So I am starting a new thread to sort of keep everything centralized on my moparts posting. I'm in the process of finally assembling my convertible after having it sit, painted, for over 3 years. I've been busting my hump getting things done, today I finally mated the engine and trans and have them resting on a cradle, ready to lower the car onto it (working at a dealership is great! hello lift-access!)

And here's another angle. on Monday while on my breaktime at work, I'm going to install the power steering lines, headers, and carb. And the day after I'll get the valves adjusted, oil pump primed, and distributor properly set into position. Little details here and there to button up. I've got to get it in position so I can mark where to make the hole for the shifter (keisler 5 speed conversion kit)

For those who haven't seen it, here's a few shots of the paintwork.

As you can see, we went full custom with the paint. Everything we did started with "You know what would look cool?" The fire on the hood and the more cartoon-like bird was my idea, the fire dust trail was my painter's idea.

The bird on the fender is a copy of the bird on the GMP diecast box, but with a helmet added, all hand painted.

I let him have creative liberties with the trunk stripe.

WoW! I love the flames on the black. I can't believe some guys can do realistic flames. Really cool idea doing it as the dust trails too!

How close are you to getting it up and running?

Mine is in the paint shop now and I'm told I should be getting some color by August.

It's close to being able to run. Just about 10 minutes ago I lowered the car onto the engine/trans (well, real close anyways) so I can check fore/aft alignment and mark where I need to make the hole for the shifter.

Tomorrow I'll take the seats out, and cut the hole, and then work on that little plate that keisler provides.

I'm hoping to be able to fire it here in a few weeks.

Running/driving, and only needing trim work by the end of the summer.

I'm jealous! I am in yet another summer without a ride!

I know its selfish of me, but MORE PICS PLEASE

Here's when I dropped the K-frame over the other weekend.

My front brake setup (AR brackets for wilwood calipers, 11.75" rotors (late 70's B body application).

Sweet!

It's not even done and I think it's one of the best looking cars on Moparts

Haha! I knewwwww what it was before I opened the thread!!!!! I've seen it before and still like it just as much as the first time I saw it.
Awesome.

Holy Cow , Jarrod - that is AMAZING!!!!

glad to see this project back on its feet! I was just wondering what happened to this roadrunner. looking great though!

Thanks man, it just feels great to work on the car and make this kind of progress.

Unemployment, Divorce, Bankruptcy, and Depression got in the way of this project (not necessarily in that order).

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Been there done that and yes it sucks but most of us prevail. Good luck

I finally got it in!! Not very well (only two bolts in trans crossmember, but I'll get those in shortly)

I don't think I'll ever do another over/under again, what a pain it was to get it lined up and bolts in/secured!!

I have LOTS of work to do still, but the hard part is done.

So about 4:30 yesterday at work I started to work on the car to get the suspension back together.

Took me about 45 minutes, but it's all back together up front and now resting on all 4 wheels!

Today i've got to move the car to another bay, where it will remain until it's able to back out of the bay under it's own power!

So the car has now been moved to it's new bay!

Here's an under-hood shot. (Keeping a cover over the engine for now, the valve covers are getting some custom paint treatment right now)

My good buddy and painter did my valve covers for me!!

Anything "normal" wouldn't fit this car...

Good lord is this man talented!!

AWESOME is an understatement. I too like the realistic style flames. It is amazing how guys can do that {stencils or not}. I'm surprised you say you won't do the install that way again. I thought it was the easiest way when I had my Barracuda. Don't haveta worry about the paint job either.

You are doing a GREAT job with this ride. I can't wait to see it finished either..Keep at it..

Holy cow, it keeps getting better! Love the valve covers!

Got them in place (but I can't find my valve cover stud nuts! DOH!

Gotta get a better pic from a real camera (not my phone)

much better pic!

it's a very "visually appealing" engine I think!

Looks bitchin and its great to see progress again! Its good to know you and the car made it through some tough times together. I'm sure seeing it come together is the best therapy you can find. Keep up the great work, that car will be in several magazines once its finishined!

I worked on he car a bit today, it felt like I did alot, but in reality it just took me a while! LOL

I finished properly cutting out the hole for the keisler 5 speed

Took lots of bending, smacking, more bending, and testing, bending, testing again, etc. and I finally got the keisler patch panel spotted in place. I sprayed it with weld through primer, but actually painted the bottom of the panel with some black paint so I wouldn't have to go back in a touch it up.. made life much easier

And finally got some paint on it, I'll go back over it tomorrow on top and bottom with seam sealer to finish it off.

I also painted and installed the factory-missing (cause it didn't have dual exhaust from the factory) left side exhaust hanger for the left muffler. That was an easy one, the dimples for the holes were already in the floor!

