DON'T BE FUELISH

Getting to this point was pretty exciting! Pretty obvious that what was coming would mean that the engine would be one step closer to starting.

I decided to use the stock fuel tank, filler pipe and mounting location. It just seemed like a huge amount of work and expense for a new tank, floor alterations etc. With 2 fuel tanks to choose from I filled both with water and looked for holes. Surprisingly, both tanks were intact, NO HOLES! Using the fuel level gauge opening I then inspected them both and choose the one with the least corrosion.

A fuel injection engine requires an electric fuel pump to supply fuel to the motor. Again lots of online research and pricing for the pump. Basically there were two (2) choices. Internal, in the tank pumps and external pumps mounted inline as part of the fuel line. I finally settled on an internal tank pump. Then which brand? I looked at after market and "stock" units. The stock units were too tall and the majority of the big name aftermarket brands were as well and EXPENSIVE. I stumbled across and chose a Tanks Inc. pump. It had the necessary rated capacity, was adjustable to fit the internal height of my tank and a reasonable price. The instructions were relatively clear and easy to follow. Ok, of course I had to cut large holes in the tank to get everything into the tank, but the kit included everything necessary to fit, mount and seal it back up.

Since the top of the tank was cut for installation and access and feed and return line fittings projected through the top I did have to cut a section of the trunk floor. I dealt with this by fabricating a removable cover for access and any necessary repair. A picture is included of the access cover.
I purchased a new fuel tank fill level sending unit as well.

Internal tank corrosion was not bad but present. Back to the internet and research for solutions. I found several! After looking over various options and user comments and ratings I chose KBS Tank Sealer. It was/is basically a two(2) part system. The first part is a solution for corrosion treatment that dissolves and/or treats for surface preparation. The second part is the coating. The instructions were simple and clear. The user does have to be a little creative in sealing all the openings and parts. The tank and any related parts to be treated and coated must be rotated and moved about to insure proper cleaning, preparation and coating. That movement includes upside down. I used multiple layers of Saran wrap and numerous layers of duct tape to create the necessary seals. I had NO LEAKS during prep or coating!

The tank hanger straps were shot and were replaced with after market units supplied by Tanks Inc.. The original tank hangers had a thin rubber strip between the straps and the tank. I got a bicycle inner tube split it to width and length and used a little contact cement to secure them to the straps. Of course everything was painted or sprayed with rattle can truck bed liner for corrosion protection before reinstall.  A picture follows.

Fuel injection engines require fuel filters to protect the injectors from fuel contaminant. There are choices of direct in-line or larger canister style types. Depending on type there micron particle sizes to deal with too. I purchased a large unit rated for the required fuel flow and the smallest micron size capture, pressure and mounted it the floor pan rear trunk wall. The pictures shown are not in sequence, showing some of the hard and flexible lines in place.

I also almost forgot an important little aside. When we initially started the engine we were kind of running around like chickens with out heads cut off; looking for leaks of all types and kind of surprised and elated at this momentous step forward!. YEP!! we found one! Crawling under the rear of the car we found a large puddle of gas!! After a quick shutdown, and depressurization of the system I found that I had pinched the large and floppy o-ring canister seal. Had to order a new one! There is a link to First Start-up and on CAR DOMAIN.com to see and HEAR a mufflerless Viper engine.  A pic of the filter canister .follows.

Now I need fuel lines. Remember back in MO POWER that I said Chrysler personnel had told me the motor mounts were backward? I could not figure out where the fuel line went on the Viper motor. Out of pure frustration I took a shot at contacting Chrysler to ask WHERE? My son had posted a number of pictures on a car site of the build. I mentioned that he called it Project Red, White, Blue and had posted it on CARDOMAIN.com trying to get their attention. Boy did I ever! They called and emailed me! The site had several hundred hits and they emailed the mount comment. The Viper uses a hard fuel line with special fittings and standard pipe thread/AN connections. The stock line at the motor is a two (2) foot section costing over $200.! Their response was there are two (2) plug fittings one on each rail end of the manifold that are NPT plumbing/AN thread. Also surprising, the manifold is one piece unit with combined internal fuel passages and manifold.  Remove the "rail" plug, remove the stock fuel line and fitting and put the plug in where the hard line connector was and your are ready for new fittings and lines.

