1970 Plymouth Fury Convertible build

[Zephyr]

Thanks for the replies!
1970FuryConv: I suspect more stupidity than bravery is involved, but thanks for the encouraging words.
max1196: The missing dowel is indeed in the bellhousing. Funny, since this isn't the block that came out. Maybe the engine builder copied what was on the original or maybe they just tend to come out like that. You guys sure are observant.
73coupe: Like I say, you guys are observant. It's my daughter's 1970 Series IIa:

marty mopar: Thanks for the link, I'll be pursuing it for sure.
70Tom: Thanks again. Bid placed.

So, a little bit of progress. Sort of. It's seems that the original engine brackets have gone missing. So I have a pair from a 68 Dart. I have the gearbox on its mount and the engine is sitting on these brackets, with the old engine mounts still attached to them.

You can't see it from these photos, but the tilt gauge reads zero front to back and side to side.

Passenger side is near enough:

I think the top of the bracket is a little bent, hence the gap between it and the lug on the block. I'll have these out again to fit the new rubber mounts and I'll probably paint them too, so I'll give that a little tweak with a hammer. I do not want to snap a lug off the block at this (or any) point.

Driver's side is off by 1/4". I think this will take more than a hammer blow to correct, but it'll be something I can handle. (Don't quote me on that later!)

Thanks for watching.

 

[max1196]

This is why it's good to post the pictures, To some of us stuff is obvious and help can be offered. That way you only have to do it once, and right.

 

[live4theking]

Keep at it, you've got some great progress going on there.

 

[Zephyr]

I'm back! Again.

Life got in the way this year, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and I had to get the old Ford going, which it sort of does now. Not quite got it registered yet, but I've had fun driving it around at a show. (That's my girlfriend's truck next to it. That's had me busy too this year, along with some of the other junk on our drive.)

But, back to the Fury. I got a friend with a lathe to make me some spacers for the driver's side motor mount:

And as predicted, a quick tweak with a hammer sorted out the other side.

I needed a new dipstick tube and inexplicably, this one turned out to be straight such that it interfered with the fuel pump. It was also way too tight to go into the block without having at least the chrome ground off. I did get it all the way in after this photo.

Another great modern replacement part. Still, I was able to bend it out of the way without it kinking. I guess it was intended for a 318 with an electric fuel pump.

Had a couple of minor issues left over from the dyno session. One was a coolant leak from one of the thermostat housing bolts. We even tried adding thread sealant to the bolt, but still it leaked. They don't fit the thermostat when breaking in an engine on the dyno, so the housing had to come off anyway. Turns out the gaskets have elongated holes to avoid getting a proper seal!

The spare gasket the engine builder gave me was similarly elongated, so I made my own.

The other issue was the paint on the oil filter plate. The engine guy had used a different primer to usual and it didn't stick too well.

No sign of painting anywhere else, so this area got a quick clean up and bare-metaled in the relevant area. I didn't fit a small gasket around the central hole.

Exhaust manifolds were pretty rusty. The contraption with springs and a butterfly valve was mostly rotted away and the shaft was seized solid in the manifold. So I got the grinder and hack saw out and now have no such contraption on the manifold. I'm not actually sure what it's even supposed to do. I did think I'd be drilling and tapping the holes for the shaft so that I could screw a couple of plugs in, but the shaft is rock solid in there on both sides, so I've left it like that. Had to saw through the shaft on the inside and grind the stumps down where they met the inside wall of the manifold.

I've had to move up from the electrolysis bucket to something bigger:

Not done any cast iron parts before (and don't worry that alternator is not in a queue for this treatment), but I'd say it's moved a fair amount of rust overnight:

From experience, the water above the part clears a bit when the rust has gone, so I'll leaving this one going for a while longer.

 

[Chrome58]

Zephyr, I PM'd you.

 

[Wollfen]

I'm back! Again.

