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

[72Dodge]

You've got me thinking a lot about this (potential) cooling issue. FlowKooler pumps are still available. About $93, but I may actually spring for one anyway, just to be safe(r), hopefully. I still wonder how much the extra 1/4" gap affects the impeller's operation, no matter what type of impeller. Is a better pump going to really flow that much better, or is it just going to agitate the coolant around in the pump ineffectively that much better!?!

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bra-1700/overview/make/dodge

Probably not as much of a concern as I'm making out to be, but I expect the better pump can't hurt much in any case.

I'm much much happier about my new motor plate bracket design now (the one in my head, nothing to show on paper). It seems so obvious to me now. I may give it a shot this weekend, if I have as much time as I think I'm going to have. Just need to get some 1/8" steel plate to fabricate them out of. There will be two on each side (sandwiching the plate in between), so a total of 1/4" steel holding each side of the plate.

 

[72Dodge]

One thought keeps coming back to me... back in the day, we built and/or obtained some pretty janky rides... built of out of old used or even used-up parts, right down to the balding tires, and we drove the heck out of them. Stupid youth, sure, but the cars were fast, seemed reliable enough at the time, and were basically "ok", not safe in hindsight, but fine. Now, with all the thought and work and money put into a car, it seems to me it just HAS to be at least as good as those old janky cars were. My old Aspen R/T with a 340 was a barnburner and it couldn't have been any more jerry-rigged if it tried.

 

[NoCar340]

FlowKooler used to make a "conversion" piece for standard water pumps, rather than the fancy impeller on the pump you listed. It was merely a disc that riveted to the impeller's blades. You could make one pretty easily yourself. Make sure when you're doing final assembly that you're using the HD pump (police, 340, and E58 applications). You'll know if you've got the right pump by counting the impeller blades; the HD unit has six to the standard's eight.

One thing I'm sure you've thought of, but it bears mentioning: make sure all the fasteners that pass into the block through the water pump are go-to-hell, Grade 8 studs. It would really suck to have to support the engine with a hoist, stands, whatever just to change out a weeping water pump. :eusa_doh:

 

[72Dodge]

Interesting. I'll have to look up the FlowKooler conversion thing.

The pump I have is a six blade impeller, fortunately, but thanks for pointing that out, because it's just by chance the one I was using... until now, I was unaware of the difference. It would make sense, since I believe this one came off a 340. I'll have to check my spare one.

As for the Grade 8 studs... yes, I had been thinking of this and was going to use Grade 8, but I had NOT even thought about the advantages of studs! So, thank you! This is not the sort of thing I'd prefer to learn the hard way, though that's not always a bad way of learning either. In light of this information and needing to make another run to the store to get those, I think I'll probably just use the HD Mopar pump I have for now, and if I do have cooling issues, at least this way it won't be quite a much of a chore to swap it out later. Either way, I'll look into this FlowKooler mod.

Thanks again.

BTW, did you mail out that plate/bolt thing or whatever yet? Only reason I care is I have your caps sitting here with no address to put on them

 

[NoCar340]

:eusa_doh: I knew I was forgetting something. Damn it. I'll get 'em gone. Sorry aboot that.

I was wondering if you'd thought of that "bad pump" scenario... glad to have helped. Now that you realize that advantage, you won't get in a hurry and use bolts you've got lying around only to have one of those "Son of a...!" moments later.

 

[72Dodge]

OK, I give up. Where do I find 3/8" grade 8 studs? I went to all three hardware stores in town, no one has anything (not surprising, but our ACE is pretty good, so I thought there was a chance there, but even he almost laughed when I asked). Fastenal only shows in what appears to be around a grade 5, but at least they have them, if the threads are long enough (I think they would be). Would these be sufficient?

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/details/0349334

Otherwise, I have Grade 8 bolts in appropriate length, so if I get that far this weekend, I'm going to just use those, then swap them out to studs later (before I fill with coolant of course).

 

[jasperjacko]

what about arp?

 

[72Dodge]

Yeah, good call, I should have thought of that. Summit has them in a 5.150" length that would work for the 4 long ones, then shorter for the other three. Looks like it would cost about $45 or so to do them in all ARP. I'm hoping I can find a hardware store grade 8 that would work if I can find them significantly cheaper. I'm not averse to paying for ARP bolts if I need to, because I figure I'll just use them in an engine for the rest of my life then be buried with all of them, so I'll get enough use out of them to justify the expense eventually!

