Nice guess but 100% wrong, I'm in the jeans shorts. All my Mopar shirts are in Swedish. ;-)
Absolutely right about ULF and his work!
Not Fast, just "Less Slow"
- Thread starter KosmicKuda
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Nice guess but 100% wrong, I'm in the jeans shorts. All my Mopar shirts are in Swedish. ;-)
Absolutely right about ULF and his work!
Funny how a guy can have a 50% chance to be wrong and still end up being 100% wrong.
Oh, and I checked out Vans Auto. They have a lot of stuff. Bookmarked.
A little tedious to look through, though.
A little tedious to look through, though.
Not much time today so...I'm still working on the car so this won't take long.
I made a piston stop by breaking/cutting the guts out of an old spark plug from my Neon.
Ran a 5/16" diameter drill through the steel body.
Tapped it for 3/8"-16 UNC.
Tacked a wing nut onto a hunk of 3/8"-16 threaded rod.
Screwed the body into the spark plug hole in the head.
Turned the crank a little past TDC.
Threaded the rod into the body until it contacted the piston.
Stuck a piece of masking tape onto the outer circumference of the damper and made a mark where the factory punch was on the tape.
Rotated the crank around until the piston contacted the "tool" and made another mark.
Measured the distance between the 2 marks on the tape and divided by 2.
Checked the distances from each mark on the tape to the indicated TDC on the damper.
Mine was off by about 1/32" so I just re-punched the TDC mark with a chisel.
The pointer is held on with a single screw but it is located with a dowel pin. I know Chrysler engineers were very anal and I was expecting it to be close.
Maybe a little extreme for "only" a slant six but it was easy (and free) and at least I know where true TDC is.
I made a piston stop by breaking/cutting the guts out of an old spark plug from my Neon.
Ran a 5/16" diameter drill through the steel body.
Tapped it for 3/8"-16 UNC.
Tacked a wing nut onto a hunk of 3/8"-16 threaded rod.
Screwed the body into the spark plug hole in the head.
Turned the crank a little past TDC.
Threaded the rod into the body until it contacted the piston.
Stuck a piece of masking tape onto the outer circumference of the damper and made a mark where the factory punch was on the tape.
Rotated the crank around until the piston contacted the "tool" and made another mark.
Measured the distance between the 2 marks on the tape and divided by 2.
Checked the distances from each mark on the tape to the indicated TDC on the damper.
Mine was off by about 1/32" so I just re-punched the TDC mark with a chisel.
The pointer is held on with a single screw but it is located with a dowel pin. I know Chrysler engineers were very anal and I was expecting it to be close.
Maybe a little extreme for "only" a slant six but it was easy (and free) and at least I know where true TDC is.
Love home made tools, I have made alot over the years.
I have the super six 2bbl carb and manifold, but looking at it compared to my 1bbl, I'm kind of underwhelmed. Man, those are some tiny throats. Looking at total cross-sectional area, it's not an enormous improvement, and the orientation is 90 degrees away from what you'd want. It makes me think dual 1bbls would be much more effective. Actually, I am visualizing a pair of SU HS6's, like a Jaguar -- the motor's the same displacement, and they are as simple as carbs can be.
Max I sort've come to the same conclusion. But it's the area of the 2 combined throttle bore compared to the single bore.
Because of the span between the #1 and #6 intake ports it would be almost impossible to come up with a manifold with equal runner lengths. But a pair of 3 runner manifolds with 2 carbs would be closer. Twin BBD's? There's a company in Australia (or NZ) that makes a triple carb manifold.
I had commitments over the weekend and didn't do much more than bend up a new main brake line using the original as a pattern.
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Still working on the car when I can. I finally decided it's getting too late in the season (in other words...our cruisin' season is over til' spring) so I decided to do more under-car work while everything is out. This includes painting the engine compartment, more details later.
