1969 Dodge Dart Custom Sedan Slant Six, Father-Son Project
Back from Paint: Time for Stainless Steel Trim Installation
The "Custom" trim level of the Dart sports a good amount of side moulding. Including the roof rail, windshield, trunk, and hood, there are 25 pieces of stainless-steel trim that have to go back on the car, along with the door handles and door locks. Last year we picked up a (hard to find) passenger-side mirror, too, which could now be installed.
Along the way, I picked up a new skill: refurbishing beat-up stainless steel trim pieces. This car had so many dings and dents in the fender and door moulding when it was purchased, and I'm glad to say that all of the original pieces were able to be re-worked to at least 90% of their original integrity. The toughest part actually is getting a uniform satin/shiny surface finish on everything. It's not that hard to mirror-polish this stuff, but if you do that then every little imperfection stands out.
As far as re-installing it all, so glad that we ordered lots of those spring-clip fasteners of all sizes, in advance! There were a few fasteners that my son had to fabricate with some spring steel, since some of the original spring-clip style ones had rusted out and no replacements were to be found.
A whole weekend was spent methodically installing all of this. This is entering the home stretch of this project, which started 10 months ago, and my son and I were so pleased to be finally at this stage.
Time to brag a bit: my son has become quite a mechanic over the course of this project, and I gotta admit that he has brought quite a few ideas to the table that his "seasoned" mechanic dad wouldn't have thought of.
Back from Paint: Time for Stainless Steel Trim Installation
The "Custom" trim level of the Dart sports a good amount of side moulding. Including the roof rail, windshield, trunk, and hood, there are 25 pieces of stainless-steel trim that have to go back on the car, along with the door handles and door locks. Last year we picked up a (hard to find) passenger-side mirror, too, which could now be installed.
Along the way, I picked up a new skill: refurbishing beat-up stainless steel trim pieces. This car had so many dings and dents in the fender and door moulding when it was purchased, and I'm glad to say that all of the original pieces were able to be re-worked to at least 90% of their original integrity. The toughest part actually is getting a uniform satin/shiny surface finish on everything. It's not that hard to mirror-polish this stuff, but if you do that then every little imperfection stands out.
As far as re-installing it all, so glad that we ordered lots of those spring-clip fasteners of all sizes, in advance! There were a few fasteners that my son had to fabricate with some spring steel, since some of the original spring-clip style ones had rusted out and no replacements were to be found.
A whole weekend was spent methodically installing all of this. This is entering the home stretch of this project, which started 10 months ago, and my son and I were so pleased to be finally at this stage.
Time to brag a bit: my son has become quite a mechanic over the course of this project, and I gotta admit that he has brought quite a few ideas to the table that his "seasoned" mechanic dad wouldn't have thought of.