Do those wheels have a "BBS" marking on them? If so, they are high quality German wheels.

R.

Great project!

Some (major) progress.........I think ? ........The body is back on.

Getting the body back on is major progress! Now you get to make everything else fit. Let the fun begin! Gene

it looks like your ride height target has been met. as gene said, now the fun really starts ! good progress.

So, as earlier mentioned, at great effort on my part, I wanted to run the exhaust out in front of the rear wheels. Thus the reinforced holes in the frame, so with the body off I could see that the leaf spring might come up and hit the exhaust pipes. so I flatten them somewhat . Fast forward to the body back on and Mr. Murphy showing up. The spring is right in the middle of the exhaust hole in the frame, no way to put the pipe in. PILOT ERROR ! And almost no space between the spring and the frame, maybe 1 1/4", never get any kind of round pipe in there ?

So I consulted with my resident technical expert (Gene) and (I hope) that the sq inches opening of 2 inch pipe is almost the same (restriction) as 3 pieces of 1 in by 1 in square tubing. So after many redesigns I have an over the spring Rube Goldberg (anyone remember) contraption, with some of the internal walls removed were the pipes come in.

Some tweaks need, but will it work?

Area of 2" pipe is Pi x radius sqaured.
So size wise it's very close.
Turbulence in that fitting will be VERY high. I work with airflow and that doesn't look like good airflow. Is good airflow honestly needed?? What's the engine, stockish small block? What's the usage? More lower rpm than wound right out? Might be fine!

Same (almost) area of both are one thing, not the same as same restriction..

Sometimes, but not often, Murphy isn't paying attention and things just work out. Just a test fit but I'm a happy camper. Work in progress seats etc 1994 Mark viii into '56 plymouth 2 door wagon.

,,

In probably a futile attempt to trick the engine management computer into thinking it's still a Dakota (and save a couple of dollars) and because it is a plug and play system I used the Dakota dash gauges module. A lot of work to try to NOT make it look like a dorky add on crappy thing. Not sure if I was successful or not ? (I dislike body work)

looks to me like you did a pretty good job !
i dislike bodywork as well, so i limit mine to the use of hammers, prybars, and grinders. you have way better skills than i.

It’s coming out super cool thanks for sharing.

My 54 is also on a dakota front suspension/steering. It drives really nicely you’re gonna love it.

As usual it is two (maybe) steps forward and at least one back. I hate Murphy. Keep in mind this is a work in progress and not a photo op.

I ordered one double and one single steering u-joint and a 3/4 DD shaft off eBay and I had a old hiem 3/4 shaft support bearing from a previous project. When I test fitted the shaft to the bearing it was not a press fit and the shaft just turned inside the bearing. Much confusion over reduced shaft size on the net that I never did understand. So I installed everything and applied permatex bearing mount and it worked well (to well). After curing overnight I could not turn the steering wheel, I had inadvertently got some chemical into the support bearing. I don't know where the hiem joint (in picture on the A arm) came from and was going to order a new one but they don't come with a locking collar (for the small shaft) and could not find definitive dimensions so ordered a stock car firewall style. Its in the modified old bracket now.

I am using the complete Dakota original wiring harness (trying to trick the computer) and the main block plug fit (with some grinding) the original wire plug hole.

Unfortunately the inside half of the plug had a very short wire harness to the fuse box so to avoid rewiring it went into the kick panel, not great but it will do. Please note my first re-upholstery job for this project on the new kick panels . Good enough for me.

The Dakota gauges installed in the modified Plymouth dash. Came out OK.

