'68 Satellite 4-door light refurb...and big fat engine swap.

[cudak888]

are you looking for any cop rim in 15' 'x 7'', just woundering your desire for the van rims ?

I like the van rims because they look like an original fleet police/taxi rim from this era; same as the A12 package rims, I believe.

The '80s rims look very similar, with exception to the mounts for the center cap.

The originals this car originally rode on, for the record, were skinny little 14x5.5's.

-Kurt

 

[MJF_]

14x5.5, that's wide. My Belvedere has only 5" wheels

 

[cudak888]

14x5.5, that's wide. My Belvedere has only 5" wheels

Well, things got just a bit wider today

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

It was a busy day today! Drove about 40 miles north to pick up some '80s B-van rims from a gentleman who had them on his '70 Challenger.

Threw them on, and immediately went to tackle the Belvederization of the interior. Yes, it's Duplicolor vinyl paint on the pads. Camo tan on the dash too, and neither matches. Deal with it, purists, it's what Craptastic Auto Parts had in stock! Admit it, there are enough factory jobs of this era that it doesn't look out of place. That, and I HATE dark interiors - this one is inviting, by comparison.

Also - despite all the bench testing and what-not...the fuel and temp gauges are STILL dead. Oh well, more to troubleshoot. At least I know exactly what I'm grabbing at behind the dash now.

But it was no time for complaining - it was time for PICTURES! Went out specifically for a photo drive and came back with these beauts:

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

1968 Plymouth Belvedere (Satellite) - "Adam 12-1/2" by cudak888, on Flickr

P.S.: Anyone have a Belvedere instrument cluster bezel/surround they'll part with?

-Kurt

 

[dieseldazzle]

Sweet man very sweet

 

[moparnation74]

Kurt

Grat to see it back in the wild again

 

[cudak888]

With the prospect of replacing the original fuel gauge and temp gauge with Sunpro units (Why? Cheaper and 12V; just a major pain), and the dimmer switch pending to be modeled for 3D printing, I couldn't help but start experimenting with the prospect of making one of these for cheap:

-Kurt

 

[Matthew Maloney]

I loved reading your build. I love the way you hid the mag heads under the ole 5 bolt VCs. I grabbed a set of 15x7 BBP steelies for ny barracuda off an 88 m body fifth ave. Those are prob pretty readily available. Really a cool car.

 

[cudak888]

I loved reading your build. I love the way you hid the mag heads under the ole 5 bolt VCs. I grabbed a set of 15x7 BBP steelies for ny barracuda off an 88 m body fifth ave. Those are prob pretty readily available. Really a cool car.

Wish the M-body stuff came by easy in the city, but it doesn't. Haven't seen one in long time - anywhere. Thanks for the kudos!

 

[cudak888]

Out with the old, in with the new - been on a dashboard saga. Full read here: http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...iter-did-not-fix.120190/page-2#post-910715553

And yes, the tachometer on the left is a 3D printed replica of the original (the one on the right is an original that I snagged on eBay). Full details at: http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...ear-to-it-anyway.130739/page-2#post-910719933

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Turns out the old tach has a dead board. What to do...what to do...

 

[threewood]

Just a thought. Could you pull the needle from a new tach and glue the housing to the back of the old tach faceplate?

 

[cudak888]

Just a thought. Could you pull the needle from a new tach and glue the housing to the back of the old tach faceplate?

I could even glue the new 3D printed one on the modern tach I chose, then tear apart an equally cheap oil gauge for the needle.

At that point it starts becoming not so cost-effective though in comparison to the new RTE PCB on the back of the original, since I already have the super-expensive bit (the original tach itself).

-Kurt

 

[moparnation74]

Kurt,

Car is looking great! Keep up the good work!

 

[cudak888]

Kurt,

Car is looking great! Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Just moved it tonight after a period of inactivity. There's one thing that bugs me a bit, and that's that there's a slight dead spot in the steering center. Probably the old box, but it's really obvious with the fast-ratio arms - once the slack is out of the box and you actually turn the wheel, you can feel it load up.

Gotta post a photo of the end result with the 3D tach, it looks great, but hoping to put the RTE board in the original.

EDIT:

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Half-success. Got the cluster in (minus tach), painted and installed the A-pillars (need to touch up the dash pad - it's been abused from all the instrument cluster work), and buttoned most of it up.

Then I went for a test drive, and found the left hand caliper sticking.

Guess I suck at rebuilding calipers.

 

[cudak888]

I installed the 7/8" 1971-1977 B150 wheel cylinders today.

Also pulled back the driver's side brake adjuster two or three clicks while I was down here; seemed to sit better on the pads that way.

Anyway, I reconnected the system and bled the rears as before to test the results with the existing 15/16" master; not the 1-1/32" that came in the mail...

OK - a quick followup and PSA for those who were following my comments about the B150 rear cylinders and the 7/8" bore master:

I had to put the rear of the car up on jackstands this weekend due to a problem with the new 3.23 center section (more here on the center section issues: http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...deeper-after-diff-swap-whats-up.125064/page-2), and despite having the brake pedal floored, the rear cylinders are NOT putting enough pressure (unless you literally try to push the pedal through the floorpan with all your strength) on the pads to keep the rear wheels from spinning in drive while the car is in the air.

It has enough pressure to slow it and eventually stop it, but you literally have to stomp the pedal until it hurts your foot.

I've had enough with the experimentation with Dart master cylinders. I'm really tempted to try the 1-1/32" master which is just sitting around - damn the theories about pressure - but the job of swapping the master just to test the results is such a pain that I'm just going to go with a booster and do it the way Mopar intended to begin with. None of this monkey business.

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Just finished installing a new Pirate Jack booster today, which I bought from a forum member who hadn't used it on his own project. It took a while to complete the job, as I had to swap the rear B-van brake cylinders from the back to the stock units.

Was a bit ticked to find out Inline Tube's "perfect fit" lines needed a very tedious massaging for the rear brake line. Looks like crap now too.

That said, the brakes are dragging quite a bit, so I think the jam nuts between the booster and master need adjustment. Not trying it today though; already abused myself enough physically preparing and surviving Irma.

A few pics:

Inline Tube's perfect fit - meh. Not so perfect.

After modification:

-Kurt

 

[Billccm]

I'm no fan of InLine tube. Your experience was better than mine with their products. That company cost me many weekends of just trying to get the correct parts, and in theend needed to make a line to get the job done.

 

[moparnation74]

Kurt

Looks great my friend....

I had to do a lot of fitment, bending, cutting/flaring to all the lines for the GTX....All from "In line tube" my previous restoration I used ILT and had minor modifications.....I was fortunate for the GTX that I had all the original lines to match up....if I didn't it would have been a nightmare....

I would pay more for a set that fits perfect versus paying for a headache and a lot of hours lost that I cannot get back....

Justin