Rolling out for a little bit of sunshine

Work has been slow, but I was able to roll the Dodge out in the sun today. I wanted to turn it round so I could start setting the motor up in it properly. . . and yes. . . Cut the fire wall!
Seeing it in the sunshine has given me a little more ambition to get it up and happening.

Small progress

Not a lot to report as I've been working on the Valiant trying to get it ready for the "Chopped" car show. Unfortunately it's no where near ready!
I have tried to mock the motor up in the engine bay to see how it fits. Bad news is I have to recess the fire wall. I was hoping I wouldn't have to.

I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

The front end is now set to the correct height for the car. I will need to invest in some new springs that will give the L300 front a 2" drop. If notched out the front end and it's sitting nice and straight. The next thing to do is to trim out the allowance for the angle brackets that need to be made up to bolt it in.
I had to put the guards and lights back on just to see how it all sat. The guards will need to be modified on the inside as the shocker towers on either side are stopping the guards sitting correctly.

I picked up a new Cowl and fire wall on E-bay. This one has the sills under the front doors still attached. Structurally it's also very good. The rust down the bottom of the cowl is only the outside skin and not the structural part behind. The original one was completely rusted through down the bottom.
And the Mortein can? I started cleaning the back of the fire wall and found an ants nest in it!

Front End

Starting to try and set up the front end. The L200 stub axles are in. I had to put some old ford rims on as the Dodge 20" wheels wouldn't fit as the central hub is too big. This is another one for the research file.
The original mounting brackets on the front end will need to be cut out as the chassis only sits half way over them. Also the front end needs to bought up about another 40mm. I can't go any higher as the original front cross member won't let it.

The original bonnet strips were extremely rusted and in need of replacing. I made a paper template of the original, drew it up in autocad, had it laser cut then folded and I finished it off with rolling the top edge. Total price to fabricate. . . . $16

Front Seat

Front seat in place with the original timber floor in front of it. The floor will be replaced with ply down the track. The hole in the middle of the seat is for the "tool box". On the original dodges, this is where all the tools were kept, e.g jack, etc.