I've had to move up from the electrolysis bucket to something bigger:
View attachment 214269

Not done any cast iron parts before (and don't worry that alternator is not in a queue for this treatment), but I'd say it's moved a fair amount of rust overnight:
View attachment 214270
From experience, the water above the part clears a bit when the rust has gone, so I'll leaving this one going for a while longer.

I would love to see an in depth write up on your electrolysis bath, chemicals used and such as rust is always an issue here on the east coast of America.

 

[system11]

Seems like a good place to ask - does anyone have any photos of how the convertible well liner attaches? The car I'm buying had one caught up in the mechanism, it's salvageable but the workshop manual isn't that detailed. Looks like there should be some studs under there somewhere and the other side gets glued to a seat bracket?

 

[Fury440]

Seems like a good place to ask - does anyone have any photos of how the convertible well liner attaches? The car I'm buying had one caught up in the mechanism, it's salvageable but the workshop manual isn't that detailed. Looks like there should be some studs under there somewhere and the other side gets glued to a seat bracket?

Mine has dome snaps across the back seat and around the steel band that clamps the top material.

 

[PontiacJim]

I would love to see an in depth write up on your electrolysis bath, chemicals used and such as rust is always an issue here on the east coast of America.

More info can be found on the web. Pretty simple to do and make. I use one on many of my small parts. Be careful on any soft metals like aluminum or copper as it will deteriorate them if left too long. I use it on cast/steel parts. Saves a ton of work and gets the part very clean. You should see the bubbling from the part if it is working correctly. Do this outside, not in a closed area where the gasses given off could ignite/explode. Not like a ton of the stuff, but suspect in a small closed off room/area that is where the danger could happen. Rust removal by electrolysis

 

[3175375]

Seems like a good place to ask - does anyone have any photos of how the convertible well liner attaches? The car I'm buying had one caught up in the mechanism, it's salvageable but the workshop manual isn't that detailed. Looks like there should be some studs under there somewhere and the other side gets glued to a seat bracket?

I have a 69 Fury III vert n can take some pictures for you. PM me.
Steve

 

[ImpJay]

Show us more of that blue beauty!

 

[Zephyr]

I'd be happy to write a piece on the electrolytic rust removal process, but the page PontiacJim linked to in reply #129 does a pretty good job of explaining how it works. I'd add that:
1) Only use ordinary steel or your solution ends up containing heavy metal pollutants.
2) Modern battery chargers, in Europe at least, have to 'sense' a battery before they start putting out a current, so you're probably better off using an older charger or if you don't have a power supply, you can just use a 12v car battery.

So here's the first manifold after it came out of the bath:

Looks a bit browner that it does in real life. I was very 'dusty' - haven't seen this before, might be a cast iron thing. I hit it with a wire brush and compressed air, then some Simonez UHT black paint. After drying overnight, it went (don't tell anyone) into the oven for 90 minutes:

Didn't come out the blackest of blacks, more a dark brown. So I did a second coat of paint and repeated the process. Still the same colour! Made me think I hadn't got all of the 'dust' off, so I hit the second manifold with a wire wheel:

(Again, this looks browner in the photo than in real life - must be the reflection of the bricks or something.)

Painted it and it still came out the same colour as the first one!

At this point I pulled the car out of the garage so I had room to tidy up and couldn't resist a photo:

Here's the done manifold:

The observant might notice I now have a torque converter cover now and I've fitted the struts that join the engine to the lower part of the bell-housing.

I had a missing bracket on the power steering pump assembly. The triangular one that bolts to the water pump. Tried getting one laser cut based on a cardboard template, but it didn't quite line up right, so I bought a bracket set. Found that I had to put a washer behind the big bracket on each of the front mounting bolts to space the pump back such that the pulleys lined up.

 

[ImpJay]

You`re getting the Fury to look very sharp!

 

[johnson]

purchased one myself this past spring.glad to see the appreciation for these cars is strong . good luck with the rebuild . continue to post progress and i'll continue to follow.

 

[Fratzog]

Nice to see the car getting love from a true perfectionist.