Convertible Conversion

Trying to figure out who did the convertible conversion on our 1979 400 (S/N 25785). Does this chassis reinforcement or top design look familiar to anyone?
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Hi Mitch, been a long time. Yeah, we finally decided to pull it all apart and fix the leaks and freshen it up a bit...not looking for concours, just a solid driver. Rear suspension and differential/torque tube came out this weekend. Next is the trans and then we can start working on getting the motor out. I probably should do a build thread and post up some more pictures.

 

So I'm going to try to post updates and some of our better pictures during this rebuild. The main purpose of this project is to fix all of the fluid leaks and replace the rattling cam chain that appears to be near the end of it's available adjustment. In addition, all of the suspension bushings are in rough shape so they will be replaced too. As I mentioned before, we aren't looking for a concours quality restoration but we want a good driver.

The first thing we did was remove the hood for better access. We then removed the air filters and boxes...a huge pain that will probably be replaced with individual air filters. The carbs came off next so we could do a compression test without any obstructions or pouring fuel into the cylinders. Compression was good at 185-195 psi across all 12 cylinders.
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The next step was to remove the chassis support from the convertible conversion (see pictures in the original post) so that we could get access to drop the differential, torque tube, and transmission. As long as we are doing the suspension bushings, we decided to just go ahead and get the rear suspension completely out of the way before removing the differential.
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That was one of the things we liked because I'm comfortable working on carbs.

 

It's on a quickjack lift . Very useful but we should have gotten the one with the extra length. I have a feeling the air box decision will be made later but there is something to be said about the sound of carbs sucking air through individual filters.

 

We're not really tracking time as we are going slow and trying to document everything carefully so we can put it back together. That said, I think we're probably about 25-30 hours into it and we'll track more going forward.

 

So I'm having a tough time figuring out if I should pull the motor with the trans attached or if I should drop the trans first. Getting to the bolts holding the trans to the engine is proving to be a bit difficult, but it's hard to tell if there is even enough clearance to pull it out as a combined unit. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

Seemed like a whole bunch of nothing accomplished today...really struggling to get at the bolts holding the trans to the engine. I'm starting to think I need to get everything off the front of the engine so I can rotate the trans down a bit to access the bolts.

Managed to get the headers off and found an interesting surprise...there was a puddle of coolant in one of them and it looks like it is coming from the exhaust port on cylinder #10. I'm not even sure how that's possible yet, but I have a feeling we've found another "while you're at it" situation.

The headers look like they were butchered by someone trying to put on an air injection system that was later capped off. I'm not sure if this can be removed and patched or if we need to start looking for replacements. If you look at the picture, you can see how much of the exhaust is obstructed by this.
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We were wondering if it might be a Straman, but we haven't found any markings or name plates and I'd think those guys would have labeled everything. Is there a common place for them to put a production plate?

 

So this weekend we stripped everything off of the front of the engine (see photo, more later) and were able to tilt it back so we could access the bolts holding the transmission to the engine. Even with the added clearance, they were tough but we got them out. As soon as the last bolt was out, that trans separated from the engine easily and we lowered it to the floor and dragged it out from under the car. Next step is to confirm we have to disconnect any other wiring and then lift the motor out. However, before we do that we will need to build an engine stand so we can work on it.
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Wow. I didn't realize it's been so long since I updated this thread. The engine is out and mostly disassembled at this point. We are working on cleaning parts and deciding exactly what will be replaced. I'll dig through my phone and post up some pictures.

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Got it out, now to figure out a stand.



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Two stands from Harbor Freight and some metal plates and bolts from Home Depot and we have the engine on a rolling stand.



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