Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Sept 22, 2015 1:02:32 GMT
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Well, where to start, oh, yeah, the cars. There's four of them at the moment, this'll change periodically as boredom sets in, someone makes an offer that can't be refused, something else catches my eye ( or my wife's eye ), or even just when I think it's time for another one. At the moment the fleet consists of the following, A 1968 Dodge Charger. 383ci ( 6.2L V8 ) auto A 1991 Ford Mustang 5.0L A 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf A 1999 Ford Cougar 2.5L V6 ( currently for sale, see the ad elsewhere on the site ) Thats the fleet as it stands today. The Toyota is running and in daily use but has an annoying rattle or growling type noise when you press the loud pedal, a cracked or leaking exhaust manifold is the suspect of the noise but as its the only car on the road right now it'll have to wait it's turn. The Mustang is just about ready to go for its first MOT with me. The plan being to use it as a daily driver again while I figure out exactly what's wrong with the Toyota and fix it. The Charger is in bits ( again ), the original plan was to have it ready for the start of the show season this year, the reality is that it hasn't moved since April, although work has been getting done on it and it is heading quickly towards is 10th MOT with me. The Cougar is just getting started and moved around to keep it in running order while it waits for its new owner. So, that's my cars and there's loads to catch you all up with. I usually find myself working on more than one at the same time for various reasons but mostly because if one breaks down, they all breakdown and I either get something running quickly or buy another one until something else is fixed. I mean, you can always sell one, right? ( did I mention, I hate selling cars ). I do all the repairs / upgrades myself, wherever possible or with the help of friends. Loads of stuff to show you but it'll have to wait for now, it's almost time to call it a night.
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Last Edit: Jun 27, 2017 22:12:07 GMT by Rebel
1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Sept 22, 2015 9:13:42 GMT
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That Charger is a thing of beauty
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Sept 22, 2015 9:29:04 GMT
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so is the Fox body!
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-( 10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily 03 Import Forester STi - Sold 98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-( 99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold 02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX 88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Sept 23, 2015 0:07:55 GMT
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That Charger is a thing of beauty Thanks, proving to be a bit of a PITA to put back together though. All worth it in the end though, lol
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Sept 23, 2015 0:10:11 GMT
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Thanks, it's starting to grow on me. At first it was just a small American car to use until the charger was on the road again but I'm not so sure now. It might be with me for a while
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,838
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Sept 23, 2015 0:14:48 GMT
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Best year Charger, lovely proving to be a bit of a PITA to put back together though. All worth it in the end though, lol Shouldn't have taken it apart then Seriously though, what was the story? Rotten?
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Sept 23, 2015 0:32:10 GMT
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No, as solid as a solid thing. Had a problem develop with the power steering, the steering box was worn beyond repair. Decided to convert it to manual steering because the Mopar power steering gives no real feedback of what the front wheels are doing and it's over powered. ( I'll add details of the conversion later ), found that the bushes in the lower control arms had perished as well. As so often happens, this led to upper and lower balljoints, ARB drop links, and tie rods. As well as a front disc brake conversion ( which is where I'm up to now ). Life gets in the way and things don't always go according to plan, no real aggro just awkward and time consuming when you can't spend all day everyday on it
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Sept 23, 2015 2:02:23 GMT
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As I said earlier, I do tend to be working on more than one car at a time. So, as I most recently spent some time on the Mustang, I'll start there, after buying and having it transported home ( from Bromley in Kent to Northumberland ), it arrived with 3 wheels on it from a Mustang LX and a space saver as well as a flat battery. Before calling the previous owner, I checked in the boot ( Trunk ) and found the fourth wheel and another space saver, having changed the wheel over and realised that there were no centre caps on the wheels at all, I turned my attention to the battery. Swapping the Mustang battery with the one from the Charger cured the problem and it started first time, also changed the battery clamps due to the condition of them I had to cut them off as they seem to be made of lead and moulded round the battery cables. After this, a check of everything showed that the only things that weren't working was one fog light and the map reading lamp mounted above the windscreen. The alarm worked from the key fob, as did the central locking, the radio, the tape player, all the gauges etc all this and only one rust blister ( on the tailgate ). I kid you not, with the exception of the tailgate blister, there is no rust anywhere at all ! Not bad for a 24yr old car. So the Mustang was used as a daily driver so that I could do some MOT work on the Hilux on the way home from a local car show in the rain, the drivers side wiper blade came loose on the arm and started wobbling about. With the use of some cable ties it was made solid enough to get us home ( at this point our daughter christened the car project Rustang, due to the "Roadkill" type repair ) Due to the design of the wiper arms - there's a pin that the hole in the body of the blade fits over, which is held in place by a plastic clip, which was missing of course. Fortunately they are the same as MKII Fiesta, so, easily fixed correctly
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Last Edit: Sept 23, 2015 14:32:56 GMT by Rebel
1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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djefk
Part of things
Posts: 844
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Sept 24, 2015 0:22:35 GMT
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I once had a 1969 Plymouth Satellite with power steering which like yours was totally knackered! I replaced every single bush in the steering with polyurethane ones plus installed a new steering box and although not as good as some other (European) cars it did then feel tight and give a modicum of road feedback. I think the steering would have been too heavy if it was manual.
