My 1978 lebaron

[TheSkunk]

Iv post a few times on the forum now and thought it would be good to show y’all my current resurrection not restoration of my 78 Lebaron.

*Disclaimer- any purists might wanna go ahead and leave..*

I bought this car a few years ago running and driving. 120k mile Lebaron medallion 318 lean burn 904 7 1/4. Have original build sheet from under the seat. Car is rusty but not enough to scrap so I drove as is I mean hard to pass a $1000 2dr mopar.

Drove the car for about 6 months and the 904 gave up the ghost. With the help of the forum I was able to select a good rebuild kit and installed a non lock up 904 with a crt street hp rebuild kit, transgo shift kit, and crt stock “high stall” converter. After working the bugs out and gathering parts to delete the lean burn. we were back to driving.

Shortly after (less than 3,000 miles) while coming to a stop light the car developed a shake that I can only imagine feels like re entering earths atmosphere with no warning. I limp the car back to work and trailer it home after we discovered cylinder #2 piston no longer went up and down.. well I pulled the engine and trans sold the transmission and finally pulled the pan. The car los both #1 and #2 rods without warning, trashed the block and heads.. bummer right? Well this brings us to today..

While the car was sitting I stumbled on a deal I couldn’t pass up on a 400B block out of a truck. Went through rebuilt the engine with some upgrades. Ram the engine on a test stand through cam break in and is ready to go along with an a body 833 non of unit.



The current plan is to make home made front floors, use a modified a body trans tunnel, Schumacher engine swap mounts, my 400 big block, 4spd and a 8.8 I have out of a mustang. Iv stripped 99% of the interior I won’t be using and we are going for the 70/80s stock car vibe. the car is rough but not rough enough to scrap but due to lack of repop parts to far to be restored. I eventually want to put it on a stock car chassis once I get the funds for that until then I’m making a fun car that is about miles per smiles.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

 

[Justwondering]

Dang those tires look nice . Bwaa haaa haaa

And here I just spent money on wiring to repair what the rat chewed through..... I bought 10 different colors thinking I was getting sooooo wild!

Rock on Dude!

JW

 

[Duke5A]

Breakage is always a reason for upgrade.

 

[TheSkunk]

Got my drivers side patch in still needs finished out but is nice to not see the grass anymore. Only attaching 3 out 4 side right now until I get the engine and trans in to verify the 4spd hump location is correct.

Also scored some vintage slapper bars for next to nothing so I might make some wall art out of em

 

[Duke5A]

Slapper bars don't do anything on asymmetric Mopar leaf springs. Grab an adjustable pinion snubber if you have spring wrap issues.

 

[LSM360]

That's a good looking LeBaron! Glad you saved it! That 400 is going to look good under the hood, and those floors look so good except that front pans. That's good you only have to mess with those. Appears something was leaking around the cowl.

 

[TheSkunk]

Thanks guys and amc ik I might put them on the car simply because the 8.8 going in the car won’t have a pinion snubber if I use them at all. But I’m just a sucker for vintage speed parts and will probably make wall art out of em. I buy the old school gold moroso valve covers anytime I find em at swap meets just wish I could find some big block ones to go with my tunnel ram and heavy foot gas pedal!!

 

[TheSkunk]

Been swamped at work and haven’t made much progress.

Got the opportunity to pressure wash the engine bay out and the rest of the car. Almost thought the paint cleaned up better then I thought then it dried and I saw all the peeling clear coat lol. I think she would have been quite the looker in her day.

I am still trying to work on the floors when I can but man working in a shop in the heat all day sure makes motivation to work in the heat after work tough to find.

 

[Aspen500]

That's a good looking LeBaron! Glad you saved it! That 400 is going to look good under the hood, and those floors look so good except that front pans. That's good you only have to mess with those. Appears something was leaking around the cowl.

Up in the Great Lakes part of the country you don't need a water leak to rot out the front floor pans. Most of it is from salt water coming off boots and shoes soaking through the carpet in winter.

 

[Duke5A]

Up in the Great Lakes part of the country you don't need a water leak to rot out the front floor pans. Most of it is from salt water coming off boots and shoes soaking through the carpet in winter.

Cars rust here just breathing the air.

 

[Aspen500]

Cars rust here just breathing the air.

Think they might. Maybe that explains why you see 3 year old vehicles with rust holes.

 

[TheSkunk]

Been slowly making some progress. Got my seat mocked up and passenger floor pan patched almost finished up.

Working on moving to modifying the k member for the Schumacher swap brackets and trying to prepare for stuffing the 400 in soon. But that got me thinking. Before I go and have the engine in the way what’s all required to install my z bar pivot on the frame rail?

 

[Oldiron440]

What are you using for the Z bar?
Why not use a hydraulic clutch?

what I do know is that you need to use a V8 Z bar then modify as needed, I believe it needs to be shorter with the big blocks being wider than the small blocks.
another reason to go with a hydraulic clutch is Header clearance, I’m using Ebody 2” headers on my 440 and I have no idea if a Z bar will fit.

 

[TheSkunk]

I have a big block a body z bar and a random mopar swap meet z bar that I can cut up/modify. I was under the impression that a body clutch parts work with f and m bodys?

I’m not against a hydraulic clutch other than the added cost to convert and I personally prefer the feel of a mechanical clutch. I also am only running 1 3/4” headers so that helps with room as well.

Lot of the parts I’m using on this “build” are parts I already have for my a body to keep cost down

 

[Aspen500]

You need a tab for the outer ball stud on the frame, the one with a square hole. This is my car, which origjnally was a 4 speed. I know it's hard to see but it's as good as I could get.

 

[TheSkunk]

Thanks that helps. I wonder if that’s available or what I can use. I’ll have to dig in my a body stuff and see if I have one I could modify enough to work

 

[TheSkunk]

After doing some digging I think the best answer is what a memeber “Buck Atwater” did with his Mirada and build a bracket for for the car I’ll probably “over” build the bracket and sandwich the pinched metal between a inner and outer plate.

 

[Aspen500]

Shouldn't be hard to make one of the plates. A piece of 1/8" (?) steel cut to shape. Drill a hole and file it square to fit the stud and weld it on.

 

[TheSkunk]

Alright guys I’m hoping to put the 400 in the car this weekend but trying to make sure everything goes smoothly as possible. Before I go ahead and try swinging it in. Any tips or tricks for shoehorning a big block in.

What I’m aware of
1. I have to trim the lip on the back of the k member for oil pan clearance (not sure exactly how much?)
2. follow shumachers mount instructions
3. Strap the headers to the inner fenders
4. Install only the engine not engine and trans
5. Unbolt power brake booster

Any other insight or things I can do before the engine is hanging would be awesome!!