74 Ventura build

[brantb]

Getting close to having the body work done on a 74 Ventura that me and my father in law are building. He is doing the majority/all of the body work and I will be doing the mechanical.

Running bills:
shell: $2500
engine/trans drop out: $800
block/rods/arps/oil pump $1000
cam $125
crank $125
paint $1xxx
...
this will end up being a very long list


Here it is when I drug it home.

Basically a sandblasted shell with hopefully all the parts.

It was after this my father in law came to check it out. After he marked up all the flaws he told me to just bring it to his place where it has been for the past 6 months.

Grinding about a half inch of bondo off.

And now a photo of a photo of one of my father in laws cars from the 70s. He obviously wasnt worried about the law.

 

[brantb]

After all the grinding on the quarters my FIL said we were replacing the quarters since they were not done correct. Im not sure if i have photos of that, but maybe i can find some.

More forward progress though

 

[brantb]

This is basically all i was able to do when it came to painting. I got to spray some primer and put some good runs in it.

 

[brantb]

and now things are a little out of order, but whatever

 

[brantb]

I picked up a complete drop out from an 05 tahoe. The guy didnt want to sell the motor since it was bad, but i told hit i would take it all for the price of the trans. I was taking a gamble, but got free accessories, computer, harness out of it.

After i unloaded it from my truck and thought there was still a chance i got a smoking deal.

Realizing the guy was right, and the motor was bad

finding out the crank and block were smoked.

Finished tearing down the motor and then started searching for parts. So far i have found and picked up:
AL 5.3 block bored 20 over fresh out of the machine shop
photo to be added
scat rods
photo
comp cams xe-r 224/230 cam
photo
and another 5.3 crank that wasnt trashed
photo

I order pistons and rings and some other misc parts. Once that gets it i will be dropping it all off to have it balanced at the machine shop and start the assembly of the engine.

I also am going to search though all the bills and get a running total so see where i end up. I first estimated 10k for this. I am still hopefull that will be close, but realistically anywhere under 20k i am good with. Going to add that to the first post

 

[Speedy]

Looking good!

 

[brantb]

Here is the block. Ordered around 1100 in lifters, springs, pushrods, rocker arms, gaskets, and timing chain. The rotating assembly is off to be balanced. Once I get that back I need to pick up some main bearings and can start the reassembly of the short block.

 

[ANGRYBLACK]

Is that a vinyl top?

 

[brantb]

Got the rotating assembly back from the balance shop and got some of the motor assembled.

Crank in.

Pistons in

Putting some 660 lift dual springs in.

New rear main seal and the rear cover bolted up.

 

[brantb]

Valley cover on and the heads on. I missed a photo of all the ARPs sticking out of the block.

Rocker arms snugged up.

 

[brantb]

My father in law got the hood painted and the headlights in. We went down to see him Saturday and play poker. While I was down there we got the back glass in place.


I need to get the water pump on and torque the rocker arms. They use allen bolts so I will have to pick up some more tools.

I will need to get a f body oil pan and intake. I don't think the truck stuff will fit.

 

[brantb]

The rear bumper filler was a bitch to even get close. The headliner should be going in this weekend and the the windshield. At that point it will come back to my place and I will start on the interior and drivetrain. That is probably going to be a quick 6k.

 

[Scooter]

Nice work so far, loving the color.

 

[Rennat_2006]

Dont waste your time with fbody pan. Get a holley 302-2 pan or one of The chinese knock offs.

98-02 camaro radiator and fans were a pretty easy install on my 71 nova with a 6.0l. Same deal with the disc brakes front and rear to get arid of my drums.

 

[brantb]

Dont waste your time with fbody pan. Get a holley 302-2 pan or one of The chinese knock offs.

98-02 camaro radiator and fans were a pretty easy install on my 71 nova with a 6.0l. Same deal with the disc brakes front and rear to get arid of my drums.

After searching around i ended up going with the holley pan.

Do you have any more details on the disk brakes? What all did you use? I have looked at kore3 brackets for the corvette calipers. I need to start gathering parts for that as i would like to get brakes done before the engine. Once that thing fires up i will be sitting on a bucket if i have to. I really would like to be able to stop before it start moving under its own power.

 

[Rennat_2006]

I used 98-02 camaro booster, master, front calipers and rotors, and rear calipers and rotors on my car. Got the ebrake cables also im hoping i can adapt and make work.

