TC's T/C wagon....

[thrashingcows]

TC's T/C wagon....300 grill install

Thought I'd start a thread on my 68 Chrysler Town and Country wagon.

I'll give you some history and what I've been up too and where it's going.

Too Start History,

The car was bought brand new in Yakima WA and was still in the original owners hands up until around 2001-2002, when the woman finally passed away. The car was then left to the/a son through the estate and since he had no need for it, it ended up on e-bay as a 67,000 rust free running and driving factory 440/auto wagon.

It was then bought buy a guy in Portland OR and was drivin from Yakima WA to Potland OR were this owner then pulled the original motor and tranny for his Duster race car. It was then Re-e-bayed and a fellow from Wyoming bought it and brought it from Portland to Wyoming.

It was then that I was looking for a rust free 68 T/C wagon, and through a want ad online this guy contacted me in August 2005. I bought the car and he let me store it on his potatoe farm until spring 2006. We then worked out a deal and he transported the car from Wyoming to Seattle WA were I picked it up and brought it across the border into BC Canada.

It was then stored in a shed at my dad's farm until about 6 months ago when I finally got the garage cleared up enough at my place to bring it home.

How the car was ordered, 1968 T/C wagon, 6 pass, 440/4bbl/350HP, auto, Dual exhaust, A/C, power steering, power drum brakes, rear window washer system (rare), electric rear window, 14inch wheels, and deluxe 3 spoke steering wheel. And that's about it for options. The car is almost criminal it's so rust free, Yakima Wa is in Eastern WA and is High desert so the car is rust free.

SO my plans for the ol' girl are such...I have pulled the motor and trans from the donor 71 300 and got the car running and driving so I can get it inspected to register it in BC, hope to have it ready by spring for this. Then I will probably drive it this way next year and then next fall it will go back in the garage and I'll pull the motor and trans and go through everything.

I will then rebuild motor and tranny, High flow manifolds with 2 1/2 inch exhaust with dynomax super turbo mufflers, and removable pipes for 2 high flow cat's for our emissions test every year. I will rebuild front and rear suspension, with KYB shocksd all around and rear sway bar. Upgrade the braking system, 73 C-body disc brakes and new booster and master cylinder, 11x3 rear drums for now and rear disc eventually. The motor will get a spread bore intake with a Demon sizzler Thermoquad, and will be running a HEI style dizzy and modern Denso high AMP alternator. Will be running stock style rad, for now, with electric fans. Upgrade the A/C system with Sanden compressor and new componets under the hood and eventually install a rear A/C system in the car. Also be installing the cruise system from the 71 300 as well.

Interior will get the driver seat back fixed, torn from original elderly owner using it to climb in and out. I will be installing a 200KPH metric speedo I am getting from a friend in Holland. Eventually I will install modern electric windows and door lock, and modern sound system.

Car will be lowered about 1-2 inches and I'll be running 20x9 inch rims with 255/(35 or 40)20's all around. replace all the woodgrain with new decals for now but eventually I would like to get the woodgrain either painted or airbrushed.

That will do it for now but I'm sure many more things will happen along the way.

Some pics from when I brought it home April of 2006...

Back in October 2007....

Here are the before pics,

Arriving Home!!

Nose in the air...lack of a motor and tranny will do that.

Hey who stole my 440/auto???

Sleep 12 cargo area.

 

[thrashingcows]

Here is some pics of the 71 300 that donated it's 440/auto etc to the cause...I got the car for $500 after knowing about it sitting under a tree for over 10 years. I put in a new battery, WD40 down the carb as I cranked it and it fired on the 10+year old gas....

 

[thrashingcows]

While I was waiting to work on the ol' girl I had been buying schtuff for the car.

New Repro Washer bottle
New inner splash shields
New K&N air cleaner
Nice used 3 speed wiper switch
New 73 newport, caliper, brake pads, inner and outer bearings
New front and rear flex. brake lines
New batt. hold down brakets
New OEM 69 C-body battery cables
New NOS A/C vacuum switch
New Timing chain
New Oil pump
New Windage tray

Will be ordering the woodgrain decals, U-joints, corbin clamps etc soon....

I also have tons of stuff I have bought over the last couple years as well, gasket sets, intake, carb, New booster, master cylinder, NOS lights and lenses, rear grab handles, rear bumper steps, roof rack, radio delete plate, Better steering wheel center cap, etc, etc My shed is packed with stuff.

