Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Father's Day gift from the kids, thanks to a member here "73 Polara Wagon".
Last edited:
Resurrection of my 1970 Chrysler 300 Convertible
- Thread starter Samplingman
- Start date
tie rod ends are cheap.lower ball joints are not so they mat not have been replaced.
Fratzog
Old Man with a Hat
Good to see you are sticking with it. Look forward to reading about more progress. Now is the time to change while it is all apart otherwise you will be kicking yourself in the near future. My .02.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
I missed out on that good part by not having kids.
But pops.......
Happy Fathers Day Jim! A "Y" pipe is sure better than a tie any day, Nice find! I just replaced the dual set up on mine with the single exhaust about a month ago. Less power but much more pleasant to drive.
Make your life easier and be sure when the time comes that you order flange gaskets for a 383 2bbl. If you go to an auto parts store and order them for a standard 440 "T" code and you find someone that still knows how to use the catalogue you will get the correct ones but their computers don't list a different part for the "T" or the "U" code, you'll get the larger HP manifold flange gaskets.
Make your life easier and be sure when the time comes that you order flange gaskets for a 383 2bbl. If you go to an auto parts store and order them for a standard 440 "T" code and you find someone that still knows how to use the catalogue you will get the correct ones but their computers don't list a different part for the "T" or the "U" code, you'll get the larger HP manifold flange gaskets.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
I tell my son, "leave the hammer in the tool box". So what does dumb dad do when he cant remove the strut rod from the lower control arm? Pick up the hammer of course. Only a second or two mashes the threads nicely. Lets spend more time fixing poor judgement. How do you remove the @&$! strut rod? That's just for future reference, now the the nut is back in place this one will stay put.
Last edited:
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Finally got the steering arm and lower ball joint off the spindle. My guess is that this is much easier to do while the suspension is still mounted on the stub. Looking for lower ball joints now, are you telling me that these are only available as an assembly?
73Coupe
Senior Member
Yes, they are integral with the steering knuckle.
300Nutter
Senior Member
As a newbie here, I salute you!
Quite an inspiration!
Quite an inspiration!
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Thanks! Hey, post up some pictures of that beauty, it deserves to be seen!
65sporty
Old Man with a Hat
Any more progress?
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Yes, I have to catch up on posting pics. The front suspension is almost complete. My focus will be on the engine for the next 6 months, hope to get the driveline back in the stub frame by the spring.
live4theking
Old Man with a Hat
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2014
- Messages
- 12,438
- Reaction score
- 8,489
Wow this is pretty in depth. Thanks for taking the time to post all of the updates and pictures.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
End of season update
Well, the summer is done and my season is quickly coming to a close. A few more weekends of good weather and everything gets put to bed until the spring. This year was spent mostly collecting more parts and reassembling the front suspension. As usual, I will let the pictures tell the tale.
During the year I scored a nice, full, white interior. It still needs to be cleaned up, and it is not perfect but it will go well with my "driver quality rebuild. What I spent in cash will quickly be made up in the amount of time I don't have to spend on the rag-tag accumulation of parts I was going to work with, especially since the parts car did not yield the pieces I needed.
The vert originally had a buddy-seat. The intention was to make the conversion to console floor shift. I've collected all the parts, linkage, brackets and so-on, but decided to stay stock, so eventually this piece will be on the for-sale board:
Of course I'm still a few years away from putting in the interior. These have made a nice addition to the basement decor.
Well, the summer is done and my season is quickly coming to a close. A few more weekends of good weather and everything gets put to bed until the spring. This year was spent mostly collecting more parts and reassembling the front suspension. As usual, I will let the pictures tell the tale.
During the year I scored a nice, full, white interior. It still needs to be cleaned up, and it is not perfect but it will go well with my "driver quality rebuild. What I spent in cash will quickly be made up in the amount of time I don't have to spend on the rag-tag accumulation of parts I was going to work with, especially since the parts car did not yield the pieces I needed.
The vert originally had a buddy-seat. The intention was to make the conversion to console floor shift. I've collected all the parts, linkage, brackets and so-on, but decided to stay stock, so eventually this piece will be on the for-sale board:
Of course I'm still a few years away from putting in the interior. These have made a nice addition to the basement decor.
