73 340 RR Back to life

[MoparJimT]

I parked my car away in the garage in 1990. Moved it from Los Angeles to Orange County to the Bay area landing in Colorado in 2012. Shipped it to a friend's shop in Mesa AZ. Started taking her apart in Oct. of 2018. I'll work through the project till current.
Here's my starting point.

Taking the engine apart, ready for removal

On to the suspension

 

[Sahara]

Beautiful car! Excellent colour.

 

[davek]

hello from s carolina

 

[ckessel]

Nice. My first mope was a 73 Duster w/340 3spd m/t.

 

[YY1]

Nice.

 

[mpgmike]

Awesome. Spill the beans on specs. I see it has PS, PB, and AC. Stick or auto? Bench, buckets, tach?? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[MoparJimT]

It is a 340 auto originally a column shift bucket seat with the buddy seat in the middle. You will see I change to a console back in the 80’s Has a Ralley dash with a clock. But changed it to a tach. Came with a tuff steering wheel. Has a 3.23 sure grip. I will be posting more pics until I bring everyone to where I am at today. Since it is 90% original I would have preferred to keep it that way but the original trans is long gone and things like alternator and p/s pump have been replaced over the years Put on 2.02 heads back when I built the motor the first time. More to follow

 

[MoparJimT]

Here are before and after pics of the suspension rebuild. All new wear parts, ball joints, idler and pitman arms...you get the idea. Had the rear end gone through then reinstalled new bushings and insulators. It is not concours but it turned out nice

On to the body work

 

[ckessel]

Fresh bushings, brakes and joints will make a huge difference. Nice!

 

[MoparJimT]

The bodywork

As I am dismantling the car if found 10 lbs of sand, probably from my youth living in Palm Springs. Also found the car had be painted a different color, maybe the first owner had the dealer paint it or something. Seemed odd since I have owned it since 1977.

Was able to repair the valances front and rear but had to replace header, cant see it in the pic but the crease in the inside corner of the pass headlight was beyond my abilities so I found a straight 50 dollar replacement.

Measured all the stripes so I could get them back on correctly.

I found it easier to keep the doors on for prep, also put the fenders back on for prep as well.

Sure had a lot of small dings and small dents. But lots of sanding and elbow grease and we were getting close to primer. I did weld the metal fatigue cracks on both doors just below the A pillars. See half circle in the pic.

 

[Builderguy]

Have two of these 340 '73 RR (one auto one 4 speed) that are/will be restored. Have noticed that there is not a lot of flat sheet metal on them. Everything is a curve of some kind (little harder to work on IMO). Have not had to deal with the metal fatigue that you and several others have mentioned. Looks like you have this project well in hand. Best of luck with the rest!

 

[HawkRod]

Nice work so far. My Road Runner was "Tahitian Gold Metallic" (I think paint code JY9). Yours looks close. Is it a JY9 or other color? (Looks like it might be K6 or T8?)

Either way, cool color - too many, including mine, have been changed. I'd love to put mine back one day in the future.

 

[ckessel]

Are you getting it ready for media blasting?

 

[MoparJimT]

Have two of these 340 '73 RR (one auto one 4 speed) that are/will be restored. Have noticed that there is not a lot of flat sheet metal on them. Everything is a curve of some kind (little harder to work on IMO). Have not had to deal with the metal fatigue that you and several others have mentioned. Looks like you have this project well in hand. Best of luck with the rest!

Thanks the car is actually painted and I am starting assembly I just have not caught the post up to where I am at. I wish mine was a 4 speed but trying to keep it closer to original.

 

[MoparJimT]

Nice work so far. My Road Runner was "Tahitian Gold Metallic" (I think paint code JY9). Yours looks close. Is it a JY9 or other color? (Looks like it might be K6 or T8?)

Either way, cool color - too many, including mine, have been changed. I'd love to put mine back one day in the future.

Thanks, it is K6 but based on what I found as I prepped for paint I think the whole car was painted either by the dealer when it was sold or by the first owner. I figured out that I am the 3rd and I am still friends with the second and he did not paint it.

