f100_dreamin

Have you even looked at the way this thing runs currently?

Simon at Airride NZ has been around for a while, has owned some sweet air bagged vehicles. The kit I got from him (for my 61 Belair) was basically a bolt In kit, which came with the bolt in mounts that meant I didn’t need to modify the spring pockets, only thing I really had to make was front shock mounts which weren’t too hard. im using a very basic system for now, 8 valves and a 7 switch controller. However to get certified I basically ran all the 3 front and 3 rear switches through relays so even if you try to change the corners, it just controls the whole front end. It’s good for cert, but not being able to set the corner heights is a pain, good for cert, but a pain none the less. I have a weak LF shock and to get the ride heights correct I have to raise the car fully up and then lower it to the correct height. Pain in the ass, when I get around to try rebuilding the Belair I’m planning on running an E/Level to make it easier and accurate

Yeah that looks good @j.e.d. Cheers for the picture

it’s only ever going to be a weekend toy. So should stay clean enough under there. Aiming for it to be pretty clean and tidy under the bonnet.

Looks pretty good aye. just need to make a call on what colour i want now haha.

Sweet man, keen to see pictures

Not a huge update, but progress is getting made. front suspension is all Re-bushed and repainted, and has new ball joints. Had a mission with the upper arms. the arms that came out of the car I managed to get the ball joints out of, but the bushes were seized into the arms. So I dug through all my parts and found the Aussie upper arms that came with all my front brake parts. Confirmed they are the same at the factory stuff. Bushes all came out easy. But the ball joints would not budge (shitty home made roll didn’t help) so I ended up welding an old axle nut to the top of the ball joint and using that to get them out. Got there in the end. I’ve also started cleaning up everything that bolts onto the engine, inlet manifold is all done Still need to finish cleaning the sump then I’ll have everything sorted to paint the engine, still undecided with what to do with the rocker covers though in that photo you can see it’s got a cool set of finned rocker covers I’m tempted to paint them the same colour as the inlet manifold and paint the fins black however I’m yet to decide, when I first got the car I had thought about doing them wrinkle black and then knocking the fins back to alloy so am a bit undecided there Discuss here:

discuss here

Ended up not going to training tonight so decided to get the cam installed and degree’d found TDC, then set the Dti gauge up on the lifter (Ended up welding two old lifters together to make it easier to get the Dti gauge set up) found max lift and set Dti to zero, wound engine back .100” and then forward to .050” before max lift, noted the number the pointer was at on the degree wheel, the wound engine over until the lifter was at .050” after max lift again noted the number the pointer was on again, added the two numbers together and then divided by two, this gave me 112.5° intake centreline. Cam spec card is for 102° so was a bit out. pulled it all apart and advanced the cam 4° and started again, ended up with an intake centreline of 101°, so that where it will stay. Tomorrow night I’ll get the heads on an confirm there is no clearance issues.

Been a while since and update, headers turned up, pretty happy with them considering how cheap they were to buy and ship to NZ, started and finished de-burring the valley (what a crap job to do) next up was to clean it all down to get rid of and filings from the de-burr and to get rid of any solvents/etc from the machine shop, picked up a bottle brush for getting into all the little holes etc and grabbed a tube of engine assembly lube, Found a perfect use for the shower in the garage then started to assemble the bottom end, fitted new Clevite crank bearings fitted the new rear main seal and crank, put new Sealed power big end bearings in the old ones had seen better days, then fitted new Mahle piston rings and dropped the pistons back in, All in all a productive night after training on Wednesday I should get the cam in and timed up. Then I can slap the rest of it together, also I still have under seal to scrape, but I’m being a slacker and have left it for a while

I second Matt at Tin Tricks. He did the floors in my Belair and his work is top notch.

haha wish I had known this before I refurbed the standard VJ callipers, oh well at least I know there is an upgrade if I need it.

Rockauto delivers again. This time I ordered parts Monday. Received them Friday. just for the size comparison here is the later model dodge starter vs the factory one. Fairly sizeable difference still plodding away on cleaning and painting suspension parts and replacing the bushes. No pictures as I’ve not actually finished any this completely yet. And now I’ve run out of etch primer Got the bill from the machinist for the engine work which ended up being a reasonable amount more that planned (there was extra work done to justify it) which has completely drained the bank account. Also my headers are in the country now so just waiting for them to clear customs etc, all in all still chipping away at it.

Yeah @cletus the way that they attach the hubs to the rotors is a new one for me. Still if it works it works I guess haha Cheers @con, I never made it out to get the diff that Cletus shared so not sure sorry. I will aim to get one shortly and have spoken to Lee at Diffs’r’us and he quoted $450+ to shorten.

Since my last update I have re-kitted the P/S pump I’ve also shimmed the relief valve to lower the assistance given as the steering was too light at higher road speeds, I’ve replaced all the inner and out tie rod ends and the drag link, I dropped the block, crank and heads off to my machinist, block had been acid tanked, honed and had the cam bearings replaced. The heads have been checked over, machined, machined to take the valve springs, couple of worn valve guides replaced. The valve springs turned into a bit of a headache, the double springs supplied with my cam kit ended up having 140lbs of swat pressure which is was too high for a hydraulic flat tappet cam, We ended up ditching the inner spring and shimming the outer to end up with 100lbs seat pressure. A bit annoying but at least it didn’t turn into a major. Dont have any photos yet as it’s all plastic wrapped as it will be a couple of weeks before I start assembling slowly coming together, made another couple of orders from rock auto got a cam thrust plate with a tensioner (from a Dodge V6) as the factory 318 doesn’t have one, got some rubber lower arm inner bushes as apparently the complete polyurethane bush kit I got for the car doesn’t come with them (and no one lists a poly bush for it) ordered new rad hoses, bypass hose, rear spring shackles (as mine were too rusty) also ordered a starter motor from a 1992 dodge Dakota as with the headers I can’t use my factory starter due to the size. You can buy A/M mini starters but they are around $400, or as most of the guys in the states do you can get a Dakota starter and it’s basically a factory mini starter and at $71usd plus shipping it’s still way cheaper than an A/M unit. For now I need to let the bank account recover so ill be working on tidying up the rear suspension mounts and springs.