Pictures of the lowly 7-1/4" rear end before and after. I replaced both axle seals and have the new pinion seal but that may have to wait until it is back in the car unless I can figure how to get the big pinion nut off. Right now I have nothing to keep the pinion from turning w/o the tires on the ground.
Anyway, interesting to find the inspection paint markings under all that crud. I've been powder coating most of my smaller stuff and would've liked to do the rear end but I didn't want to disassemble it down to a bare housing so it's just painted. The center cover is gloss black powder coat though
I'm a little behind in my updates but I've been making progress.
Pictures of the lowly 7-1/4" rear end before and after. I replaced both axle seals and have the new pinion seal but that may have to wait until it is back in the car unless I can figure how to get the big pinion nut off. Right now I have nothing to keep the pinion from turning w/o the tires on the ground.
Anyway, interesting to find the inspection paint markings under all that crud. I've been powder coating most of my smaller stuff and would've liked to do the rear end but I didn't want to disassemble it down to a bare housing so it's just painted. The center cover is gloss black powder coat though
I'm a little behind in my updates but I've been making progress.
Going with the theme of it's too late in the year to drive it, I painted the engine compartment. Starts out greasy and rusty, then cleaned, then sanded, then primed, top-coated.
Went to the local Eastwood store and bought Black Epoxy Primer with activator and Urethane single stage with activator in Boulevard Black.
The primer coat turned out great but then I ruined it by attempting the finish coat. Instructions say you can top coat over the primer within 5 days so that's what I did. I bought a cheap dual halogen work light from Harbor Freight the day I primed and it worked OK for what it was.
I took a day off from work on an unseasonably warm day mid-week. I went in the other room to mix the paint and came back to shoot the shiny stuff...guess what? One of the halogen bulbs had burned out already. DOH!!! Nothing like spraying black paint over black primer in a black engine bay in the dark corner of the garage. I had used a full size siphon spray gun for the primer but it seemed to be overkill, hissing and shooting air everywhere so I switched to a touch-up gun. It's a small cup so I had to refill several times. Some of it went on dry so I was re-shooting as I went along. I thought it was going pretty well overall but then I ran out of activator and ended up with some dry areas. Bought some more activator and re-shot some areas a few days later.
Well, shooting black paint in a cave is not the best situation so I ended up wet sanding the rough areas with 400/600/800 grit cause that's what I had. Then I had to buff. I had a low RPM electric buffer that got to most of the open areas but I still had nooks and crannies I was doing by hand. well that sucked so I went up to Auto Zone and bought a Mini Powerball just like Foose uses. O So between that and more elbow grease it looks OK. I won't say it took a whole weekend but.....it pretty much did.
Now the engine bay looks better than the outside of the car, so it's just my style.
Went to the local Eastwood store and bought Black Epoxy Primer with activator and Urethane single stage with activator in Boulevard Black.
The primer coat turned out great but then I ruined it by attempting the finish coat. Instructions say you can top coat over the primer within 5 days so that's what I did. I bought a cheap dual halogen work light from Harbor Freight the day I primed and it worked OK for what it was.
I took a day off from work on an unseasonably warm day mid-week. I went in the other room to mix the paint and came back to shoot the shiny stuff...guess what? One of the halogen bulbs had burned out already. DOH!!! Nothing like spraying black paint over black primer in a black engine bay in the dark corner of the garage. I had used a full size siphon spray gun for the primer but it seemed to be overkill, hissing and shooting air everywhere so I switched to a touch-up gun. It's a small cup so I had to refill several times. Some of it went on dry so I was re-shooting as I went along. I thought it was going pretty well overall but then I ran out of activator and ended up with some dry areas. Bought some more activator and re-shot some areas a few days later.
