The engine is in! It was easier than I anticipated. We did have a problem though. The hydraulic cylinder on the engine hoist took a dump. $70 later and we were back in business. I don’t have a whole lot of pictures because it went well. Motor mounts are nutted, transmission cross member is bolted. The boy helped. He was in control of the hoist. I was nervous, but it was important to have him responsible for something significant.
Not much action today. My son is at his grandparents for an overnite (in fact, all 3 kids are). I puttered around a bit in the garage doing odd bits. Welded the adjustment rod for the clutch. Painted and assembled the z-bar and installed it. I found and cleaned up the stud for the starter. Used some orange Loctite to secure it into the bell housing. Picked up some miscellaneous fasteners. Oh I got the starter tested, and according to the counter jockey at Oreilly’s it is good.
I only have the one picture of the z-bar installed. Nothing else worth taking pictures of today. Tomorrow I hope to finish the clutch linkage (assuming rehrenberg’s steel clutch ball thingy shows up), get the starter installed, and with the boy home, adjust the valves. Should have the battery cables show up tomorrow too. Then things get interesting!
Valves tonight. The boy was turning the wrenches on this one while I turned the engine. Used the super helpful chart in the how to section, and adjusted 2 at a time. 1 full turn past zero for 0.050” preload. Primed the oil system with the valve covers off. The boy thought it would be funny to shoot oil out of the rockers and onto the inner fenders. I didn’t. He did it anyway. We have 80PSI of oil pressure with just the drill. Also dropped in the pump drive shaft and distributor, and set the intake in place. Hopefully tomorrow we can get the intake fully installed as well as the distributor, valve covers, thermostat and housing, and intake water connections.
So today was fun. Worked on the clutch linkage. Had to do a little massaging of the pedal side as I couldn’t get the spring clip on. Once on, I got the bottom rod in.
Worked on the wiring as well. Mounted the voltage regulator, ignition ballast, and ignition module. Test fit the alternator and got measurements for the spacers. I took the half finished engine harness over so I could trim wires to size.
Tomorrow I expect I will finish the engine harness and move on to battery cables If the fuse block shows up I can pretty much finish out the wiring. Good times!!
Did stuff and things today. Mounted the intake, and I used the *gasp* cork end gaskets! Actually, I've had people tell me for years not to use them, and I always do. And they always work for me. We also installed the valve covers, which my soon was super excited to see. I didn't find a torque spec for those, so I did 5ft-lbs over and over and over and over... every time I would do a bolt, it would loosen up the ones around it... you know the deal. I have the alternator fitted as well. Mounting it in front of the bracket... I think that is how it should be... it make the pulleys and brackets line up. Fuel pump is installed. One picture today.
EDIT: I forgot the picture of my custom tool I made to get the 4 center bolts on the intake torques properly. There wasn’t room to fit my torque wrench in there, so I had to improvise. I cut the box end off a wrench of appropriate size, and the ratchet end off an old extension. Crowsfoot, I know, but nobody in the city had them in stock, let alone selling the one I needed (would have to buy a set).
Today was all about the wiring. Worked on the engine harness, and got the whole thing done and wrapped and ready to install. Also got the starter cable set up with some heat shielding... just in case.
Additions to the wiring harness are the extrinsic ignition, electronic alternator and voltage regulator, and battery-to-alternator line. Also ditching the ammeter for a volt meter, so I am running both power wires as feeds. Should be plenty.
This is a bit more substantial update. We have all the engine wiring done, as well as the cooling system. I was able to procure the correct upper radiator hose! You can read about that saga here. We are using the tired old original radiator because I cant justify replacing it. We flushed it out, and it isnt leaking. It has some bent fins that we may or may not try to straighten out. Radiator and all hoses are in. Fan is in as well, although I have a 2" gap to the radiator core and no shroud at the moment. Heater core is bypassed for now. Wiring is in, as is the main fuse and battery. My wiring is changing from stock a bit in that I am using BOTH original power feeds (alternator and battery) as inbound feeds. The alternator has a 8 gauge cable running direct to the fused side of the battery. Starter power comes from the unfused side. Use some left over clamps to hold the alternator wiring in place just inside the valve cover on the passenger side. Using black zip ties for the wiring harness going along the passenger inner fender (found that tip here some place). Here are some snaps. Oh and we turned the engine over last night to verify we had that correct. Was awesome!
