What was your plan of attack?

Posted By: OhioMopar

What was your plan of attack? - 01/21/13 11:00 PM

Just a general resto question. I'm about to start working on my Bee (it's in the garage up on stands and ready to start).
My plan: get it running, driving, stopping and steering and drive it while I start a little more indepth resto of my GTS.
Would you go through the brakes as a whole, or start with the rear axle, do brakes, seals, and springs/shocks(springs are shot with dead air shocks hanging around) and move on to the front to rear line, then up to the front brakes/suspension?
I plan on going through the brakes, new shoes, hardware, wheel and master cylinders, new lines, and ebrake cables.
Then shocks, rear springs, any front end parts it needs minus bushings(I hope). Fuel system: tank, lines, pad, sending unit, sock, etc, etc. Then I will go through the transmission and put gasket/seals/synchros and whatever else it needs in it (was gonna do just gaskets and seals but why tear it apart just to do it again later?) and then put whatever 383 I find down between the fenders and drive it.
Yes, I'm gonna run drum brakes for a while. That gives me time to research/locate a disk conversion.
Thoughts? Questions? Comments?
You all have been VERY helpful so far. Thank you.

Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/21/13 11:09 PM

What's the limit on yer Visa???

Posted By: OhioMopar

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/21/13 11:18 PM

Lol. Less than handing it to someone and saying 'Send me back a completely finished car.'!

Posted By: OhioMopar

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/21/13 11:22 PM

Let me put it another way... I'm a Mopar fan with a small block Chevy budget!
I can do most everything myself but body work.

Posted By: flypaper

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/22/13 01:24 AM

Quote:

Lol. Less than handing it to someone and saying 'Send me back a completely finished car.'!

then you need to start saving money

Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/22/13 02:14 AM

'My plan: get it running, driving, stopping and steering and drive it while I start a little more indepth resto of my GTS.'

OK...

Looks like you gots two Visa's...

Posted By: topside

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/22/13 02:54 AM

If you go through it one system at a time, I think it's easier. I'd probably do the rearend, then the brakes, then the suspension & steering, then the fuel system, then the trans & driveshaft. But before tackling anything, I'd get the underside as clean as I could.

Posted By: NV69B7RR

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/22/13 03:00 AM

Get all the parts or the $ needed before tearing into each project. That way you won't get stuck halfway through something.

Posted By: OhioMopar

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/22/13 07:29 AM

Quote:

Get all the parts or the $ needed before tearing into each project. That way you won't get stuck halfway through something.

I've run into that part of it before! I'm not tearing anything apart (within reason) until I'm ready to put it back together. That said, I got 3 of the 4 drums off today. The left front just had a wheel cylinder in it! No springs, shoes, adjusters, nothin'. I'll get a list together and order a stack of parts from Rock Auto in the near future.
Was really planning on doing the rear end first. It has a 3.23 sure-grip, but I will pull it and see what it looks like. I will either replace with a 3.55 or change the ring and pinion.
Thanks for all the replies.

Posted By: SixPackRT

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/22/13 12:36 PM

Agree with the comments for one area at a time with suspected parts on hand. But if your goal is to drive the car and stay within a budget. I would start with things like brakes and steering then go from there. You need to be able to stop the car and steer. The rear gears wont make the car unsafe. That way you can get back to the rear end as you go.

Neat project by the way!

Scott

Posted By: Hemiruss

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/23/13 02:24 AM

I'll agree that you should save some money...and do the safty stuff first..like brakes,steering and etc....you don't want to have new shocks and then run into a wall cause it won't stop...Sounds alittle simple but you get the picture...

Posted By: OhioMopar

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/23/13 03:39 AM

The brakes are a priority. I got the rears apart tonight and measured the drums/wheel cylinder bores/etc so I can put in an order in the morning for all the new stuff. Shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware, star wheel, etc. The Right Stuff is right up the road from me so I will go pick up a new set of lines for the rear axle tomorrow as well. Then it is on to the intermediate line and the front brakes. I was surprised to see the e-brake cable still functions. But I will replace that, too. I always use it on stick cars.
Thanks!

Posted By: draginmopars

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/23/13 10:45 AM

A life "Lesson" for me.

My attack plan:

Stop
Steer
Go
Show

Was Working on a 72 Dart- fix, brakes
replace all front end parts. new tires
Build eng/trans, 3.55sg
remove vinyl top, prep for paint

HEART ATTACK

top didn't look to bad while doing other repairs.
boy, was I wrong..

From now on, If I buy another vinyl top car
I believe that will be my first plan of attack.

Due to the rust, it needs a roof.

I ended up buying another Dart, but that one was to nice to just cut the roof off

so i'm still looking for another roof.

Posted By: OhioMopar

Re: What was your plan of attack? - 01/23/13 02:00 PM

Quote:

A life "Lesson" for me.

My attack plan:

Stop
Steer
Go
Show

Was Working on a 72 Dart- fix, brakes
replace all front end parts. new tires
Build eng/trans, 3.55sg
remove vinyl top, prep for paint

HEART ATTACK

top didn't look to bad while doing other repairs.
boy, was I wrong..

From now on, If I buy another vinyl top car
I believe that will be my first plan of attack.

Due to the rust, it needs a roof.
I ended up buying another Dart, but that one was to nice to just cut the roof off

so i'm still looking for another roof.

I lost my first Mopar to a master cylinder failure. So my first rebuild will be 'stop'!
I haven't lifted the vinyl top yet. Probably won't for a while. The body looks pretty crappy, but aside from the back window, its not terrible. Most of the serious rust is up high. Back window. Top of the quarter on the right side where they fold over to the trunk channel.
The trunk and drivers floor have small holes, don't know where I am going with that yet. But car is later!