sooo,i bought this..kicks tire,and no,it doesnt have a hemi

[beatersRus]

in fact,it doesnt even have a motor....yet.
lol.

hi folks,im an old fart whos gotten himself into a bit of trouble here with this car.
its a 1980 lebaron salon coupe thats grey? silver?
faded is a good word,with red interior.
it has original wheels and seems like most of the parts were there Except under the hood is Bare,no nothing.
it came originally with a slant 6 auto trans,and im not real sure what rearend this is.
plus this thing has what looks to be brand new bushings/body mounts and the entire k frame is new or completely refurbed,im not sure which,but it looks pristine/newish.
the body seems? good and the interior is mostly Really nice except for the headliner.

i was doing a cleanout job for a lady when i saw this car sitting in the trailer park and figured why not ask?
an amazingly low wad of cash later and its now sitting in line with the rest of the herd.
yes,the bumpers front nosepiece/grill and rear tailights and bumper were all in storage there and in Vcg as well.
looks like someone was getting ready to paint the car the underhood area is done already.

however,im kinda not up to speed at all with this odd torsion bar setup on these cars.
looks like they made more space but the steering linkage runs across the rear instead of the front of the engine bay.
im gonna try and post some pics,
and id appreciate you fellas sharing some thoughts on what i should do with this roller?
as in what would you do with it? am i wasting my time?

my thoughts were originally to stick the 318 magnum in and get a big cam with a good vertor and some 373 gears and go have fun blowing peoples doors off with it.
i dont think anyone would see this thing coming.

i do have an la 360 rebuilt but with truck pan and mounts and a 727
i also have a 318 magnum,same thing,
truck pan and mounts And that would need a magnum carbed intake.

 

[Opticon77]

If it was a 4 door I'd say bail on it because there are better examples for cheap... but a 2 door makes it pretty special.

- Drivetrain options are all the same conventional choices as that Abody in the background.
- Suspension options are probably best eyeballed at FirmFeel.com.
- And look for some build threads here on the forum to scroll through.

 

[Aspen500]

If it's a S6 k-frame, you'll need Schumacher engine swap mounts to bolt a 318 to it.
The rear axle is an 8.25", if that's what you were asking about.

 

[beatersRus]

If it was a 4 door I'd say bail on it because there are better examples for cheap... but a 2 door makes it pretty special.
- And look for some build threads here on the forum to scroll through.

your reply is kind of confusing,does it look like the car is rotted in half??
why would you bail on it? can you explain?
this is a mostly complete car and it Was cheap.
in fact,a new intake for my magnum motor would cost more than this car did....
i actually read thru about a ton of the front end threads before i joined.
guess ill head over to builds....thanks? for the help?

****************************************

Mr Aspen,TY Sir,that was helpful.

 

[Duke5A]

Yeah, looks like a New York car underneath. What do the frame rails look like?

I do have to say though, I think the LeBarons are the sharpest of the entire M body line. Wish I could find a clean one.

 

[Opticon77]

Your reply is kind of confusing. Why would you bail on it (if it was a 4 door)? This is a mostly complete car and it was cheap.

Only because there are 4 door cars for sale on this site and craigslist that are still cheap and incredibly clean. It would be much more cost effective to buy one of those.
-BUT-
Yours is 2 door and thus more rare, desirable, and worthy of the restoration time/money. Just keep that in mind as you bump into part shortages, paint work, and upholstery expenses that may shake your resolve.

... Also that rust does look kinda angry. Are there any holes in it yet?

 

[Ele115]

I couldn't see NOT saving it. Don't take that to mean park it under a tree and "save it some day", but it's definitely worth bringing back to life if you have the energy and access to parts. I have brought far worse back from the dead including current projects at my age.

 

[Joe12459]

That would make a nice gen 3 hemi swap!

 

[Ele115]

I would be happy to see someone driving and enjoying it. It may not take that much

 

[Nosrus77]

I think you need to sell it to me as a parts car for mine. . . I'd love the bucket seats and console.

 

[XfbodyX]

Wow, you got the last dance at the prom, too bad it was with the lonely fat chick.

Good luck if you proceed, I think its gonna kill you on small parts where this one here would be a exe. parts car. If you not deep in it as you say, the rims are worth a little coin.

But you just cant unrust a car thats that rusty on the bottom.

Maybe its a geographical thing, but cars like that around her get parted or worse.

But I wish you the best of luck on whatever you decide to do with it.

 

[old yellow 78]

Looks like a fun project. I really like the roof lines and back windows!! Very sharp. The wheels are great too. Would you keep the same color, or change it?

 

[beatersRus]

as far as the bottom of the car goes,yes,its a new york state car its got some crusty on the bottom but it isnt rotted to death like a lot of our cars are.
" you cant unrust a rusty car"
no,but you sure can clean it por15 it and Stop the rust??!!
apparently noone has heard of por-15..?

this cars too nice to be parted period,and its a 1 owner car with 34,900 original miles even.
so no ty for your kind offers to part out my car........
altho i would sell the console/w/shifter and the wheels.
i understand those are collectible and i wont be using them.

i spent a little time tonite cleaning it up and installing the front clip and rear lights.

i do have an issue tho,in that the k frame appears to be sitting Crooked in the car?
is that possible? can it simply be loosened and adjusted?
Alignment looks to be too far back on the passenger side when looking from front of engine bay.
motor mounts seem to be aimed towards d-side tunnel/firewall.
please lmk what your thoughts are.

 

[beatersRus]

Looks like a fun project. I really like the roof lines and back windows!! Very sharp. The wheels are great too. Would you keep the same color, or change it?

im actually pretty stoked about this project after going thru the entire car tonite.
i was thinking a ruby red paintjob,along with a specific Theme for the build.
i dont want to reveal the theme yet,but a friend suggested it and i think he Nailed it.

swap on some nice older wheels,and probably going to go the 318 magnum route.
i do have a 518? or a 500 trans from a van on a pallet.
no clue if that bulk would fit the trans tunnel tho.
also found another build Here on the forum where a guy used an 8.8 rear,
which is exactly what i have waiting./3:73 limited slip.

so,i have a few ideas going,and would love to hear or see others ideas/builds of their lebarons.

 

[Aspen500]

Maybe its a geographical thing, but cars like that around her get parted or worse.

.

It is a geographical thing. In my part of the country, an almost 40 year old car that's not a nice weather, summer only car, with the rust the LeBaron has would be considered to be in very good condition. The average 10-15 year old daily driven year round car here, looks about like the LeBaron underneath and the body twice as rotted, sad as that sounds.

 

[Duke5A]

Dibs on the console!

 

[beatersRus]

ahh...yeah..soo about that Help,and maybe an opinion on the k frame??

 

[Duke5A]

I don't know about the K. It does look off, but it's hard to tell with the photo. The core support doesn't look square either. Need more photos.

For the 518/500 I can help you with that. I've installed both into multiple F/J/M cars. It does require fabrication.

Axle isn't hard so as long as you're not a purist and are open to non Mopar axles.

 

[XfbodyX]

Wow its cleaned up good.

Oldiron loves to use por15 and other rust deal products, where is he?

 

[beatersRus]

core looks good to me?
that was one of the first things i checked.
im hoping the kframe can be loosened and tweaked into place,
ive never messed with one of these m cars front ends before.
look at this k frame i kinda wish i had better pics because i swear it Looks new,
look at the bushings too,and the steering box itself.
and so do the parts on it everything except for the steering linkages.
comparing this to the rear of the car,which is crusty ?