Haven't gotten much done in the last few days, except working on getting my gas tank painted and ready to install. The inside of it is super clean. Under the tank pad I found a mopar sticker dated 1996, so I guess that answered the question if the tank was original or not. And I'm glad it was an OEM tank and not an aftermarket replacement.

I also pulled out the shifter, and just had to bolt it in place, so I can dream of

Your car is turning out awesome man! I am so glad to see that you are able to keep it and things are working out for you! Paul.

I'm in love with this car

I wanna see this bad boy done!

Been a little while since I posted any updates. I've got the gas tank cleaned, painted, and installed (with new stainless steel straps). Also removed the 3rd member for cleaning and inspecting and reinstalled with a new gasket

Got the brake lines installed on the rear axle (all new stainless steel brake and fuel lines in the car, they sure are pretty!)

I got the rear brake lines cut and flanged for the rear wilwood discs. I have the flex lines installed and the brake calipers painted and ready, I'm going to pull out the old inner axle seals today and install new ones and then button up the rear brakes/axles between today and tomorrow here at work

Axle seals are installed now, gonna put in the axles today and button up the rear brakes finally!

I got them in securely, but the rear discs do not fit properly. they hit the shoulder on the wheel studs that protrudes from the axle shaft flange about 1/8" ugh.. It's always something..

Finally got the rotors drilled out correctly, and was able to button up the brakes Friday (sorry for the iphone pics..)

Back view (hoses are a bit long, but they work)

No pics yet, but I loosely installed my Pypes exhaust (X pipe system). Very nice system, but the pipes between the header collector and the X pipe don't match up to the header collector (bad angle). I'm going to have to get a local exhaust shop bend me a new pair of those at the right angle so I can button it up.

I don't have any exhaust tips for now, I'll worry about that after it's able to run and drive.

Slowly but surely, but it's always something.

So I put in the "pypes" brand exhaust to check fitment, and sure enough.. it ain't right!

It's actually fitting well, except the angle to the header collector. So I'm going to have a local exhaust shop make me new collector extensions to work for it..

So I lost my storage at work (stupid HR got on our case about employee cars at work). So it's now home in my newly set up garage. Boy did I have to get creative with everything, but it all fits!

You should invest in some car skates, that way you can move the car around easily.

Still looking good BTW!

Stay tuned guys, more updates coming! I haven't been able to spend much time on the car, but that's changing now!

Should be posting some pics this week!

So I finally took the heater box apart today... Good lord was it nasty!! I cleaned the case good, and the metal parts, well, I need to sandblast them. Gotta get some time here soon to get to my buddy's to use his blast cabinet.. nasty!

Does anyone make a heater box resto kit with new screws and seals??

Detroit Muscle Technologies make a great resto kit. Not sure if he has the screws. He is a member here and also sells the kits on Ebay. If you do an EBay search for "DMT heater box" you will find his stuff. Good luck!

Found it! Thanks!

Glad to hear you keep pluggin away!

As I wait for the heater box parts (and the fact that I need to visit my buddy next week and use his blast cabinet to clean up the metal parts from the heater box), I decided to look at putting together my vent window frames (I dismantled them to have them rechromed).

I need to pick up the epoxy today and some clamps and get to reassembling! I polished the brightwork that's for the vertical window channel and laid it all out ready to assemble..

Feels good to get some sheeet done!

So I'm all over the place with little parts and bits I'm working on right now.

I got a wild hair up my rear last night and cleaned my heater box shell further and I shot it with some satin black paint (It's actually VTH brand black brake caliper paint, tough stuff!!!). It came out looking brand new!!

I can't wait to put it back together when I get my seals, and if I can find my new heater core! DOH!

I'm jealous if your really in Florida, cause you'll be able to take that bad boy out all year round!

Making good progress, stay hungry

Did you ever check the topside of your convertible top header for rust???

Yes, I really am in Florida (Southeast FL).

The heater box stuff showed up today!

And no, I haven't checked mine yet.. I'm scared to!

Here's the heater box, cleaned up and refinished

Made my way to my buddy's house today to use his blast cabinet.. These parts were NASTY!!

Got home and got to work right away to clean, primer, and paint them (used self-etching primer)

used semi-gloss dupli-color engine paint for the black parts

And I used some silver wheel paint for the silver/bare finished panels, these are't visible, so I really have no idea why I didn't paint them black, oh well, just to be different??

