Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Man! I love this stuff. Thanks for documenting your heater box rebuild. I'm gonna be getting into this too, and your info will help a lot.
Resurrection of my 1970 Chrysler 300 Convertible
- Thread starter Samplingman
- Start date
Man! I love this stuff. Thanks for documenting your heater box rebuild. I'm gonna be getting into this too, and your info will help a lot.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Glad to help, let me know if you have any questions!
Your doing an inspirational job. Make sure the box is well sealed to the inside fire wall to prevent internal condensate leaks. I’ve got to do the same in my wagon pretty soon and this thread will be a great resource!
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Thank you, and that’s a good point. That is why I suggest reinforcing the thin foam that comes with the kit. The gap I noticed was at the top, but could be on the other corners, I’ll have to check that out.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Oh boy, this part is going to be fun.......
Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Oh boy, this part is going to be fun.......
View attachment 229622 View attachment 229623 View attachment 229624 View attachment 229625 View attachment 229626 View attachment 229628 View attachment 229629 View attachment 229630 View attachment 229631
Holy krap! I see yer already about to lose yer glasses. . .
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Damn, there they are!
I must have put them down to take the picture! I swear I spend more time looking for misplaced stuff!
Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Damn, there they are!
I must have put them down to take the picture! I swear I spend more time looking for misplaced stuff!
And then. . . Ya gotta pee. .
You might wanna call an Indian guy.. They know how to fix the mess
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
That is about what it all looks like to me.
Great! Did you happen to snap the tag of that now-dead 'vert? I realize that it happened almost 4 years ago, but as you know I have been trying to collect info on as many of the last (i.e., 1970) C-body convertibles as possible.
Happy Easter! Your kids will thank you for the buddy seat. I took my '70 Polara 'vert out yesterday afternoon, and several people asked me to ride with multiple folks up front!
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Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
HAPPY Easter to you too! You know, I never thought to ask for a pic of the tag. The interior was already out when I picked it up, and the car was under several feet of snow, so I actually never saw the vert in person.
As for the buddy seat that was more my wife’s request, but we both remember the old days of having a bench seat up front, LOL.
Couples together on the front seat isn't a common sighting anymore.
Oh boy, this part is going to be fun.......
It's really not hard to figure out I assure you Jim. If you end up needing some connectors or harness pieces let me know I still have most of it.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Cool, I’ll let you know. I’m slowly getting back into it, just trying to get the shop back in order. I have the harness removed and labeled as much as I could figure out. The dash is almost apart, just have to pull the pad and get the metal ready for paint, clean up the gauges and find all of the associated parts scattered around the garage. I plan on getting this thing running under its own power by the end of the season. It’s been a long 10 years of pushing it around the yard and I’m beginning to feel like that old guy in the movie Christine.....
challenger
Active Member
Keep it up and thanks for the updates. It is indeed a lonely quest but you are going to get there so long as you keep doing some work. Sounds dumb because I know sometimes it seems like the end is nowhere to be found. Keep going and one day it will be finished.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
And just like that, 10 years have passed since I started this project. Technically only 9 years, since I didn't begin ground breaking until May 2010. So, let's begin Season 9.
First off, I really hate doing things twice, but it seems that has been the norm lately. Last year I finished the AC Heater box rebuild with the excellent kit from DMT. Unfortunately, I cheapened out with the spray adhesive. Hint: when @jfillmore clearly states in the instructions to use 3M #77 spray adhesive, use said adhesive or you will be breaking it down and doing it twice! All the foams separated over the winter, so that was my first project.
On a positive note, I wanted to see how difficult it would be to remove the cover to access the heater core without removing the whole box for future reference. All but one bolt was accessible. This explains why there are clips holding the box together on one of my spares. I will revisit this again, I'm sure, and replace those screws with the clips.
First off, I really hate doing things twice, but it seems that has been the norm lately. Last year I finished the AC Heater box rebuild with the excellent kit from DMT. Unfortunately, I cheapened out with the spray adhesive. Hint: when @jfillmore clearly states in the instructions to use 3M #77 spray adhesive, use said adhesive or you will be breaking it down and doing it twice! All the foams separated over the winter, so that was my first project.
