Finally my own '70 Sport Fury GT

[67valiant 100]

Floors scrubbed with some Fantastic cleaner.

What was left of the nasty original carpet..

Layed out the new carpet from ACC..

 

[67valiant 100]

Fitting the carpet. That was a huge pain. I do not like the thick rubber backing ACC uses on their carpet kits but with a lot of heat and a few strategically placed cuts was able to get it to form to the floor acceptably enough. Next time I do carpet Ill order it without the mass backing and just use sheets of sound deading directly on the floor.

 

[67valiant 100]

Made a noob mistake and didnt check the vents prior to installing the carpet...

 

[67valiant 100]

Console was filthy but after taking it apart, washing it, & steel wooling the chrome it cleaned up nicely. Will need to order a console carpet kit someday. None of the scraps from the floor were big enought to cover the sides properly.

 

[67valiant 100]

The original leaf springs were showing there age pretty good with a full tank of gas so I ordered new OE spec springs from ESPO Springs N Things.

Thankfully all the shackle hangers unbolted from the body without issue. I was even able to remove the shackles & old bushings from the spring by hand!

Old spring compared to new OE spec spring:

Going in

One thing I didnt like is the U-bolts ESPO sent with the springs. They are solid round stock where as the original Chrysler U-bolts are flattened out more like a strap. This allows the U-bolt to have more bite on the housing without actually crushing & denting the tubes. Unfortunately had to cut the original u-bolts to remove the springs. I ended up taking a belt sander to the inside edge and flattening them a bit in hopes of not denting the tubes. Later on a friend dropped off some correct reproduction U-bolts that Ill need to swap in at some poiint.

 

[67valiant 100]

Dropped the transmission pan to reseal it. Used the "late model" Dodge truck plastic pan gasket after hearimg food things about them and having no luck with the cheap flimsy rubber or cork pan gaskets. Did the one in the convertible as well (it need it really bad).

 

[ayilar]

I ordered new OE spec springs from ESPO Springs N Things.(...) One thing I didnt like is the U-bolts ESPO sent with the springs. They are solid round stock where as the original Chrysler U-bolts are flattened out more like a strap. This allows the U-bolt to have more bite on the housing without actually crushing & denting the tubes. Unfortunately had to cut the original u-bolts to remove the springs. I ended up taking a belt sander to the inside edge and flattening them a bit in hopes of not denting the tubes. Later on a friend dropped off some correct reproduction U-bolts that I'll need to swap in at some point.

Do you have the ordering info for the U-bolts?

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Rick Ehrenberg sells NOS sets on ebay. I try to buy things from him when I can, even if he's a bit more expensive than the competition.

These are listed for the muscle cars, but a quick measurement would tell if they fit C bodies, which I would guess that they do. They have the crosshatch pattern on them to help grip the axle tube.

NOS Mopar E-Body Rear Axle Spring U-BOLT Set 8¾ - Dana Cuda Challenger Dodge Ply | eBay

Jeff

 

[67valiant 100]

Do you have the ordering info for the U-bolts?

Sorry, a friend had them & drop them off on his way to Carlisle lol.

 

[67valiant 100]

Exhaust system got the chop.

Pulled the manifolds off and found some old freeze plug repairs in the drivers head.

By miracle the local NAPA had 4 of the 1¼" plugs in stock that someone had special ordered and never picked up! Nowhere else had them.

Kinda a pain to do in the car and in a time crunch for Carlisle I didnt bother to do the other side....

 

[67valiant 100]

Love the way HP manifolds look on mopar big blocks so replacing the orginal T-code logs was a must. Every year going to Carlisle I'd always pick up a cheap C-body HP manifold so I had a few. Wasnt till last year I found out there was infact different manifolds for 383 & 440 applications. All the ones on the shelf were for 383s...

HOWEVER few years back we had put a set of HPs on the convertibles 383. Low and behold we had used a 440 manifold on it lol..

So I did some swapping.

Spent several hours hand sanding several manifolds perfectly strait for good sealing using an anvil.

