Hey Darren,

Rear axle and suspension stuff look AWESOME man.

What an amazing car Sir.

Darren Its looking great!. Good Job getting that thing on the rubber thats a major milestone!!!. You are doing a fantastic job keep up the good work.

Awesome progress Darren! Keep up the great work.

Did you use gun bluing on the 8 3/4 pumpkin after sandblasting?

I used my black oxide solution to darken it. It looks about the same as your springs I think doesn't it?

I didn't have to do anything to the new springs after removing the paint. I just put some paint stripper on each of the leaves and lightly wire wheeled them. They had already started rusting between the leaves. They were already dark so I just RPM'd them.

The engine is reassembled and painted. I put some parts on for the pictures just to see what they'd look like. I'll get the engine mounted up to the K-member this week and start installing everything else.

Looks Swweeeeet!!! That thing will be on the road in no time.....

I got the steering column done last night. The rebuild went well. It's not very complicated. I just disassembled everything and bead blasted the upper parts. I hand sanded the tube since it wouldn't fit in the blast cabinet. I painted most of the pieces with SEM Trim BLack. The ignition key light, upper and lower mounts and the lower steering shaft got painted with gloss black Rustoleum. The turn signal switch was still in good shape so I reused it. The ignition switch had a burned wire on the connector so I replaced it.

Before...


After...


Steering coupler and shaft before...


Steering coupler and shaft after...

I got my alternator back from Jim Ridge on Wednesday. The original alternator was long gone. While at my father-in-laws house a few years ago, he mensioned he had a couple Chrysler alternators buried on a shelf somewhere. After digging them out, I realised that one of them was a square back and had a casting date of Sept 72. How did that happen? I'm never that lucky.

The engine went in yesterday afternoon. Hopefully things will start moving a little faster now.

Darren Great Shots!!! That car is looking Sweet!!! It makes you a little nervous having that thing in the air so high doesn't it!!. This is a major accomplishment though. It definately is going to be a day you and your dad will both remember. You'll be ready soon to fire that motor up.. Congrats

Darren, you have me cleaning my shirt right now because I've drooled all over it. Your car is sooooo nice. Just Fantastic!

Joe

Thanks Joe! Things are moving a little faster now. I got the steering column and steering wheel installed tonight along with the heater hoses. Yesterday I got the new fuel pump-to-carb lines back from Fine Lines and got that all hooked up. All I have left to do in the engine compartment is install the radiator and hook up some vacuum lines.

Looking sharp !! Darren Do you have a date in mind for firing that baby up?

Dennis

It depends on what I can get done next week. I'm not looking forward to installing the exhaust on my back. That's probably going to take awhile. The radiator isn't done yet. I'm hoping I'll get a call today so I can go pick it up. If everything goes smoothly...maybe I'll break it in on the 9th.

It is really nice to see a '73 getting love. Looks nice!!

Thats looking really good! Moving along quickly now. You're going to have to change your signature picture soon!

Yes, things are moving quicker now. Yesterday morning I slid the torsion bars in and hooked up the upper ball joints. I got the rotors and calipers installed too. Later on in the afternoon I installed the driveshaft and dad came over to help me install the exhaust.

Things were not going smoothly trying to install the exhaust from the back to the front. We ended up starting over from the front. It went together much nicer that way. By the time we got the passengers side hooked up it was getting late and our arms were both hurting quite a bit. We'll work on the driver side in a few days.

Exhaust is fun. Its the joy of doing all of this while your laying on your back that makes it a fun few days. On your brakes Did you go with Dot 5? or Dot 3 Fluid?

I'm going with DOT5. I need to find some of those plastic fittings so I can bench bleed the master. I've thrown away a lot of those fittings. I never thought to toss a pair in the tool box.