Well, shooting black paint in a cave is not the best situation so I ended up wet sanding the rough areas with 400/600/800 grit cause that's what I had. Then I had to buff. I had a low RPM electric buffer that got to most of the open areas but I still had nooks and crannies I was doing by hand. well that sucked so I went up to Auto Zone and bought a Mini Powerball just like Foose uses. O
So between that and more elbow grease it looks OK. I won't say it took a whole weekend but.....it pretty much did.Now the engine bay looks better than the outside of the car, so it's just my style.
Pictures of it "finished". It looks pretty good in the dark.
I did take the K member out before final paint and cleaned and painted that too. One other note, the bottom of the steering column is red because of the red interior and they just painted the whole thing red from top to bottom. Interesting.
I did take the K member out before final paint and cleaned and painted that too. One other note, the bottom of the steering column is red because of the red interior and they just painted the whole thing red from top to bottom. Interesting.
Lookin' kinda empty in there.. empty but shiny. Good work.
I got my 2bbl in and the kickdown set up, but I'm waiting on a throttle cable. The old one came up from the bottom and is way too long. Now it's a straight horizontal run from the firewall, and pretty much needs the shortest cable they make (street Hemi, 19").
I got my 2bbl in and the kickdown set up, but I'm waiting on a throttle cable. The old one came up from the bottom and is way too long. Now it's a straight horizontal run from the firewall, and pretty much needs the shortest cable they make (street Hemi, 19").
I have a lot of parts ready to go back on the car. Taking a day off work tomorrow to see what I can do.
Blasted the K member and welded up some gaps and ground some sharp edges. I wish I had more time to investigate converting this one to a later 68-72 double shear idler arm but that'll have to happen next time. Of course I ran out of MIG gas. That's what happens when your gearhead son thinks he co-owns your tools. But everything's good, I'm glad he likes doing stuff too. All in all this 64 K showed better workmanship than the later 68-69 ones I'm used to. Interesting to see the scratch marks where the welder struck his arc and other little details. I can imagine those guys in 1964 throwing stampings in a jig on their bench and welding these up, one after another, after another, after another....
I used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator as a primer and their Extreme Chassis Paint for the top coat. They opened a store nearby and I think I know all the employees by name.
The rear spring hangers looked OK at first glance but the tubing rusted at the welded seam in both and split open. I ordered a hunk of new 1" O.D. x .870 I.D tubing from Mcmaster-Carr, cut the old junk out, welded new pieces in and powder-coated. They probably would have been OK but what Miss Valiant needs, Miss Valiant gets. the proof shows on my credit card statement. I got the poly shackle bushings from Mancini. rear shackles are a good place to use poly.
Blasted the K member and welded up some gaps and ground some sharp edges. I wish I had more time to investigate converting this one to a later 68-72 double shear idler arm but that'll have to happen next time. Of course I ran out of MIG gas. That's what happens when your gearhead son thinks he co-owns your tools.
But everything's good, I'm glad he likes doing stuff too. All in all this 64 K showed better workmanship than the later 68-69 ones I'm used to. Interesting to see the scratch marks where the welder struck his arc and other little details. I can imagine those guys in 1964 throwing stampings in a jig on their bench and welding these up, one after another, after another, after another....I used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator as a primer and their Extreme Chassis Paint for the top coat. They opened a store nearby and I think I know all the employees by name.
The rear spring hangers looked OK at first glance but the tubing rusted at the welded seam in both and split open. I ordered a hunk of new 1" O.D. x .870 I.D tubing from Mcmaster-Carr, cut the old junk out, welded new pieces in and powder-coated. They probably would have been OK but what Miss Valiant needs, Miss Valiant gets. the proof shows on my credit card statement. I got the poly shackle bushings from Mancini. rear shackles are a good place to use poly.
Things are changing in my life and I'm in a position where I had to move. The Valiant is still in the same garage temporarily but I need to get the wheels/tires on it (as a minimum) so I can get it on a trailer and get it here where I can work on it easily.
