The Lawn Dart

[Deceus]

this is the best saga ever.

i have no idea what a relatively simple, efficient solution would be for your rear brakes but at least you've isolated it, and it wasn't your front brakes that were having the issue...wouldn't' want to find that out on the road.  is the handbrake something that would affect fluid getting to the rear calipers properly or is it a separate aspect of the caliper operation?

It's inline with the rear calipers so it's definitely going to affect them. There could be air trapped in the master cylinder for the handbrake and that would cause these issues. There's no real way to bench bleed them so they can be a bit of a pain. I picked up some speed bleeder screws to help vacuum bleed the rear calipers. Hopefully I won't just be pulling air past the bleeder screw threads this time. These come with a check valve to keep air from going back into the lines and thread sealant so it should make the process a bit smoother. Probably going to do a mix of mechanical and vacuum bleeding to see if that fixes things. It did get a bit better on the last round but it was still far from what I'd consider good.

Another issue with the brakes at the moment is the pedal is springing back after I left off of it. I think the stock brake switch had some sort of spring to keep this from happening but I can't find much but this definitely needs to get resolved ASAP. I went to hit the brakes one time yesterday and got nothing but air and had to try and chase down a bouncing brake pedal. Not a good feel.

[Deceus]

Well solved the mystery of the bouncing pedal already:



The bracket for the factory brake switch is bent to hell. Gonna straighten it out, remove the switch and thread a bolt through that hole to use as a stopper.

[Deceus]

Took the car for a spin to see if I could get the speedometer GPS to link up but ran into other issues instead. The instructions say it could take up to 15 minutes to establish a first time connection so I was just gonna let it idle for a bit in the driveway and let everything stay at temperature for a bit. Noticed a small stream coming out of my upper radiator hose again so I figured I'd try snugging it up a bit...



Well it decided it didn't like that one bit and slid right the fuck outta there. So much for idling. Got that all cleaned up and decided that was enough for an afternoon. Pulled it back into the garage after dinner to put the speed bleeders in and give them a go. They worked wonderfully except for some reason they won't work with the vacuum setting on my bleeder. I figured I'd be able to pull fluid past the check valve just as easily as pushing it with the pedal. Apparently it doesn't work that way. I just set a bottle out where I could see it, ran a hose to it from the bleed screw and cracked it open. It was nice being able to watch and work the pedal. Seen a few bubbles but got a solid stream fairly fast. No surprises there since I did unhook the back line.

Earlier I had tried doing a "small" burnout because why not. The rear brakes were completely unhooked and the fronts should've been good to go but I couldn't do it. I just simply overpowered the brakes and crept forward so something isn't right up front either. My shitty stock drum brakes did better than this. So I decided I was going to pull the master cylinder and bench bleed it again. It was just as messy, frustrating and inconclusive as I was dreading. Didn't really get any bubbles but some weird shit was happening. About every 5 pumps or so I'd get what looked like foam at the very end of the stroke. I was thinking jackpot but no matter how many times I worked the piston it kept happening. Idk I don't think that's the issue. I'm far from bottoming the piston with it in the car and there wasn't a single tiny bubble outside of that. Still something to consider. I may have to buy a cheap re-man master cylinder to rule this one out. I got the damn thing back on the car and called it a night.

I got an adjustable pushrod coming in this weekend. I'm hoping that a little more travel will help out. The brakes are engaging pretty quickly but they're not really biting until I've lost most of the leverage in the pedal. This should solve that but it'll make pedal transitions a little more awkward. Not going to touch anything brake related until then. The calipers all need to be bled again but I just don't have the patience to deal with anymore fucking disappointment right now. If I still can't lock up the brakes after this then I've decided I'm done fucking with it. I'll either drive to the shop 10 minutes away if it can stop decent enough or get it towed.

Part of me wants to rip everything brake related out and start over, part of me wants to just sale the fucking thing or trade for something actually running, part of me wants to send it to an actual reputable restomod shop, hand them a credit card and come to terms with not seeing it for a few months. I'm just not sure how something as simple as bleeding brake lines can be so god damn difficult.

[Deceus]

So I decided to I needed a relaxing day of easy wins on Thursday and Friday so I cleaned up some of the wiring.













Snuck into the garage bright and early Saturday to finish installing the headlight wiring. Wasn't too sure they'd actually work but was pleasantly surprised to have working light and high beams in under 2 hours.



