moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Bodywork, and primer is cheap, and time consuming. get a couple quarts of dupont hibuild primer. it comes in either grey or black depending on your tastes. if you can afford a gallon, bodywork, tape off and spray the whole car. it would make it look very clean for cheap.
How about junkyarding for a magnum V8 starter for your small block or /6. They bolt right up, are smaller and lighter than the original ones, and will really spin your engine over fast.
Do the headlamp relay mod so your lights dont dim so bad at idle. Throw in a pair of halogen sealed beams and your good to go at night. autozone for the relays and wiring. im sure someone here can provide you with a wiring schematic to wire it up. less than $25 to wire,prob $8 each for the headlamps.
remove your taillamp lenses, clean the insides of all the dirt, and repaint the inside of the housing where the bulb goes a nice bright silver. you can get halogen 1157 taillight bulbs too. this will def make your taillights brighter at night. mebbe an LED bulb for your lic plate lamp. brightens this up at night.
How about a junkyard electronic ignition upgrade using chrysler electronic dizzy, and GM HEI module and coil. If you got the dizzy already its even cheaper. article on this is in carcraft magazine. abody joe added it to mopar general discussion. mebbe you can print a copy of it for yourself.
Dissassemble instrument cluster and clean away. Fix circuit board if it needs it. Solder pins in board for better contact. Mebbe upgrade to LED bulbs for reliability. Clean and micro polish lenses with a micromesh polishing kit. We use these on aircraft acrylic windows where i work. Its a cheap to buy kit, works very well.
how about changing your instrument cluster point type voltage regulator on the back of the circuit board to solid state. you can get the regulator and assorted parts super cheap at your local electronics supply house. this eliminates the gages going goofy either pegging at will or dropping off to zero which is what you get when the old regulator closes and stays closed, or opens and stays open. about $5.00 or less to do. you can find several ways to do this online, the solid state regulator is made by NTE and is less than $3.00 i believe there a capacitor that goes in this project too.
Steam clean engine and compartment, remove all extra parts from engine you would like to paint a different color and do a "rattle can rebuild" spray paint the block and heads in the car, add some ebay chrome rocker covers, mebbe repaint the brackets n such a nice gloss black.
Get some black electrical tape, a good small steel wire brush a pair of small plyers, a small thin screwdriver, start at one end of the engine compartment, disconnect each conector, unpin each wire one at a time, clean corrosion off it with the wire brush, use plyers if its a female spade to squeeze it a little tighter, then repin it into its socket. Worj your way around the harness by rewrapping with the new tape. Brittle and dry wires on the engine you should solder and splice cleaner more flexible wire. Your folks have a junkyard id dewire a junk harness on another mopar for some wire the same color code as your spliced wire. I also got some dielectric grease from my local harley dealer about $5 a tube. Put some on all the cleaned connectors to prevent future corrosion. The bulkhead connector alone should take you all day. Id recomnend removing the harness from the car and working on it sitting in a lawn chair in your back yard. Lots of info but this can be done real cheap, like under $20 cheap, and the benefits are enormous.
How about that 40 year old heater box that smells musty every time you need to use it and the drivers side vent box. I bet they could use a good scrubbing, and new heater core, new defroster hoses, and new heater hoses to the engine. The cores for non AC cars are about $20. Btw while your heater n vent boxes are out why not blow out the cowl area now that you can get in there with the heater removed and get rid of any leaves n dirt thats accumulated.
While this is out remove the windshield wiper linkages, replace the gaskets, seals, plastic rod ends, mebbe dissassemble clean and regrease the windshield motor. I would drill into the cast part of the wiper shaft housings where they sit on the inside of the car body for grease fittings, then pump a little grease into them. This where most water leaks on the front floor come from on these cars is worn out wiper shaft seals. A little grease on the shafts fixes this and makes em run smoother. Cheap deal. Mebbe $30
even suspension stuff can be pretty inexpensive. go to the prothane website. they sell the insert polyurethane bushings and sleeves for cheap $20 for upper control arm bushings. you have to burn out the old bushings, and leave the outer pressed in shells intact in the arms to use em. the good thing is these bushings fit 67 to 76 A body, so if you decide to upgrade to large ball joint and disc brakes off a 73 or newer you can reuse em in the other arms. they also make the insert bushings like this for the rear leaf springs and shackles pretty cheap under $50.
tie rod ends are cheap. upgrade to the 11/16" ones and the larger adjuster sleeves off a C body car. im sure your folks junkyard has a C body or 2 for the sleeves. the inner and outer rod ends are around $10.00 each this is under $50
does your families junkyard have some old A bodies? mebbe you have all the parts to do the disc brake swap. rebuilding calipers is cheap. about $6.00 a side for seals if the pistons are OK. the pads, dust seals, and brake flexible lines are pretty cheap at your local auto parts store. you can prob parts match stuff off other non A body mopars. im know the rotors would fit off a corddoba. tho its best to get everything off the same model of vehicle. the 3 key parts you need of an A body will be the large ball joint upper arms, 73 up A body disc brake spindles, and caliper brackets. the rest of the stuff you can buy at the auto parts store if you dont have it. you will also need the disc drum master cylinder off the donor car, or a new one. got me a brand new one from my local auto parts store for $40
how about a junkyard A body front swaybar. i know they are as round as a tootsie roll LOL but are better than nothing. add some cheap prothane polyurethane center and end links i bet it would work pretty well.
man if my folks had a junkyard, and encouraged me at said junkyard id have some cool mopars on the cheap.