Anyway, before moving 2-1/2 weeks ago I put the 7-1/4 rear back in the car. I cleaned the rear springs and painted them, powder coated the front spring brackets, rear shackles, and spring plates. I have a receipt for rear spring work on this car from 1981 or 82 and it looks like a couple leafs were replaced and maybe one extra per side was added. I'll have to see how the car rides before passing judgement but they'll do for now. Same with the shocks which look like old blue Monroes.
I ended up replacing EVERY brake line in the car, something I didn't foresee which took up a LOT of time. But once done I won't have to worry about things. I didn't buy a pre-bent kit but made them all starting with two 25' rolls of 3/16" tubing. I didn't look for the brake line armor but if I had found it available in bulk I would have used it.
Luckily the long front to rear line was good enough to use as a pattern except for the rear fitting area which of course twisted off because of the rust. The hard line feeding the tee on the axle has since been terminated but the picture is from before that was done. The lines on the rear axle had been replaced sometime in its previous line as was the left-to-right firewall one so I kinda did those from memory. I don't have pictures of everything yet. I replaced the single pot master cylinder with one for a 67 A-body drum brake car. The 9" drum brakes are what this car will hit the road with but I consider that a temporary thing. Discs are in the future.
Anyway, before moving 2-1/2 weeks ago I put the 7-1/4 rear back in the car. I cleaned the rear springs and painted them, powder coated the front spring brackets, rear shackles, and spring plates. I have a receipt for rear spring work on this car from 1981 or 82 and it looks like a couple leafs were replaced and maybe one extra per side was added. I'll have to see how the car rides before passing judgement but they'll do for now. Same with the shocks which look like old blue Monroes.
I ended up replacing EVERY brake line in the car, something I didn't foresee which took up a LOT of time. But once done I won't have to worry about things. I didn't buy a pre-bent kit but made them all starting with two 25' rolls of 3/16" tubing. I didn't look for the brake line armor but if I had found it available in bulk I would have used it.
Luckily the long front to rear line was good enough to use as a pattern except for the rear fitting area which of course twisted off because of the rust. The hard line feeding the tee on the axle has since been terminated but the picture is from before that was done. The lines on the rear axle had been replaced sometime in its previous line as was the left-to-right firewall one so I kinda did those from memory. I don't have pictures of everything yet. I replaced the single pot master cylinder with one for a 67 A-body drum brake car. The 9" drum brakes are what this car will hit the road with but I consider that a temporary thing. Discs are in the future.
I had to move in mid-December so progress has slowed. I really thought I wouldn't be moving until Spring so I kept taking things apart. But now the car is a little over 25 miles away and I have until March 31 to move it.
So the immediate goal is to get 4 wheels/tires on the car so I can push it on a trailer and get it to my current garage. I will put the mighty slant back in with the BH/clutch/trans because that would be easier than trying to move the engine separately. I'm not worried about firing it up just yet.
I still have to bend up one line from the dual MC to the tee on the frame rail. Also, a new line for the LF brake.
I am not using a factory distribution/proportioning/safety valve at all. The front brake line from the MC is going into a small tee I got at a parts store that splits off to each front brake. I made a small bracket to mount it to the frame rail.
The rear MC line goes directly into a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve then a single line rearward to feed the rear brakes. That's it!
My plan is to drive the car this summer with the 9" drums. As time goes on and I gather parts, I'll most likely upgrade the brakes and with the plumbing I have now it will accommodate anything. Whatever that turns out to be.
Oh yeah, I was there a couple Sundays ago for a very short while and installed the T-bars. I had a nice set of 318/340 .87 diameter bars from my 68 cuda doing nothing so I used those. (stock is .83) That may not sound like much but it's a 17% increase because the torsional resistance of a round bar increases by the 4th power of the diameter. (.83 to the 4th power compared to .87 to the 4th)
So the immediate goal is to get 4 wheels/tires on the car so I can push it on a trailer and get it to my current garage. I will put the mighty slant back in with the BH/clutch/trans because that would be easier than trying to move the engine separately. I'm not worried about firing it up just yet.