On a positive note, I wanted to see how difficult it would be to remove the cover to access the heater core without removing the whole box for future reference. All but one bolt was accessible. This explains why there are clips holding the box together on one of my spares. I will revisit this again, I'm sure, and replace those screws with the clips.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Another odd thing I noticed was that I couldn't bolt up the dimmer switch or the parking brake cable cover. It was almost as if the cable was 4 inches too short. I tried loosening up the adjustment, but the casing was just not long enough. I broke out the FSM and checked the fitment. The picture clearly shows I had it in the correct position, the rear-most frame cross member flange.
Brainstorm time, I decided to move it to the front-most cross member flange, but the hole was too big. It was clearly meant to pass through the large hole and attach to the rear. I remembered a discussion that Fury cables were a few inches shorter. Did I have the wrong parking brake cable? Under the car I go to remove the cable (did I mention how I hate doing things twice?). I measured the three I have, two from 1970 and one from 1973, and all were the same length. I decided to go with a quick fix and use a hose clip to hold it into place on the front cross member.
Everything fits correctly now:
I still needed to figure out what the problem was. The parts car with the torsion-quiet stub frame was no help, there is only one cross member flange. Then I remembered that the stub in my 'vert is from a 1969 Monaco! When I first got it I had measured and compared everything between the original and the '69, it was a perfect match. However, I did not check this small detail, and I had long sold the old stub so couldn't go back and check again (yet another example of how hoarding is good, and getting rid of stuff is bad).
I needed original examples to compare, what better place to do that then Carlisle.
First up is @71Polara383 's Servprolara. The stub is exactly what I have under my car, and the cable is where it should be:
Of course, I had to compare a 1970 'vert, so I took a look at @ayilar 's Polara convertible:
Ah ha! The correct cable fit for 1970!
I also measured the distance between the front cross member flange and the front of the stub and both were 16 inches, so the frame dimensions are identical.
This proved my theory, that there was a change in the length of the casing and attachment position of the parking brake cable from 1969 to 1970. The FSM was written early on in '69 which explains the discrepancy. Third times a charm and I will be breaking out the welder to tack a washer in place of the hose clip. Thank you gentlemen for the use of these visual comparisons!
Brainstorm time, I decided to move it to the front-most cross member flange, but the hole was too big. It was clearly meant to pass through the large hole and attach to the rear. I remembered a discussion that Fury cables were a few inches shorter. Did I have the wrong parking brake cable? Under the car I go to remove the cable (did I mention how I hate doing things twice?). I measured the three I have, two from 1970 and one from 1973, and all were the same length. I decided to go with a quick fix and use a hose clip to hold it into place on the front cross member.
Everything fits correctly now:
I still needed to figure out what the problem was. The parts car with the torsion-quiet stub frame was no help, there is only one cross member flange. Then I remembered that the stub in my 'vert is from a 1969 Monaco! When I first got it I had measured and compared everything between the original and the '69, it was a perfect match. However, I did not check this small detail, and I had long sold the old stub so couldn't go back and check again (yet another example of how hoarding is good, and getting rid of stuff is bad).
I needed original examples to compare, what better place to do that then Carlisle.
First up is @71Polara383 's Servprolara. The stub is exactly what I have under my car, and the cable is where it should be:
Of course, I had to compare a 1970 'vert, so I took a look at @ayilar 's Polara convertible:
Ah ha! The correct cable fit for 1970!
I also measured the distance between the front cross member flange and the front of the stub and both were 16 inches, so the frame dimensions are identical.
This proved my theory, that there was a change in the length of the casing and attachment position of the parking brake cable from 1969 to 1970. The FSM was written early on in '69 which explains the discrepancy. Third times a charm and I will be breaking out the welder to tack a washer in place of the hose clip. Thank you gentlemen for the use of these visual comparisons!
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Continuing on with the wiring, I decided a complete breakdown and cleaning of the dash and all the components were in order. I never really took a hard look at the dash, other than moving it around the garage over the years. The pad has some blemishes and a small crack; the frame had surface rust; the gauges looked tired; and there are some melted connectors.
Not sure but there looks like something should be plugged in to these three slots. The FSM mentions some sort of voltage limiter, but I've got nothing.
Dirty dash cluster:
Rust!
Replacing connector ends was not fun.
I had a two speed wiper switch and a three-speed motor. More to find at Carlisle.
Ready for the scrubbing:
Not sure but there looks like something should be plugged in to these three slots. The FSM mentions some sort of voltage limiter, but I've got nothing.
Dirty dash cluster:
Rust!
Replacing connector ends was not fun.
I had a two speed wiper switch and a three-speed motor. More to find at Carlisle.
Ready for the scrubbing:
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