New Member, New Polara

[Stev]

Tomorrow I'm gonna do a second coat, and then the stub goes back on.

Also, I was going to go with the basic 4-bolt bolt in sprag, and a Transgo TF1 shift kit. Does anyone have experience with this? I expect to make upper 400 horsepower and north of 500 ft pounds of torque, I was wondering if that would be a sufficient FOS for a 727.

 

[3175375]

View attachment 686460

View attachment 686461

Tomorrow I'm gonna do a second coat, and then the stub goes back on.

Also, I was going to go with the basic 4-bolt bolt in sprag, and a Transgo TF1 shift kit. Does anyone have experience with this? I expect to make upper 400 horsepower and north of 500 ft pounds of torque, I was wondering if that would be a sufficient FOS for a 727.

TF1 I used in a 904 and I am happy with it. Pay attention to the poor instructions and watch some YouTube videos on installing the kit.

 

[Stev]

TF1 I used in a 904 and I am happy with it. Pay attention to the poor instructions and watch some YouTube videos on installing the kit.

How's the shift quality? I want it to be a little spicier but not full on race bangshifting.

I'm also primarily concerned about the rear sprag, I do not want the drum paying a visit through my fancy new floor. I think the 4 bolt is fine for my application but there is a full race 6 bolt option which is pricy and requires drilling out the case and taking some pads off the inside which I don't really want to mess around with

 

[3175375]

How's the shift quality? I want it to be a little spicier but not full on race bangshifting.

I'm also primarily concerned about the rear sprag, I do not want the drum paying a visit through my fancy new floor.

Firmly shifts, but doesn’t whack the teeth out of your head or chirp the tires (I had a Cougar that chirped the tires into 2nd and it got old).

I think you’re going to like the TF1.

 

[Stev]

Alright, got it in within 1/16" measuring between the fixed bolt holes on the body and the centres of the strut rod bushing holes. Which is within the tolerance of my fat fingers and the plum bob string and also the shop manual which says 1/4".

Gotta paint some parts tomorrow but after that i can hang all the suspension.

 

[MoPar~Man]

What did your original frame engine perches look like? Were they different vs what you have now? Your wagon is a '65 yes? What is the length of your original torsion bars?

I was where you are now with your stub about 2 months ago. What I would have done differently if I did it again was to test fit the rad support and front fenders now, vs when I built everything back (suspension and engine). Bolting the rad support in place and throwing the fenders on is easy, just to see if the fenders line up with the door. It tells you if you need the shims or not. I made new shims because mine were completely rusted, but it turns out I took out most of them to get the fenders to line up.

Also, now is a good time to thread the gas pipe through the stub rail.

What black paint did you use for the firewall?

 

[Stev]

What did your original frame engine perches look like? Were they different vs what you have now? Your wagon is a '65 yes? What is the length of your original torsion bars?

I was where you are now with your stub about 2 months ago. What I would have done differently if I did it again was to test fit the rad support and front fenders now, vs when I built everything back (suspension and engine). Bolting the rad support in place and throwing the fenders on is easy, just to see if the fenders line up with the door. It tells you if you need the shims or not. I made new shims because mine were completely rusted, but it turns out I took out most of them to get the fenders to line up.

Also, now is a good time to thread the gas pipe through the stub rail.

What black paint did you use for the firewall?

It's a '66 and the stub came off an american '66 polara hard top as well. Only difference is the longer and light duty tortion bar. As far as I know, the only difference on the 65 is the motor mount pedestals.

Also i've been using stuff called "Zero Rust", used it before, works very well. Direct to metal, no primer. Pretty tough. Comes in rattlecan or proper pails for a spray gun.

As it came off it was shimmed everywhere, and the core support was jacked way high so the nose tilted up strongly. You can see it in photos if you look for it. It needs to go to the body shop for a lot of paint work, i was going to make the panel alignment their problem.

 

[Stev]

Getting the suspension fitted, but I have a problem: How do I tighten the LCA pivot pin? I have the polyerethane bushings and the whole pin just spins before it overcomes the lock nut. Do I have to have the car on the ground/weight on the bushing to do it?

 

[MoPar~Man]

Getting the suspension fitted, but I have a problem: How do I tighten the LCA pivot pin? I have the polyerethane bushings and the whole pin just spins before it overcomes the lock nut. Do I have to have the car on the ground/weight on the bushing to do it?

You don't tighten them until the wheels are on the ground and the torsion bars are set to the correct height. Until then they can be loose enough to allow the pin to rotate but tight enough to take up all the slack so they can't move in/out. At least that's what you're supposed to do when you have the OEM rubber bushings.

And make sure you have the torsion bar C-clips in. You do have the torsion bars in - yes?

I've also found that you need to have the front struts in place / lined up while installing the LCA's.

 

[Stev]

You don't tighten them until the wheels are on the ground and the torsion bars are set to the correct height. Until then they can be loose enough to allow the pin to rotate but tight enough to take up all the slack so they can't move in/out. At least that's what you're supposed to do when you have the OEM rubber bushings.

And make sure you have the torsion bar C-clips in. You do have the torsion bars in - yes?

I've also found that you need to have the front struts in place / lined up while installing the LCA's.

No I was hoping to do it with the car in the air. Guess not. Still have to clean up the transmission mount/dropout, haven't put the bars in yet.

I wonder if I can effectively tighten them without the weight of the motor in the car. Probably not. The lower ball joint stud is spinning too. I'll probably have to do them all once the motor's back in it.

 

[Stev]

Progress!

Ran out of painted parts, gotta prep and paint the sway bar, tranny dropout and all the little brackets and doodads tomorrow.

I know it's the easy part, but man slapping fresh stuff on a car is so gratifying.

Also, how do I renew the sway bar bushings? The clamp is welded together. Is this not servicable?

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Drill out the spot welds, replace bushing with new (split version), bolt together.

 

[MoPar~Man]

Did you put in new lower ball joints? That and pitman arm are a lot harder to source, and relatively expensive.

 

[Stev]

Did you put in new lower ball joints? That and pitman arm are a lot harder to source, and relatively expensive.

No the lowers were fine on the donor and the original, so i've got two sets now. I used Blue's original hubs because they're known to be good. Pitman arm was good, idler was pretty ok but replaced it with a greasable version.

Drill out the spot welds, replace bushing with new (split version), bolt together.

That's what I figured, seems silly to me.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

I know - it is silly - but the original links & bushings are installed on the shaft prior to the ends of the shaft being stamped and drilled, so new links and bushings can't be installed without a split bushing and openable bracket.

 

[Stev]

I know - it is silly - but the original links & bushings are installed on the shaft prior to the ends of the shaft being stamped and drilled, so new links and bushings can't be installed without a split bushing and openable bracket.

Guess that means these bushings are 60 years old. Held up pretty good actually.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Yup!