So now I know where to bring the fuel line to. What to use? The easy way out is rubber fuel lines. Talk to enough guys and shops familiar with rubber lines and they say plain rubber lines start to break down and very quickly you can begin to smell gasoline vapors! Every one said use metal lines. They are difficult to bend, can kink or crack and run; difficult to properly flare, nut and seal. Doing this on your own requires special tools, patience and equipment: or pay someone. There is at least one other alternative however. It is somewhat pricey. Some of the new cars on the road and many drag race teams are using composite layered, braided and coated lines with standard pipe end fittings (NPT) or AN fittings. I chose this route. I used a 3/8 inch boat rope and pulled it tight from location to location and wrote down the measurements. I marked possible routes and locations for brackets. I did this three (3) times and arrived at the best route for the lines. I got the custom made lines from JDA Enterprizes /Tech AFX.              .

The last bit of the system is a fuel pressure regulator. Too much pressure can damage the injectors too little can burn them. Either way engine damage could result. The Viper engine I have requires roughly 55 psi. A picture of the Mallory regulator follows.

MO, MO, MO POWER!

All engines whether gas or diesel are nothing more than air pumps. The more air they pump the more efficient they become. When fuel is added they then become sources of power ie. an engine..

Without going into great detail, here is a bit of HEMI history. What is a HEMI? Hemi is a shortened name for a hemispherical head combustion chamber for an engine. Simply described, cut a ball in half, look inside and you have a round chamber; cut two (2) holes for valves to operate in and put a spark plug between the valves. This design allows for VERY large valves without piston interference and ideal spark plug placement. The large valves allow more air and fuel to flow, therefore providing mo' power. Chrysler Corporation started working on this so named head design in 1941. They worked and developed the head design through the Second World War and even introduced several aircraft engines utilizing the head design. Those motors never really saw the war or production but they did break speed and performance records for aircraft. They were basically abandoned with the coming of jet age.

The late 40's and early 50's saw American car manufacturers introduce horsepower wars. Prominent players were GM/Cadillac, GM/Oldsmobile and Hudson. Hudson, working with their straight 6 engine won the early NASCAR stock car championship several times in the early 50's.

Chrysler introduced its hemispherical head engine in 1951 as a 331 cubic inch engine. It almost immediately surpassed all the other manufacturers in horsepower. Each Division except Plymouth quickly followed; with the DeSoto offering a 276 cu. in. hemi and Dodge in late '52 with a 241 cu.in. hemi. Chrysler entered stock car racing and was almost immediately champion. By 1955 DeSoto was at 291 cu. in., Chrysler was 331 cu.in. Depending on whose history you look at Chrysler, had the first passenger car with 300 horsepower. They capitalized on that with the model name Chrysler 300. In '56 the Chrysler motor grew to 354, DeSoto to 330 and Dodge 315 cu. in.. By '57 Chrysler was 392, DeSoto 345 and Dodge 325. By 1958 all the hemispherical head engines were gone as they were big, heavy and expensive to produce.

Chrysler reintroduced the HEMI engine in 1964 as a 426 cu. in. motor. It was an all in racing motor variously known as King Kong in its early years and later as the Elephant motor due to its weight and size.  It was instantly a winner at Daytona taking the first three positions in the Daytona 500 in 1964. It became the basis for all TOP FUEL and FUNNY CARS through today.