Rani i hope this helps you out
Matt
How about junkyarding for a magnum V8 starter for your small block or /6. They bolt right up, are smaller and lighter than the original ones, and will really spin your engine over fast.
Do the headlamp relay mod so your lights dont dim so bad at idle. Throw in a pair of halogen sealed beams and your good to go at night. autozone for the relays and wiring. im sure someone here can provide you with a wiring schematic to wire it up. less than $25 to wire,prob $8 each for the headlamps.
remove your taillamp lenses, clean the insides of all the dirt, and repaint the inside of the housing where the bulb goes a nice bright silver. you can get halogen 1157 taillight bulbs too. this will def make your taillights brighter at night. mebbe an LED bulb for your lic plate lamp. brightens this up at night.
How about a junkyard electronic ignition upgrade using chrysler electronic dizzy, and GM HEI module and coil. If you got the dizzy already its even cheaper. article on this is in carcraft magazine. abody joe added it to mopar general discussion. mebbe you can print a copy of it for yourself.
Dissassemble instrument cluster and clean away. Fix circuit board if it needs it. Solder pins in board for better contact. Mebbe upgrade to LED bulbs for reliability. Clean and micro polish lenses with a micromesh polishing kit. We use these on aircraft acrylic windows where i work. Its a cheap to buy kit, works very well.
how about changing your instrument cluster point type voltage regulator on the back of the circuit board to solid state. you can get the regulator and assorted parts super cheap at your local electronics supply house. this eliminates the gages going goofy either pegging at will or dropping off to zero which is what you get when the old regulator closes and stays closed, or opens and stays open. about $5.00 or less to do. you can find several ways to do this online, the solid state regulator is made by NTE and is less than $3.00 i believe there a capacitor that goes in this project too.
Steam clean engine and compartment, remove all extra parts from engine you would like to paint a different color and do a "rattle can rebuild" spray paint the block and heads in the car, add some ebay chrome rocker covers, mebbe repaint the brackets n such a nice gloss black.
Get some black electrical tape, a good small steel wire brush a pair of small plyers, a small thin screwdriver, start at one end of the engine compartment, disconnect each conector, unpin each wire one at a time, clean corrosion off it with the wire brush, use plyers if its a female spade to squeeze it a little tighter, then repin it into its socket. Worj your way around the harness by rewrapping with the new tape. Brittle and dry wires on the engine you should solder and splice cleaner more flexible wire. Your folks have a junkyard id dewire a junk harness on another mopar for some wire the same color code as your spliced wire. I also got some dielectric grease from my local harley dealer about $5 a tube. Put some on all the cleaned connectors to prevent future corrosion. The bulkhead connector alone should take you all day. Id recomnend removing the harness from the car and working on it sitting in a lawn chair in your back yard. Lots of info but this can be done real cheap, like under $20 cheap, and the benefits are enormous.
How about that 40 year old heater box that smells musty every time you need to use it and the drivers side vent box. I bet they could use a good scrubbing, and new heater core, new defroster hoses, and new heater hoses to the engine. The cores for non AC cars are about $20. Btw while your heater n vent boxes are out why not blow out the cowl area now that you can get in there with the heater removed and get rid of any leaves n dirt thats accumulated.
While this is out remove the windshield wiper linkages, replace the gaskets, seals, plastic rod ends, mebbe dissassemble clean and regrease the windshield motor. I would drill into the cast part of the wiper shaft housings where they sit on the inside of the car body for grease fittings, then pump a little grease into them. This where most water leaks on the front floor come from on these cars is worn out wiper shaft seals. A little grease on the shafts fixes this and makes em run smoother. Cheap deal. Mebbe $30
even suspension stuff can be pretty inexpensive. go to the prothane website. they sell the insert polyurethane bushings and sleeves for cheap $20 for upper control arm bushings. you have to burn out the old bushings, and leave the outer pressed in shells intact in the arms to use em. the good thing is these bushings fit 67 to 76 A body, so if you decide to upgrade to large ball joint and disc brakes off a 73 or newer you can reuse em in the other arms. they also make the insert bushings like this for the rear leaf springs and shackles pretty cheap under $50.
tie rod ends are cheap. upgrade to the 11/16" ones and the larger adjuster sleeves off a C body car. im sure your folks junkyard has a C body or 2 for the sleeves. the inner and outer rod ends are around $10.00 each this is under $50
does your families junkyard have some old A bodies? mebbe you have all the parts to do the disc brake swap. rebuilding calipers is cheap. about $6.00 a side for seals if the pistons are OK. the pads, dust seals, and brake flexible lines are pretty cheap at your local auto parts store. you can prob parts match stuff off other non A body mopars. im know the rotors would fit off a corddoba. tho its best to get everything off the same model of vehicle. the 3 key parts you need of an A body will be the large ball joint upper arms, 73 up A body disc brake spindles, and caliper brackets. the rest of the stuff you can buy at the auto parts store if you dont have it. you will also need the disc drum master cylinder off the donor car, or a new one. got me a brand new one from my local auto parts store for $40
how about a junkyard A body front swaybar. i know they are as round as a tootsie roll LOL but are better than nothing. add some cheap prothane polyurethane center and end links i bet it would work pretty well.
man if my folks had a junkyard, and encouraged me at said junkyard id have some cool mopars on the cheap.
Rani i hope this helps you out
Matt
