jason's 69 gtx

alright so far ive put my knowledge toward any question i can help with but i've been holding out on my project. I was going to wait till it was all done and post it all at once but hey that would have been way to selfish (even though ive been too selfish already)

so i guess ill give you a little about me first. I grew up in and around body shops, my father ran one out of our four stall shop at our house for years before he finally decided to build a bigger shop that due to an almost divorce situation went under so now he works for other shops. Even though i grew up in shops im not an expert, im a jack of all trades but expert at none.

my father is a mopar guy and addicted me to it as well, i always wanted a muscle car but my parents wouldnt let me get one. however after i was out of the house my parents co-signed for me to get a 97 eclipse turbo. i stuck about 25 grand into this car in repairs upgrades and of course the initial purchase price of 11k back in 03. i had a very wicked ride but was still not happy i still wanted a real muscle car so i decided to try to sell or trade my car the bad thing about rice burners are it dont matter how much you stick into them it barely makes a difference on the resale value. so i knew i was going to take kick on it. i tried selling it for 8500 with aftermarket rims or 7500 with stock rims. i had a few bites but they couldnt get financing. then i saw this 69 gtx for sale in viroqua wi. it was supposed to be a 100% complete car just very much apart asking 5500 for it so i offered him my car with stock rims for even trade. at that time i thought i was taking a little bit of a kick in the rear but i wanted mopar muscle. so i went down he looked at mine i looked at his with a problem rolling chassis was at this shop engine was at another shop and rest of parts were at his house about 30 mins away. so i only looked at the rolling chassis and some of the parts at his house he told me he just had to dig the rest out so i believed him, big mistake. the next weekend i trailered my car down so i could trailer the gtx back he had a couple bolts a piece and chicken wire holding it all together with the parts piled up in the car.

the cars condition

engine was completely apart and missing the pistons and rods (he claims they were junk that he had to hammer them out but the piston walls look clean to me, seems kinda funny. also no carb.

the tranny was a four speed that the main part was all their but in pieces. he gave me an 18 spline pressure plate and clutch but the tranny was the 23? non hemi four speed. the flywheel was the 11" flywheel but the bellhousing he gave me was the 10 1/2" (found that out the first time i went to put a starter in)

the drive shaft that he showed me at his house was not in the car (he lives about a 5 hour drive one way away) so i called him he said it was bent so he didnt send it. if that were true i would have liked to have known before hand and i still would have taken it

the body was a bit beat up but the car is a texas car so it was in pretty good shape as far as rust goes. when i went down he had all the chrome trime taped together in a bundle which he convieniently forgot to send along (and i still havent gotten)

the interior was missing lots no glovebox or glove box door, no ash tray, no carpet, no headliner, no plastic kick plates, no a-pillar moldings, the floors were solid however the bucket seats he gave me which he claims are for my car are junk half the seat frames are completely rusted off (seems funny since the floors are solid), dash pad is ripped in multiple spots, window cranks are missing, door pads and rear side pads are missing, no armrests. wrong heater was hacked into the firewall and i didnt get any controls for it. and no windshield

im sure there was more but this is what i recall so far either way the car was not a 100% complete car that was very much apart. i feel i really got the short end of the stick, a complete great running about low12 second streetable car for this pile, but once again i wanted a muscle car

the car i gave up

i am kicking my self because i didnt take enough pics along the way but here is the car i got about a year and a half ago. these pics are a few days after i got it and already started to strip it, notice how bow out the fender is and where it looks like the car went sideways into a poll in the rear quarter. oh and i forgot to mention someone else restored or repainted this car before

i dont have a pic but the rear window took me 3 hours to remove do to previous hack job repair of window sill, they basically took 2 in wide sheet metal bent it in half 90* and made a bunch of relief cuts to for it to the window shape, the problem is first they never took care of the old rust problem second they only welded it along the top edge leaving all those little relief flaps loose (thats what kept catching my window tool). the trunk center had been replaced and both sides the lower rear qaurters had patch panels in. now when i was taught body work i was told never go thicker than 1/4" with bondo if it had to be thicker use fiberglass first. i was also taught any time you have weld seams that you are covering use fiberglass not bondo, the quarter panels had at least 1/2" to 3/4" of bondo over them

now i was 25 turning 26 as i got this and am now 27 and i do make decent money (make $22 an hour building military trucks for oshkosh corp) but still only middle class so i didnt have money to through at buying new metal even though it could have used it, instead me and my little brother (who is a profesional certified body tech)stripped the car and then spent a lot of time with hammers and dollys and a unispotter. we straightened everything to our best capability and started with our bodywork i hand fabricated new lower quarters to replace the previous patches and then i went to work completely redoing the rear window seat.