The 1956 DeSoto 330 came in two basic variants. The two barrel (2) carburetor version and a two (2)
four barrel carburetor version. Both of my cars were of the two barrel versions. Aftermarket performance parts for this motor were and are virtually nonexistent. There some parts for the Dodge motors and a huge aftermarket for the Chrysler motors. So if I wanted performance for my build what do I do? Chrysler hemi? Very expensive either used, rebuilt or new. What about the big block 383, 400, 413, 426 or 440 cubic inch Chrysler motors? Parts availability is very good but cost is HIGH compared to Chevy and Ford motors. I priced out MANY different motor scenarios for the Chevy, Ford, Hemi and building a Mopar big block after I knew the body repairs and body mounts were viable as I described in "LOOKIN UP".  Again, I stuck with the something "different" idea but all MOPAR.

While my son was home from school, he came to me and said look what I found on the internet, on EBAY. What he showed me was a 1996 Dodge Viper Generation 2 motor with 5600 miles on it salvaged from a wreck. It was complete, top to bottom, including clutch, pressure plate, bell housing, wiring, computer, engine harness and body harness and one header. There was no guarantee but the seller verified the motor was unhurt and running.when salvaged. He had intended to build a race car but had changed plans and was now selling. We bid twice, staying low, and did not expect to win. We had researched, on line, salvage yards specializing in performance car salvage; what similar Viper, Corvette, Camaro, Challenger and Mustang motors were being sold for. We won the bid! Boy was that a HARD NUT to sell my wife!!!!!!!!!

A new Chevy, Ford or Mopar crate motor would have been roughly about $500. cheaper and still would have required wiring, computer, carburation, headers etc. Pictures of our "crate" motor, motor mounts and various stages of installation follow.

Our "crate" motor as shipped. Not shown is the motor wiring harness, and car/body harness, ECM and PCM, which came in separate packaging. Nearly 100 % of the online sold motors included ONLY the motor. No accessories, pumps, a/c units, wiring, coil packs etc. This purchase was complete top to bottom!
That't what made such a buy!.






The one of the motor mounts welded in and before painting, with motor installed. I was told later by Chrysler engineers that I had assembled the mount backwards!  More on that a little later. The engine shop that helped with this work gave some really BAD advice which nearly cost me the engine and thousands of $$. They said I did not need an engine oil cooler. It was OK to plug the line fittings. Turns out plugging the line fittings partially starved the engine of oil and caused damage when we did get to the point of running. The engine and transmission had to be pulled, torn down and repaired.  This cost me a full year plus and $$$$!              




The motor as installed. Note the "high tech" 2" x 4" spreader bar and chains for lifting the engine. I used 1/8" x 3" heavy metal flat stock and loops welded to it. Then drilled the flat bar to match the header bolt holes and bolted the bars in place. The "spreader" keeps the chain from crushing the valve covers. Found out much
 later there are lift points on the engine for installing hooks. Early
Viper headers had a two piece headers. You removed the "elbow"
 turn out and used the header as the lifting point.

 Viper headers have a nearly 90 degree turn out to get the exhaust pipes to the rocker panel area for the Bonneville/ Ford Cobra "lake pipe style"for the exhaust.. For a straight back setup, the turn outs had to be cut off. With professional welding help you can see the 3" stainless pipes attached to the cast headers.

Both DeSoto motors were sold. One locally, to a builder, and the other to a DeSoto restorer in Georgia.
I had been looking for a DeSoto Adventurer dual quad 2x4 carburator manifold for over a year when just a few weeks after the Viper purchase a man called and said he had one!. The price was SO cheap I could not let it pass! Only about 4,000 were made in '56-'57! I made a few $$ by including it with the engine going to Georgia.

Ok, we have motor. What about a transmission? Automatic or stick? To me was almost a no brainer! A Viper is stick shift. Through my early teen years stick shift was dying out, BUT, the "most desired factory "muscle" cars had stick shift. Shopping around, a new Tremec T-56 6 speed for a Viper would be about $3 to $4 K. I located one on line from salvage with 26 miles on it! I got one DIRT CHEAP! It came from an '06 Dodge Ram 1500 Pick up SRT 10 with Viper engine. It will cause headaches which I'll cover a little later. A picture of the "crate" transmission follows.

