New Member, New Polara

[Stev]

Dropped the metal off for sandblasting. Turns out the truck is really fast when there isn't a C body in the back.

My wallet got significantly lighter too.


Also I'm looking at ordering parts. Is the firm feel stuff worth it? Looks like good stuff but I'd like some firsthand experience with it if anyone has any.

 

[Stev]

Sandblasting went well. Footwell was a collender but I knew that going in. I think I can patch the chamfers using Blue's metal and the flat section is as easy as a bead roller pass. Minor bleed throughs on the stub to patch but that's fine.

Next step is to put the car on blocks, drop the rear end and start drilling spot welds.

I wanted to do it cleanly as one piece, as it was welded together at the factory, but the floor seems to be welded in between the rocker stampings. I'm thinking it's best to cut the original floor 2"-3" from the rocker flange to avoid messing with the only intact structural element of the car and to place the hard weld far away enough from the rocker flange to not create a stress riser.

I think I'm also going to add some torque boxes to the back because why the hell not. That's something these cars should've left the factory with and they knew it. I'm too poor for serious hustle right now but some day I won't be, might as well ready it now.

If anyone has any experience or advice about what I'm doing here, I'd very much appreciate hearing it. It's baby's first backhalf here and I'd prefer not to learn things the hard way on Grandpa's prized Polara.

 

[Stev]

On today's episode: Getting 4.5 cars in a 2 car garage!

5 if you include the DeSoto parts and the spare motors.

Looking at it, my 'cut 3 inches from the side' doesn't really work with all the gussets around the torque box. I realized I don't really care about the original metal so I can just cut it all out, hopefully I won't have to mess with the inner rocker at all which was my big fear. And i can get the rockers off the donor for the same reason. Time to start cutting metal I guess.

 

[Stev]

Unibodies are very difficult, i'm discovering.

I was looking up Charger/B body restorations to figure this thing out. On those the floor is basically one big dumb chunk that you can slot in from the back once you take out the fascia panel. Not so on the wagon apparently. This thing is 6 box sections honeycombed together. There's the quarter, the inner quarter skin, the outer wheelhouse, the inner wheel house, the inner inner wheel house and then the floor. The inner inner wheelhouse is also seam welded to the main skeleton like a gas tank. Can't just drill out the spot welds. Lots of welds in closed off sections i'll never ever get to as well.

My dreams of clean are going up in smoke here. Old Walter never intended this thing to come apart.

I can hack this chunk up but now I'm concerned about getting the floor and skins out of the car itself. I can hack up the garbage stuff sure, but will I have to cut the quarter skins off just to get at the inner quarter panel and wheel house welds? It's looking that way.


As ever, experience/advice would be appreciated

 

[polaratherapy]

Welcome Steve, just to be on the safe side, I would trailer the car, so many factors to consider, tires, bushings, gas tank, rad, fluids, rust, brakes and so on, how long has the car been sitting? Sounds like you know your way around cars so why risk messing it up by trying to drive it down and have something fail, odds are not in your favor for the trip to go smoothly if you drive it down to Vancouver.
Did Gramps divulge any issues the car may have had in the past?
All the best in your rebuild, make it your own!

 

[Stev]

Welcome Steve, just to be on the safe side, I would trailer the car, so many factors to consider, tires, bushings, gas tank, rad, fluids, rust, brakes and so on, how long has the car been sitting? Sounds like you know your way around cars so why risk messing it up by trying to drive it down and have something fail, odds are not in your favor for the trip to go smoothly if you drive it down to Vancouver.
Did Gramps divulge any issues the car may have had in the past?
All the best in your rebuild, make it your own!

Yeah she's been home a while, ended up driving it a few hundred miles back fully laden. Great idea when the shackle hangers had already failed.

Got bored of drilling spot welds and mocked up a torque box instead. There's one available but I don't like it very much, this seems better.

I think i'm also just going to cut off this fender and the LH inner fender like a caveman and get this thing in as close to one piece as possible. My dreams of a concourse ready job are pretty well out the window now.

 

[longsocks 66 newyorker UK]

Howdy.

