imported_trackhack

Gotta love the cars with the HUGE doors, nothing like a satifying CLUNK. Haha. I grew up around alot of Dodge stuff as my father was a chrysler mechanic in that era.

'81 318 would have the dreaded plastic bodied thermoquad that is damn finnicky to adjust and a royal PITA most of the time if I'm not mistaken.

Bruno, slant 6 parts are common as muck as they made them in the P/U's right up to '86, any parts store should have them. You might also be thinking of a Dodge Mirada which had a similar front end to the LS Cordoba. Even more rare would be an '81 Imperial which was based on the same chassis.

The thing with these older american cars now is that most parts are super cheap for them as compared to an import.

motti

The nicest thing about old cars is that you can get them cheap and even for free. That really lowers the pain threshhold when you start cutting into and experimenting on them. I'm not about to be cutting deep into my Volvo or F250 any time soon, and if I trade the Volvo for the Benz, I won't be touching that car at all. But something you get for free and which you don't depend on as a daily driver, well, the gloves can come right off real easy for them.

Another nice thing about old American iron is that most of the engines are bullet proof. It takes a lot to hurt them.

The really nice thing about the big old American front engine rear drive cars is the ease in which you can swap out an "inconvenient" drive-train and swap in a new one. With the room available, you could drop in almost anything at all to replace a balky or broken drivetrain.

I'm not too concerned about getting more performance. This particular car is just going to be a lazy day cruiser and hobby car. My focus would be on a firm, stable ride and consistent braking capability more than 1/4 mile times.

Hobby cars are something I do when time permits. I enjoy bringing back older cars - previous projects have included an Opel GT, German-market Mercedes S-class stretch sedan, a 67 Firebird with the OHC 6-cylinder with factory headers and 4-bbl carb, rare even back when the car was being sold new.

Mostly I prefer refinishing the cars in mostly stock trim, but I've also got an old 4-dr Dynasty that I'm starting to disassemble for a long term project. The goal is to turn the thing into an El Camino-type pick-up truck, minus the rear drop-gate. The formal rear roofline C-pillar is easy to cut short, relocate, and hammer-weld into its new position right butted against the B-pillar behind the front seat. The body and roof lines of the Dynasty are just perfect for this mod. Imagine this pic (not my Dynasty, but very close) with the rear doors sealed and handles removed, and the back window and C-pillar assembly moved forward and butted up behind the mid-B-pillars.

The rear pick-up bed will look sort of like a shallow hot tub. I don't plan on fabricating a drop-tail-gate because it will be too much trouble to do it and make it look good, and I don't plan on using the resulting pick-up for anything other than the lightest of loads. Instead, the pick-up box will mostly keep to the current lines of the sedan. The inside of the box will look like a shallow hot tub. This way I can keep intact the full-width tailight and reflector assembly that I like so much. I'm not sure I will be able to trust the car to take too much load though. I'll do some basic chassis stiffening with a roll-hoop installed inside the relocated C-pillar, and add brace bars leading from the midpoint of the hoop risers to behind the rear axle mount points, all hidden behind sheet metal and interior trim. I'll probably also add some box section between front and rear subs to tie them together and give a bit more longitudinal stiffening.

If I can get that all done and working to my satisfaction, that will be a unique ride. And if I can't, the car was a freebie anyways.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

oh man... sounds like a huge project... why not just get a free truck. I just got a free E250 conversion van with a 351W.... I've seen several of these car-made-pickup deals... from Chevette, to old 80s Accord hatchback, to Omnis.... and even one .... I think it was a dynasty, but I'm not sure cuz it had SOOOO much fiberglass body work done to make it look like a spaceship... don't ask anyways, they never turn out quite right.

also, my current winter car (90 DX sedan Civic) was free, last yr's winter car was free (86 Prelude Si), yr before that I bought a 93 Saturn SL2 for eight bills... before that I think I didn't have a winter car cuz I was @ school and didn't need one.... before that was a Crown Vic winter car for $400.... and so on... I've paid over $1000 for 2 cars in my life. New Civic in 98, my 93 SW2 this past summer (it was souped up, I had to have it!!). Heck I even had a 85 300ZX turbo I got for $700. haha

motti

Why not just get a free truck? Because I already have a truck, a two-year-old F250 that I use for hauling and snowdrift running.

The "Dynasty pick-up" is more for play than pick-up truck utility. I could just restore it but then what have I got? Just another one of many Dynastys on the road. Besides, the truck conversion is pretty straight-forward especially given that the car already has a near-vertical rear window clip that I can reuse, and unlike a Chevette conversion, the body lines and length of the Dynasty should make for a nicely balanced appearance when all is done. I won't be building any rocketship thing out of it!

Here's a mock-up. Easy to do bodywork-wise as the body lines are mostly dead straight. Monster Garage could probably do it in two or three days.

And if not, who cares? The best part of a goal is often the trip getting there.