To get everyhing into the car we eventually"gave up" and cut the floor. I had saved an overlarge piece of floor from the 4 door car which was trimmed down, bent slightly and overlapped for attachment. In this later picture,you can see a black border which is flat stock welded in for reinforcement, drilled and tapped to install the removable floor section.
You can also see the partially installed Viper adjustable clutch, brake, gas pedals and rotating control knob hanging down.
Once the front clip (fenders, core support and inner fenders were installed) the only way to remove the engine and transmission is to separate
the transmission from the bell-housing,
then the bell-housing, clutch and pressure plate
then the engine. Adds a ton of hours and expense
which came into play when the engine had to be
repaired.

In the foreground of this picture you can see the transmission mounting cross-member and behind it the and to the sides the X member which was fabricated during the frame modifications.

This picture shows another view of the transmission cross-member with the transmission installed.










Now I need a rear end. Ford 9 inch is the most popular rear end with lots of gearing possibilities and aftermarket parts. BUT, this is a Chrysler product! Chrysler used Dana rear ends for many of their muscle cars and heavy duty pick ups and vans. I found a Dana 60 4.10 posi-traction unit from a salvaged 1999 Dodge Ram 1 Ton Van. Dana 60's are very large, heavy and the ring gear is 9.75 inches. Bigger and stronger than the Ford. It came with an inspection certificate saying it was mechanically ok. A picture follows which shows the new flanges, axles and extra long stud bolts.
Many Chrysler products have offset center sections for reasons unknown to me. To make this rear end work, I had the housing cut down on one side and added to on the other to match the old DeSoto rear end. Then new axles were ordered from after market suppliers along with new end plates. The end plates in this conversion are commonly Ford pattern and include better heavy duty Ford "big end bearings and  studs.

What is not shown is the drive shaft. I some how failed to take a picture of that component. It is all black, 3 inches in diameter. Of course there is a tale of woe for it. There is a shop locally that makes custom drive shafts as well repairing them. The owner happens to live a few streets over and volunteered to come over one evening and measure for proper length; and kind of check out what I'm building. After all the specs were laid out, I went to the shop and made the order. An employee wrote everything up. Occasionally people don't listen carefully and make mistakes. That happened I guess. The splined universal they ordered came in, was welded in and the shaft was done.... BUT it was the wrong one. The engine is 1996 the transmission a 2006. DIFFERENT transmission different, different output shaft. We came VERY close to wrecking the transmission when it was started. The drive shaft universal was just floating inside the transmission supported by the oil seal and the transmission shaft was rotating inside. To understand this take  your thumb and first finger and make a circle. Take a finger from your other hand and insert in the circle and spin it.Had either part slightly misaligned the they would have ground each other to  pieces. Only the transmission oil  seal kept them aligned and away from disaster. After I figured out why the wheels weren't spinning I had to remove the shaft, they had to cut the shaft, get a new part and redo it.  TWICE! The second one was the wrong part as sent by MOPAR parts. It would not go on. Remove again, haul back again etc. Third time was the charm!!

NO DRIPS, NO RUNS, NO ERRORS or CHAIRS, BLOCKS & LADDERS

Hey it's another season of baseball... thought the "title" would fit, and may be the Indians will win the World Series this year.

First, A WARNING!!!!! DON"T BUY DuPont Chroma System Paints  or new company Axalta paint!!!!!!! Long story short, if you breath on it IT CHIPS!!!!!!!!!

