71 Road Runner Restoration Started

[moparmarks]

Let me know how the Durango goes. I need to do the same on my Dakota. No A/C and very, very little heat. Been putting it off big time.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Today's events.

Let me know how the Durango goes. I need to do the same on my Dakota. No A/C and very, very little heat. Been putting it off big time.

Honestly I think that I Have been putting this job off too. It's more fun to work on my old cars. I will let you know how it goes.

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A gentleman is on his way to look at the 318 and transmission in my SSB.

While I'm waiting I went to work on the previously botched paint on the interior trim. Here is how it looks now. Much better I think.

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Here is a close up that shows the grain pattern.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Pulled the Engine..........

The gentleman I mentioned in the above post ended up purchasing the complete engine and transmission from the 72 Satellite. Here are a few pictures of the engine coming out.

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Here is how she looks now.

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I have to clean the engine compartment real nice and detail / paint it before I drop the 440 in. I might even end up pulling the K-frame too. Not sure just yet how far I want to go since it's a "driver".

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Now I don't have any excuses........... I better get busy fixing the Durango next.

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After the Durango is back on the road, I will probably start replacing the driver side rear quarter panel next on the SSB. It will be a step by step post with daily details.

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I haven't forgotten about the steering column conversion. That still is on the "to do" list.

Have a good one.............

 

[tallhair]

[QUOTE I haven't forgotten about the steering column conversion. That still is on the "to do" list][/QUOTE]

Congratulations on the sale and on making room to get started on the engine compartment.

I know you promised a steering column rebuild. What do you mean .. conversion? Whatcha doing?

 

[Chargerjase]

Whew I'm tired just reading all that. Keep up the great work and the great posts. Love the thread, feel like its a TV series and I can't wait for the next episode. Lol

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Steering Column Conversion

[I know you promised a steering column rebuild. What do you mean .. conversion? Whatcha doing?]

I will be converting the steering column from this car over from a column shift to a floor shift. While I have it apart I will be showing the differences between the parts that are needed and what you can re-use.

I have been planning on doing a "How to" type post with lots of pictures in it.

This work needs to be done on both cars, the 71 RR and the 72 SSB.

Thanks on the congrats.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Parts Hunting 101 ............. Lucky Score !!!!!

This afternoon I picked up a complete Rally Dash frame assembly with wiring harness. It came out of a Charger SE with A/C and has the wiring harness and AC controls intact. Lucky for me a local friend had it so I didn't have to drive too far to pick it up. The bad parts of this dash are that the dash bezel has been cut around the radio opening, and it has a 120 MPH Speedometer.

The good is that the gauges are the type that can be converted easily over to a Tachometer set up and the harness isn't cut up or burned. The frame is not rusted either so I can use it on the RR.

While I was there I picked up a complete "Slap Stick" automatic shifter linkage set up for a 71-74 B or E body car, so now I don't have to use the one from my 73 Challenger in the 72 Satellite Sebring.

The final icing on the cake was that he also had a nice tail light lens and housing assembly for the SSB. I needed a good lens for my car because the driver side one was cracked badly and was missing a piece of the plastic.

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So it looks like I will be installing a rally dash in my driver. I have always liked the way they look better over the standard dash.

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To make the day a little better, I scored a very nice uncut rally bezel and rally gauge frame, along with another Roadrunner plastic dash emblem for the wood grain on the dash. Here are the pictures that were sent to my by the person I bought the second round of parts from.

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This assembly is missing the plastic lens cover and most of the gauges. Between the two of them I should be able to make a very nice looking dash for both cars, with all of the parts I have now. I might even be able to install a tachometer in one of them. We will see how this pans out.

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ON this second frame, it looks like the second set of holes have been drilled out to accept the different type gauges that were available.

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Now I really need to get busy on the Durango. But this opportunity appeared, so I had to act when it was available.

My work schedule is kind of messed up this week. So between that and having to repair the Durango, I probably wont get much done on the cars.

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Here is a parting shot with the driver side tail light lens replaced with the one I picked up today. I will have to paint the surrounds so they match. At least now it's not broken.


It's been a GREAT day !!!!!!

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I will post up some pictures of the new parts when they arrive.

 

[tallhair]

Nice score on the parts. It's nice to have a local place to go shopping . Thanks for the updates and hopefully the Durango fix will go more smoothly than I imagine. I'd sure be hating tearing into the dash of mine!

 

[Budnicks]

lots of new/old parts to work on, keep up the great work, the new interior trim paint, looks great too

 

[ct71rr]

What??!! You're not done with both projects and moved on to two more projects :toothy3:??!!

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Durango Progress Today...................

What??!! You're not done with both projects and moved on to two more projects :toothy3:??!!

I wish this Durango was done.....................

Then I could get back into the next step on the 72 Satellite Sebring.

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Today after taking care of some errands, I started taking the Durango apart. I started by removing the front seats so that I could get more room and make it easier to get to everything else.

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Then I removed the dash bezels and steering column.

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Here is how it looks now....................

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I still have to remove the AC / Heater box.

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So far, it hasn't been too bad. I think by having prior experience with a 98 Dakota I knew what I was getting into.

It also pays to get a service manual too. Before I started on this job I picked up a trusty "Chiltons" manual.

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Here are a few pictures of how this job started out.

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The original AC compressor decided it was time to quit. So it locked up and started squealing the belt.

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Anytime a compressor goes bad, the system needs to be cleaned, and a new driver installed.

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I removed the AC lines so that I could clean them out. Then I tried to remove the Expansion block on the evaporator core, so I could clean the evaporator out too.

