Dash is finally finished

All the seats are in and I finally got a chance to put back the silver looking trim around the dash panels. It now looks complete. (And comfy too!)

Front seats fixed as well

As you can see the front seats were stitched together as well where they'd split. While the covers were off I took the opportunity to to fix the springs and get the reclining action going again. Seats work as good as new

Seats fixed

The back seats were cleaned up, restitched were they'd come apart and put back in. You can see the white stitching where they've been fixed. Not the prettiest, but bums won't be going through them any more. As for the sewing, done at the kitchen table on Pegs old Husqvarna.

Carpet has arrived

Carpet in the front! Took a bit of trimming and modification to get it in but it came up well.
Also fixed the centre console and upholstered two panels on the top. The one that goes around the gear selector and the one on the lid in the centre.

Interior Progression

Some carpet in the boot! AND. . . . . . . .

Progress has been made

This is a shot along the way, sometime in November I think?? I had the original rims sand blasted and powder coated as previously mentioned. Thanks to Mick at Chandler Engineering over in Tullamarine. Was that an add???? Oh well he's a great guy and did a fantastic job on the rims. I've left the hub caps off and put chrome nuts on the rims. I might leave them like that for a while. Looks a bit ol' school.

Motor now running

Motor is now up and running. Petrol supply problem was a faulty fuel pump. The new rectified that. Te motor was running very poorly when first started and wouldn't idle. A quick look at the carby settings abd the timing has sorted that out and it's now running very smoothly. The timing was soooooo far out I'm surprised that it i was able to get it started.
I now have to bleed the brakes and the car should be operational again.
Yes. they are 273 rocker covers, but I thought they looked just a little better than the chrome ones with the surface rust starting on them. And anyway. . . . . they're HEMI orange. Gotta be a good thing!

New motor in!

Took a few days off work (it rained of course) and got the new motor in the car.
Note the new A/C setup.
Having a fuel supply problem at the moment. The fuel pump doesn't seem to want to push the petrol up to the carby. I've ordered a new one. Hopefully that's the problem.

Engine bay clean up

Remember this?????

Well now it looks like this : )

New shoes

I finally found some skinny white walls on e-bay for a decent price. 5 wheels already on valiant rims (old stud pattern). Cleaned 'em up and fitted the dodge hubcap. Looks good!
Discovered one small problem though. The stud pattern is the same as the VIP which is good, the rims however are off a car that didn't have disc brakes! As a result of this when I mocked up the front wheel, the inside of the rim sits up hard against the brake caliper!
Currently the original VIP rims are at the sand blasters and then going to the powdercoaters. Once all cleaned up I'll have to get the tyres changed over.

Sneak Peek

A quick look at the new motor.
I've pulled all the front end of the old motor and transplanted it. Water pump, alternator and harmonic balance. I located a compressor for the A/C with the bracket still attached and that's been fitted as well.
Fingers are still crossed that this is going to run. One thing that's got me puzzled is the firing order, based on the leads, is not the same as the motor I just pulled out. It's either got a very different cam in it, ( I was told it was an experimental Dodge block and the engine number starts with an "X") or I'll have to re-organise the leads.
The guy I got it off told me he had it in a VC Valiant. He'd restored the car, sprayed the car and the motor. Took the car for a spin, planted the foot and twisted the chassis in the car about 300mm, writing it off. (His VC had a 6 originally and the chassis wasn't strengthened for the V8)
I was also told it was a Canadian Dodge block, that they build for racing. The only things I have to go on to verify this story is that the stamped serial number on the block starts and ends in an "X". Also, the original water pump on it fed in at the bottom on the right and not the left as per the VIP pump. Now when everything is set up on the front of the block, the bottom radiator hose goes over the timing marks. This will be fun to tune!
I was also told it was very, VERY loud!!!!
Itching to get it in but I still have to clean up the engine bay.

A lot of cleaning up to do

Now the motors out, the extent of the engine bay cleanup is a bit daunting!
This one might take a while!

Point of no return!

Out it comes.
Judging by the dirt and oil on the block, I'm pretty confident no-ones had a "play" with this one. Hopefully will just be a case of rings and valves.

Getting serious now

I did what I could to get the motor to a road worthy condition, but I couldn't stop the fumes. If I accelerated heavily, there was quit a lot of smoke which wasn't good.

Time for the motor to come out!