Long story, I have used PPG paints my entire life for car painting. Never had a problem other than what I did wrong. as I learned to paint a car. The usual runs, drips, sags, orange peel and over spray. In this case the PPG paints I would have used and SHOULD have used would have cost about $3,500.! I should have bit the bullet and paid the price. Being new to the area, I found out later that the local dealer was adding a very large premium to his prices. I should have looked and shopped around. A dealer 20 miles away would have been cheaper. The only other local paint dealer being a DuPont dealer had the paints  for $1,750.00. I went cheap after his assurances that the paint was every bit as good as the PPG. In mixing, blending and spraying, etc. it worked like the PPG paints. It was only during reassembly that it became apparent that the paint has NO DURABILITY, CHIP RESISTANCE or even bump resistance. Wherever the trunk, doors, trim and etc. touched, bumped or were drawn up by bolts there are chips. I taped all edges, joints, seams etc during fitting and reassembly. When I removed the tape there were chips! As the car sits now, it nearly needs repainted and has not even been on the road!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing I can say good about the paint is that the color is fantastic. But that is probably due to my color choice; Dodge Viper Brilliant Blue Pearl and Cadillac Diamond White Pearl.

ENOUGH of my rant!

I can't even begin to teach you how to paint a car.  So.... It took me all summer to prepare the body for painting. I did just like the TV shows: filling, smoothing, straightening sanding, priming and SWEATING: ALOT, to the tune that I lost better than twenty (20) pounds! Not that it hurt me! I did learn one thing. This car has large body panels without stamped body lines or accent lines. All it has is a slight curve or radius. No matter how hard (or soft) I tried, the panels would flex slightly, so could never sand to get a flat, straight surface regardless of how much filler was applied or sanded. I basically gave up.

How do I paint everything in a home garage, and to boot, do it in two (2) tone?

What we discovered during the disassembly was that some of the small sections of the car had "layers" of sheet metal that were held in place by clips, screws and body trim. That was how the factory did the two tone paint schemes. The small pieces were painted the alternate color and assembled in place. I can only guess how the factory did the large sections, but here's how I did it.

I had to cover and mask the car body below the roof line then paint the roof three (3) times. Base coat, pearl coat and clear coat. I had never painted a roof before and the car stands roughly five (5) feet tall. How the heck do I reach up that high without dragging my arm, spray gun, and the air hose on the roof or not touch the roof? I don't! I used several step ladders, 2" x 10"s and laid a "platform" around the perimeter of the body and "walked the plank." It worked reasonably well. Just be careful of the footing, openings and especially hose position. Sorry no pics of that.

Then how do I two tone the main body? Tons of tape, newspaper, old tarps and plastic drop clothes.  I followed the body trim line holes for masking. I figured the body trim pieces would basically split the line of the holes so I half masked them and had nice straight lines to follow. Apply the paint, base, pearl and clear coat. Let thoroughly dry, remove masking, and re-mask everything in reverse, for the other color.

 Prepped for white pearl. The top is done and covered.

Body prepped for white.

Body sections in blue.

The body in blue partially done. Quarter panels are in primer at this point.












Okay, that took care of the body, now what about the hood, fenders, inner fenders, trunk lid, doors nose piece and the other bits and pieces? Not having a spray booth and all the attendant holders, carts etc. What to do? One articulating ladder for door holder, some hand made hangers over the rungs, two (2) large tables for doors and parts, peg board garage wall with tarp for the hood, patio lawn chairs with concrete blocks to balance and raise fenders and overhead garage door tracks with heavy wire bent to support inner fenders and other pieces.

 The hood hung on the wall. It is said that pearls and metallic paints come out better if painted vertically. Less likely to tiger strip if you see it better.

 Doors on tables for back side and edge painting.

Radiator and fender inner supports.

Inner fender/ wheels, doors on tables in background.

 Fenders prepped for blue, white area masked out,

Back side of fenders. Note the patio chairs, masked and on concrete blocks. Back side of fenders are masked. There are also blocks on the chair seat to balance the weight of the fender.

 Fender in blue.

 Fender re-masked for the white arrow.

Doors "hung" on the ladder.

 Door done in blue with stripe still  masked over.

 Door re-masked for white stripe.

 Door is complete. Note the trim holes that were used to "draw" the paint lines.

 Body rolled out of the "paint booth." Arial view.

 Side view of the body.

JACKED UP!

After the body was sandblasted, epoxy primed and truck bed liner were sprayed I tackled the frame as previously described in FRAMED.  It may seem like a simple operation to switch the old frame with the modified one but it wasn't.

