Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 11:01AM
Location: Central Iowa
Posts: 227
I am going to start work on my 66 300 Convertible project soon. The wiring is all disconected, (engine out, wireing loom removed) but I want to raise and lower the top frame rails so I can do a decent job of cleaning and painting them. (no top on them now)
Here is my question: Do I manually raise and lower the frame with all the motor fluid in the hydrolic Lines, or do I disconnect the lines so that the top can be raised easier with out the pressure from the hydrolics? The top has been in the down position for 5+ years.
Joined: Mon Oct 31 2005, 12:48PM
Location: Bakersfield, California
Posts: 1755
Disconnect the hydraulic hoses. You don't want to fight the pressure, or take the chance you may wreck the motor.
- Or -
Connect a battery up to the wires on the motor and raise it that way.
Either way, if he motor is no good, you don't need to buy one of those that sale for $200 in all catalogs. The motor in your car is the same as one in a '90s LeBaron or Sebring. Go to a junk yard and pull a motor from a wrecked car. You will need to use your hose connectors, but the motor is the same.
I paid $20 for mine out of a '92 LeBaron, and it still works great two years later.
Joined: Sun Feb 05 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Pa
Posts: 3064
Hi Paul - You should disconnect the pins that hold the rear cylinders to the frame and then manually lift the top up. Check to make sure the frame operates smoothly and lube the joints if needed. Remove the fluid hoses from the rear cylinders. There will be brake fluid in those lines and cylinders , so be prepared to catch that before it eats your paint. I always change the cylinders and rubber hoses - these are the first things that fail. And when they fail they can spray all over the place! Hydroelectric Co. has new hoses and cylinders, and they recommend using automatic transmission fluid in the system. You would have to flush the lines with denatured alcohol and blow through with compressed air. Then clean the motor reservoir out and fill with Dextron or "all model-approved" trans fluid. Then hook up the lines, but don't hook up the cylinders yet. Run the pump to prime the lines (put coffee cans under the rear hoses), refill the fluid, and then hook up the new cylinders. It will take a couple of cycles to get the air out of them, but they should do it on their own. Just make sure the pump has enough fluid - it's like bleeding a master cylinder. Then you can hook up the cylinders to the top frame.
Joined: Mon Oct 10 2005, 10:45PM
Location: Lansing MI
Posts: 513
If you get a motor/pump from the junkyard it doesn't even necessarily need to be from a Mopar. Looks like almost all American convertibles before the early 90's used the same design.
The factory service manual recommends Type A trans fluid... just try to find that stuff now days. There were a couple threads on Moparts that talked about vert top pump fluid, and I think the consensus (although mixed) tended towards using Dexron fluid. The stuff in both my verts is clear-ish, not red like you'd expect from trans fluid, though, and stinks to high heaven. Not like anything else I've smelled.
You can also find similar/same pumps in mid-80's Mustangs, among others. New lines are a real good idea, as the old ones are probably brittle as glass by now. That's a project I've got looming for my Fury. All the hydraulics were disconnected or missing, but the mechanism is still solid. Can't wait for that top to go up and down on its own!
Oh, and the two-wire plug on the motor is set up for 12V+ on both... one runs the motor one way for up, the other way for down. The motor grounds through the chassis. You can use a battery charger on the lowest setting to do this.
I was just discussing this yesterday with the trim guy. After installing my new top, the lift has slowed considerably with the tight new top. He recommended using hydralic jack fluid. This seems like a logical fluid, unless it has corrosive qualities like brake fluid.
You know, it kind of does smell like jack fluid, but after 40 years it's nasty jack fluid from hell... got some on my winter junkyard jacket, and it STILL stinks after being washed a couple times. Ugh...
The only thing I'd worry about is how it plays with the seals in the cylinders and pump. If one of those blew out, you'd have high-pressure fluid everywhere...