i was only able to work on it before work (2cnd shift) and on weekends by the end of the summer we had the car into rough primer (not perfect but close) i also cleaned my rust free under body and used an expensive spray on bedliner for the bottom of the car and i used a cheap walmart roll on bedliner in the entire interior of the car. i then decided to start on getting the car mobile. i was put in touch with a gentleman named larry from oconto wi for various parts i bought a used non hp 440 for 600 from him along with multiple other parts i was missing for reasonable prices

so with this engine i decided to rip it apart and put a new timing chain in and all new gaskets, clean it up paint it put a new fuel pump on it and rebuild the carb

you can see how much oil sludge was in this engine

as for the tranny i gave it to a tranny guru friend of my dads who went through it all checked all the bearings and seals and put it back together for me for $100, although it was on his spare time so it did take 3 weeks after i got it back thats when i found my bellhousing problem

so i spent alot on new parts to get it running inc. stage 2 clutch kit, z-bar rebuild kit, accel super coil, summit racing headers, a used ebay mopar performance electronic ignition, new fuel pump rebuilt carb new timing chain set, got a drive shaft from larry along with even up exchange of my 10 1/2" aluminum bell housing for an 11" steel one. i also had to buy those little straps that hold the drive shaft to the rear end which is an 8 3/4. the wiring was all just thrown into a box nothing labeled so i bought one of those wiring diagrams off ebay (that was a great help).

i got it running together and semi driveable by october just in time to park it in my nearby storage unit for the winter

oh and i cant forget i got a great deal on rims and tires last summer as well rims are used american racing front tires are i think 235 60 15 not sure though and the rears are mickey thompson n50 indy profiles all have good tread on them and i got them all for $250

i was having some electrical issues last year with my charging system so with my tax return i bought a new one wire alt some more bodywork supplies i also have a braking issue that i need to fix, the car has been converted to disc up front however i have no clue what they are off from just that they are mopar, anyway currently has drum brake master and front brakes will not release, i took apart the calipers and cleaned them up which helped a little but not fixed. my only thought are that drum brakes have springs that pull them back but what do disc brakes have? im thinking its in the master cylinder so i bought a new disc brake master with booster but havent gotten to try it yet if that dont work i guess i need new calipers but i dont know what they are off from.

anyway so end of april i brought my car back and got back to work on it. my father is currently the body shop manager of a shop in waupaca wi and he told me that he can arrange it so when im ready to paint the car i can use the shop's spray booth. so ive been working on jambing out the entire car so i can just paint the exterior at that shop. earlier this year i bought some off my paint through my father unfortunately it is that new water bourne paint, this paint is extremely picky and is not useable out of your garage. even my father has complained about this paint with their expensive filtration system in fact last week they decided that they are going back to urethane and that is what i'll be using on my car (thank god)

as i stated earlier the wrong heater box came cobbled into my car, my car is supposed to be an ac car but i got a non ac heater box. i dont ever plan on putting ac in so i decided to clean up my engine bay and weld shut all my random holes through out the engine bay (they are circled in yellow)

now i currently have the drivers side in final prime and jambed the trunk is jambed deck lid top in final prime bottom is painted roof is in final prime, hood needs finishing body work and final prime pass side needs to be blocked a little better then it will be final primed and ill then be able to paint the pass side jambs

Nice project, good work. As of this last post, are we now in real time?, or did you just fall asleep at the computer.:rolling::rolling:

lol ya were up to real time it did take me a long time to sit type and load everything last night so goal this weekend is to finish jambing everything so next weekend i can put it all back together and hopefully sometime between july 4th and july 10th ill be able to paint the exterior, but with the luck ive been having something will go wrong and delay me somehow

Which shop in Waupaca does your dad work at.I live just a stones throw north in Ogdensburg and know quite a few people over there.The car looks like it is coming along very nice.Gonna make it to Iola in a couple weeks?

my father is leonard schrock he's managing the shop in leroy butler ford dealership as for iola i plan on going but i wont be entering my car but then again thats if everything goes alright

well my computer crashed last week so i havent been able to post for a while but 2 weekends ago i finished spraying the rest of the jambs and last weekend i put it all back together and got to put the first real miles on it since ive owned it and of course i got to find more problems (tranny now leaks, rear end leaks at input shaft and by both wheel hubs, and my entire power steering system is junk, the gear box leaks and the pump also went out on me) but on the plus side my front brakes release now with the new disc brake master cylinder and my new one wire alt from summit seems to work great as well allthough being chrome plated i did have to get the belt a lot tighter in order for it not to squeel compared to regular style

any way i now got it to waupaca (taking all back roads about 60 or so miles) at the body shop that my father manages and unfortunately im not allowed to be there working on the car during normal bussiness hours due to insurance reasons so once again that leaves just weekends. ill be going out there tomorrow and hopefully we will be able to get the car into paint at least the main color if i have to ill come back and do the stripes next weekend

Simple OUTSTANDING.

