63 Dodge 330

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Wed Apr 16, 14 11:21 am

Jerry Smith wrote:Cheers Mark, and yes Bry really is a master,
Collected the car early as bry needed the room for Steve Niemantis' Bentley which was arriving today, for the 1st time in 2 1/2 years of owning this car I've actually got it at home, can't wait to start the rebuild

Crikey - is it already 2½ years?

How time flies....

Are you adding any other lettering or graphics Jerry?

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Wed Apr 16, 14 10:15 pm

Yes Rob, November 2011 I bought it, and no, no lettering etc, hoping the car stands out enough as it is

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Mon Apr 21, 14 4:58 pm

Tried making a start on the car this weekend but didn't get very far, started assembling the rear disc set up, went to install the shafts, spun a shaft and the diff locked up, pulled it in bits again to see lumps of metal all in the bottom of the axle and a spring from the locker all bent out of shape, so dropped the diff off with George Chiles for him to strip and inspect, I had a spare complete axle with 3.91 gears and a locker so robbed the diff from that, to then find the shafts are too long for the casing! (Install one shaft push the other in it pushs the other shaft out, pulled the shafts incase they were in the wrong side both exactly the same length, but tried in the other side, still the same,

They're about 1/4 inch a side too long, so think I'll get them machined down as there is 3in of spline, a bit annoying but hopefully will get it sorted this week and get the car roling again

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Tue Apr 29, 14 11:13 pm

Got the diff all sorted now, shafts in and brakes all fitted, what a diddly job that was, hope I never have to pull the shafts again

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Sun May 18, 14 10:19 pm

Still moving on steadily with the car, had the headliner fitted yesterday, and got the new seats all mounted up, decided to use a pair of seat from a crossfire as much more comfortable than the a100 seats, got them temporarily wired up and got all the adjustment working, just need to drop them off for re-trimming

Mossy68 · Post by **Mossy68** » Sun May 18, 14 10:28 pm

How you getting the seats trimmed Jerry ?
As in style , colour etc.

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Sun May 18, 14 11:00 pm

They are getting done to look very much like they do now but in bright red vinyl, I have some left over material from when Bob did the rear seat etc (look back at page 2 of this thread to see the a100 seats that I was using originally, that's what colour they will be)

Mossy68 · Post by **Mossy68** » Sun May 18, 14 11:02 pm

Jerry Smith wrote:They are getting done to look very much like they do now but in bright red vinyl, I have some left over material from when Bob did the rear seat etc

Cool.

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Sat Nov 15, 14 5:14 pm

Well that's been a bit longer than I thought, finally getting back on with the car after doing bits on the house and a wedding in Cuba, after much thought I decided to go to a 4 link rear so I could get the car nice and low but without using lowering blocks, so after much research I went with the Magnumforce bolt in kit as I wanted to keep the floorpan and chassis rails intact, today I've removed the axle and caltracs and over the next couple of weeks I'll be installing the new 4 link kit

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Mon Nov 24, 14 9:31 pm

Got a bit done, by no means a simple job, magnumforce told me the kit was designed for 68-70 b body so would need some modification (they gave me a reasonable discount for this), the top shock mount cross member is different on the early car so has had to be cut out and plated up to allow the installation of the new shock/anti roll bar mount, and because the car had the springs inboarded I had to cut out the inboarding mounts and re make a section of chassis, anyway one side is about 90% complete just the axle end to do but I'll do that after the other side is done, here's a couple of pictures and I'll get some more as we do more work

mopar_mark · Post by **mopar_mark** » Mon Nov 24, 14 10:18 pm

I missed the last update, glad to see your back on the case. Some nice fabrication work & welding going on there Jerry

At least they told you some work was required, than usual bull5hiyte that's given...

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Mon Nov 24, 14 10:47 pm

Cheers Mark, got to say Magnumforce have been great to deal with every time I've bought from them, and the stuff I've bought has always worked/fitted well and they have always been great on the shipping too, the 4 link kit was shipped out by air before I'd even paid for it!

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Mon Nov 24, 14 11:20 pm

Great work, Jerry; dare to be different, but No Superstocks for you

The Wedding in Cuba sounds fantastic as well

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Mon Nov 24, 14 11:30 pm

At the moment Pete the drag strip is at the back of my mind, this is being built as a street car, it will go down the strip but not as much as previous cars,
Cuba was amazing

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Sat Nov 29, 14 7:18 pm

Here's a few more pictures. Managed to get the whole rear shock cross member out instead of just cutting and plating parts of it, both sides of the chassis end of the conversion are done now, 1 of the pictures shows the holes drilled and sleeves installed through the chassis for the mounting bolts, will get the axle done this week and should be back on its wheels next weekend ready to get the motor and trans in, then to start on the wiring