I had to figure out how to lift the body off the frame, roll out the old chassis, roll the "new chassis" in, and then lower the body back down and hit the body mount holes and studs. I could not use my rotisserie as I had made no provisions to make a body only connection to the rotisserie. Remember the pictures? I used the frame for all the lifting.

After more looking and measuring I decided to make some 4" X 4 ''s with 2"x 4" I had laying around. I planned on laying them on concrete blocks crosswise under the body. The "stacks" had to be outside the width of the body to clear the tires. It very quickly became obvious that would not work as the 4" x 4" lift points would crush the fenders and rockers.

I had to make some small 4"x 4" blocks and lay them on the crosswise 4" x 4"s and against the flat side of the body panels so they were in contact with the flat floor and as close as possible to reinforcing mounts or body mount connections.. Then, I had to make one short 4"x 4" to lay crosswise on the floor jack and fit between the frame rails and span the transmission tunnel gap. As usual, it was lift the front, then back, lay in concrete block and the 4" x 4"s back to front back and forth!

 As can be seen in the pictures I used 16 concrete blocks, four to each stack. It looked like everything was going well until my first attempt at rolling the chassis out! The trunk has a large well in the floor for the spare tire to sit in, in a near vertical position. The right rear wheel hit the spare well and obviously when the front wheel got there it would too!! More lifting and jacking! By now I was out of suitable 4"x 4" blocks so I scrounged our kindling piles and found 2" x 4"s and stacked 4 pieces at each point. A little wobbly.... but they worked. Out came the old chassis and in went the new!

Then work everything in reverse... lifting and jacking.  Before lowering the body I put new rubber body mount/ isolation "donuts" on the frame mounts. Surprise surprise! I got the "new chassis" within a fraction of an inch and was able align everything up with a little levering.

All jacked up!

INCOMING!!!!

SCARED TOWING!

Coming off the rotisserie we were finally ready to have the body sand blasted. We rolled the car out, still on the old frame, and hooked it up. Not sure how it would tow and track so we towed the car around the neighborhood. Everything went okay. So off we went to the sandblasters, about ten miles away.

Everything went well.

Two (2) days later it was ready to come home, so off we went again. The weather reports for the day were threatening rain late in the afternoon. My son and I got within a couple of miles from home and everything kind of went south!

We came up to a traffic light and made a right turn and the tow bar snapped and bent at a right angle!! BAD NEWS! Fortunately, I guess, there was a business drive with a lot of room, an unpaved drive and grass just ahead. I pulled over and parked. I ran inside and got got permission to "disconnect" and leave the car while we raced home to bend and weld the tow bar back into shape.

Once home there was no torch so we had to beat the bent section back into shape and use the sheet metal welding wire to effect a repair. It was the only wire I had left! I laid a number of welds one over the other. It look like CRAP! What else could I do? 

Off we went back to hook up and retrieve the car. We got all hooked  up proceeded very slowly. For the first mile it was a straight line with one stop sign. We were crawling with the four way flashers on. Traffic was light. Then we got to the main road, a three lane medium to heavy traffic road and a right turn required to continue! Yeah, it did it again! SNAP!!!

There are business along there, so again we maneuvered in. I knew we could not fix the draw bar with the weather threatening, so I convinced my son to sit in the open body and steer the car to follow the truck. I showed him and had him try the steering to understand it would take some real effort to turn it. I assured him we would be safe going slow and if the bar failed the worst that could happen would be the car slowly bumping into the back of the truck! 

He had to sit on the floor, peering out over the windshield frame and muscling the steering wheel to keep the car in line with the truck!!! I drove with one eye on the rear view mirrors and the other on the road, headlights and flashers on! Roughly half a mile up the road was a traffic light with a left turn lane with an incline, a less busy two lane road and mile from our house. The car tracked reasonably straight to the left and he was able to complete the turn. We managed to get the car home with a final left turn onto our street then a straight line to our house. My son was scared, but he did it!