When you get done, I can use you for a few months to help me with my 68 Coronet.

well i know its been a while since last update but things weren't proceeding like i wanted but now finally after this weekend i have the body nice and straight and painted. i still need to do something with the hood yet (my old man wants me to junk it and buy a new one but with shipping that would be around $700 that i dont have right now). now i at least have some color but not sure how long before finished color. here are a few pics right before paint and after paint

Awesome! Looks sweet Morbid! Man I wish I was that far a long. That color works out great on the GTX. I'm gonna have to look you or your Dad up when it comes time to paint mine.

Very nice, it turned out great!.

thanks but shes not done yet i still need to do something about the hood. oh ya by the way this is straight out of the booth. it has not been buffed yet

Will, as for painting yours i personally only painted all the jambs and the backs of the doors and deck lid and the smaller bolt on parts. the body i was a little worried that i would run the clear so i had my father and younger brother spray them. i probably could spray it decent but i would rather you go to my father when the time comes

Jason,

I appreciate your honesty bud, a guy would have to almost be superhuman to do absolutly every aspect of a restoration not to mention all the equipment/facilities needed as well. I'll have to look your dad up when the time comes.

Can't wait to see the finished product. You're in the final stretch now!

morbidgoat-that color looks very,very nice.:yes::yes:

well i know its been a while since i last posted on my car and unfortuneatly i still dont have the paint any closer to being finished, BUT last year before i parked it i did try my hand at making my own door panels and rear side panels they are nothing special but considering the cost of new ones. ive got only $80 for all four panels invested into these so i cant complain (pics coming soon)

now so far this year last weekend i brought her home and this weekend (limited amount of time) i pulled my rear end out, it leaks at wheel ends and at pinion gear the gears were way to far off for my liking. over winter i bought a rear end rebuild kit and a set of 3.55 gears (not knowing what i had at the time) oh and also a new set of leaf springs. now this is my first time replacing gears so i was struggling a little anyway i got it apart after lots of struggling with the pinion gear. and now i sittin again it turns out that my rear end rebuild kit didnt come with wheel bearings or seals so i still need them, i also need to buy a new pinion yoke because my old one is 10 tooth and my new pinion gear is 29. in case anyone was wondering it turned out the old gears in the rear were 4.56 gears.

so here i sit now i have another $300 dollars worth of parts that i need in order to finish and get this back together, and im sorry i dont have any pics of the rear end project it was way to greasy of a project and i didnt want to have to stop every 5 min and clean my hands off just to take a pic

not sure whats going on but it wont let me upload my pics every time i try it says upload failed but it dont say why?

do you use photobucket or??

Looking good!

no not photo bucket i always used the go advanced button on the bottom and used the attachment button, it never gave me problems before

I see, i've never tried that, I've had photobucket for years now so i just got used to that.

love the red on your car by the way, I hope you get the picture thing figured out so we can see more.

now that we got our pics working again i can finally post my homemade door panels granted they are nothing over the top or even anything like the originals but the $80 i spent on making these is a whole lot less than buying them from someone like legendary

that looks like the same kind of fabric(for lack of a better word) that i was thinking of doing some interior work in my RR.that looks pretty good so now i know how mine will look.thanks for showing.how did you attach it to the cardboard panel? spray on glue or something else?

