308GUY wrote:Do you have a build thread on a Mopar forum anywhere?
No, just posts on various forums here and there asking questions and whatnot. Most of what I've done to it doesn't show on the outside. For example, I converted it to electronic ignition (using a GM HEI module combined with a stock Mopar electronic ignition distributor) for a hotter and more reliable ignition system compared to the stock points-type ignition.
I had installed halogen headlights in it early on, but I'd never driven any significant distance at night until a couple years later, at which point I found out that the stock wiring didn't like the increased draw of halogen headlights at all. With the stock wiring, all of the current being drawn by the headlights goes through the poorly designed bulkhead connector and headlight switch. The headlight switch has a thermal breaker, and I noticed that night that the headlight switch was getting warm, almost hot. On the hour-drive home, a few miles from my house, the headlights started cutting out (tripping the thermal breaker in the headlight switch), which is definitely not cool. It turns out that this is a common problem, and a popular way of dealing with it is the "headlight relay upgrade". So I did that, which made it so the wiring through the bulkhead connector and headlight switch only serve as a circuit for triggering the relays (two relays, one for low beam and the other for high beam), which is a minuscule amount of current. Once a relay is triggered, the juice that the headlights draw comes directly off the battery (10 AWG wire), through a self-resetting thermal breaker switch, through the relay, and out to the headlights; completely bypassing all of that thin wiring going through the bulkhead connector and headlight switch. As a bonus, this shorter and more robust circuit has less resistance, thus less voltage drop at the headlights, thus brighter headlights. Nearly all modern vehicles use a similar relay system for the headlights.
I also got the vacuum operated headlight doors working last summer, which involved replacing some vacuum hoses and clearing some of them out as well. Here's a video -
link.
I refaced the gauges, which were so faded that they were difficult to read in the shadowy dash area. Before:
After:
Refaced gauges lit up at night:
The temperature gauge was dead, so I had to fix it, which was a very tedious task of wrapping very thin nichrome wire forty-eleven times around a small bimetallic strip and soldering the ends in place. The original nichrome wire had burnt in two, which is the result of a faulty 12v to 5v electromechanical regulator getting stuck and letting 12v go to the gauge for too long. I replaced the regulator with a modern solid-state electronic version which has built-in protection from excessive voltage, so it won't happen again.
This car didn't come with intermittent windshield wipers (wasn't even an option), which drove me nuts in light rain. So I bought an intermittent circuit, mounted it in a black aluminum box (after drilling the holes for the knob and wires to go through), added an aluminum knob, wired it in after making a harness with Molex connectors, and mounted it under the dash, like so:
Here it is in operation -
link.
As I mentioned, I converted the front drum brakes to disc brakes. To do that I used steering knuckle/spindle assemblies and caliper brackets from a '73 Dodge Challenger, and the rest of the parts (rotors, flex hoses, calipers, master cylinder, etc.) were all still available from the autoparts store.
My next project, which I'll start in the spring, is to replace all 4 ball joints in front (the ones in there aren't terrible, but there is a little play in them) and install offset bushings in the upper control arms. The offset bushings will allow for more positive caster, which will make it handle more like a modern car. Cars of the pre radial tire era had more or less neutral caster and offered very little caster adjustment, but radial tires need positive caster in order to track straight (so you don't have to constantly make slight steering adjustments just to keep going in a straight line). The more positive caster you have, the stronger the tendency for the steering to self-center; as an extreme example of positive caster, picture a "chopper" style motorcycle or bicycle. Of course, you don't want to overdo it, because then it becomes hard to steer. +2 or 3 degrees is about right.
) for what you've done with this project so far. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing more progress. Maybe I should ship my 308 project up to you and have you call me when it's ready to paint! 