As we were unhooking the car and preparing to roll it into the garage it started to sprinkle. We grabbed a camera and shot a picture or two and shoved it in .

Later we did an inspection, cleaning and vacuuming the sand and found one (1) small hole in the body that opened during the sand blasting. I spent several days cleaning and epoxy priming the body. As well as repairing and patching the hole, Later, I sprayed the under side, passenger compartment floor and trunk with truck bed liner. Had to buy a special gun and outside air temps effected the spraying. Instructions, in fine print, three pages in said 70 degrees or less!!!   Got the idea from a TV show. Later still, I the did the front inner wheel well liners and interior of the front fenders.

It never did rain that afternoon or evening.

Prepping to leave for the sandblast shop everything all hooked up.
                                                                                                                                              

Different angle of the car and tow bar.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

We made it! The car as it came home from the
sandblasters.

                                                                                  

                                                                                  A different view of the car as it came home.                                                                                Look carefully at the draw bar.                 

The draw bar after after it was removed. We were done towing so it was cut up for scrap.
















                               
                                                                A close up of the failed weld.                        

FLIPPIN" & FLOPPIN"

As I wrote earlier the assembled rotisserie's overall length when bolted to the chassis would leave the back of the rotisserie outside the garage wall. I had to add a 2 x 4 to the rear frame cross member to get the rotisserie lift to clear the trunk body flange..Once the car was in, and bolted to the lift arms, I nailed up an old boat tarp across the door opening to keep everything dry. 

I lifted the car using the floor jacks and winches moving from end to end to balance everything and keep the column lift sleeves from binding. They never did bind, but this was all new to me. The winches were strong enough to lift the car and hold it in position, but safety said use both. Once the body was in the air the main column was through bolted at both ends to assure it did not drop. I had made column base to column base floor connectors to keep everything aligned. I had not drilled them to secure them for proper length. That was a mistake. The columns kept trying to kick out at the base as I rotated the car. I had to use the 8 lb sledge hammer to keep them "adjusted" to proper length. As mentioned earlier, the vertical columns wanted to rock left and right; forward and back, due to the slip fit "slop" in the connector sleeves. The sleeve tolerance movement was about 1/16th inch but it compounded in height and width. I was always a little wary! 

As can be seen in the pictures, I did not quite get the lift arms bolted to the chassis for a clean rotation and full 90 degree rotation. Rather than play around I just worked as is. I also failed to get a proper height set up which limited the rotation with reference to the floor and the overhead garage doors. Again, it was positioned well enough to work, although it meant crawling and kneeling on the floor while repairing the inner wheel wells. 

The rotisserie allowed me to better access the underside floor for welding and grinding. It provided access to the back, flat side of the rocker panels and, with the rear wheels removed, full access to the inner wheel well flanges and skin. As the picture shows, I had to piece meal the curved arch of the inner wheel well skin. It also required very careful cutting with the cut off wheel to avoid cutting the outer fender skin. I also missed another hidden repair on the body mounts just in front of the rear wheel frame arch until the body was sand blasted, I am still a little puzzled by that one.

There is a hand machine tool set called a shrinker/stretcher which would have allowed me to do a one or two piece replacement but at the time they were VERY expensive. You can buy them now at HF very reasonably.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Roughly one and half (1 1/2) tons up 3 feet.

Flipped better than 45 degrees.

                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                Passenger side inner wheel well and flange with                                                                                       pieces welded into position. Note how close to the                             floor the body is.

FRAMED

In the five plus years it took to get to this point I had investigated what to do with front and rear brakes, a modern suspension and steering including power steering. During the course of the deconstruction of both cars we also found that the "good car" had been given a back yard repair. Cheap angle iron was welded top and bottom to the driver side frame rail just behind the rear wheel arch. 

At least part of the solution was sitting right in front of me. My Dodge Dakota pickup truck. No, I did not cut up my truck! I earlier mentioned many hotrod builders were using S-10 and Ranger truck frames and suspensions, as well as Mustang II front subs to upgrade their builds with more modern components and more readily available parts.