I also Have a complete front end rebuild kit and KYB shocks, Well I decided to order up a ScareBird rear disc brake brackets for the 8 3/4.

I have ordered the Lincoln rear rotors, cadillac rear calipers and pads and that about does it for the conversion....think I'll be into everything for about $350-400 when done and installed.

 

[thrashingcows]

Now here are a few pics of the swap...Done during November/December 2007

Well finally got around to pulling the motor and tranny out of the 71 300 and they are now resting nicely in the wagon!!!

Now here are a few pics of the swap...

Motor and tranny came out with no major problems, other than an exhaust stud on each head snapped off....Doooh Will worry about those next winter when I pull the motor for a rebuild.

Here's a pic of the engine bay before....

And after....

The motor and tranny just dropped in with almost no effort at all, I really believe the ol' girl was grateful to have a motor and tranny back in her and was helping the best way she could.
I've done other motor and tranny jobs were I have had to fight tooth and nail to get the motor mounts to line up and than to line up the tranny, this was almost too easy...

Here's a pic of the ol' girl still up in the air, but motor and tranny are bolted in and secure.

Now I got a lot of looks from my neighbours and such, since it was -5C and I was out there pulling motor and tranny.
Then it warmed up to 0C and I had the pressure washer out to blast off the motor.

Now to bolt everything back together and fab up the exhaust and finally move the ol' girl under her own power....CAN"T WAIT!!!!

 

[thrashingcows]

Here's what I've been up too the last couple months since the motor and tranny went in.

Installed the mini starter, built my own main battery cables from junkyard pieces, installed horns and relay....man they don't give you much room to bolt those suckers in.....

Serviced tranny and installed a drain plug, installed new plugs since the manifolds are off.....I had forgot how long it takes to service plugs with the manifolds ON...

Forgot to put the tranny lines in before I bolted the motor in...took some bending and twisting to get them in place...."Mental Note on that one."

Repaired all the dry rotted rubber fuel line pieces and installed 2 fuel filters, one before the fuel pump and one after.

Installed new-er valve cover bolts, removed from mid eighties M-bodies...the ones with the captured triangle metal pieces to distribute the load....thought I'd see if these might help with vavle cover leakage.

I also decided I would hook up the kick down linkage, I assumed everything would be fine since the 71 and 68 are both C-bodies......NOPE....the single rod kickdown style of the 71 does not work on a 68 C-body.....lack of firewall clearance....so now I'm on the hunt for a 68 440 kickdown set-up, got one from a 62 413 and worked perfect!!

I have everything under the hood hooked up, less the A/C lines, just using the compressor as a pulley right now until I can install my new Bouchillion bracket kit for my Sanden compressor and the bouchillion under hood A/C kit.
The motor is read too fire but I have yet to sort out the exhaust and I'm presently working on the rear end. I pulled the original 741 case with 2.94's and have installed a set of 3.23's in a 489 case. Also pulled off the 11x2 rear drums and I am installing 11x2.5's instead, more parts available for these.

So once the rear is done, the drive shaft is in I can finally fill the tranny, and then fab up some temporary exhaust, good enought to get through Gov't insp. and then I can take it in to get NEW dual exhaust installed with my HP manifolds!!

Edited by thrashingcows - 06/Jan/2008 at 1:02AM

 

[thrashingcows]

Here are a couple before and after pics of the rear end,

Before...11x2 brakes with 2.94 gears in a 741 case.

After...11x2.5 brakes with 3.23 gears in a 489 case.

I've also installed new flex line and bled the whole brake system...with my one man home made brake bleeding system....will post a pic in a while.

 

[thrashingcows]

Feb 17-2008

Well a beautiful day here in BC on the LeftCoast..

10-12 degrees C today and sunny and clear!!

I finished up the poorly constructed exhaust last night, cobbled together from existing and junkyard pieces. Goes from 2 1/4" off the manifolds to 2 1/2" collector then goes to 2 1/4" to and through the muffler then to 2" to the rear bumper....

But I only need it to get through inspection before I put the highflows on with new 2 1/2 inch duals!!!

Anyway that was the last thing I needed to do before I could fire it up and take it around the block under it's own power.