I still have to bend up one line from the dual MC to the tee on the frame rail. Also, a new line for the LF brake.
I am not using a factory distribution/proportioning/safety valve at all. The front brake line from the MC is going into a small tee I got at a parts store that splits off to each front brake. I made a small bracket to mount it to the frame rail.
The rear MC line goes directly into a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve then a single line rearward to feed the rear brakes. That's it!
My plan is to drive the car this summer with the 9" drums. As time goes on and I gather parts, I'll most likely upgrade the brakes and with the plumbing I have now it will accommodate anything. Whatever that turns out to be.
Oh yeah, I was there a couple Sundays ago for a very short while and installed the T-bars. I had a nice set of 318/340 .87 diameter bars from my 68 cuda doing nothing so I used those. (stock is .83) That may not sound like much but it's a 17% increase because the torsional resistance of a round bar increases by the 4th power of the diameter. (.83 to the 4th power compared to .87 to the 4th)
Mopar to ya
Well-Known Member
You're looking at this all wrong. You just need to say that your Valiant is not fast and it's not slow ..... it's half fast.
What a great thread! Enjoying the stories and experiences. "Miss Valiant" is going to be a sweet one for sure.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm just doing the best I can based on what I've learned from going to a LOT of Mopar shows and constantly reading.
Tomorrow is Saturday and I'll spend some time working on it. I had a setback last Sunday. I was installing the manual steering gear box and the mounting bolt nearest the frame rail snapped off. Two went in as normal but the third just was not tightening up then...snap! Maybe the early "A" K members use a locking type nut on the inside. It's been awhile since I worked on my 68 but I don't remember the screws being difficult to torque up so maybe those are non-locking type. I do know they are prone to loosening up over time. The LCA's look bad but I just don't have the time right now to remove, rebuild and powder coat them but I'll get to it when I get it home.
You can see the stub sticking out in the picture. Tomorrow's plan is to attempt to drill the it out. Got my fingers crossed.
If I get that fixed, the mighty slant will be going into that black hole next.
Tomorrow is Saturday and I'll spend some time working on it. I had a setback last Sunday. I was installing the manual steering gear box and the mounting bolt nearest the frame rail snapped off. Two went in as normal but the third just was not tightening up then...snap! Maybe the early "A" K members use a locking type nut on the inside. It's been awhile since I worked on my 68 but I don't remember the screws being difficult to torque up so maybe those are non-locking type. I do know they are prone to loosening up over time. The LCA's look bad but I just don't have the time right now to remove, rebuild and powder coat them but I'll get to it when I get it home.
You can see the stub sticking out in the picture. Tomorrow's plan is to attempt to drill the it out. Got my fingers crossed.
If I get that fixed, the mighty slant will be going into that black hole next.
I hate it when that happens
I was able to work on the Val Saturday. I ground the end of the broken steering box bolt flat and center-punched it as close to center as I could, (it looked perfectly centered). Using a right angle battery powered drill, and starting with a small 9/64 drill bit, I managed to drill completely through the stub. Well....working within the constraints of the inner fender and the end of the steering column, the exit hole came out not centered but I moved up to a larger 3/16" diameter bit and tried to correct the off-center issue by "steering". Oops, a chunk of the stub broke off which made it even more difficult but I drilled on through. Next step was a 1/4" diameter and at a depth of about 1/4" I saw the stub rotate. Ah ha! I drove a 4-sided KD tools extractor into the hole and turned it with a tap handle. Ouila! (or walla) It came out.
I ran a 7/16"-14 tap all 3 holes in the "K" member and put the steering box into the car with the steering column attached and everything. Very nice but I was short one screw and another didn't look so good so right now it only has one screw in place for the time being.