Looking good, nice and clean. It sure beats getting blasted by dust and debri through the vents the first time you turn the blower on

So I picked up some 2 part epoxy upon the recommendation of my friend who painted the car, I laid out the vent frames

Mixed the stuff up (2 hour set time) and gooped it into the channel after cleaning both gluing surfaces with denatured alcohol. First set in place and clamped together

Other side.. Gonna have to clean them up some more after it's all set. This epoxy stinks!! I won't touch them for about 24 hours or more, to ensure it's fully cured.

Feels good to get something accomplished!

Boy I just had a wild hair up my rear end and got some more stuff done after posting those last few pics. I forgot I had my latches from my buddy who had them and I didn't know it, so I got those installed just now on both doors (along with the convertible door wedge thingies).

They were all replated, and are so nice! Glad I spent money on the car when I had it! Took 2 tries and I had the doors adjusted just right, they close real nice!

Yesterday, I unclamped the vent frames and started the daunting task of getting the excess epoxy out of the channels, not bad, but tedious!

I laid out all my side glass to evaluate everything...

The white/clear plastic that's on the rear edge of the door glass is very brittle, is that repop'd??

That clear plastic your talkin about is supposed to be covered in a felt like material. It always wears off. Beleive it or not you can still get them from your dodge dealer but the price is crazy I want to say like $60 each. Maybe someone can give you the part number or an alternate vendor. either way nows the time to replace them or you woll kick yourself later.

yeah, someone chime in!!

Jarrod,

I just checked my favorites and had this info saved. Here is the part number. Your local dealership can help you out. Ask for 2 of part number 2932230.

Rob

I've got them coming, I'm a chevy dealer service writer, and we have a dodge dealer in our chains, so I got a pair at employee price! SCORE!

I can't wait for the weekend, gonna re-assemble my heater box! My girlfriend is stoked! (NOT!)

Nice car, its coming along great.


Question, I noticed you are running a Keisler kit. I have the same one. How is your driveline angle / header clearence? I have my tranny up as high as i can get it and my 2" tti's are about 2" off the ground. Curious hows your is as I need to find a solution to this and it seems that either cutting the tortion bar crossmember or cutting up the headers is about the only way.

I am running TTI 1 3/4 headers and they are in there perfect. Not against the floor, and tucked in nicely and not sticking under the car

Just a little tip, if you like the quality of Jim's heater box seal kit and I'm sure you do... Have a look on Ebay for what else he makes.... There I go costing you money again....

Lookin Good, glad to see you back after it...

I checked out their stuff, I'll be spending more money there soon

The little window-edge things came in today. Got my roll of sound deadening stuff yesterday from ebay (for interior firewall and floorboard, and inside doors)

I'm going to spend a decent portion of Sunday working on the car.

My goal is to have the firewall covered in sound deadener, the firewall pad and underdash insulation in place, and the heater box assembled and installed.

We'll see how much of that gets done!

Carry on - love your project! First project I always check on.

So I made an order with summit last weeek for my griffin aluminum radiator, which I now see I'm going to have to polish the top of it! also ordered some AN fittings and hose and fuel filter to fab up something fancy from the fuel pump to the carb.

I was all set to be in the garage for the weekend, but saturday turned into running errands and spending time with my 10 yr old son. Sunday I slept in, till 10:30!! yes, that's right, I woke up at 10:30!! It was awesome! Took a while to get going.. Then wouldn't you know it, the man-vision shows were on spike/speed/etc and then the race, and then we went to lunch, got home, had a small honey-do list to do, then I forced myself into the garage to find the stupid a/c drain line clogged and backing up to the garage. Had to deal with and correct that, and then got some gumption to do something.. I cleaned up the car parts around and on my car and evaluated stuff. I had a hair up my rump to work on my grill. I noticed my left headlight bezel stainless trim had a bend in it! UGH!! So I figured out and painstakenly removed it and it was an edge bend, so I was able to carefully bend it back with pliers. I also noticed the bezel has a tiny chunk of plastic missing at that bend, so I went to the store and got some JB weld, I mixed up a little and smoothed it on that missing part. should be cured by now, so I can sand it tonight when I get home. I also sanded the satellite-style paint off the outer perimter of the grille so I can paint that this week.

I'm all over the dang place, but little by little!

If the car is further along at the end of the day then when the day started then you have made progress!

Keep up the good work! Some time to relax is just as valuable as time to thrash..

I picked up this nifty street rod/custom radiator hose kit from speedway motors, so I can use the pipe and hose combo to match up to my griffin aluminum radiator. Not to mention I intend on having my painter paint the tubes for me, still undecided if I want some subtle graphics, or just shiny black paint.

And look what I did (posted a thread in general about this Friday). Putting the heater box back together, getting the new core to fit right, the tube fought back! Gonna solder it tonight I think. Easy fix apparently.

