1971 Speedipus Rex by dangina

7 minute(s) of a 251 minute read

7-3-2013

been busy working lots of overtime, bought a acreage, but haven't stopped working on the car - just slowed down. I'll start with the rear spoiler and what I have found:

I did some reasearch and found out that the 69 spoiler was longer but no one knew how by how much. So I bought one anyways and here is what I have found out:

the 69 spoiler came in and its exactly 2" longer - just the length I need! although the 68 spoiler is almost a 1/4" taller in height, they are the same width in the base. The mounting holes are suppose to be the same, except it all depends on who fiberglassed them in place and where. I had to file each hole a bit, or alot, to make it fit but it was close. Pics for those who are interested:

67-68 top

69 bottom

67-68 top length

69 bottom

67-68 height

69 height

67-68 rear decklid

69 rear decklid

On to the back of the car:

I welded a nut on the inside to prevent the seal from coming forward(not that it should, just some added insurance)

I made this up so the welds won't harm the seal:

welded a backbrace on the rear end, I also welded on 4 1/2" npt bungs - one for putting in oil, on for a drain, the other two for a rear diff pump/cooler down the road if I ever want to do one - this just saves me time doing it later:

doctor diff eaton true track 3:55 gears! 408 casing:

front leaf spring hanger, welded them up for extra strength:

I let the car rest on the springs for a few weeks before I did this install - I'm running sliders and wanted the leafs to settle before I put them in:

I should also mention the the mounting point on the rear leaf springs are about a 1/2" out (20.5" instead of 20" front segment, this also confirmed with the ones brad bought from his challenger) coupled with the thicker bracket moves your rear wheels back about 3/4" total. This also increases your wheel base which is good for better stability at higher speeds like roadraces but not so for the agility aspect. That and it may lmake your tire look funny in the wheel well a little bit. I don't have the wheels mounted yet, if it bugs me enough I may have to do what brad did and weld up the front holes on the front leaf spring bracket and drill out the holes where I want them.

lined up where they will be (black line indicating where the sliders should be):

Drilled some extra holes for welding:

showed my boy what I was working on:

now I came with two problems with the sliders first was that the metal sleeve that came with the sliders was a about a size or two bigger than the one the fiberglass leaf springs came with so I had to dremel the poly a little bit before I get them pressed in

and second the washers that come with the sliders are two thick (you can only get one in and it was tight) so I dremel the outside in a taper so I can run the thinner, smaller washers on the inside:

I ended drilling out the center of these washers to make it work

went to install the hewig sway bar, they give you this piece that you have to weld on one side and it has this huge spacer on the other side - I thought that was stupid why didn't they just give you the length you need and weld it on both sides with washers to make it stronger? so thats what I did:

helwig way top:

my way bottom:

When it was time to mount the sway bar to the rear axle, the Helwig bar utilizes Ubolts to mount the lower brakets. I forgot that I welded the backbrace on so I couldn't utilize them, so out came the welder again:

installed Dr.Diff 11.7" rear brake kit and hotchkis rear shocks

now onto the front!!!

I may have to reconsider switching all my cars to 11x2.5" drums and start looking at Dr. Diffs disk conversion.

the price is right and they came with everything you need, cass is a good man to talk to and even had the patience to answer any question I had