Spray on contact adhesive would be the way to go. 3m makes some good stuff that places like Home Depot carry. Does look good Jason!

thanks i used a 3m neoprene glue that i got from work its a red and white tube with the number 1300 on it. that stuff is very very sticky try not to get it on your hands

thanks i used a 3m neoprene glue that i got from work its a red and white tube with the number 1300 on it. that stuff is very very sticky try not to get it on your hands

the end result might not be good,especially if you went to the blue room right after using the stuff.

progress report rear end has new gears in it now 3.55 was 4.56 its a bit easier on the rpms now plus i dont have to shift out of first after only moving 5 feet.

however i still have problems. when i "refreshed" the engine with new seals and gaskets i replaced the original rope style rear main with the new wiper blade style and within about 100 miles lost about a quart of oil, leaking out the rear main. so i bought a new rear main and this time had a mechanic friend put it in, however hes young and has never done one like our big block mopars. if you havent guessed already his rear main leaks too. even worse than mine did. :(

does anybody know of a good quality rear main that seals great if so please give me a heads up the last two i beleive were two different ones from felpro

this is for a 440ci engine

Hey I have a question, the 440 you cleaned up in the beginning, was it missing the Valley pan gasket under neath the intake manifold like it rusted out or something? We have a very sludgy #s 440 in my coronet and it's valley pan rusted out

Hey I have a question, the 440 you cleaned up in the beginning, was it missing the Valley pan gasket under neath the intake manifold like it rusted out or something? We have a very sludgy #s 440 in my coronet and it's valley pan rusted out

no it was still there not very clean but it was there. did you see how much grease and crud was caked on that engine before i cleaned it, i dont think that rust even stood a chance. lol

yeah thats true, mine doesnt have too much grease on it but the valley pan was gone and there was sludge inside, but that all went away when we drained to oil and all that came out was watered down oil

progress report rear end has new gears in it now 3.55 was 4.56 its a bit easier on the rpms now plus i dont have to shift out of first after only moving 5 feet.

however i still have problems. when i "refreshed" the engine with new seals and gaskets i replaced the original rope style rear main with the new wiper blade style and within about 100 miles lost about a quart of oil, leaking out the rear main. so i bought a new rear main and this time had a mechanic friend put it in, however hes young and has never done one like our big block mopars. if you havent guessed already his rear main leaks too. even worse than mine did. :(

does anybody know of a good quality rear main that seals great if so please give me a heads up the last two i beleive were two different ones from felpro

this is for a 440ci engine

Nice work Jason, it has been some years since I did it my self but did you put some oil on the lip on the new seal? If you mount it dry it will leak. Also check for wear on the surface, I dont know it there is some kind of sleeves to use in that case.
I have always used fel-pro with good results.

well i bought a new rear main set from 440 source between their better rear main and the side rubbers was about $45 shipped, im hoping that the higher price means higher quality. been busy lately but im going to try to install this set before the week is over. if it works i'll try to pull the car out someplace and take a more currrent pic "still need to finish my paint job though but thats about another $500 or so that i dont have

I have always used fel-pro with good results.

Same here!

Sucks to hear you're having such problems goat! Not the easiest thing to change out in the world either. Good luck with your new/upgraded one.

so last week i had the whole week off and had lots of projects unfortunately laziness kicked in and i didnt get much done however i did get my new rear main installed, soaked my clutch down with engine degreaser and brake cleaner (while it was still in the car) gave the car 24 hours for the rtv to dry on the seals and then started her up. i no longer have oil pissing out of her however i did have a constant mist flinging on my header (clutch dust cover not installed) im thinking that was probably just residual oil/cleaner flinging off the clutch. i took it for a short couple mile ride to and from advance auto parts so some friends could see her then parked her. so far no puddle under her. now i need to adjust my caster/camber (never have yet) so i dont kill my front tires, its way off. once thats done i plan on taking her on a longer ride to the redgranite area (about 35 miles from here) this weekend. ill also try to take a more current pic

i had a 440 with the same problem you have to rotate the seal past where the 2 haves meet on the block it helps line up the ends because of the play in the endcap bolt holes

Great to hear you got her fixed goat....Gotta be a relief

Nice work goat, and good tip Poly1963!

here is some newer pics, picture quality isnt the best i took them on my phone but my phone is acting up and wont let me link to my comp so i had to email from my phone to myself which caused me to loose picture quality

Nice rear end ;-)

Looks real nice goat....You heading to any shows with the GTX this year yet?

awesome

no probably not any shows still has a long way to go (in my opinion) and shes not very safe to drive at the moment steering is very loose and brakes are real bad not to mention it still needs an interior and paint work isnt done, all of which requires money and my overtime has stopped for now so money is tight again, not to mention every free cent i can afford is going towards paying off a few loans so that i can buy a newer daily driver in a couple months. i just need to win the lottery (if only i played it) lol

LOL...I hear ya man! I'm the same. I Always say "would be nice to win the lottery", but last time I played was a 2 dollar scratch off like six or seven years ago that someone gave me. Might as well be wishing to strike gold in my backyard.