lip of the wheel and with about 4" of rubber(205/60-15) it will give me approx. 5.5" of ground clearance. So that looks to be sorted.
I couldn't bolt the trans and engine together without lowering the rear crossmember. I think I will have to lower the rear of the tranny about 1/2" to give me some extra room for the shifter linkage anyway. I wanted to do this by just cutting 1/2" off the tranny mount which should make it sit lower in the crossmember. I will think that one over some more. Any suggestions would be great. That is all I got done today, tomorrow I have to do some work on someone's vehicle so the project will have to wait.