About me and my ride

[65 Polara 500]

I am a 48 year old man from NJ. About 18 years ago, I bought a 65 Dodge Polara 500 all original with 65k miles. I was single no children and lived in an apartment, so I had a lot of money to restore her. The interior was in almost excellent condition, so just a few minor things had to be redone. The body was in very good condition minus some rust on the rear quarters. So I had the original 383 pulled out and sold it for $1k. At that point I had the whole car stripped down for new paint and also replaced about 200 feet of trim (I wanted her to be perfect). It took about 1.5 years to get her back together with an amazing paint job that still looks amazing today. Then I decided I wanted her to not only look amazing but I wanted her to sound and perform amazing as well. I found a 65 440 and had it completely rebuilt with the best of the best, aluminum heads, dual quads, billet aluminum serpentine pulley system, custom radiator…. She was a beauty all the way around. Well now I have a wife, 4 young children, a mortgage and a lot less money to keep up with her aging. In the last few years she has started to show her age. The power window motors, power seat motor, windshield wiper motors have all gone bad. The heater core went (bypassed it). But now the big problem. My flex plate came loose from the block. I am almost ready to throw in the towel. I don’t have the time nor money to get her back on the road. My kids will hate me if I get rid of her, they love the evening rides, and car shows, not to mention they all want the car when I pass on. I need some help/advise on how to get her back on the road. Remember I paid for all of the work to be done before, I am very good with my hands with a good mechanical mind. But I have no experience in working on cars, so I feel lost in the woods. Thank you in advance for any way you can help me.

 

[rkrochen]

That’s a beautiful car. Do what you can to get it fixed or you will hate yourself later. To fix the flex plate requires removal of either the engine or transmission so it’s a bit of a big job. But before you do anything why do you feel it came loose. It’s far more common for the flex plate to convertor bolts to come loose. Send us more info.

 

[shooter65]

Wow, that's a beauty, I would exhaust all avenues before you decide to throw in the towel. Maybe this is something you and your kids can learn from together.

Questions that comet to mind:

Do you have a garage that you keep the car in?
If so, is there enough room to work on the car in the garage?
Do you have a service manual and parts manual for the car? Sometimes the illustrations in the parts manual are helpful when looking at the
service manual to figure out what you need to do.

Good Luck!

 

[65 Polara 500]

That’s a beautiful car. Do what you can to get it fixed or you will hate yourself later. To fix the flex plate requires removal of either the engine or transmission so it’s a bit of a big job. But before you do anything why do you feel it came loose. It’s far more common for the flex plate to convertor bolts to come loose. Send us more info.

I am not sure why if came loose! It was to my surprise when I climbed under to tighten the torque converter bolts because it has happened two other times over the years. The crank bolts have never come loose before, I can only guess when they installed it, they didn’t use Loctite.

 

[65Port]

Don't throw in the towel! Pulling the tranny is not as bad as it seems. I've done many and all you need is patience and a plan. The rest will follow suit. Of course, be ready for the unexpected as that is sure to happen when working on these old rigs. Good luck and keep us posted..

 

[Ripinator]

I am a 48 year old man from NJ. About 18 years ago, I bought a 65 Dodge Polara 500 all original with 65k miles. I was single no children and lived in an apartment, so I had a lot of money to restore her. The interior was in almost excellent condition, so just a few minor things had to be redone. The body was in very good condition minus some rust on the rear quarters. So I had the original 383 pulled out and sold it for $1k. At that point I had the whole car stripped down for new paint and also replaced about 200 feet of trim (I wanted her to be perfect). It took about 1.5 years to get her back together with an amazing paint job that still looks amazing today. Then I decided I wanted her to not only look amazing but I wanted her to sound and perform amazing as well. I found a 65 440 and had it completely rebuilt with the best of the best, aluminum heads, dual quads, billet aluminum serpentine pulley system, custom radiator…. She was a beauty all the way around. Well now I have a wife, 4 young children, a mortgage and a lot less money to keep up with her aging. In the last few years she has started to show her age. The power window motors, power seat motor, windshield wiper motors have all gone bad. The heater core went (bypassed it). But now the big problem. My flex plate came loose from the block. I am almost ready to throw in the towel. I don’t have the time nor money to get her back on the road. My kids will hate me if I get rid of her, they love the evening rides, and car shows, not to mention they all want the car when I pass on. I need some help/advise on how to get her back on the road. Remember I paid for all of the work to be done before, I am very good with my hands with a good mechanical mind. But I have no experience in working on cars, so I feel lost in the woods. Thank you in advance for any way you can help me.

View attachment 608593

View attachment 608594

View attachment 608595

View attachment 608596

View attachment 608597

View attachment 608598

View attachment 608599

View attachment 608600

View attachment 608601

View attachment 608603

I have been thinking about your dilemma. . . It sounds like a big deal, but I think it would a helluva lot less aggravating than what you are trying to do with the cross member and the torsion bars, etc. I would suggest that you support the transmission with a floor jack, unbolt the engine from the trans at the bell housing, then suspend the transmission to the firewall with a piece of coat hanger wire, lift and remove the engine. Hopefully you have or have access to a cherry picker. I'll bet the problem you are having with these bolts (flex-plate and torque convertor) is that they are not the correct bolts and / or they were not torqued correctly when originally assembled. BTW, you can get the correct bolts from Bouchillon Performance (Home - Bouchillon Performance Engineering):

Here is a book that was invaluable to me when I went through this hassle with my '66 300 convertible: GET THIS BOOK!

 

[surfnturf]

Great story! She is a beauty!! I'd say that the car is not going down in value, so if you have a place to keep it out of the weather and tackle your issues when you have the time and money, it is worth keeping. Once you sell it, you'll never find another one as nice as this one for the price you sold it for.

 

[rkrochen]

I am not sure why if came loose! It was to my surprise when I climbed under to tighten the torque converter bolts because it has happened two other times over the years. The crank bolts have never come loose before, I can only guess when they installed it, they didn’t use Loctite.

You could be right. Is it noisy and what makes you think it is loose. Another thing is the flex plate could be cracked. In any event if this was mine I would pull the tranny and fix it. While the tranny is out it gives you the perfect opportunity to resell anything that is leaking.

 

[65 Polara 500]

You could be right. Is it noisy and what makes you think it is loose. Another thing is the flex plate could be cracked. In any event if this was mine I would pull the tranny and fix it. While the tranny is out it gives you the perfect opportunity to resell anything that is leaking.

The only thing leaking it the water pump.