My GY8 '71 Road Runner

[T2R9]

Nice work as always. ABC Moparts dash pads are nice but not perfect. Bob is a good guy and will work with you. He is normally at Carlisle and you can inspect the pad before buying. I have used two and they are way better then the Ultimate Rides or whatever name Alan Foxx business goes by now.

 

[mpgmike]

Do you get your free sand from the local river or ocean beach as I do? Good news is it's free, bad news is you have to get it in the drought season. Nice work. In fact, that's a lot of sand blasting!

 

[ct71rr]

Do you get your free sand from the local river or ocean beach as I do? Good news is it's free, bad news is you have to get it in the drought season. Nice work. In fact, that's a lot of sand blasting!

I use HF glass bead.

 

[ct71rr]

I was able to source a replacement glass guide from eBay and replacement rivets from McMaster-Carr:

 

[ct71rr]

I sprayed all the parts I blasted last weekend in epoxy. I disassembled my rear before spraying it, as well. 3:23’s and the axle shaft splines look pretty good. I’m thinking of upgrading to 3:55’s. There was a nice bit of thin metal sticking up inside the rear. Didn’t notice it until it sliced the top of my finger open while wiping it out. I sanded that right off! I made a new batch of homemade evaporust and placed the rear drum back plates in it.

Rear apart:

Splines look ok:

Back plates being treated:

Raised sliver of metal, very sharp!:

I fixed a few areas of poor welding:

Epoxy:

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I sprayed the rear brake shields and front bumper brackets in epoxy. I blasted the shields before spraying to get some of the staining off of them.

Out of the citric acid solution and before blasting:

Blasted:

Epoxy:

 

[ct71rr]

A few weekends ago I blasted and epoxied the front bumper grill mounts and rear brake drums:

The weekend after that, I worked on my Wife’s Jeep. Ah, the joy that is replacing the oil cooler on a pentastar 3.6!! You have to take the top of the engine off to get to it. Many broken locking clips, fasteners and choice words, I got it back together. Apparently, this is a common problem with the 3.6 after 100,000 miles or so.

Teardown:

Offending oil cooller (and sensors):

New oil cooler (with OEM sensors):

Not a fun job!

Today I was able to clean up the heat/ac control. Obviously someone’s been in here before given the Mickey Mouse bracket and lackluster attempt at wiring. One of the mounting tabs will need to be epoxied back on:

Before:

After:

WTF?! This was holding the fan speed selector switch down:

Genius!!:

Not much but it’s something. Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

I've been working on a few different things this past weekend. I purchased an NOS fan switch off of ebay to replace the wrong one that was in mine. The "new" one was listed as correct for '69-'74 Dodge/Plymouth Vans but looked almost identical to what is correct for my car. So, I took a gamble seeing that the correct units for '71's are over $200.00, that I could find, anyway. The new switch didn't quite fit in the housing so, I ended up cutting off the mounting tabs, trimmed them down a bit and welded them back on. It fits perfectly now! The three wire connectors are facing up instead of to the right - I don't think that will make any difference.

I also continued derusting parts. I used the DIY Evaporust solution again. This time for my driveshaft and trans brace. I had a section of PVC 4" pipe leftover from a previous project. I capped both ends - one with a threaded cleanout and placed the driveshaft and solution inside. Worked like a charm!

New switch (black lines are where I cut it):

Sliced:

Test fit:

Installed:

Driveshaft insertion (that's what she said):

Working the magic:

Science!:

Success!!:

Thanks for looking!

 

[HawkRod]

Nice solution to hold your solution for your shaft...

(Boy is this ever a potential to go off the rails!)

 

[ct71rr]

This weekend I applied Kilmat to the interior; roof, firewall and floor. Not a fun job, my fingertips are wrecked. I ordered 2 boxes of 36 sqft and, of course, I’m about 6 pieces short to finish the wheel wells and top of the rear seat area. I ordered a box of 18 sqft to finish.