 

[MoparJimT]

Are you getting it ready for media blasting?

Actually farther along, I have already painted the car. I thought about media blasting or taking down to bare metal but just decided not to do it. The car was solid as it was a California desert car and I have keep it in a garage most of the 40 plus years I have owned it. It did have filler in a few spots, I am still at a loss as to when that was done I hope I do not regret leaving it.

 

[ckessel]

You already took care of the engine bay?

 

[HawkRod]

Thanks the car is actually painted and I am starting assembly

 

[MoparJimT]

Progress pics

I know the colors are not 100% correct. I fabricated covers for the 2 hole where the nox and temp sensors went, lost them over the years. I'll paint them body color and touch up the bolts that should have been body color as well.

The end fillers are the original that I reconditioned, they were cracked and flaking apart. I used fiberglass reinforced plastic filler and repaired the metal backing plate on 1. I suggest bolting them onto the bumper then doing the repair. I did them off the car and 1 cracked again because the fit was too tight, repaired it again. Can you tell which one? The center filler is a repro, painted all 3 to match. Again color is not correct but it works for me. We shall see how they hold up, just could not cough up the 200 for the repro end fillers

I cleaned all the light sockets and was able the get them functioning again then cleaned and painted the housing. Put a high temp clear coat on them. No I did not paint the sockets they are still masked off in this pic.

I rechromed the bumper and used a rubber restore gel on the bumper guards and lense trim. I wet sanded then buffed the tailight lenses all the fading came out and they are shiny again. I buffed the Plymouth emblem the painted it black, them used a real fine scotch bright pad the take the black paint off the surface of the letters.

Cleaned the cluster and replaced the clock with an aftermarket tac. Didn't know 3 years ago when I started collecting parts that it went to 8k rpm instead of 7k like the factory one. Decided to put it in anyway since I could not return it. Repainted the needles and the silver/chrome outlines, numbers and lettering stenciling and woodgrain are all original. Yep that is the original 150mph speedo.

 

[HawkRod]

Progress picsView attachment 1075813 View attachment 1075814

I know the colors are not 100% correct. I fabricated covers for the 2 hole where the nox and temp sensors went, lost them over the years. I'll paint them body color and touch up the bolts that should have been body color as well.
View attachment 1075815 View attachment 1075818
The end fillers are the original that I reconditioned, they were cracked and flaking apart. I used fiberglass reinforced plastic filler and repaired the metal backing plate on 1. I suggest bolting them onto the bumper then doing the repair. I did them off the car and 1 cracked again because the fit was too tight, repaired it again. Can you tell which one? The center filler is a repro, painted all 3 to match. Again color is not correct but it works for me. We shall see how they hold up, just could not cough up the 200 for the repro end fillers

View attachment 1075820 View attachment 1075821
I cleaned all the light sockets and was able the get them functioning again then cleaned and painted the housing. Put a high temp clear coat on them. No I did not paint the sockets they are still masked off in this pic.

View attachment 1075822
I rechromed the bumper and used a rubber restore gel on the bumper guards and lense trim. I wet sanded then buffed the tailight lenses all the fading came out and they are shiny again. I buffed the Plymouth emblem the painted it black, them used a real fine scotch bright pad the take the black paint off the surface of the letters.

View attachment 1075823 View attachment 1075824
Cleaned the cluster and replaced the clock with an aftermarket tac. Didn't know 3 years ago when I started collecting parts that it went to 8k rpm instead of 7k like the factory one. Decided to put it in anyway since I could not return it. Repainted the needles and the silver/chrome outlines, numbers and lettering stenciling and woodgrain are all original. Yep that is the original 150mph speedo.
View attachment 1075825

Some great progress!

Besides the nice work on your car, I am impressed with your restoration of the bumper end fillers. The ones on my car are terrible, and I was thinking of mounting the bumper closer and simply eliminating them. However, it seems that might not be so easy either.