So I had to leave work early today to pick up my 13 yr old son because he was sick at school, so I took that opportunity to get out in the garage.. I put some hush mat on the firewall and put up the firewall pads..

PAss side pad in place... Those little plastic nails are tricky...

Driver's side, took me some trial and error to get it right, not going to fill in the center gap between the two hush mats till I get my 4 speed pedals and hydraulic clutch setup done, not sure what goes where..

Left side pad in place, I messed up two nails, and had no extras, so I had to use one of the generic fasteners that comes with the kit, which I used on the lower one, since it probably won't be much visible under the hood..

The Hush Mat wasn't bad to deal with, easily cut, etc. Worked well with the little roller they include with the kit.

Tomorrow a friend of mine is going to fix my heater core, so I'll get that back together tomorrow night and hopefully installed in the car.

Picked up my repaired heater core today finally!

A customer of mine from work (chevy dealer service writer is my profession) has a plumbing shop and he fixed it for me!

I'm going to pressure test it and if we're good, then it's going back in!

Did you decide on a design for the air cleaner lid yet?

I'm really curious to see it espicially after seeing the cool work on the valve covers!

No, we haven't nailed it down yet. Here's the list of suggestions:

1. road runner be chased by wile e. coyote on an acme rocket
2. road runner with flames for a trail
3. a realistic "Roadrunner" logo painted towards the front of the lid. Then put another bigger Roadrunner on there with a giant claw grabbing at the logo...with flames getting heavier going back towards the back of the lid
4. Maybe have the coyote hiding behind an acme box pushing the plunger on a bomb and integrate the real fire into the explosion
5. Have a wild-eyed Wile E. hanging on to the front edge while being blown back over the front of the lid! You've already got the roadrunner on the valvecovers. (Tie design in with the valve covers)
6. Birds head (like '71 RR grille emblem), complete fire for fill in, with the outline and facial details in a lighter tone fire, so you have to look 3 times before you make out the full detail

Quote:

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Did you decide on a design for the air cleaner lid yet?

I'm really curious to see it espicially after seeing the cool work on the valve covers!

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Look at what I found from using google! I emailed it to my painter to see if he can recreate it, maybe add some fire flavor to it.

Or this one!!!! (I like this better!)

So I made zero progress this weekend. I worked Saturday and left work at 5:00 not feeling well, and ended up staying in bed, sick as a dog, most of Sunday, and missed work Monday because of being sick too. Feeling 50% better, enough to work today (tuesday). I'll get to spend some time in the garage tonight, finishing the reassembly on my heater box (I filled the repaired core with water the other day, to check for leaks, so far so good).

So I left work early from not feeling good, and sitting on the couch was boring, so I decided to go into the garage and put the box back together. Got the heater core re-installed and the back panel back on and all secure

Heater box goes in tomorrow!! Let's see if I can get anything else done too! I've got some time to spend on it this weekend fortunately!

In the middle of running errands and attending my girlfriend's daughter's piano recital, I got to spend some quality time in the man cave today!

Here's the under-dash insulation/jute padding glued up in place.

Finally got the heater box in place!! I also cleaned up and painted the wiper transmission parts, and can't find the stupid clip to mount the long arm to the wiper motor, so that's going to have to wait till I get to my buddy's house to get a spare clip from him. The heater box went in without a hitch, had my girlfriend hold it in place from the other side while I put the re-plated original nuts on under the hood.

Mocking up my griffin radiator, gonna have to cut something to make it fit, guess what isn't getting cut? My core support!

So yesterday I spent time at my buddy Richard's house (guy who did the body/paint) and we reassembled the vent frames (well, I assisted him is more accurate LOL)

Got them home and rested them in the doors, to keep them out of the way until next weekend when I get the glass in the doors and that buttoned up..

Also got my left side vent box cleaned up, assembled, and installed. That was about 1 million times easier than the heater box

While at my buddy's house I took advantage of being there and blasted my backup light housings. I cleaned up the rubber wire shield and wire with lacqure thinner and sprayed some bright bright silver in the reflector area and used clear engine paint for the freshly blasted housing. I also used new repop lenses I got from PG classics, nice peices, look the same as the original, just with no pentastar (original ones were cracked and nasty)

Jarrod, it's looking good man..... as we all know it's in the "Details" & time spent. Thanks for the pics of the heater box....

Bryan

Looking good Jarrod. Great attention to detail. Its gonna look great on the road

Sorry for no updates guys, I simply haven't had time to work on the car, and I feel horrible for neglecting this awesome beast in my garage..

I'll get back in it within a few weeks and start posting some updates again..