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[Lightning]

So, this is probably my....4th M- that I’ve had. Just picked it up today after a 300-mile drive one-way with the Uhaul truck.








I’m actually the second official owner of it. It got bought by an older gentleman when new, then the guy that I bought it from got it, didn’t get it transferred (thanks Covid), then I bought it. Title shows 85 miles even!





Stay tuned.....


EDIT: I’ll get the file size trimmed down tomorrow.

[Dippy.org]

[Mike]

Looks nice!

[Lightning]

thanks! she's a good 20-footer for sure.  I've gotta fix the flasher unit, and the inner LF turn signal bulb before it'll pass inspection.




The hugeist downside is I have to wait until January to properly transfer the title and register it due to the local DMV being appointment-only, even though there's less than 10,000 people in the surrounding 3 counties.

[Lightning]

So, got to be home for the night, and while I still had a couple hours of daylight I fixed the flasher units, and a relay. Then I checked the right rear corner, and found out my turn signal is out. So, next time I'm home I'll just replace all of the bulbs on the outside, as well as all 4 headlights.


I also got some more interior shots, and discovered the original Owner's Manuals in the glovebox.



My A-pillar trim pieces are toast. As is the center trim on the front seat.









Safe to say that my original paint color choice has been vetoed now that I've seen the interior in better light. I'll probably go with Midnight Blue, so the nearest shade from the catalog back in the '80's.


Also, I've narrowed down my transmission choice. Gonna go with the Toyota R154/R155, since the Jeep AX15 bellhousing bolts to it.




I'm having a harder choice figuring out if I wanna go with a Dana S60 like Mark did for his car, or with an 8 3/4.

[occupant]

I've wondered how someone could restore those plastic trim pieces like your center seatback trim.  If you try and sand them they just disintegrate.  Shoot, if you spray Armor All on them and wipe them with a paper towel they just flake off and turn to dust.  If there was a way to stabilize the plastic like you do with Por15 on metal, then you can sand, primer, use SEM trim paint to touch it all up, it'd be great!

[Lightning]

I’m beginning to think restoration for those might be out of the picture. Somebody might need to make fiberglass copies instead, or find an original set and make molds to make better plastic versions of.


The center console I’m not personally worried about because I plan on going with buckets soon that I’ll have my local interior shop re-trim to match my current front bench.


At some point somebody needs to start making parts for us.

[DobaMark]

The plastic interior pieces hold up better in some colors than others. That's the best option for now  - finding them in a color that survives and re-dying them. don't forget the Fifth Avenue pillar pieces are a good source, remove the cloth and dye to match.
Oddly, for my Cordoba, the light green plastic pieces held up better than any other color.

[Lightning]

That’s kinda the way I was leaning. I’ll see if any of the local yards might have a 5th, or I’ll just check eBay.

[occupant]

I did find some interesting things on YouTube with fiberglass.  Here's a video of a guy taking a completely trashed B-body Caprice dash pad and turning it into something looking brand new.  The fiberglass once matted down with the glue/bondo stuff from the can looks to be thin enough not to make it so pieces won't fit properly considering these older vehicles have large enough gaps that there's room for error.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1UBYrxjeWY


I don't mind a labor intensive workout to allow for parts to be repaired instead of thrown away.  It's much better than buying an expensive and perfect NOS piece of whatever plastic bit and then scratching it during the installation, or worse, cracking it into ten pieces, or even worse than that, having your foot damage it after installation while getting out of the car, or maybe even worse than that would be it sun fading after the first hot sunny summer.


And it's certainly better than cutting your foot on the old broken piece.  And your wallet will thank you for not dropping $200 on a piece of plastic.


But it only covers cosmetic imperfections, if the piece is so rotted out that it doesn't stay in place beforehand this might not help much.

[Lightning]

I’ll need to check that video out later.


So, yesterday I got the outside lights replaced, and today went on the maiden voyage. I forgot how gutless the standard 318 could be with the stock rear gear.


The car needs power and a 3rd pedal. And some noise too.

[Lightning]

Updates!


Found a ThermoQuad for the 318 to get it to last til I have the next engine ready to go.
But.....it needs a rebuild, and I’m waiting on the rebuild kit and the instruction manual to get here from Jersey. I ordered the thing on the 19th. I know the mailing system is out of whack, but this is ridiculous.


I found an E-body 8 3/4 housing on eBay that’s coming from Minnesota, and a 741 carrier that’s coming from Colorado.
Housing was $100, carrier was $65. Just need to get the housing narrowed, and get a diff, pick a transmission so I can select a gear for the diff, then axles & brakes.


Once I have the tranny I’ll put it all in at once so I don’t need to have the driveshaft redone more than one time.


UPDATE 2:


Transmission will be an Aisin AR-5 that's commonly sold in these vehicles:
Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky
Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon
Hummer H-3
Polaris Slingshot (no joke)


The AR-5 is a sister to Toyota's R150/154/155, which is also made by Aisin, where even the bellhousing and tailshaft interchange. 
You can find these things from anywhere between $250 used to $1800 new, and will take just about anything power-wise that is thrown at it.


I will make a thread detailing that whole mess when the time comes for it, that way the "4-speed/5-speed Swap" thread in the Library can finally have new info added.



Update 3:

Well, the rest of my carb stuff has arrived at the house, and the diff carrier. The rear housing is supposed to arrive in the next few days.


I am re-thinking that transmission choice after seeing the gear ratios again. A 3.75 1st gear would be useless outside of parking lots. Might go back with that R155 idea, or get the parts to do the close-ratio 833 box and just take a second diff carrier to whatever track I (eventually) go to, and just run a 2.76 rear gear in it most of the time instead.


I’m crappy with decisions at times.

[Lightning]

Time for a very minor update!

in another thread, I shared that I got the FFI Subframe bushings in, finally.

AND, I finally got ahold of the most '80's tach ever. The Sunpro Power Curve Tach!

I'm working on ideas for the rest of the gauge cluster surround because I wanna go digital with it like the other Mopar cars had as options during that era.

oh, and the car finally hit 60,000 miles. Then the original carb decided to call it a life right before I went back on the road yesterday. Time to finally get that de-Lean Burn process underway. Hope I'll have more....complete progress next time I update this thread.-Anthony

[MoparDan]

That is one cool tach! 

[Lightning]

thanks! I'm just hoping the thing will actually work correctly.  I'm also gonna try to see if I can get a couple of the lights swapped over to match whatever redline the next engine will be.

[Lightning]

well, time for a small, lame update.
I had to move in October and lost the place where I could actually work on the car.  Currently it's sitting next to the house/trailer, and hasn't ran since about.......November(?). Keeping the daily running kinda took priority. And the job of course.

BUT I have at least finally bought a rear end gear for the 741 carrier.  A 2.94 one.
It only took me 18 months to finally pick a gear for the damn thing.