Aside from freebies, my cheapest car was a Ford LTD I got for 20 flats of eggs. Later I learned the reason for the deal - the car had a 460 cu in (7.5 litre) engine, and TWO gas tanks so you could make the trip between gas stations. :cry:

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

haha yeah my E250 has twin 70 liter tanks and a range of about 400 kms on BOTH tanks... so 140 liters of gas on 400 kms LOL

but IMO it's not running right ATM. I need to wait for spring and fix 'er up and maybe use it to tow my lil Civic around to events.

oh yeah I forgot about ur truck. I drove a 7.3L power stroke F350 duallie, and WOW for a 7000 lbs truck... it's nimble and it's QUICK!! WOW! I'd rawk one fo sho! all this talk of things other than Civics makes me remember my passion for all things on wheels, not just Civics. sigh... if only money grew on trees. Oh wait it does!! in BC in hydroponic gardens LOL Too bad I'm not of the criminal persuasion

imported_Team Rukus

i didnt read the whole post as it was super long but here is my input..


yes racing seats are ILLEGAL
yes they might be FIA approved etc... but thats for racing purposes on a racing course only.

the chances of you dying or getting into an accident say in a F1 race is 1 in a million compared to the chances of you getting into an accident or dying on your way to the F1 race. (its a proven fact)

another thing is that when racing in a racing course they are desgined in a way where there are no obstructions like poles and stuff that might potentially crack thru your window and come straight into your body. i am not saying that as a 100 percent thing i am jus saying its minimal. now in real life on the streets that is very possible and thats why racing seats are illegal cuz they can kill a person.

notice the way the 3 point harness is made from factory the upper part of your body has enough movement rather then being fully tucked in with the 4 or 5 point harness. this is so that your body can have a chance to move in case you rear end a transport truck carry say metal tubbing and it crashes thru ur window.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

motti, here is the side of the rail that used to have the latch attached to it.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

I ground out all the rivets and drilled out all the spot welds then my dad and I designed and made some fresh brackets that he as an engineer feels are better than OEM. of course the hardware is all 8.8 grade and it's bolted in where the factory had rivets put in. and the seats are Sparco Monza.

motti

Hey, you don't have to convince me! It doesn't take much to exceed factory spec when upgrading components. For you the extra cost is what - a case of beer or two?

But to a manufacturer doing the same to tens or hundreds of thousands of pieces for a production run, even an extra five bucks of parts and assembly costs turns into a huge hit on the bottom line. So, they design, part source, and build to meet government mandated spec but not much more.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

haha, no my dad doesn't drink so no beer involved. just father-son bonding yeah $5 for a manufacturer, that's crazy!! I've heard of them doing a complete engineering change on a tool cuz to put a mesh over the part was gonna cost like 3 cents more per car than it would cost to retool. hehe

imported_gatherer

here's the scope if the racing belt is installed correctly (I'd predict that 10% of the time) then it's safer then the stock belts. if it's not installed correctly and your in an accident well hire someone quick to push your wheel chair around because it will break your back. (90% of the belts I see are installed this way)

Now why the stock seat belts have to be used? it has to do with the buckles, in the early 80's the seat belt section of the HTA was amended to say the button to release the belt has to be red and just a push button. reason being it has to be easy for someone else to find in smoke and stuff you can't release the belt.

Anyways I have been stopped while wearing a correctly installed 4 point harness and cop didn't say boo. even after I removed the straps to get access to my wallet in the back seat. and no I was not wearing the stock seat belt at the time.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

yeah, I was wearing Sparco harnesses before and there was no stock seatbelt, I was in traffic downtown and two bike officers were riding by, they circled around my car I saw them peep at my belts, they saw the straps and moved on. no tickets is always a great day!!! so yeah... while I'd LOVE to keep my car 100% legal, it's more important to me to make IT SAFE. Even my brakes are "track only" On every box in the package, it says "RACING USE ONLY" oh well... I use a street compound pad that doesn't require heat to work, so it's not like the car won't stop or anything LOL. Anyways... props to understanding cops

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

gatherer, the rear straps will compress the life out of your spine when the angle of your back is equal to the angle of your shoulder straps. so if you have it mounted straight on the rear deck like mine were before, you'd have to literally be parallel to the ground while strapped in for your back to compress. if you have them at 45* to where the rear seat back and bottom cushion meet, then you have to have the straps REALLY loose for you to get enough angle to kill yourself. So yeah, if you keep the belts tight, and have them at a reasonable angle, you're ok. My buddy had his installed to the seat rails so I smacked him good and he redid it properly.

Nova_Dust

Reclinable racing seats in my car with factory seatbelts. No racing harness because I have no roll cage.

Been stopped at spot check (for alcohol check) a couple times and nothing has happened. Stock seat belts were worn at the time and my whole car at the back is gutted. No say in that as well. Then that goes for muffler sound and whole nine yard.

Yesterday, I stopped beside a cop at red at night time. Light turned green, I started off and just shift gear at 4000 rpm, with the louder than stock muffler noise level. Speed limit was 80 and I was driving at 80 - 85. Officer was a bid slow and all the cars beside and behind the officer never passed the car. I just dash off, and kept going. I am pretty sure he saw the purple rear LCA and the silver racing subframe plate, that thing must reflect major lights at night time.

Well, bottom line is, there is no point to wear 4 point harness on street, for me anway. Even if I have it installed, I will probably not wear it and only use it on the track. I also tend to think that accidents on the racing track are more involved in roll overs, front, rear and side impact. Any of the above combination will experience forces from these sides and the cage is going to protect the driver and the co-driver. I wouldn't think an object will pierce through the car and injure the driver. But on the street, when accidents happen, anything goes. Deer jumps out, 40 foot trailor in your face, guard rail through the whole car like a shish kabob, rear passenger fly through the wind shield aiming for the left corn field, roll over and parked in a pond drowning yourself, slide 360s and ended up in the opposite direction while getting t-boned....

All and all, street driving condition is different from the track, hence, different safety equipment should be considered. Also, if the seat is designed properly, it can handle minor G forces.