I crawled under my truck many times dreaming, measuring and figuring and just as many times measuring the DeSoto frame. As near as I could measure, a Dakota front sub would fit within a fraction of an inch.

I sort of half searched leaving my name and needs at a number of junkyards. After the body became viable I found a 2000 Dodge Dakota frame suitable for our project. The yard cut the frame extra long at my direction and I hauled it home. The sub-frame included the frame, front suspension and power steering rack and pinion. It did not include the disc brake components. All Dodge Dakotas used a six (6) bolt wheel pattern. It just happened that I had spiked snow tires and wheels for my truck.

Somewhere along the line and researching, I also found a few interesting facts about the Viper and Dodge Dakota relationship. It seems that Chrysler used parts from from existing car and truck lines to build the early Vipers. Depending on the source, some suspension, brake, spindle and wheel parts were used from the Dodge Dakota Truck line.

Knowing my welding skills and my 130 volt welder capabilities on heavy metal, I decided it would be best to seek outside help for the modifications. I found a local shop with many years of racing chassis repair and fabrication who was willing to under take the work. I gave him my sketches and dimensions and towed the frame from the parts car to his shop along with the "sub". I used a homemade tow-bar set up to bolt up to the bumper bracket frame horns.

The shop let me watch, but no pictures. First, he created a level support frame shaped like a capital "I". The top and bottom wings of the "I" caught the frame and acted as a table. "Devil's Horns" were added at the top of the "I" catching the DeSoto frame horns. We dropped the rear end so there be no imbalance when the front was cut. Then we measured everything making sure the wheel base would be correct. After layout, we decided that the Dakota section would best match up the DeSoto frame just about at the fire wall. Both frames were cut to length and positioned on the table

This location forced the removal of the transmission and frame support cross member. The cuts were made and the sections ground, joined, clamped, butted together and TIG welded. The inside frame rail weld was ground flat. For additional strength, a diamond shaped plate was heated, hammered to shape and overlaid (fish-plated) on the inside frame rail over the weld and TIG welded in. With the removal of the structural cross member we decided to add an X member of smaller heavy square steel tube with a drive shaft loop to maintain frame strength. A modified S piece was also added on the underside of the frame rails following the DeSoto/Dakota frame curve for reinforcement.

The radiator core support was removed from the DeSoto frame and welded into position on the Dakota frame. Lastly, the Dakota frame "horns" where the bumper brackets would attach were "Z" cut to avoid structure and provide strength and the corresponding DeSoto "horns" were cut to match and welded into place  

 Seen leaning against the garage wall is the homemade draw bar I used to tow the car frame to and from the shop. The modified frame is lifted for initial cleaning and temporary rust proofing, The frame alterations were done the summer of '06. I am the person pointing out features of the rotisserie to my wife's brother-in-law.






What is left of the parts car and the frame. Note: I have not yet removed the A frames from firewall when this picture was taken.

 The driver side frame joint. We were all taken by surprise at how well the Dakota frame matched up to the DeSoto frame. Note the forward most body mount "ear."

 Looking carefully, you can see the diamond plate reinforcement on the joint. This was after primer was applied to the frame. Looking just to the left of the rotisserie leg two (2) large holes are visible. That is the radiator core support pad.
The shot also shows some of the Dakota suspension and steering rack.

Looking from underneath to the passenger side, suspension components, steering rack and etc. Center left, on top of the cross member, the underside of the radiator core support with one bolt hole visible.

This picture, taken at a later date, shows the body mounted on the modified and painted frame. Shown is the transmission support cross piece and the permanent X cross member and drive shaft loop.














Later on I towed the frame to the sandblasters using the draw bar. Everybody asks me why a silver frame. Remember what I said about painting the '88 Sable? I Por 15'd the frame after the sandblasting and had a quart of left over silver poly from the Sable.... silver frame!!