 

[HawkRod]

This weekend I applied Kilmat to the interior; roof, firewall and floor. Not a fun job, my fingertips are wrecked. I ordered 2 boxes of 36 sqft and, of course, I’m about 6 pieces short to finish the wheel wells and top of the rear seat area. I ordered a box of 18 sqft to finish.
View attachment 1956109

View attachment 1956110

View attachment 1956101

That'll do a great job deadening sound.

Since you'll now have some extra pieces, add some to the inside of the door skins and below the rear window. It's a bit difficult to get pieces in through the small opening in the inner door panel, but they don't have to be perfect and you can do lots of small(er) pieces. Anything you add there will also help keep sound down.

 

[71Beeper]

Great job Chad!
I'm surprised you were able to get the floor plugs installed with the sound deadner in place.

I put my plugs in first then applied the sound deadner.

 

[ct71rr]

That'll do a great job deadening sound.

Since you'll now have some extra pieces, add some to the inside of the door skins and below the rear window. It's a bit difficult to get pieces in through the small opening in the inner door panel, but they don't have to be perfect and you can do lots of small(er) pieces. Anything you add there will also help keep sound down.

Thanks! I already sprayed the inside of the doors with LizardSkin. I will add some Kilmat yo underneath the rear window. I didn’t think of that!

Great job Chad!
I'm surprised you were able to get the floor plugs installed with the sound deadner in place.

I put my plugs in first then applied the sound deadner.

Thanks John! I rolled the hell out of it around the holes. I was originally going to apply the deadener over the plugs but found I could get them in after testing a piece.

A little off topic, does the sound deadening panel that goes behind the top of the rear seat. Go behind the cross brace or in front? I’m trying to figure out where to end the Kilmat so it’s not seen in the trunk.

 

[Black_Sheep]

Thanks! I already sprayed the inside of the doors with LizardSkin. I will add some Kilmat yo underneath the rear window. I didn’t think of that!

Thanks John! I rolled the hell out of it around the holes. I was originally going to apply the deadener over the plugs but found I could get them in after testing a piece.

A little off topic, does the sound deadening panel that goes behind the top of the rear seat. Go behind the cross brace or in front? I’m trying to figure out where to end the Kilmat so it’s not seen in the trunk.

The trunk divider panel goes on the front side of the supports. I put some foil faced jute sound deadening material on the divider panel and stuffed the seat bottom with some Owen’s-Corning fiberglass sound deadening bats to help mitigate the drone from the 2 chamber Flowmasters. Every little bit helps…

 

[ct71rr]

Thank you Black _Sheep!

 

[71Beeper]

Black Sheep is correct - Mine has a tin divider in place as it was a drag car in it's past life.
I kept it in place and put the Dynamat all the way up to the top.

Here you can see the tin divider from the trunk side with the 2 stubs from the roll cage peeking out.

 

[ct71rr]

Thanks!

 

[ct71rr]

This weekend I finished up the Kilmat on the back seat. I also sprayed the driveshaft and a few other parts in epoxy. I also finished spraying undercoating on the fenders, inner-fenders and front framerails. I’ve been putting this off for a while because of the friggin mess spraying it makes. Plus, taping everything off is no fun, as well. 2.5 hours to tape and mask everything off - 2.5 minutes to remove all the tape and masking. Yea!

Kilmat done:

Parts in epoxy:

Undercoating done:

Thanks for looking!

 

[ct71rr]

This weekend I disassembled the 383 that came with my car in preparation for dropping it off at the machine shop after the holidays. It is not a numbers matching engine to my car but supposedly the correct year. It appears that this engine has never been touched other than a bit of a hack job to the windage tray to fit a new (?) oil pick-up, I guess?? Lots of sludge on the bottom of the oil pan - about an inch thick. I never realized that old oil and gas could smell like diarrhea - terrible. Although, the old differential oil smelled worse, in my opinion.

Ran a bit rich, I’m guessing:

Found a few surprises on the passenger’s side head:

Piece of electrical tape?:

And a piece of the gasket:

And a nice bulge on the valley pan:

 

[ct71rr]

Some more photos:

Not much flow through here:

Sludge and hacked windage pan: