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Little Brown Wagon

As suspected, the lower ball joints were fine but I changed them anyway since I had them apart. I also installed outer tie rod ends which I think were in more need than the ball joints. Test fitted the buckets with a buddy seat. The fronts of the track need a bracket cut off to drop down about 2”. I have some ideas for tweaking the buddy seat but it will mostly be an armrest. They should look less out of place with new upholstery and some headrests on the rear seat.

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New front tires along with the ball joints made a difference in how the car drives. It’s a good thing as it has been the daily driver for the last two weeks due to a truck problem. I think the 1.14” torsion bars will get pulled out. The ride is harsh on rural country roads with sub par patching jobs. It’s good on the highway, but the stock .94” bars ride better and with the sway bars and shocks, the cornering advantage with the big bars is marginal. It is comparable to my wife’s Audi A4 in cornering speed but falls short in ride quality.

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The blue truck is a Hemi donor that has been worked on by the previous owner. I have the body sold and will pull the engine and tranny starting next weekend.
 
The donor engine is being pulled and a few more goodies are being revealed. The mystical third row seat also just arrived.

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The engine is out as well as the transmission and the gathering of information for the swap is coming together. I was a little hesitant to reveal the true sleeper status but the truck had the 5.7 swapped with a 6.1.....stroked to a 426 by Inertia Motorsports and makes about 580 hp at the crank. It does have about 40k miles on it as the previous owner had it done in the 2007-8 timeframe. The power output finally smoked the 545rfe and it looks like that is not going to be an option to rebuild to the 600hp level.
 
Cleared some space, I see you are like 15 miles from me. It looks like I have a couple of options on the 545RFE but to get to the 600hp level is a bit pricey, the other options are fairly pricey as well since I do not have a 46RH and to run a 46 or 727 with GV looks like close to $1K not including the transmissions just for the ability to bolt it up and the cable linkage to make it work.
 
This is all I could verify when I bought the truck, I will be able to tell more when I pull the pan, but thus far everything the PO told me has been true.

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Long time, little progress. The 426 swap is on idle, I need to finish my shop first and the transmission options are holding me up a bit as it’s not unlikely that this might receive a supercharger and tuning and control seems to be an issue with the stock computer when you start trying to run an auto. Holley makes a stand-alone setup for the 3G hemi but from what I can tell, the 545RFE is not supported and ATS has a 545RFE that will take 800hp but uses a piggyback trans controller. Anyway, in the mean time small stuff is being addressed.
 
The front end is apart again for more upgrades. Lower control arm bushings and greasable pins, reinforcing plates, and tubular uppers. TTI ceramic headers for a new exhaust system and the drivers seat is mounted and wired, it’s so much more comfortable.

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The rearend is a stock 8 3/4 3.23 open. I’ll be swapping in a B-Body housing with 3.55 Sure Grip that is 2” narrower than the wagon housing and should allow some 305-325 tires depending on wheel selection. I picked up a Baer PBR caliper kit with 13” rotors from a member and a dual diaphragm booster with a disc disc master to finish the swap. The front has stock 11 3/4” rotors from later B body’s but will probably get an upgrade later.

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I got the LCA plates welded on, poly bushings installed and the greasable pivot pins installed with the Firm Feel upper control arms and Baer Track 4 13” rotors with 4 piston calipers from a member on here that abandoned a project rub the 17” Torque Thrust II wheels. So I put the wheels I’m using on my 73 Charger on to check fitment. The 17” Magnum 500 reproductions clear but just barely. I might run these until the charger is up and running

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Calipers are shimmed and the pads are installed. Getting front tires mounted this week so I can move it into the shed to swap the Gear Vendors and 727. 1.03” Sway-Away torsion bars are here.

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This is the hood that I built for my Daytona stock car. I grafted a damaged 71 Charger R/T hood on to a 70 Charger hood.
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What vehicle did your bucket seats come out of? Sebring convertible?
 
Yep, Sebring convertible. The hood will be a 71 Super Bee (damaged) grafted to the 73 Coronet hood. The front edge is completely different and the whole hood is about 4” shorter.
 
nstyle73 said:
Yep, Sebring convertible. The hood will be a 71 Super Bee (damaged) grafted to the 73 Coronet hood. The front edge is completely different and the whole hood is about 4” shorter.
Click to expand...

Cool project. Double check your seats. I know the 96-2000 had a little computer under the console that would sense how quickly the car decelerated and apply the seat belt locking mechanism in the seats. Not sure if the newer ones like yours had the same thing. I got some of the older ones that I am using in my convertible challenger so I can have the shoulder belt.
 
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