OFF TOPIC, but of interest: I often get sidetracked on other small things, the fuel injection intake was ugly bad dirty dull, so a couple of minutes a day I would brush / spray, paint remover, grease remover, thinners, varsol, oven cleaner. and anything that I didn't know what it was on. it still looked bad but test primed with acid etching primer and then some wheel paint. Wow!.
,

your dash looks super installed ! i like the AC ducts on each side as well.

the steering shaft support heims are .007 oversize in case you are painting your shaft. i have found if a guy uses a new 3/4" heim, sometimes those are too tight, and won't go over the shaft.
what i have also found, is a "slightly" used 3/4 heim has just the right amount of wear to fit over the stainless shaft. i also prefer a teflon lined heim over the standard non-lined one for steering.
it seems to smooth things up some.
you are making more progress than i am on my humpback or charger resurrection. all my effort most of the summer has been directed to getting garage things rearranged, and home projects.
i have two weeks left, then go in for a surgery that has a 8-12 week recovery time.
it's not real serious, but it will make me bonkers until i can FINALLY get back to FUN projects.
as to the locking collar, the ACE hardware on the corner has 3/4" locking collars, but they have a 3/4" hole through, not a "double D". if a guy wanted something like that, it needs to be custom made.

keep up the great work !

Thanks for the comments. Good luck with the surgery.

I had a bum scope last month and apparently I din't follow the prep directions correctly, because when she was finished , the doc turned the camera sideways to take it out to teach me a lesson.
Hurt like hell.

Never really thought about the locking collar idea but how would you attach it to hold the inner bearing race?

Thanks.

the locking collar doesn't attach to the inner bearing race. it is used sometimes as an added insurance to keep the shaft length in position in case something happens.
it doesn't really matter if the shaft turns in the bearing, or the bearing turns in the heim [we are talking the .007 oversize heims here], as there is not much continuous movement.
i don't like the shaft turning inside the bearing myself. when that happens, i mark both sides of the shaft where the heim will be, take the shaft off, then chuck the shaft in the lathe and use a serration tool to make serrations on the shaft in that area. reassemble the heim on the shaft, and the serrations make the heim a light press fit.
taking into consideration most don't have a lathe at home, mark the shaft where the heim will end up, then take a sharp center punch and make several deep punch marks on both sides of the rounded portions of the double D shaft.
put a tiny dab of red loctite on each side, tape the joints where the bearing is on both sides, tap the heim into position with a section of 3/4" water pipe.
when done, wipe off the excess loctite [making sure none got under the tape and into the bearing race], then stand, or hang, the shaft vertically. this insures any loctite that may run out will run down the shaft instead of migrating into/around the bearing and race.
don't know if this will be helpful to you or not.

Yes it is. I always get a idea that I had not thought of, like the serrations, unfortunately I had tried the loctite but being a Klutz managed to get into the bearing. The firewall stock car support does come with a with a locking collar attached to the inner bearing race. So its all in now and seems good. Thanks,

Not sure how I'm only just seeing this thread now, but I wish I had the space, equipment, and skills to do this to my '55 Plaza wagon.

Thanks for the post ....... you also need the stubbornness, ignorance, and stupidity to keep on doing it, not counting the thousand and thousand of dollars, the only good thing about getting old is that for the most part the family is out on their own and after working for a long time you now have time to do what you want.

Space, equipment, and skills are all acquired things. You get them because you have determined that you want them.

I've been doing these old car conversions for many years. I work out of a 2 car garage with a cement driveway. My tool box is a very old 10 drawer Craftsman top chest, and a used 6 drawer bottom box someone gave me. I also have a welder, a bench vice, an air compressor, a plasma cutter (something I didn't have until 1/2 way through my building years), and an assortment of welding clamps.

My skills are 80% learned by experience. You just can't be afraid to screw something up. Success in the little things is what keeps you involved. A bunch of successful little things gives you the experience and confidences to keep moving forward.

The 1st major project I did came out of a junk yard, so I figured I couldn't hurt it in any way. The most I would loose was my time and a few bucks worth of parts that I might not be able to resell after removing before I would send the project back to the junk yard.
Every build brings with it more and different challenges, and plenty of new learning experiences. Its those things that keep bringing me new projects.

My son did a 57 Dodge wagon on original suspension (rebuilt) with a disc brake conversion and has a modern Hemi. You don't have to do a front clip if you don't want to. There are many levels between the stock original and a full blown frame off build.

If you decide to commit to building your wagon, there are people here that have experience. They are more then ready to share and help guide you through the level of build you would like to do. Gene