Glued the steering wheel together on the back porch, since a lot of epoxies smell like the glue factory just tossed the whole dead horse in the blender. I was pleasantly surprised to find the JB Plastic Weld wasn't quite as horrible.
If I change my mind, the wheel will probably fetch a bit more money if I can sell it in one piece.
Yesterday I ordered a Grant wheel from Summit and a turn signal switch from Daniel Stern Lighting. Dan is generally the go-to guy for knowing what Mopar repair parts are good and what's cut too many corners.
I went with the black foam version of the wheel Crankwalk posted. I've driven cars with both foam and wooden Grant wheels, and the foam grip is a bit more comfortable.
The turn signal switch is under the dash and too large to pull through the steering column. So I need to depin it first.
Then I tied a wire to one of the wires before pulling the switch out.
Unfortunately, pulling the wires on the new switch back through the column is a lot harder. Still trying to figure that part out...
Finally making progress on the turn signal wiring. I first tried tying all eight wires to one string. Didn't work. So I used the one string to pull eight wires through the column and tie each string to a wire.
Better, but they still got stuck. Hmmm, maybe if I tape the ends and pull the wires into the column one by one?
Success!
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
Where there is a will, there is a way!
The Grant steering wheel in place...
Confirmed that the lights all work, but I've got a bit of cleaning up to do before I can take it back on the road.
Id be sorely tempted to color match tge spokes
Dusterbd13-michael said:Id be sorely tempted to color match tge spokes
That sounds like a great idea!
The red interior screams for red or silver spokes. I'd go red, black hardware, and see if grant still makes the chrome button with the pentastar. Would blend it all well, oem+ look. Id also trim back how far down the spokes the foam goes to get a good visual break of spoke and rim.
So, I thought I'd take the car for a longer shakedown trip. Nope.
The car ran hot and stalled on less than a mile. Thanks to some help from my wife, several bystanders, and a downhill grade, I managed to bring it home.
Turns out the water pump belt had jumped off my idler pulley setup. The coolant did boil over, but the engine isn't seized. Looks like I need to give that idler setup a closer look, and check if the head gasket survived.
Given how many other setbacks I've run into, before taking the Dart back on the road I want to answer a few questions:
1. What went wrong?
2. Did it cause any other damage?
3. How can I make sure this doesn't happen again?
To answer 1, it looks like when I fixed the problem with the belt rubbing on the lower radiator hose, the hose was what kept the belt from jumping off the pulley. So I was driving with nothing to spin the alternator or water pump.
Next, assessing damage. Compression check has 120 psi on all six cylinders. Next, I'll need to see if I have any coolant leaks...
And I have some thoughts on what to do about that idler pulley - as well as some mods to make cold starts better.
After a few false starts, I decided to remove the idler pulley. Shortening the alternator strut...
...and a shorter belt gives just enough clearance for the radiator hose and crank trigger.
Started it up and there's no sign of liquid leaks. There does seem to be an ignition miss - will need to check the plug wires, as they have been on there well over a decade. Maybe I broke one checking compression.
And I definitely have an exhaust leak at the manifold flange to turbo up-pipe. Again. I'll need to find a better long term fix that just putting in another parts store exhaust gasket.
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