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November
2004: The '58 is back at home so there's a little more
time to get the GTX out. Between rain storms I took
her out for a short drive and ended up going for a 200
mile cruise. The 440 sure seems "happy" in
the cool autumn air. Before long the snow
will be flying and it will be time to put the car
away. There's not much to do on it this Winter. The
red reflective side stripes are lifting on the edges
so a new set will be installed and the belt must have
broken in the 8-Track. I may also install a shift
module wired up to the high beam indicator so I
won't have to install an ugly oversized shift light.
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September
& October 2004: With the exception of a couple of
Friday nights, there hasn't been much time spent
enjoying the GTX. For last few months I've been very
busy helping my brother Chris get his '58 Chevy
stepside put back together.
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August
2004: The White Bear Dodge Show was on August 6th.
Every year it seems to grow, a lot like the Dodge of
Burnsville show before it morphed into "Mopars in
the Park". For the second time my GTX earned
Participants Choice Top 25. That's it for the Summer,
no more shows. Now it's cruisin' Porkys, North St.
Paul, A&W and Anoka. I need to get some miles in
before Winter...
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 July
2004: The next big show following Mopars in the Park
was the Car Craft Summer Nationals. The weather was
perfect for all 3 days. Friday morning I got there
early and met up with a fellow Moparts.com member
named Glen. Later, a couple more Moparts guys
showed up. Ken drove in with his '70 Challenger and
Jeff brought his 10.05 second '69 GTX racecar. That
Friday, North St. Paul was so crowded that you
couldn't move. I'm glad the cooling system upgrades
worked as intended.
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June 2004: With all of
the rain we've had so far this Summer it's been tough
to get out and actually enjoy my GTX. Without
question, attending the Mopars in the Park car show is
a must for Twin Cities Mopar enthusiasts. This year it
took place on June 5th & 6th. Although the weather
forecast was predicting a 60% chance of rain on
Saturday, hundreds of Mopars still turned out. Luckily
the rain held off until early evening. On Sunday the
weather was perfect.
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weekend of fun and sun ended with a real
treat. By some strange quirk of fate I managed
to win the '68-'69 B-Body Plymouth class. It
means a lot to me because the winners aren't
determined by Judges. Winners are determined
by participant voting.
The good
looking one in this picture is Miss Car Craft
Nationals 2003. Valerie was on hand to promote
the Car Craft Summer Nationals and assist in
handing out the awards. What a sweet young
lady.
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May
2004: I had the front end aligned so I can start
driving it again. I've been trying to put some miles
on it close to home to make sure everything is working
reliably. I'm very satisfied with the results of my
recent upgrades. The front discs are a vast
improvement over the old 11" drums. Likewise, the
TA valve-body is awesome. 1-2 shifts are much better
and the 2-3 shift is also noticeably firmer. The
steering effort took a little getting used to, but I
like it. The best part is, there's no more power
steering fluid leakage. There's a couple shows coming
up and the Anoka cruise in officially begins at the
end of this month. It will be fun seeing all of the
regulars again. It's been a long Winter...
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April 2004: A lot has happened
since the last update. I ordered an "Extra Firm"
steering gear from Steer & Gear in Columbus, Ohio and
planned to install it in a few hours. Wrong! With headers
instead of iron manifolds the job gets a whole lot tougher. By
the time it was over, the steering column, shift linkage,
kickdown linkage, starter, power steering pump and drivers side
header were removed from the car...
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 The
drivers side header had to come out so I decided to pull
them both for fresh ceramic coating. New
Image Coatings turnaround time was only a week and
the finish appears to be far superior to Hooker's
factory coating. The guys at New Image Coatings had a
great tip for putting headers back in without scratching
them. Vulnerable areas were protected with a layer or
two of "gaffers tape". It's a lot like heavy
duty duct tape except it peels off easily without
leaving any adhesive residue.
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 I
dropped the transmission to install the Turbo Action
"Pro Street" valvebody, heli-coil a couple of
stripped trans pan bolt holes and changed the front
seal. The shop that originally built the trans painted
the case black. I wanted a more "correct"
appearance so it was treated to a coat of Rustoleum
Nickel colored paint. |
| There's
always minor issues that need attention. I replaced a
couple of dash light sockets that worked intermittently.
An annoying clunk in the right front suspension was
cured by changing the upper shock bushing. The 12 volt +
wire for the MSD was routed to the starter relay instead
of the battery and a stock looking tan colored cap from
Accel was a direct replacement for the red Mallory cap.
After cleaning and detailing everything I painted the
wheel weights black to match the steelies. I'm
ready, when is the cruising and car show season going to
start? |
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February
2004: The weather is finally warming up so I've been
able to get out in the garage and get some of my
projects done.
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This
is how the 11.75" disc swap looks once
everything's together. It was an easy swap
using '73 - '76 A Body spindles The new heavy
duty rotors have the recommended hub
reinforcement ribs. The calipers are '80
Volare units with RAYBESTOS "Super
Stop" semi metallic pads. Goodridge
braided stainless AN hoses and Aeroquip
fittings made hooking everything up easy. . |
 Here's
a shot of the NOS fan shroud I got from Tony's
Mopar Parts. The fan is a correct heavy
duty 7 blade unit that was part of the TRACK
PAK performance axle packages. I also
installed a Schumacher's
torque link to protect my new shroud in the
event of a motor mount failure. |
To pull off the steering gear change it looks
like the drivers side header is going to have
to come out. I'll have to save that job for
another weekend. That's OK, cruising weather
is still at least a month away. I can hardly
wait...
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| January
2004: The GTX has been Winterized and tucked away in
the garage until Spring. I'm in the process of
collecting parts to replace the front drums with
11.75" discs. The swap will use A-Body spindles,
slider type caliper brackets and F-Body calipers. It
should only take a few evenings to change things over
once the weather warms up. Guys I've talked to that
have done the swap tell me there's a tremendous
improvement in braking.
I also plan on
sending my power steering gear to Steer and Gear in
Columbus, OH for one of their "Stage 3"
rebuilds. I've always felt that Mopars "drive
with one finger" power steering left a little to
be desired. A quick trip to the alignment shop and the
Plymouth will be ready to go.
One of Schumacher's
torque links will probably find it's way under the
hood too. It should help protect against a failed
motor mount.
The
changes I made to the cooling system last year kept
the GTX from puking any coolant. I want to try a
larger diameter fan with more blades to add some low
speed airflow. The fan that came in the MP fan clutch
package is kind of small.
Only 2-3
more months until I can enjoy this view again in
person...
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