Got the new pushrod in but didn't get a chance to install it until Sunday evening. Re-bled the brakes all around and installed the new bleeder screws up front. Managed to snap the top of one off but that's a problem for another day. I'm gonna have to take the brake hose off to get it back open but it's sealed shut for now. That's just gonna be a problem for another day. The pedal and brakes both feel a bit better. Still don't think I have 100% stopping power but it's at least at 80%. Probably just going to run it as is for now. It stops real good but I'm not sure I can get them to lock up still, probably not a bad thing entirely since it's been a few years since I've driven without ABS. Got to test the headlights as well since it was pitch black in the neighborhood at 7:30. Made a new friend as well. He owns a shop in town and offered to give a hand with whatever I may need in the future. Seemed like a pretty cool dude.

So yeah it's ready to rock, minus the transmission leak that has decided to come back. I'm gonna siphon a quart or 2 out of the transmission and see if that fixes things. I'm not the only one that has had problems with this dipstick. Fuck me for assuming a $100 dipstick made for my specific transmission would be the right length.

[Tyler.M]

Nice garage set up man! I love these things, old school muscle had so much space inside the engine to do things with and are great platforms for rebuilds. You got some skills though, it's been awhile since I've seen a legit before and after that made me reconsider the possibility on a car.

[Deceus]

Nice garage set up man! I love these things, old school muscle had so much space inside the engine to do things with and are great platforms for rebuilds. You got some skills though, it's been awhile since I've seen a legit before and after that made me reconsider the possibility on a car.

Thanks, it'll definitely be cool to see what I can push this thing to do. It's already blown me away with how little body roll and slop there is in the steering. Might be waiting til next year to really do anything at this rate though.

[Deceus]

So I took the car for a quick spin around the block and let it idle in the driveway. Figured I'd give the GPS the full 15 minutes to try and link up. I never did so I shot Intellitronix an email. Pumped 3 pints of fluid out of the transmission and I'm hoping that resolves the leaking issue. Time will tell but so far I haven't seen a drop out of it.

Decided it was finally time to take it down the main road and put some gas in the tank. Everything was going smooth on the ride there. Threw $20 in it and heard a sound I really didn't want to hear: fluid hitting pavement. Sounded more like water than oil so my first thought was another coolant leak. I left the hood off so that was a quick nope. Then I was thinking it must be puking tranny fluid pretty bad but I didn't see anything under the car until I looked at the back. There was a mini waterfall of gas coming off my diff cover ... FUCK. I slide under it real quick and see it was pouring out of what I assumed was a vent tube. Idk but plugged it the best I could with some napkins (lol) and took off after telling the attendant about the puddle I just left. He was surprisingly cool about it and told me not to worry about it. I got it home and got it up on the ramps I had out to get the gas away from the front of the tank. It worked and gave me time to get to store to buy some 1/4" fuel line to plug it. Got it plugged and took it into the garage and I was thinking to myself that was way more excitement than I was hoping for. I just kept thinking something was going to ignite that gas and my project was gonna go up in flames on it's first real trip from home.

This is where you'd expect me to be able to finally relax but no this is the motha fuckin never ending story we're talking about here. I see gas on the floor of the garage after I check on the plug to make sure it was sealing. Thing is, the plug is bone dry but the tank is covered in gas. After getting even more gas in my face, mouth and hands, I grab some shop towels and dry everything off to see where it's coming from ... the sending unit isn't sealing. I was told that I was better off finding an original 40 year old sending unit lock ring than using the cheap chinese shit on the market today. I figured it was just typical Ma Mopar worshiping but I heard it enough to be concerned. Apparently it's impossible to get most of the new tanks to seal with the shit they supply because they're too thin. So yeah that's what I get for not going with a fucking fuel cell like I wanted. Jacked the front of the car up, wedged a shit ton of shop towels in there and hoping my garage doesn't fucking reek of gas for all eternity.

[Jake]

Fuel leaks are the woooorst. I had the trailing arm pockets reinforced on the racecar, which required dropping the gas tank. Deren does great work, but a vent tube split and he didn't notice when he put it all together. Had to re-drop the tank and seal it up with some sort of epoxy-ish stuff. Made for a stinky weekend at VIR a few months back.

Sounds like you are in the home stretch! The last few little things can get annoying but the big stuff is done now.

[Deceus]

Oh man the car was a blast to drive, I can't be too mad right now. Took a shower and I can still smell the gas on myself.

I got a replacement ring from a reliable source coming from eBay. Unfortunately it's going to take like a week to get here but I got a few things that need work anyways.