Car fired up fine, took awhile for the lifters to pump up though, and then the power steering high pressure line started leaking at the box, not sure why but some chemical resistant Gas fitters tape and it sealed that right up.

So here are a couple pics....

Click for larger image....







You can see in the engine pic that I have rerouted the heater hoses. I used an inner fender heater hose bracket from a 69 A/B body and re bent it and mounted it to one of the inner fender bolt studs. I like having my heater hoses out of the way, and I think it looks better than the factory routing.



Also the air cleaner has been slightly modified as well. I traded a drive shaft for this air cleaner, the guy already removed the single snorkle and so I left it alone, I kind of like the look. But since the motor is a 71 and the aircleaner is 68/69 the valve cover breather is on the wrong side of the motor. I had to use a breather from a mid 70's slant six so at least it looked right for the car. I didn't want to run a hose around behind the motor for the air breather so I bought an after market universal breather nipple and mounted it on the underside of the aircleaner base on the pass side.

You can also see my homemade positive battery cable, I used one off a 78 newyorker and then added and modified it from other junkyard pieces. Once everything lined up I rewrapped it in the factory style cloth tape and it looks very original. IMHO

The car runs fine, nice and smooth and lots of get up and go. But there does seem to be an issue with the brake booster I think. I have almost no power to the pedal while idling it's only after driving so I have enough vacuum to stop the car properly. So I guess I will be installing my new booster and aluminum master cylinder sooner than I thought.

So it was a GOOD DAY for me!!!

 

[thrashingcows]

Feb 24-2008

I have been working on the little things to get the car ready for inspection.

I pulled the front drums off and checked the brakes, they were in great shape. I cleaned and repacked the front bearings and replaced the flex lines as well, the originals were cracking pretty bad.

So I gave the car a bit of a Carb tune up and got the car 20-21 inches of vacuum and the booster seems to work a bit better but if I apply the brakes too much then it goes rock hard.
I didn't realize that it was supposed to be a check valve...I always thought that they were just an open tube to the manifold vacuum. I'll pick up a new one and see if this helps.

I had to replace the turn signal switch today, the original was cracked and falling apart, I had a decent one in a spare steering column from a 69 C-body. So I pulled apart the 69 column to get the turn signal switch out then had to pull the switch out of the wagon. Easier pulling out an old switch then to feed in a new one that's for sure....


So several hours later and a fair amount of disassembly I had the good switch in and working. But then I had fast turn signals on the drivers side and one or maybe two blinks and then nothing on the drivers side. I figured it must be a bad ground so I went through all the lights and checked and cleaned the grounds, still the same....so I decided to check the flasher relay...well it was burnt out on one side of the relay....replaced it with a spare one I had and now everything works perfect!!!

I checked all the lights and only have the pass side fender mounted turn signal that isn't working.

So maybe in a week or so I can get it inspected and then can take it for a real drive!!!

 

[thrashingcows]

March 01-2008

Well the car was almost ready for inspection but I couldn't get the brakes to lock up, or even work properly consistently. Two footin' it sometimes...worked fine other times...

I was rolling back and forth trying to get the brakes to lock up and was two footin' it when I heard vacuum leaking out from under the dash.....well guess I have to replce the booster...may as well do my upgrade while I'm at it.

Anyway pulled the booster and master today....not a bad job...way easier than when I did the booster in my 68 B-body years ago.

So got the system out and went to install my new booster and ooops....it would go all the way in...turns out the newer style booster, which I was told was a direct replacement for my car, has too big a hub on the back side of the booster to clear the hoe in the booster plate and firewall.

Click for larger image



So I had to grind open the hole with the old Dremmel...took an hour or so but eventually I got it to fit properly. Only had to open it about a 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch.

Click for larger image



So if anyone is going to install a newer style booster just beware that you may need to modify things a wee bit.

So since I was installing the new disc brake booster I thought I may as well install my new 2 bolt aluminum master and adapter. There was enough extra brake line to bend them carefully up and forward to mate up with the new master cylinder.

Click for larger image



So everything seems to work good now...it was raining and hailing so I only moved it a few feet forward and back in the garge but it seemd to lock them up pretty easy now!!

Oh I also messed around with my tailgate...rear window would only go up about half way and then stop. I pulled all the weather stripping, some was twisted and bent pretty bad, starightened everything the best I could but it was still binding against the seals.