I cant remember who i bought the front brackets from but there is a few different places making them now, it used my stock front drum spindles and hubs with a little machine work. I believe the rear brake backing plates bolted right onto the 8.5" 10 bolt.

 

[72blazer]

That color

 

[brantb]

I used 98-02 camaro booster, master, front calipers and rotors, and rear calipers and rotors on my car. Got the ebrake cables also im hoping i can adapt and make work.

I cant remember who i bought the front brackets from but there is a few different places making them now, it used my stock front drum spindles and hubs with a little machine work. I believe the rear brake backing plates bolted right onto the 8.5" 10 bolt.

That should be easy enough to source. I will start looking tonight and see what i come up with.

 

[Rennat_2006]

Booster needed the gracket modified to bolt onto the carbut was easy

 

[brantb]

Ordered a set of 17 inch wheels and tires which was about $1600, a carpet set with mass backing for another$ 260 and am trying to find a set of c5 or c6 calipers for the front and rear. Once i find them i will be ordering the brackets and rotors and some more misc part from kore3. I think with those i can still use a fbody booster and master with the 1 inch bore.

With the corvette rotors i will have to either grind or get the hubs turned and then press in new studs. Hopefully i can find an auto place with a brake lathe and someone competent to operate it. I dont think they would let me do it.

I need to find the upholstery for the front and rear bench seats. The rear should be the same as a nova, but the front bench is different. From what i found previously they come in white, off white, red and black unless i want to go custom. When i called a custom place months ago, they said it would be around $2500 to do the front and rear so that is out.

 

[brantb]

Got the wheels and tires, brake rotors, calipers, pads and brackets. The carpet also came in.

Did a quick running total and I am at around 12000. Once I put some more time into it I am guessing it is really about 13k.

Next weekend I will get some more photos up. I still need to have the hubs turned to fit Corvette disks.

 

[NDCjeepsmith]

I really dig the uncommon builds. Most people don't know what cool is cause it ain't a camaro or something. I'd rather resto mod a dart, ventura, cougar, falcon, or javelin any day over a camaro, mustang, or main mopar


My buddy had a ventura in high school, nobody knew what it was. His dad found the car and bought it again to resto mod it about 8 yrs ago, which was 10 yrs after he sold it. LS and an overdrive and that thing was awesome. Drove it from Missouri to Cali to give it to him for a birthday present, did 140 going through desert no sweat.

 

[brantb]

brake brackets	337.56
brake disks	212.06
carpet	266.73
brake calipers	257.94
wheels/tires	1568
assembly lube, ring filer, thrust plate	135.08
valve spring puller	17.95
engine parts(gaskets, seals, pushrods, lifters, springs, ect)	1143.93
pistons, ring plyers	400.11
window tracks	200.21
weather stripping	25.12
HVAC knobs	62.25
car	2500
engine/trans	800
block/rods, ARPs	1000
balancing, machining, bearings	550
piston rings	53.08
paint	996.62
quarter panel	141.91
window felts	136.26
weather stripping	88.84
speedway	87.39
speedway	8.24
quarter panel + shipping	272.28
crank	125
cam	125
	11511.56

I still need to go through the speedway orders and see what was actually in them

 

[72blazer]

shit adds up quuiiiick

 

[brantb]

I think it looks good with the wheels. Front is a tad high since there is nothing in the engine bay yet.

 

[Cheepin]

Did you do any chassis upgrades? These really need the sub frames connected together. We shoved a built 454 in a hatchback Nova back in high school. No sub frame connecters and it twisted the chassis and body. Blew the back window out.

 

[brantb]

I haven't yet. I didn't think I would need it, but I probably should look into it. I was reading about different boosters last night and decided I'm going with hydroboost. Guess astro van stuff works.

Anyone had a cnc machine to mill a mounting plate?

Also not sure if I should mount it before I get the engine in. Don't want it swinging around and smash into bending the firewall.

 

[brantb]

I got the kore3 brackets installed on the front. I had to grind the hubs to fit in the rotors. I tried to bring them to a place that has a brake lathe but they were sure the couldn't do it. Brought out the air grinder and spent an hour grinding.

I test fit the caliper and disk and it all fits. Next weekend will be new bearings, seals, a little more grinding, then finishing up front brakes.

 

[brantb]

 

[brantb]

It is back in my garage. I went to put the front seat in to free up some space and a mouse ran out of it. I decided to tear it apart now instead of later. It was nasty.