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Sept 28, 2015 0:40:56 GMT
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I know what you mean, to try and firm up the power steering, I had adjusted the steering box as much as possible, dropped the front tyre pressure a little and changed the 16 inch steering wheel for a 13 inch one. This gave a small amount of improvement but in the end the steering box was just to worn internally. I drove a mates '68 Roadrunner that had manual steering with a 13 inch steering wheel and it was only really heavy when parking. So, I changed to manual steering and put the 16 inch steering wheel back on, it's not as heavy as it was with the small steering wheel and its relatively lighter at parking speed, so seems to work well now
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Sept 28, 2015 7:20:47 GMT
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That sir, is one awesome fleet.
Commendable 4x4 action, fantastic MOPAR and great middle aged yank street toy!
(OK I may have over looked the Cougar, but it sounds like you are trying to get rid of that anyway)
Good luck with the Foxbody MOT, always wanted a Fox, never quite found the right time to buy one. Is she fairly stock still? There are just so many bolt ons from the states for these, I imagine they are very easy to get carried away with when on the Summit website!
Ralph
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Hi Ralph, Thanks for your comments, the Hilux has the dubious pleasure of being the one that gave me the ability to rebuild my first engine, not quite what I had in mind though. I was hoping my first engine build to be a fire breathing Hemi for the Charger, the thinking more realistically it would be my old 351W currently sat undercover at the back of the garage ( came out my '73 Ranchero ), but no, my first engine build was a Toyota 2.4 TD, lol. Still, impressed myself by doing it, getting it back in the engine bay and then it actually starting.
Charger is currently undergoing some changes - updates to follow soon.
You're right about the Cougar, just need to find its new owner, which of course will leave a space on the drive, lol
The Foxbody is completely standard ( at the moment ), toying with the idea if keeping it all as original as possible because of how nice it is. It's incredibly difficult, trying to resist modifying it. As you said, so many bolt on upgrades and so easy to do. The only real problems from the MOT was the ongoing charging issue ( didn't effect the test itself, but I did think it might fail to start when I went to collect it ), and a big hole in the exhaust pipes on both sides, after the silencer and on the top of the elbow where it kicks up to go over the back axle. This in itself is strange, especially as the rest of the exhaust is in very good condition and the MOT inspector commented on how good it sounds without being noisy. I've even heard other local foxbodies that are standard but louder. Anyway, not a bad result for a 24yr old car. It does mean of course that I need to repair it, or change it, or modify it, and so it starts.............