 

[72Dodge]

I didn't get all that far this weekend, at least not visually, but the plate is in place and more or less ready for me to make the actual brackets and weld them onto the rails. Except I won't be doing that, because despite more practice, my skills are not up to that task. There's a Mr. Weld here in town, so if he makes housecalls, that's probably my best bet at getting someone who knows what they're doing to do it. I have 3/16" steel, 3" wide to make the brackets from.

Every time I had to do something to the plate, I had to re-align and level the engine where I wanted it, so I made up some stands from angle iron that I put on the frame rails to hold the plate level. Saves a lot of time. They can stay there once the rackets are in to provide additional support, they're not hurting anything. I'll just weld them in place.

I'm going to have to pull the plate out at least one more time to weld in the brackets in front of and behind the plate, and to cut a little more away from the plate where the lower radiator hose attaches to the pump. They didn't cut as much away as they would have needed to for a stock water pump. And to install studs in place of those bolts of course.

I'll be glad when this is over. Not to complain again, I chose this path, but I have to say, I can't think of a single thing I like about motor plates, and if I keep this car long term, I can definitely see installing a good K at some future date. I want to move onto the more fun parts of building this thing :icon_super:

Anyway.... we're getting closer...

 

[Jack Meoff]

That engine sure looks nice!!

 

[72Dodge]

OK, since I'm pretty sure I will want to go with stock motor mounts at some point, probably sooner than later, tonight I picked up an entire front suspension assembly. I might rebuild it over the winter and have it ready to go in the spring... if I get ambitious enough lol. This will be the easy way to go though. The only reason I didn't do it this way to begin with is because I didn't have one. Live and learn...

Then, a friend was driving down to VFN in Chicago, so I bought the Mirada a little gift. Should take 50+ pounds off the front, easily... :icon_super:

I'll post some pics later this weekend on the work-in-progress on the car. Just finishing a couple things up.

 

[Blackbirdsrt78]

sweet looks like you scored!!

 

[72Dodge]

I'm finishing up my fuel cell installation and I need to decide whether to make the holes (4 small ones) in the mint condition original trunk carpet/mat, or just use some generic carpet (or nothing). My first instinct was to spare the trunk carpet since it's perfect... I always hate to destroy nice original parts... but the trunk carpet would look SO NICE under the aluminum cell! Plus, it would be nice to not have to store this trunk carpet elsewhere, it's not like it's small. Conflicted... what should I do!!! :icon_question:

The generic carpet I think would look like crap, fit wise. So I guess the options are really the original carpet, or nothing. How rare is a nice J-body trunk carpet?

 

[Jack Meoff]

I don't know how rare they are but my personal take is
If the cell is permanent and not just a temporary thing then I'd go with the nice carpet....it's part of the whole package.
And myself.....I'm getting tired of keeping things for "some day"

 

[72Dodge]

The cell is permanent. The car is not going back to stock. That wasn't meant to be with this one. And the more the years tick by, the more I have the same feeling about "some day". Too often, those "some days" never come. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[72Dodge]

Fuel cell is in. Took awhile because I had to clean up then POR-15 and paint the bottom of the spare tire well, and the same under the entire back third of the car before I installed it. There was hardly any rust at all, but what little there was, I completely removed and treated prior to the paint. I do love working on a solid car. Pay no mind to the crusty 8.25 rear, I filled it with gear oil & sure grip additive, painted the cover, but that's it, since it's not permanent anyway. I opted to not install the trunk carpet until after I paint the jams since it'll get dirty during that anyway.

Too bad you can't see my handiwork with the welder in creating the sump cover... or maybe that's a good thing! It's solid though.

Still working on the firewall and interior. More to come...

 

[Jack Meoff]

Nice!

 

[Blackbirdsrt78]

looks great!!!

 

[72Dodge]

How the heck do you get the a-pillar plastic pieces out? I have the screws out on the top and it seems loose... the rear part of the dash is loose, and it doesn't look like it's attached there, but it feels like it just won't come out. A-body ones pretty much just pop right off, these are a real puzzle. Any tricks to this?!?

 

[Jack Meoff]

Pretty sure the dash pad holds them in.....which sucks.
I pulled a set from a 79 Dip and same thing.
Pulled all the screws and still wouldn't let go.
I just yanked them out....but I wasn't concerned with breaking them.
Pretty sure it's the damn dash pad holding them.....it pushes up against them.

You could try finagling them out if you can.
If they're like the M body ones they flare out at the bottom..that's probably what's snagging you up.