So I used some heavy pliers into the channel and then pryed them gently open to expand the clearance on the side weatherstrip channels. Now the rear window scoots up and down with no problems....I also lubed all the mechanislms with new white lithium grease.

So hopefully I will get it in for inspection in a couple days.

 

[thrashingcows]

March 04-2008

Well took the wagon through inspection today....it didn't pass...

It only failed on some minor things.

The vent windows wouldn't roll open, I knew this but didn't figure it would be safety related but all the glass has to function properly. I have spare roll open vent windows for spare parts.

One or two dash light bulbs aren't working....you can stil see everything but ALL the lights have to work.

The battery terminals were loose...I never tighten mine down but I guess I'll have to at least for the re-inspection.

The front U-joint needs replacing...I did the rear but the front seemed fine...oh well easy fix.

And then the biggie was the front strut rod bushings are shot...too much play for his liking so I now need to replace those before the re-inspection.

Anyway I have 30 days to get re-inspected on just these few things and then I can finally get it registered and insured.

 

[thrashingcows]

March 08/09-2008

Well I replaced the front strut rod bushing on the wagon today...as per my repairs to pass re-inspection...

Anyway wanted to let you guys know how I went about it and if someone has to do these on their car this seems to work quite well.

I first pulled the spring pin and removed the front nut from the strut rod, then removed the rear nut fromt the strut rod, within the lower control arm, You will also need a pipe wrench to hold the strut rod while removing this nut.

Then I removed the lower bolt for the front shock and pushed it up out of the way. I then removed the brackets holding the swaybar to the strut rod.

I then removed the nut from the lower control arm stud that runs through the subframe. I then used a digital dial caliper to measure the distance from the torsion bar adjustment nut to the flat metal piece the bolt runs through...mine were 1.18inches. I then removed the tension from the torsion bars, and removed the torsion bar retainer clips from the rear of the cross memeber.

Then I used several pry bars and pieces of wood and hammers to loosen the control arms from the cross member and move the lower control arm rearwards and thus giving me enough room to slip the strut rods out and back in.

Once the new bushings were in it was just the reverse...except you don't tighten the lower control arm stud that goes through the sub frame, AND the front nut on the strut rod bushings...until the car is back on the ground.

This worked great and it only took me about 5-6 hours to do from start to finish.

Yesterday I did the dash lights....not too bad...but my big hands and tight dash spaces don't always make the job easy.

Aslo put in the new front U-joint so now I'm only waiting on the vent windw cranking mechanisms and I'll be ready for re-inspection....

 

[thrashingcows]

So that pretty much brings everything up to date and I will continue to update as work progresses.:2thumbs:

 

[dodgechargerfan]

You type fast...

 

[thrashingcows]

You type fast...

I have a thread started on one of the C-body boards I frequent...so I cut and paste fast....:vroom:

 

[beeper*71]

Good work! :clap:

 

[69.5CUDA]

LOL

you have to run CAT's on a 68?!?!?!?! even tho the car was never equiped with them?!?!?!?....thats messed up

nice to have another nut on the west coast ...even if there is a state between us

you dont want to know how many of those wagons in that good of condition ive seen in the wreckers

 

[thrashingcows]

LOL

you have to run CAT's on a 68?!?!?!?! even tho the car was never equiped with them?!?!?!?....thats messed up

nice to have another nut on the west coast ...even if there is a state between us

you dont want to know how many of those wagons in that good of condition ive seen in the wreckers

I'm only gonna run cats to help me beat the emissions test I have to go through every year before I can get insurance. They will be removable so couple hours on the car then out!!:shifty:

I'm always interested in 65-68 C-body wagon parts...if you snap a couple pics or let me know about them maybe I can score something through you???

 

[71ChargerRT]

Cool wagon!!! I like C bodies, specially the 69-72's and the 65-66's but the 67 & 68 are pretty cool. I would like to see the woodgrain airbrushed, I think that'd be awesome

 

[69.5CUDA]

im going to be hitting the local yards in the next week or so.....being on the west coast means rust free ...anything specific your lookin for?

 

[J.C. Corbett]

That's a very cool car. Plus, we are a wagon friendly site.:bravo: C bodies tend to carry the big inch wheel look with some style. Can't wait to see it.