You can see the problem here:

[Deceus]

Thinking of taking this thing to Cars and Coffee tomorrow morning. I siphoned enough gas out to get it below the sending unit for now so there should be no leaking issue. Now is a good time to install the sending unit wiring so I can monitor that and make sure I don't run it out of gas. I'll probably do that today, maybe swap out the seat and get the hood painted/back on.

Some kind soul replied to my thread about my floppy brake pedal and claims he had the same issue with the same M/C and solved it by ordering a pack of O-rings. He's sending me a few so I may not have to pull that bracket and get crafty after all. It's a lot better with the bushing I put in but it still had some movement when I hit the gas. Still plan on going with a hydroboost setup, that'll probably be one of my main winter projects. The plumbing is the only hard part but I think I have that covered. Just going to get everything in place, mockup the high pressure lines with my left over fuel line and then just buy them pre-assembled. The standard braided lines are easy enough to make but the high pressure ones can be a bitch. I touched the power steering lines the last time it was out and they were HOT after a short drive so I'm thinking a power steering cooler is probably going to be a good idea regardless.



Gonna try to enjoy driving it for the little bit of decent weather we have left this year so nothing major until it's freezing and I'm not sweating my ass off in the garage.

[Deceus]

So I woke up Saturday feeling like a bag of dicks but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. I had a wedding to be at by 3 in the 757 as well, so I didn't have much more than an hour to hang out at the cars and coffee. It was a bit nerve wracking to drive the car there. I still haven't updated the insurance yet but I'll be meeting with an appraiser before it makes another journey like this. I'd shit a brick if I wrecked this thing and got handed $1000.

I was mostly worried about a freak fuel leak or a balljoint snapping and sending me into oncoming traffic. It was pretty smooth sailing though. Definitely need to patch the hole in the floor I made for the shifter cable. Wasn't a great turn out but there were 2 other shows and Gameday going on. It was still great to be part of the action and not just spectate.

[Deceus]

Been too damn sick to do any of the touch up stuff I have on the to-do list. Drove it out to a local diner on Saturday morning and it ran great. Did a couple of 50-70 pulls down 33 in the process and was pretty happy with it. Even managed to chirp the rear tire with a quick handbrake pull coming up to a redlight. Had too much going on with the little guy on Saturday to get anything done but I was feeling pretty motivated for Sunday.

Dropped the tank and messed with the new locking ring some. It's nearly impossible to get a hard enough hit on it without also knocking it off-center. I'm sure there's a special tool out there that does it a lot easier but tipping the tank forward revealed the makeshift plug I made was still leaking. I made a quick trip to AutoZone for some fuel resistant gasket maker. I tested it again and still wasn't really getting a great feeling about it. It's a pain in the ass to get this tank out and I really don't want to do it a second time or leak gas all over the gas station again. SO I did the only sensible thing and finally pulled the trigger on a fuel cell.

I was hoping to get something that would fit in the spare wheel well but that was going to limit me to 10-12 gallons. Eventually settled on this:



19 gallons and should fit just fine to the left side of the wheel well (30x12x12) and look pretty good to boot. Gonna have to pray no one rear-ends me before I get some kind of firewall built for it.

[Deceus]

Was wondering why my fuel cell didn't show up yesterday and went to Summit to check on the order ... it was still sitting in the shopping cart.



Hopefully it gets here Friday so I can have it in for Saturday morning.

[Deceus]

Captain's log mile 55: Got the fuel cell in and hooked up without much issue on Friday night and made it out to the Saturday Cars and Coffee. There were only 2 others there so it looks like I got this done just in time to not have anywhere to take it haha. Spent the rest of the day at Massanutten on the last good day the bike park was going to be open. I think Bryce is still open for a few more weeks and then the car will probably have my undivided attention for a while.



I'd like to make the Nov 12 autocross up in Winchester but I'll probably just go to the Verona cars and coffee that day. It's still a little early to be thinking about autocrosses. At the very least I would like some form of rev limiter and some time on the dyno before trying to stretch this thing's legs. Definitely need a different set of tires and a complete exhaust as well. Seen a really cool setup I'll try to copy. The guy had an X-pipe with electric cutouts that went to the sides. I can just dump the exhaust from the mufflers in front of the rear end. Not sure what this going to cost or who would be willing to do it but I want it... I want it willingly.

[davej]

Crap, c&c was this weekend? There could have been 3 of us! Send me the Verona link sometime.

