I finally started working on the 74 Dodge Colt. The brake master cylinder was trashed. The rear resivour was full of junk, pushing no fluid. After a new master cylinder, and bleeding all the crap out of the lines, I’ve got rear brakes! The front driver side, was the only working brake before. The front lines had so much junk in them that I’m surprised they worked at all.

Next up, the engine and clutch.

The old motor came out pretty easily, no real hassle. The clutch doesn’t look bad, but it’s easier to do it now. I took the pressure plate and clutch disk to South Bend Clutch. They built me a new disk with an eclipse center hub (heavy duty springs) with a full face copper flywheel side, and a composite pressure plate side. They rebuilt the pressure plate, it has 1070lbs of pressure now, about a 15% gain. This should be enough for road racing a 4 cylinder. The car seems pretty light weight. I’ll get it weighed soon.

The arrows old motor got all freshened up. I cleaned up the Solex carb and got the points distributor installed. I decided to see how a samurais alternator fits, and it seems to fit well. It’s smaller and lighter, with higher output, so it seems like a good idea.

The new motor didn’t put up much fight going in. It’s been a little while since I’ve aligned a clutch, so I had to shake the shit out of it to get it lined up.

With new motor and transmission mounts, it should feel pretty decent. The radiator still needs a fitting welded on, and I’ve got some electrical to sort out, but so far so good.