Worked out good. The convertible got a proper manifold & I didn't have to go crazy sourcing the proper 440 one.

 

[67valiant 100]

Got really lucky and found a lone passenger side manifold local.

Sand blasted:

Then using the anvil method above got the flanges nice an perfectly strait. Little bit of exhaust sealant..

And on they went!

 

[SportFury70]

Exhaust system got the chop.

View attachment 480633

What are your plans with it, get rid of it? How the mufflers? We are gonna be replacing the whole original exhaust with a dual system and could use one muffler or 2 on the Pumpkin our '70 Survivor FK3 Fury III, the original right now has a couple holes in it

 

[67valiant 100]

What are your plans with it, get rid of it? How the mufflers? We are gonna be replacing the whole original exhaust with a dual system and could use one muffler or 2 on the Pumpkin our '70 Survivor FK3 Fury III, the original right now has a couple holes in it

Its not the original exhaust system to the car. Its been replaced with poor fitting muti size pipes over the years.

 

[B to C]

Are the springs you bought from espo look exactly or very close to the originals? Spacers and clamps look original? Six leafs with each bar the same length as original? What did they cost and what was shipping? Putting together a 70 GT also, thanks for any help. Mike

 

[70Tom]

Fitting the carpet. That was a huge pain. I do not like the thick rubber backing ACC uses on their carpet kits but with a lot of heat and a few strategically placed cuts was able to get it to form to the floor acceptably enough. Next time I do carpet Ill order it without the mass backing and just use sheets of sound deading directly on the floor.

Based on your pics, despite it being a pain, it seems like that carpet fits pretty decently. I think I got mine from ACC about 4 years ago now, and that thing is so ill fitting, it still upsets me every time I go in the car. There's no way mine was molded from an original carpet or the actual Fury/Sport Fury floor. It's way too big around the trans tunnel, and it's too short towards the back in the corners of the seat.

I just wonder if they've now remedied this situation. Based on your pics, maybe?

 

[67valiant 100]

Based on your pics, despite it being a pain, it seems like that carpet fits pretty decently. I think I got mine from ACC about 4 years ago now, and that thing is so ill fitting, it still upsets me every time I go in the car. There's no way mine was molded from an original carpet or the actual Fury/Sport Fury floor. It's way too big around the trans tunnel, and it's too short towards the back in the corners of the seat.

I just wonder if they've now remedied this situation. Based on your pics, maybe?

Sounds exactly like what I was dealing with. Had to section the front half down the middle to get it to hug the tunnel so that the console would go into place.

 

[67valiant 100]

Havent posted recently as the GT is on the back burner due to unfortunately losing oil pressure back in July. Finally had it running and driving well but I guess after finally having a good heat cycle (1hr plus of driving) it loosened up some of the remaining sludge buildup hidden in the engine and probably clogged oil pickup. Nice to know the low oil pressure light works. As soon as the light came on the engine faintly started ticking and was shutoff immediately. Had my friend flatbed it the mile back to the house to prevent further damage. Anyways hopefully later this winter I'll get around to pulling the 440 for a refresh.

No glitter in the filter fortunately.. just sludge & crud/carbon

1st time poping a valve cover off.. not pretty but exactly what I predicted it'd look like after seeing what was behind the timing cover.

How it sits for now...

 

[67valiant 100]

Before the oil presure debacle, had gotten the TTI 2.5" exhaust system installed on the car as a last mintue rush before trying to make it to Carlisle 2021.

Fortunately (looking back now) I wasnt able to make Carlisle this past year after a 36hr thrash working on it (interior/suspension/brakes/exhaust) due to the alternator not charging when I was driving it over to get it inspected the day of leaving for the show. Glad I had the engine problems only a mile from home vs potentially 2-3 hours deep into Pennsylvania.

When I returned home from Carlisle I had the original alternator rebuilt with some NOS bearings & brushes I had stashed away which took care of the charging problem.

 

[67valiant 100]

Short clip driving around some local roads about an 1hr before losing oil pressure.