'83 Mirada street/strip project - my official return to FMJ!

[Jack Meoff]

Lol!
My vote is if it's an import or newer it should live outside
But I totally understand the concept of happy wife.....happy life.
Good luck.

 

[Blackbirdsrt78]

IMHO the garage is MANS territory...if it were me the precious mopar would be in the garage and the woman would walk 25 feet...maybe one reason I am getting divorced...lol

 

[72Dodge]

Oh yeah... And I weighed the old vs new hood setups going from steel to fiberglass... 58 pounds weight savings! And that's not even counting the release cable/lever that will be jetissoned.

Garage deal is OK... She supports my hobby though she doesn't understand it, and is gives me time to do indoor projects for a few months (car related and otherwise).

 

[72Dodge]

I'm at home today waiting for a contractor, so I'm making the foamcore door panels. It worked out better than I expected, and was very easy to do.

The only fitment issues were that since the original panel is countersunk around the window crank hole, I had to recess the crank, but once I get the vinyl on, it will look okay. I'm not going for perfection here anyway, just nice, and light weight (these weigh almost nothing, less than steel or even aluminum panels would have weighed).

And, I cut the door pull hole too large, not realizing until it was too late how far out the new panel would be in the center. I'll cut the other side's hole much smaller, and I can fix this one with some glue and scrap foamcore.

I have to go buy spray mount later before I can affix the black vinyl to finish these.

 

[Jack Meoff]

That's a very cool idea!

 

[R/T Mirada]

Those door panels take me back to a few months ago I did the same with water resistant card board, and I made my own interim top trim out of pine and aluminum angle. I should cover them in matching vinyl to help them blend in but I have since gotten some NOS pieces that are waiting till it is all restored ( that will be a long while from now ) but these wooden ones are a welcome relief for my arm. They may be a bit hillbilly but they get the job done for a daily driver.

Is it just me or are the door lock rods in an inconvenient location?

 

[72Dodge]

That's a great idea for the door tops! I have my originals that are cracked (obviously), but are solidly glued back together, so I'm going to put the same black vinyl on them.

I just picked up the spray mount. I'm not sure I'll get these done today... have to cut the other one out now and flatten out the vinyl since it's been sitting folded up. But as soon as they're done, I'll post pics. The interior is coming together.

I'm going to re-enforce the area where the elbow falls with at least another sheet of foamcore behind it, but more of the board sits on metal than I was expecting. I used a lot of scotch tape on all the screw holes and even around the edges. Once screwed on, the whole thing was way more solid and durable-feeling than I expected.

 

[72Dodge]

Things are starting to look hopeful again. The 'rada is back in the garage waiting for the new K swap (yeah, I got a slow start this year).

I'm still waiting for a few bushings and such, but I got it cleaned up and painted in the meantime. It took about 5 hours to remove the brakes/steering, scrub, degrease, clean again, then POR-15 then topcoat paint. And that was starting with a pretty clean assembly to begin with. Hardly any rust to contend with. But I am sore today. Which tells me I need to work hard like that more often. Thank goodness I have a younger wife who is reluctantly willing to help me move heavy things and push cars around and stuff LOL

Now I just need to find a solid day to do the swap. Quick refresher... reason this is necessary is because the old K has had the mounts cut off and I regrettably wasted a lot of time on a motor plate last year that I ended up hating.

I'm still not sure which will be easier... putting all the new rebuilt brakes/steering assemblies onto the K, then putting it in the car, or putting it in the car like this, then installing everything onto it. I guess I'll wing it when the time comes. Any thoughts/experience? I do have the trans jack (you can see it in the pic) that should help.

 

[80mirada]

it is easier to handle without everything on it.

 

[72Dodge]

That's what I was thinking too. I guess I'll start by putting it in as it is, since that'll probably be hard enough I'll probably be alone, too, so I guess that makes the decision easier.

 

[jasperjacko]

Unless you don't mind scratching it all up, leave the upper control arms and mounting brackets off until you bolt in the k member. If memory serves me, you cannot easily install the k member with all that stuff already bolted on.

 

[72Dodge]

Sweet, thanks. I think that's the ticket then. I'm not sure when yet, but I'm going to take a couple days off of work soon to do this. Since the next 2 weekends are booked pretty solid.

The good news is that I think this is the hardest part left to do on the car. The rest is less heavy lifting. Unfortunately, due to the headers and such, I think I'm going to have to pull the engine one last time, but I did it like 4 times last year by myself, so I guess that's not a big deal at this point!

 

[72Dodge]

Making progress again. New K is bolted in, wheelwells are painted and looking all pretty, and now I'm refurbing the whole front suspension. I'm over halfway done with that.

Basic process has been:
- Take everything apart and clean as much as possible, soaking in degreaser when necessary.
- Overnight bath in oxalic acid, which works miracles at removing rust, and is cheap.
- Finish cleaning up, remove last of rust, use degreaser then metal prep to finish prep work.
- Prime.
- Paint (high temp paint).
- Enjoy another beer while admiring the fine result.

I'm going to let it all dry for a week or so before I press in all the new bushings and such.

Oh yeah, and I FINALLY procured a nice passenger's side view mirror! I WAY overpaid for it, but at least I have one now.

Top one (upper control arm) is about what the parts look like after cleaning up but before oxy bath, and bottom one (lower control arm) is freshly pulled out of the overnight oxy bath... amazing!

I had some extra silver high temp paint, so I used it on the lower control arms, rest will be semi-gloss black.

 

[72Dodge]

It's amazing, reading back through some of my previous posts, how much I've already learned while doing this project. I've done a lot of things I've never done before.

The problem I was having removing the upper ball joints... no problem after I cleaned around them a lot more, soaked them a few more times in PB Blaster, then hit with the impact wrench with the pressure turned up a little... all while attached to the car, of course.

The upper control arm pivot bushings were a PITA and a conundrum wrapped in a pickle, but I figured it out (after buying a nice floor press to make things like this easier).

I think I have a parts cleanup, rust removal, and refinish process down pretty good now.

Removing and reinstalling the K wasn't a big deal in the end.

I've done all this while crammed into a garage with way too much crap in it and hardly any room to work.

Thanks to all of you for the tips, advice, support and all that along the way.

I'm building a pretty large second garage in the back yard now. That's going to be life-changing actually having room to work and room to spread out the tools, an actual workbench to work at instead of on top of the plastic garbage can!... it's going to be awesome. Next year is going to be outstanding.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Jealous.....very jealous. :headbang:

 

[72Dodge]

Bringing this thread and project back from the dead.

I finally got around to finishing the front suspension this weekend. Everything is new. I took the opportunity to upgrade to 11/16" tie rods. Just have to hook up the center link, throw the brakes back on, then she's done until I can torque the bushing bolts to spec after engine is back in.

Funny thing about doing this, it was my first full suspension rebuild, and it took me three hours to put the driver's side back together because I had to figure out the correct sequence of events to put it all back together, look up all the specs and such, then the other side took less than a half hour. I did it so many times to get it right, I know it pretty well now though (and a bunch of ways of doing it wrong).

I love the fresh look... If only it could stay looking like this forever!

But..... the below should make projects go faster in the future. 32x26 garage with 10' walls. Over the next two weekends, I'll be finishing the inside, then the GTS gets to come home at last.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Both projects are looking amazing!