My grandfather's going into a home now, which means the mantle of the old family '66 Polara is now passed on to me.


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I keep my Jaguar in concourse shape, and I built my '48 F3 from the ground up, but i've never touched a mopar before, and I'd like to get the lowdown on these cars.

It's in fairly good shape. It's got the 383 B motor and a torqueflite of some description. The motor was rebuilt in 2003, but that's the extent of what i know about it. It's been decently cared for but never really babied.

I'll be going up to the estate pretty soon to inspect the car for roadworthyness and will hopefully be able to simply drive it home. What are the common failiure points or things to look out for on these things? (equivalent to the notorious teapot holleys on a '55 thunderbird, for example). It's a road trip from Port Hardy at the northern tip of Vancouver island down to Vancouver itself, a run of about 500 kilometers through very isolated forest road, so the threshold for acceptable failure is rather low.

I know they're semi monocoques with structural framelets that are welded to the sheet metal as well as a front subframe for the IFS, so i'm concerned about the floor/body being structurally unsound if it's rusted out, and what the "trailer it home" rust threshold might be. As well as what any other goto areas of concern might be for a quasi 'mystery' car like this.

It was always the family car growing up, so it's never been under any prolonged period of disuse or neglect until my grandfather's health started to go, so there shouldn't be any truly wild surprises but it's always best to make sure.

And if the floor hypothetically is rusted out quite badly, are there sheet metal repros for C bodies or am i on my own? I know there's big full patch panels for the usual suspects like GTO's or whatever, but it's harder luck with dad cars.


The other thing i'd like to know of is typical quality of life modifications. I'm very respectful with my old junk, but I'd like to convert it to a dual master cylinder and maybe some mild performance junk like some long/mid-tubes and that sort of reversable low buck stuff. Any reccomendations for that sort of thing would be appreciated as well

Thanks.

Wow , sweet car to get into ,love wagons

 

[Stev]

Alright then.

I discovered that the inner quarter simply cannot be removed. To free it in one piece is to remove the entire car from around it. Not sure what condition the panel is inside of Blue, at best I'll be using this one as a patch panel.

Otherwise got it stripped down, and happily my plan of inserting the floor chunk as one piece is entirely viable. Though I really should've worn a mask when cutting, as im' now coughing up metal/grinder dust and a bit of blood. Gave myself Moparsthelioma I guess. Oops.

Next step is to make up the torque boxes, as fitting them now is much easier than fabbing them upside down under the car. After that it's time to start cutting Blue up. Though I'm not sure when the next chance is, I have to strip the entire interior from the car and the rains start tomorrow. Going to rain 100mm over the weekend with no sunny window to shuffle the cars around.

Onward.

 

[Stev]

I can't believe what good shape these rails are in, they've still got all the zinc and paint in them. Grabbing this donor was a massive affair but totally worth it. Exactly the right move.

Getting good at making patches too. Running my 1940's drill with Bing Crosby on the radio felt right.

I have to get proper gas for the welder though. With fluxcore even the most perfect welds are full of cavities. Which is fine on thick stuff but if you want to grind them down on sheet metal it's garbage.

 

[Stev]

I'm ordering parts for the rebuild. Can I bolt the 67 and up dual master on my '66 power booster? The bolt pattern looks the same but I don't have both in hand to compare. I've had enough wheel cylinders fail on me that single pots terrify me.

 

[LocuMob]

Sure can, just make sure it's the correct drum or disc master cylinder. I do this to all my cars, no fun having it go out in you in traffic.

 

[Stev]

Sure can, just make sure it's the correct drum or disc master cylinder. I do this to all my cars, no fun having it go out in you in traffic.

Perfect, thanks.

Gonna put a disc conversion on eventually but my Airflow's flathead is still in machine shop hell so that'll be down the line. Guess i'll be buying it twice.

 

[LocuMob]

Perfect, thanks.

Gonna put a disc conversion on eventually but my Airflow's flathead is still in machine shop hell so that'll be down the line. Guess i'll be buying it twice.

Drums are fine. Just set them up right and your good. I run them on all my cars but one.