Last edited:
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Front Suspension
Last year I left off with cleaning up the stub frame from Alan "MrMoparCHP". This year I went through and blasted, painted and refinished all the components. I didn't have many full days to work on the project, everything was done an hour here and an hour there. Here are some before and after shots:
Almost too pretty to hide under the car:
Last year I left off with cleaning up the stub frame from Alan "MrMoparCHP". This year I went through and blasted, painted and refinished all the components. I didn't have many full days to work on the project, everything was done an hour here and an hour there. Here are some before and after shots:
Almost too pretty to hide under the car:
Last edited:
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Suspension Details
Upper ball joints had been replaced, but the boots were bad. Tie rods also looked good. I found decent replacement boots in the Dorman Help section of Auto Zone. New lower ball-joints were sourced from PST and Monroe gas-matic shocks from Rock Auto. All parts were wire-wheeled clean, painted with POR15 silver or black, re-greased and installed.
Upper ball joints had been replaced, but the boots were bad. Tie rods also looked good. I found decent replacement boots in the Dorman Help section of Auto Zone. New lower ball-joints were sourced from PST and Monroe gas-matic shocks from Rock Auto. All parts were wire-wheeled clean, painted with POR15 silver or black, re-greased and installed.
Last edited:
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
More Parts
I was able to get two good bumpers this summer from the same car that the white interior came from. The bumper I had was off of a '69 300 and had a nasty dent in the front, just below the plate. On the surface the '69 and '70 look identical, but as I was examining my new find I discovered a key reinforcement added to the '70 in that same area. An added bonus is the script on the back, "300", visible in the photo.
1969 Bumper:
1970 with reinforcement and script:
I was able to get two good bumpers this summer from the same car that the white interior came from. The bumper I had was off of a '69 300 and had a nasty dent in the front, just below the plate. On the surface the '69 and '70 look identical, but as I was examining my new find I discovered a key reinforcement added to the '70 in that same area. An added bonus is the script on the back, "300", visible in the photo.
1969 Bumper:
1970 with reinforcement and script:
Last edited:
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Wheels
I never thought I'd find a decent set of road wheels. The wheels on the parts car are complete, but two of them are rusting and flaking badly. Another score, not only are two of these tires like new, dated 2011, but the spare was never mounted, and still retains the original Polyglass, double thin white wall tire and small inspection mark visible on the lower right side of the photo! I will use the centers from the parts car to replace the missing caps on these.
I never thought I'd find a decent set of road wheels. The wheels on the parts car are complete, but two of them are rusting and flaking badly. Another score, not only are two of these tires like new, dated 2011, but the spare was never mounted, and still retains the original Polyglass, double thin white wall tire and small inspection mark visible on the lower right side of the photo! I will use the centers from the parts car to replace the missing caps on these.
Last edited:
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
And so it begins...the engine!
All of this time, 6 years to be exact, I've tinkered with the body and suspension. I'm an auto body mechanic by trade (although out professionally for 25 years), and have only gotten into trouble with engine and transmission work in the past. This time I'm determined to get this engine overhauled with minimal machinist involvement. Of course, I'll have everything professionally cleaned an checked out, bored if necessary and any other work done beyond my abilities, but I'd really like to be able to get the parts and re-assemble this monster in my own garage.
The engine is from a '69 300, which I had introduced in another thread. It's standard 350 hp, and I intend to rebuild to 1970 specs and paint corporate blue.
I removed the heads and prepared the engine for the stand. #1 is rusty, although the engine spins freely. All the other cylinders look worn. I had hoped to simply hone these and fit new rings, not sure if that is in the cards. The cam also looks worn, no bent push rods and the lifters all move freely. That three legged stand scares the crap out of me, but a friend of mine swears by it. He's built a 440, slant six and a host of small blocks with it. It's all I've got at this point so I'm giving it a try.
All of this time, 6 years to be exact, I've tinkered with the body and suspension. I'm an auto body mechanic by trade (although out professionally for 25 years), and have only gotten into trouble with engine and transmission work in the past. This time I'm determined to get this engine overhauled with minimal machinist involvement. Of course, I'll have everything professionally cleaned an checked out, bored if necessary and any other work done beyond my abilities, but I'd really like to be able to get the parts and re-assemble this monster in my own garage.
The engine is from a '69 300, which I had introduced in another thread. It's standard 350 hp, and I intend to rebuild to 1970 specs and paint corporate blue.
I removed the heads and prepared the engine for the stand. #1 is rusty, although the engine spins freely. All the other cylinders look worn. I had hoped to simply hone these and fit new rings, not sure if that is in the cards. The cam also looks worn, no bent push rods and the lifters all move freely. That three legged stand scares the crap out of me, but a friend of mine swears by it. He's built a 440, slant six and a host of small blocks with it. It's all I've got at this point so I'm giving it a try.
Last edited:
Similar threads