I put the 13" wheels/tires on all 4 corners and dropped it down onto the 4-wheel dollies. The car has been sitting cross-wise in the back of a 30 foot deep garage for over a year on jack stands. Jason's 69 Torino on the left and my 68 cuda on the right. Jason and I cleared the front of the garage, rotated the car around and rolled it out the door onto the driveway. Then we rotated 180 degrees and backed it in with the nose facing out. It looked so cool out in the sunshine (rare for this time of year) dusty and dirty outside, but shiny inside, that I took some pics.
Pics are of the car draped in tarps when I was cleaning/painting the underside. Then outside on all fours.
The plan is to go there next weekend and replant the mill. Bellhousing/clutch /trans all need to go in too. It won't be running but we can push it onto a trailer for the ride home with everything Valiant related moved from the premises. The only thing I'm worried about is removing and replacing the crank bushing.
I ran a 7/16"-14 tap all 3 holes in the "K" member and put the steering box into the car with the steering column attached and everything. Very nice but I was short one screw and another didn't look so good so right now it only has one screw in place for the time being.
I put the 13" wheels/tires on all 4 corners and dropped it down onto the 4-wheel dollies. The car has been sitting cross-wise in the back of a 30 foot deep garage for over a year on jack stands. Jason's 69 Torino on the left and my 68 cuda on the right. Jason and I cleared the front of the garage, rotated the car around and rolled it out the door onto the driveway. Then we rotated 180 degrees and backed it in with the nose facing out. It looked so cool out in the sunshine (rare for this time of year) dusty and dirty outside, but shiny inside, that I took some pics.
Pics are of the car draped in tarps when I was cleaning/painting the underside. Then outside on all fours.
The plan is to go there next weekend and replant the mill. Bellhousing/clutch /trans all need to go in too. It won't be running but we can push it onto a trailer for the ride home with everything Valiant related moved from the premises. The only thing I'm worried about is removing and replacing the crank bushing.
So a couple weekends ago I got over to where the car is located 30 miles away and spent some time getting things done.
We transferred the engine from the stand to the engine hoist, AKA Cherry Picker. It's been about a year since we had used the CP but just scoping things out I extended the boom to make sure it would reach into the engine bay.
Installed my new passenger side engine mount from Classic Industries. It was out of stock at EVERY other place I checked. Installed the flywheel, new clutch, bellhousing with the clutch lever and new throw-out bearing.
Ever have those feelings where everything seems to be going TOO smoothly??
Well, that was me...I was torquing the clutch cover screws while it was suspended from the chain when CRASH! The CP flipped forward and the engine hit the garage floor from about 3 feet. Then it rolled over on it's side breaking the casting on my new fuel pump and breaking the new distributor cap and rotor. I surveyed the damage and realized right away that we were supposed to extend the legs of the cherry picker so the boom was not out past the casters on the legs. DOH!
I said something like, "Well, things DID seem to be going too smoothly." Jason looked at me and said, "How can you be so calm? If that had happened to me I'd be throwing things, swearing, the whole bit."
"A few cheap things broke, it put a big dent in the oil pan and ruined my perfect paint job, but nobody got hurt."
I needed to move the car ASAP and this was another delay and my plan that day was to install the drivetrain to make everything easier to move in one piece instead of moving the engine, trans, etc. separately.
So I had two choices.
1. Put the engine in the car as is, including the trans, knowing that I'd have to remove the pan later to straighten it and check for internal damage, like the oil pickup.
2. Remove the pan and come back another day.
So I took the pan off while it was still on the chain, straightened a slightly bent front cover, shot a little engine paint, and went home.
I was getting cold anyway in the mid-30's temp.
We transferred the engine from the stand to the engine hoist, AKA Cherry Picker. It's been about a year since we had used the CP but just scoping things out I extended the boom to make sure it would reach into the engine bay.
Installed my new passenger side engine mount from Classic Industries. It was out of stock at EVERY other place I checked. Installed the flywheel, new clutch, bellhousing with the clutch lever and new throw-out bearing.
Ever have those feelings where everything seems to be going TOO smoothly??