 

[Stev]

Drums are fine. Just set them up right and your good. I run them on all my cars but one.

Yeah I got plenty of cars with drums. 35 Desoto, 55 Thunderbird, 57 Ford and Blue. They do fine. But I'm a child and want to turn Blue into what 3 year old me presumed it to be, so a little more stopping power is in order. Eventually, anyhow.

Got the patch knitted in last week. About as well as fluxcore will allow. Even the most perfect welds with perfect penetration are full of cavitation when you grind them down. Fun. Also cut and fitted the torque boxes, but I can't burn those in until the floor is actually in the car so those will wait their turn.

Next sunny day i'm getting blue off the rack and pulling the interior. Time to start cutting metal.

 

[LocuMob]

But I'm a child and want to turn Blue into what 3 year old me presumed it to be, so a little more stopping power is in order.

If you upgrad the brakes, you have to upgrade the engine.

 

[Stev]

If you upgrad the brakes, you have to upgrade the engine.

Causality's the other way around there.

Not gonna go full race on it, I'd like to pretend to keep the MPG in the double digits. But 440 source stealth heads and roller valvetrain, the repro Weiand dual plane (for authentic 60's cool!) Probably a comp energizer cam without too much overlap, TTI's longtubes and letting it all breathe with an appropriate 850 edelbrock/carter is my intent.

The engine was rebuilt in 2003ish and grandpa claimed the compression was upped to 10.5-1 at that time. So with that in mind, 400 wheel horsepower at 5500 seems doable to me without killing streetability. I also want to make it handle with all of firmfeel's junk, sway bar in the rear. Maybe even fourlink it if i really have money to burn. I really wanted to go tunnel ram but I don't have the heart to cut the hood. And the letter car crossrams are stupidly expensive.

I know it's a faux par to turn these luxury barges into something they're not intended to be. But I say, why not both?



...and that is a rhetorical question, mind.

 

[LocuMob]

Engine Masters showcased the General Mayhem 440 engine build, .535 roller cam with 440source heads and it made 500+ HP all in a lower rpm package, perfect for street cars. Not much exotic parts, just a well thought out build. Suspension upgrades are a smart choice just for driveability sake. Keep at it, look forward to the cutting and slicing you're about to partake in!

 

[Stev]

Engine Masters showcased the General Mayhem 440 engine build, .535 roller cam with 440source heads and it made 500+ HP all in a lower rpm package, perfect for street cars. Not much exotic parts, just a well thought out build. Suspension upgrades are a smart choice just for driveability sake. Keep at it, look forward to the cutting and slicing you're about to partake in!

Exactly what i'm stealing from paying homage to. I really want to keep the stock air cleaner and paint the 440 source heads canadian block red. No one will ever know she's a fire breather until I blast by in 4500 pounds of glory.

 

[Stev]

The rain let up for 20 minutes, so I swapped the rolls onto the rack and Blue off.

Somehow while it was sitting, the starter relay failed and all the brake fluid fell out. Popped a line just ahead of the rear axle. Remember that I drove this thing home from the edge of civilisation. Nice.

Nasty sound coming from underneath, I really hope it's the junk power steering pump. Doesn't scale with RPM but does scale with load.



So just to recap, we have a complete failiure of the brakes, charging system, starter, carburettor, power steering and the entire rear suspension/structure. She needs it good.

This is what I get for making promises to dying relatives. That never ends well.

Time to start cutting.

 

[Stev]

She crusty. The white stuff is all pounds and pounds of mould. I think the carpet is going away. And the insulation. And whatever else isn't metal.

Seatbelt hardware was a placebo. Passenger side bracket is half gone, when i backed the bolt off, the welded gusset on the body dropped to the floor and shattered like glass. Nice.

Likewise, the plastic moulding around the wheel tubs was crumbling in my hands. I'm guessing it isn't repro'd at all.

I don't get how you're supposed to remove the tub plastic though. It's retained by screws down low and on the outside, a flange tucked into a pinched bracket, which also retains the glass weather stripping, that is retained by screws underneath the panel itself. I don't understand how you can possibly get in there without ripping the panel itself in half.