That exhaust setup looks wicked. I approve of this unnecessary and fantastic purchase

---

Wait, can we start this thread over?
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/...o-pricing/

[Deceus]

Crap, c&c was this weekend? There could have been 3 of us! Send me the Verona link sometime.

That exhaust setup looks wicked. I approve of this unnecessary and fantastic purchase

---

Wait, can we start this thread over?
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/...o-pricing/

Yeah I actually seen that last night as well. Not sure I'd go with a crate though. I've seen a few running pallet kits for sale but they're usually $30,000. Comes completely ready to drop in though:



That seems a little too easy for my tastes, if I drop that kinda money on anything I'd like a 6.4L based 426 Hemi from Arrington with a roots supercharger. They make Hellcat level power to the wheels.

[Deceus]

2 big things need to happen that I'm really not that sure how to tackle: a dyno tune and a roll bar. I called Coy Miller in town and they honestly don't seem too interested in getting this done. He pretty much told me he's got bigger fish to fry since they're a machine and engine building shop primarily. I'm open to suggestions. I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to trailer it to NoVa or Richmond to have it done right.

Haven't done too much digging with the roll bar but that needs to get knocked out before I start doing anything crazy. I don't trust these seatbelts to do anything other than fail. Jeg's has a kit but I'm sure any decent shop won't need it, I just need to know where that shop is. I'll probably have them reinforce the areas where my seats bolt through the floor as well for good measure.

Looks the weather is finally taking a significant dip so I may not be driving this thing too much more depending on how it behaves in the cold. It used to be one hell of a fight to the get the old slant six fired up on cold mornings.

[Senor_Taylor]

I'm not well educated on the matter, but everyone seems to dig Mach V for both of those things. Not sure if they'll touch a classic domestic however.

I'm sure Flim Flam in Richmond would enjoy Dyno tuning it and you'd at least be Instagram famous for a minute.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Jake]

+1 on FlimFlam tuning it, or Deren at Mach V. They've both got experience with older drivetrains and could probably get it all done. Deren would likely also do the rollbar for you - he is building DJ's new cage so I know he can do that kind of work, but not sure of his time/interest.

[Deceus]

Had a productive weekend on the car for the first time in a while. Haven't had the motivation to do anything other than drive it since it's been roadworthy. Decided to take it down to my parent's house for Thanksgiving. My dad has been wanting to get a good sound clip of it running but I figured nothing beats seeing it in person.

I decided to finally install the driver's seat I bought and move the current one over to the passenger side. It went pretty smoothly surprisingly. Both seats had a "direct fit" bracket but I wasn't sure they'd be an exact match. I'm not using the stock holes since this was apparently a bench seat car from the factory. Only had to notch some the bracing underneath to get the nuts on one of the passenger seat bolts. I've got some fat washers on underneath and my dad patched the topside when we pulled the old seats out. Still would like to seem plates welded in for extra reinforcement but this should be fine for now. Anyways it went in without much issue. I only slammed my forehead into the bottom of an open door once. The new seat is GREAT. It sits about 2 inches lower than the cheap Procar seat. The steering wheel is no longer in between my knees, it's a lot easier to floor the gas pedal and I have enough headroom to wear a helmet without touching the roof ... barely.



Fixed my passenger taillight that was wired backwards. Still not sure why the front turnsignals aren't working but I suspect the sockets are back. Still needs reverse lights which will come when I properly wire up my neutral safety switch. Ran out of time before I got to everything. Decided to to reinstall my gas cap but cutting off the end of my filler neck. Even painted it because it was looking kinda rough.









Finished off the day by racing against time and 40 mph winds to install my radiator overfill. Ended up doing it in the dark because it was being a pain in the ass.




Debating on "finishing" the exhaust by throwing on some 45 degree sections, a pair of tips and a set of hangers. It drones real bad with the exhaust dumping right below the seats. I'm hoping that dumping it before the rear tires will be painless solution. Eventually I want a crossover of some sort and cutouts but I'm ready to stop spending money needlessly on this thing for a while. I'm fighting the urge to get a race weight liftoff hood. Dealing with the metal hood without springs or a decent prop rod is a huge pain. I wanted to spend sometime in the garage after the sun went down cleaning up more wiring under the hood but that meant taking the hood completely off to get to the back of the engine. It's not lining up right either, I think one or both of the hinges are bent or simply have too much play in them. Would be nice to ditch the shitty hinges entirely since there are no good alternatives or even stock replacements to be found.