So today was the big day! We started up the 340 for the first time in I think 20 years. Had to break in 2 lifters, so I ran it 2500 for 20 minutes. Then I idled it down... it went down to 800, but I think it can go lower. Target is between 600 and 700
I forgot to add a couple things. No undertaking like this goes perfect. When we shut off the motor, water started shooting out of a newly discovered hole in the upper radiator tank. I believe it is along the brazing line. Oh well, if that’s the worst that happens, I am happy.
Also, running the engine cured the Eastwood manifold paint. It was glossy before we ran it, but the paint flattened out with curing. It really looks like cast iron now! Take a look:
I forgot my best hack! I waited until after I had the transmission in the car to put the lube in it. 4 bottles of GL-4. I did find a way to do it quickly. Picture should explain it.
Last update for a week or so. Going on vacation. I have been working on the dash and gauge cluster to fill the time before vacation. I am replacing the ammeter with a voltmeter using the tried and true Sunpro CP8215. I also stripped the gauge and heater bezels. I tried all sorts of tricks... oven cleaner, Purple Power, and evening paint stripper (ruined the radio bezel with that). Turns out the best option was media blasting them! I took the lens our first of course. I only got a before shot of the heater bezel, but it shows you the level of nasty I started with. I did have a screw hole to repair on the gauge bezel. I love epoxy.
Back at it. Decided the windshield needed to come out, so that happened. The glass is chipped, so I thought it would break when I took it out... but it didn’t. No rust on the fence, just needs cleaned up. I took out the clips and the staples from the vinyl top. Also got the dash stripped of components. It had a Pontiac speaker in the dash... bad juju. The dash pad is in good shape, with only one little crack. We will likely use it as-is. I tried a paint stripper on a corner of the dash.
Been working a bit each night. I have the dash completely painted now. After stripping it, I used a flat black with a matte clear coat (rattle cans). I didnt want to mess with suede paint since this was a driver. All in all, I think it came out darn near perfect. I didnt get a second picture of the dash being stripped, but I did get one of the glove box area. I am happy with the way it turned out. Now to wrap it up and get going on the body.
I’ve been busy doing things here and there... nothing earth shattering. Brakes are in and done. Bled them out and they are working well. Clutch is adjusted. Changed out the shocks for new ones. Swapped some good used tires (from my Mustang) in for the dry rotted ones that couldn’t hold a breath of air. We have an old Coats tire machine, so I got to learn to use that.
What I did today was swap in a new accelerator cable and bracket while using the stock pedal assembly. Wasn’t too hard, just took some trial fitting and a bit of trimming. I used a Jegs branded 24” cable and a Lokar style Jegs branded bracket. I trimmed the casing to length, removed the clevis from the pedal end, which revealed the ferrule at the end that perfectly fit the pedal lever. Used an old Lokar cable end at the carburetor. I got some pictures of the modifications and fitting of the cable to the pedal bracket. Forgot to get one of the finished install. Will get that tomorrow. I used a jam nut instead of the aluminum one that came with the cable. I did cut down the threaded housing at the pedal... it was just a bit too long. I’ve lost no range of motion on the pedal, and it all looks good.
Worked on the coil mounting today. Decided to go with a 340-6 coil bracket. But it won’t fit in the stock location (passenger rear of manifold) due to the feed line for the Holley.
So I flipped it to mount driver front. Had to modify the bracket to get it to fit into the tight space. I tried to overthink it, so there is a bunch of messing around I’m not showing you, like welding up a hole to redrill it.
Oh and I painted it red.
Here is a shot of the installed linkage on the carburetor.
New fuel tank shipped today after a 4 month (!!!) wait. Should have it by Friday. I did get my gas struts for the hood from Gruden. Started prepping the hinges for the struts by disassembling this. With a die grinder. Ground out the rivet to remove the spring strut. Sand blasted it too.
Umm... so I've been working on the Dart a lot. The fuel tank is in. I have driven the car (down the road and back). The entire car has been stripped and primered. I have started body work on the roof, quarter panels, and doors. The passenger door and roof are done, the driver door is nearly done, as are the quarters. The fenders are next, but I fear I am running out of weather. I patched a rusty spot on the driver fender last weekend and got it into epoxy primer. I plan do do more body filler on the driver fender and door tomorrow. I am waiting for parts to come in to finish rebuilding the hinges. After those are done, I will mount them to the car.
I’ve been working on it. Bodywork is tedious and not very photogenic. 3 of 6 major panels are in Featherfill. I am working on the passenger fender. It’s nearly done. Passenger door is done waiting for featherfill. Last part is the trunk lid.
More pictures of recent work. Driver door is done aside from seal and paint. Passenger door is in Featherfill, although probably not completely necessary due to the excellent condition of the door. Fenders and decklid have also been filled and Featherfilled.