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That's when this happened. One bolt broke off in the evaporator. I tried every trick in the book to remove it and none were successful. I ended up trying to drill through the bolt with the original expansion block bolted back in place.


I still ended up drilling it off center. So that led to this.....................View attachment 152861

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I will keep you all posted. Hopefully in a few days, this job will be done. I have a birthday in the family right around the corner. It would be nice to have this completed by Thanksgiving.

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But there is this thing called "Work" that keeps getting in the way, LOL

 

[tallhair]

Hope it works out and you're able to finish that one soon but thanks for the pics

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Parts Arrived

Yesterday when I was working, the new "Road Runner" dash emblem arrived. Here are a few pictures. It looks a lot better than the one I have now.

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The part does not come with the small retainer clips as found on the originals. You have to re-use the ones you have or find new ones.

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Be careful trying to remove the clips. Even with care, you will probably break the tabs off your original part. Luckily for me, this one is a "Satellite" dash emblem shown.

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In this earlier photo, you can see how my original part looks. I'm sure it can be saved with some paint though.............

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View attachment 153229

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That's all Folks !!!!!

 

[ct71rr]

Man do I miss my Durango. I had a 2000 that I got from my brother. It had 80,000+ on it when he gave it to me. He beat the hell out of it; hardly changed the oil, air filter, plugs. When I got it, the air filter had a 1/4" of crap covering it and almost all of the plugs electrodes were gone. It still ran strong and pulled like a freight train. I kept it for 3 years before trading it in on a new car. Didn't get much for it (needless to say).

Nice dash emblem. Who sells those?

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Dash Emblem and other Stuff

Man do I miss my Durango. I had a 2000 that I got from my brother. It had 80,000+ on it when he gave it to me. He beat the hell out of it; hardly changed the oil, air filter, plugs. When I got it, the air filter had a 1/4" of crap covering it and almost all of the plugs electrodes were gone. It still ran strong and pulled like a freight train. I kept it for 3 years before trading it in on a new car. Didn't get much for it (needless to say).

Nice dash emblem. Who sells those?

Thank you. There is a guy on EBay who has these listed. They sell out pretty fast. Item #121214846351 Right now he has one left.

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I wanted to get the under seat floor pan braces in hand soon, because I plan on doing some welding on the 72 Satellite.

While I was on EBay I found these floor braces. They are needed whenever you convert your car over from a bench seat to buckets. In the event of a crash these plates help to hold the seats in place during impact, rather than ripping them out from the floor.

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I was alos lucky enough to score this header panel Road Runner emblem for a 72 car. I'm sure it's a reproduction part, but it looks pretty good. When it comes in I will post some better pictures of it too.

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We love our Durango too. We bought it used back in 2004. It has been a great vehicle. So far this is the first major repair we have done to it, besides the normal routine stuff like brake parts and ball joints.

Our Durango has almost 150K miles on it and still runs like new.

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It has the 4.7 in it, 2 WD.

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I checked on the normal trade in value on ours. It varies between $1,900 to $4,000. It's better to sell it yourself rather than to give it away to a dealership.

Ours is paid for and it's nice not having another car payment.

 

[tallhair]

Glad to see you back and posting again. I really missed your updates

 

[1971 plymouth roadrunner]

beautiful looking car, my second favorite style next to the 1970 model year.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

beautiful looking car, my second favorite style next to the 1970 model year.

Thank you. I really like the 70 body style too. Years ago I owned a B-5 Blue 69 RR that had a 383 / auto / AC in it, with B-5 blue interior with buckets and a console. It had the wood grain décor on the dash and Magnum 500's and no vinyl top. The hood had the black out treatment with the two wide stripes. It was a really sweet car.

I have a very close friend who is restoring a 70 Hemi Orange GTX with a white interior. Sharp cars for sure.

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Sorry for not posting for a while. Things have been very hectic, but a lot has been accomplished. Unfortunately for this post I don't have any pictures.

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I sold the 318 and transmission out of the 73 Challenger I have.

The header panel 1972 RR bezel and 2nd RR dash name plate arrived, along with the second Rally dash bezel and gauge frame.

Then the floor pan reinforcements arrived next.

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So after I pulled the engine assembly out of the Challenger, I went to see another buddy who had some extra parts that he wanted to get rid of.

I scored a set of bucket seats with B / E body tracks, another set of console floor mounting brackets for an automatic, a floor shift steering column, front sway bar brackets, extra set of rear leaf springs, a NICE set of perfect rear lower door panels in black, and a rusted out door that was complete with glass and all hardware.

I ended up stripping the old upholstery and foam off the seat frames so that I can blast them down to bare metal.

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Once that was done I ended up putting the Durango Back together after the Evaporator was replaced inside the heater box.

All I have to do now is vacuum it down and hope it doesn't have a leak.

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The last thing I did was pick up some metal to use as reinforcement bracing when I cut the quarter panel off the 72 Satellite Sebring.

As soon as the Durango is cleared for duty, I will start cutting and welding on the 72.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Hope you all did too.

Take care and stay tuned.....................

 

[tallhair]

You gotta do what you gotta do and the Durango was over due. Thanks for the updates brother

 

[Ron 73]

Your 69 RR you mentioned sounds like it was a sweet car Louis! If ya have any pictures, yes sir i wouldn't mind seeing them.. Nice emblem for your car to, I cant remember where or who but someone hear took one of those and repainted it and it looked great! I touched mine up a bit but other then that it was real nice, i think it was 65 dollars shipped, sounds like a lot but i got the whole thing, the panel and emblem, your right, they do seem to go quick when you do find them.. Good luck getting the Durango done, i bet you cant wait to get started on the bird again!