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Haven't done a lot on any of the cars for the past few days, I've never been in this position before, but, I ran out of parts! Now normally this never happens, I learnt a long, long time ago not to start a job without all the parts to finish it ( guess how l learnt that one, lol ). So, the Charger is getting a conversion from drum brakes all round to discs on the front, after buying and receiving the conversion kit ( very comprehensive ) and getting an advisory on one of the brake pipes at the last MOT, I decided it would be common sense to renew all the brake pipes at the same time. Making sure I had a couple of coils of copper brake pipe and a bag of brake pipe ends / unions as well as brake fluid, I was ready to go, or so I thought. Turns out that back in 1968, it was common practice to use different sizes of brake pipe ends, three different sizes to be precise. 7/16, 3/8 and 9/16, none of which are standard uk size of course. So work on the Charger came to a stop while I researched a supplier. Thanks to automec, all parts should be here shortly. The Mustang is currently off the road due to ongoing charging issues, meaning that the alternator is charging the battery, but only intermittently, making it unreliable if I need to drive any great distance, I've replaced the internal regulator but no change. There's a replacement alternator on its way courtesy of a fellow foxbody owner on facebook. The Hilux needs looking at but as its the only roadworthy vehicle I have at the minute, it'll have to wait it's turn, lol. The Cougar of course isn't taxed as its for sale. in the meantime, something to do while waiting for parts to arrive was required. Now, I'm not a fan of gardening, at all. I'm happy to be elbow deep in grease and engine oil, but creepy crawlies, soil / mud / clay and weeds etc, not for me. So, other than giving the front and back garden a general strim twice a year, I've ignored them both, until now that is. My wife can't do any heavy manhandling or digging due to her disability, and there's a concrete base from an old greenhouse ( 8x6 ) right in the middle of what would normally be a lawn. It's currently buried under this........ I know, I know..........., anyways, the concrete space you can see to the left of the photo is where my new workshop / sandblasting shed is going eventually. Not sure about the tree yet, but the rest of it needs gutting and redesigning. Over the last couple days I've been removing the old greenhouse base and so far, I've dug out the equivalent of 10ft of concrete of varying thickness from 2 inches to 8 inches. ( seems like the previous owner used it to level the ground instead of hardcore ). Of course, the garden won't be finished before the car parts get here, so I'll have to divide my time between the two. No bad thing though, at this time of year, as the weather gets colder, it makes sense ( to me at least ) to work on the cars in the warmest part of the day and then the garden when it starts to cool down. At the moment, other than a big shed, I have no idea what the redesigned garden will look like, I'm just creating a blank canvass for my wife to fill...........
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 16, 2015 19:02:33 GMT
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Been a while since I updated this, it's been a strange couple of weeks. We've all been ill with whatever the latest bug is that's going round. However there has been some progress, the parts for the Charger have arrived so I can get some more work done on the brake conversion. A replacement alternator arrived for the Mustang and was fitted aswell as a battery disconnect switch, this seems to have resolved the charging issues with it. The Hilux is still in daily use and still needs work doing but the garden has progressed a little. I managed to get the remnants of the 8x6 concrete base from the old greenhouse, removed finally. Hammer and chisel are a great way of working out the frustration of waiting for car parts to arrive and illness to leave.
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Oct 16, 2015 19:16:07 GMT
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Great stuff , its very interesting to read .
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 16, 2015 19:22:36 GMT
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Thanks, now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'll be able to start again and get some more progress pics up
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Oct 16, 2015 19:57:35 GMT
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I owned your Mustang for a couple of weeks back in 2013.
I bought it from a guy in Penrith who used it daily, it had 17" 5 spoke cobra wheels on it back then.
I didn't do anything to it other than remove a damaged locking wheel nut and drive it round for a couple of weeks.
I bought it unseen as I was actually just looking for a v8 engine for another project, once I collected it I realised it was way to nice to cannibalise. I was told the exhaust was some sort of sports system and the shock absorbers are uprated. There was also a switch next to the shifter which was supposed to hold it in 3rd for longer, apparently it's a common modification to the gearbox valve body.
I sold it on eBay but I can't remember where the guy lived.
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Oct 16, 2015 20:04:11 GMT
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Oct 16, 2015 20:18:35 GMT
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Wow, history, love finding out stuff like this. I've recently bought it's original wheels back ( the ones that Ford fitted when they built it ), from a guy in Durham. He told me that he bought it off the first owner in America, apparently the first owner brought it back here with him after his son changed the original gearbox for a full race box. The original are charcoal grey 16 inch 5 spokes. When driving it, it does feel as though the shocks are uprated, the exhaust needs a little work now, it has a weak area on both rear pipes just as they kick up over the back axle. The switch is still next the the gearshift, I was wondering what it was for, lol. I also bought it blind, from a guy in Bromley in Kent. To use until my Charger is back on the road, might do a couple of cosmetic improvements, nothing major though. As you said, it's just too nice and everything works on it. There's only one rust scab on the whole car, on the tailgate, just above the lights and that's it.
Thanks for the info
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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Oct 16, 2015 21:03:37 GMT
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Not really feeling the fox or the cougar, but big love for the Charger. I have also considered getting a Surf at one point, though I'd either have to get the 1KZ-TE, or else rip out the 3L and put in a 1KD-TE.
But get your shed up and running and you won't know yourself. Having a decent work area can be a massive mojo boost.
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