Well, that was me...I was torquing the clutch cover screws while it was suspended from the chain when CRASH! The CP flipped forward and the engine hit the garage floor from about 3 feet. Then it rolled over on it's side breaking the casting on my new fuel pump and breaking the new distributor cap and rotor. I surveyed the damage and realized right away that we were supposed to extend the legs of the cherry picker so the boom was not out past the casters on the legs. DOH!
I said something like, "Well, things DID seem to be going too smoothly." Jason looked at me and said, "How can you be so calm? If that had happened to me I'd be throwing things, swearing, the whole bit."
"A few cheap things broke, it put a big dent in the oil pan and ruined my perfect paint job, but nobody got hurt."
I needed to move the car ASAP and this was another delay and my plan that day was to install the drivetrain to make everything easier to move in one piece instead of moving the engine, trans, etc. separately.
So I had two choices.
1. Put the engine in the car as is, including the trans, knowing that I'd have to remove the pan later to straighten it and check for internal damage, like the oil pickup.
2. Remove the pan and come back another day.
So I took the pan off while it was still on the chain, straightened a slightly bent front cover, shot a little engine paint, and went home.
I was getting cold anyway in the mid-30's temp.
2 Darts
A-body Addicted
Great work! LMAO at old tires. I had a set on the 73 mordor I owned. Having made several trips from Dallas to Austin and back, I was living dangerously. The Goodyear tire said it was made in 6. Could have been 86 or 96. The day before Christmas 2010, it let go. (first photo) The replacement let go in spectacular fashion (2d photo) a few days later at 11:00 PM in Belton, TX. Luck was with me as I found an open truck tire place within walking distance of the car that had A used tire that would fit on the rim.
Well, I don't think I mentioned much about tires yet but...the radial tires on this car are brand new!
Yeah, new in 1982 or so!
They are all hairy with the little nipples all over the treads. They were with the car when it was dragged out of storage a couple years ago and the guy I bought it from switched them out to replace the snow tires and bias fronts. I'm not going to be driving fast on them. Right now they are only roll-around tires, but I do want to switch them so the whitewalls are facing out instead of in. This car deserves whitewalls for a little while anyway.
If I drive it to Carlisle, it will have new radials on 14" Rallyes by then.
Yeah, new in 1982 or so!
They are all hairy with the little nipples all over the treads. They were with the car when it was dragged out of storage a couple years ago and the guy I bought it from switched them out to replace the snow tires and bias fronts. I'm not going to be driving fast on them. Right now they are only roll-around tires, but I do want to switch them so the whitewalls are facing out instead of in. This car deserves whitewalls for a little while anyway.
If I drive it to Carlisle, it will have new radials on 14" Rallyes by then.
Sorry to hear about the picker incident. I just repainted the air cleaner on my 'vert because the paint I used never set up (low temperatures?), and it was rubbing off on the hood insulation (I'm using a big 318 2bbl manifold with snorkel, and it's a wee bit high perched atop the slant). Your pan looks great, in the "after" shot..
2 Darts
A-body Addicted
I can laugh about it now. But that last blow-out was NASCAR newsreel material had I been on track. It beat the fender up and knocked the wheel well moulding loose, ripped out the fender turn signal connection and the side marker light, sent rubber flying, and aimed the car at a guard rail at 65 mph. Just for grins, check the age on those 1982 radials http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11 . You may be surprised. FWIW: Discount Tires recommends replacement at 10 years. http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireLife.do
There _could_ be a difference between really old tires and newer ones. Modern tires are mainly synthetic rubber which have softeners in them. These softeners creep out of the material which lead to harder tires that crack.
I'm not sure, but older tires could have more - or only - natural rubber which is soft in itself and could then last longer.
But I couldn't quantify this.
I'm not sure, but older tires could have more - or only - natural rubber which is soft in itself and could then last longer.
But I couldn't quantify this.
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