Fortunately I've got one to replace it that I was going to use it in the hot rod, but for the moment it might see a bit of life in the VIP. Once I get the ol girl registered, then I'll rebuild the VIP motor and swap them back over.
Once it's in and running (fingers crossed), I'll let you all know more about the motor. From what I've been told it's not a standard 318

With the motor out, it'll also be good opportunity to clean up the engine bay. It has a bit of surface rust and is also a combination of every colour the cars been painted

May Update

Not a lot to show you with photos but I've managed to get a few bits done. To begin with, I pulled the auto out (on the floor of the garage with a lot of foul language) and swapped it over for one that I got off e-bay a while that I rebuilt. Fitted that one in (this time with a HEAP of foul language) and the car now moves forward AND backward. It still didn't have any brakes.

Next step was to get the brakes working. First off I started with a basic bleeding of the system. The reservoir was empty so it was a safe bet, no fluid, no brakes. Started with left rear, all good. Moved onto right rear, all good. Still no pressure in the pedal. Moved on to left front, all good. Finally, last one, right front. This one had a blocked hose!. I spent a couple of hours trying to run a wire down the hose to clear the blockage. Finally got it done and put the hose back in. Now I had pressure under foot, but it was a bit spongy. I backed it into the driveway to try and see how much break I was getting. A little bit of left foot brake and bit of accelerator should see how well they're holding. . . . . . . . Before I knew it I was doing I was smoking up the back tyres! Drove it back into the garage to assess. The right rear slave cylinder was blown and I had brake fluid everywhere!From e-bay, I picked up a rear brake set. Left and right slave cylinders and new shoes for $59 (cheap fix). Set about to change the cylinders and shoes over on a Monday night. Two nights later and with a couple of busted knuckles, I had them swapped over. Who designed that stupid clip that holds the spring in that holds the shoe on!!!!!!!!
I now have pressure under foot on the pedal and the car stops quit well up and down the drive.

I've also sanded all the black paint off, down to the gold colour that was underneath. The next step is to get it painted and looking good again.

One other thing. . . Gotta love that e-bay! I picked up a clock for the dash for $80.

Found some shiney things when I cleaned the dirt off

I ended up needing to get a new battery for the car as the old one was well and truely dead. I got it fired up (WOW) and it started making some horrible squelling noises (Oh No!) I quickly diagnosed it to be the one or both of the fan belts. Today the plan was to get the fan belts off, take them to the shop for size comparison and get new ones. I went to slacken off the power steering pump to loosen the belt and this is what I found!

Someone didn't put the washer back on benind the head of the bolt. As a result, they'd tightened the bolt into the slot!. I tried everything to get it loose, sockets, breaker bars, spanners, vise grips. As a last resort I used a screwdriver to lever the bracket over the head of the bolt. It worked and I now have a washer fitted!
Well the fan belts have been replaced and I changed the plugs. I also swapped the carbie off the motor for the hotrod. Now you turn the key and it starts first go!
Next step is to try and find where "R" went in the gearbox.

It's in!

After some colourful language, 2 cans of black douglas and cola as well as scraped knuckles, the A/C and the dash went back in the car. Major stress relief!

Tried to turn it over but the batteries flat! On charge over night, so will try again after work

New Rims

Once last thing before I go for the night.

DODGE DART Rims! Sweet : )

Finished Dashboard

All assembled and ready to put back in the car.

And the top in all its metallic glory!


Very happy with the outcome :)

Kustom????

Some red paint, a packet of red metal flake, a can of clear and a couple of weeks and I got this!

I think I did decent job for a first attempt. Just have to sand it back, give it a few more coats of clear and we're ready to put it all back together

The Dash in Black

Dash with some black paint.

Now it's time for being creative. I've been seeing a few cars getting around at the shows that have painted dash's. Just the top part tht can be seen through the windscreen is painted in metal flake. I thought to myself "I can do that! . . . . . i think?"

So I gave it a go!

Under coat

Now in Etch primer and under coat

You can make out the new A/C unit to go back in once the dash is done

Clean Up

The dash board was very rusty on top and around all the folded edges. I sanded all the paint off the sheet metal and applied rust converter to whole thing. Once that had one it's bit I sanded the whole thing down again to get it ready for etch priming

Starting to show a bit of promise I think

No Dashboard!

With the dashboard out, it was time for some work! As you can see the A/C is out as well

Latest update

Any one remember this dashboard?

I pulled the dash out to get to the A/C. I needed to replace the whole A/C unit behind the dash. While it was out I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it! (I don't think I could make it any worse!)