Slow, Driving Rustoration 1972 Dart
So I started working Saturday morning it was very nice last weekend, high hopes abounded. I had a list of things I was sure I could get done. IN hindsight I actually achieved quite a bit.
The first thing I realized was that I was not going to just put this car back together without making things prettier than I ever planned on. Still not a restoration by anyone's definition but I was definitely cleaning things and painting more things than I thought I would, but this car is surprising me each time I work on a new area. It really is a solid car. I don't know how it survived this well in Iowa. Maybe it was the formidable undercoating she's wearing. Anyway, on with this chapter's story.
Here was my list, I had from 8-5 on Saturday and all day and night Sunday to work on it.
-Prep Front Drums for paint
-get filler on sail panel
-Gas Tank install
-Penetrating fluid everywhere
-front shocks
-Front brake rebuild
-Clip Distribution block free and clean
-bench bleed master cylinder
-remove all brake lines
-remove and install brake MC
-install brake lines
-bleed
-install starter
-change oil
-if time, begin work on floor rust & seatbelt mount
I got the front drums cleaned up and ready for paint. While I was there I cleaned up the little sheet metal shield along the lower left frame rail, and also the gas tank straps. I used some rustomleum hammer finish spray can that I found while cleaning up the work area. So I also repainted the rear drums. While all that was drying, I rebuilt the front brakes, hardware, shoes and wheel cylinders, just like the rear got. Packed the wheel bearing and replaced the bearing seals. Got it all put back together. Things were going well.
I started removing the brake lines, which was fairly easy, I wasn't messing around with getting the fittings off because everything was getting replaced. The new brake lines were close but not exactly what I needed but I was able to coax them into some gentle and some drastic new configurations. I'm not sure what vehicle Inline is using for the template but it wasn't mine. The worst one was the rear axle line for the left side. The fitting was almost 180 degrees off from where it needed to be. Maybe mine had an aftermarket tee back there. The main rear line wasn't too bad but it missed hitting the brake line clips due to some unneeded bends. I just got the rear lines ran when I had to head off to my night shift at the restaurant. I was rushing so there weren't any pictures during that time.
I got home early Saturday night so I did some body prep for painting the roof. I got most of the trim off and the rest of the vinyl top stuck in the crevices. Never did get any filler on the joints yet, but I got more glue off the main roof area.
Sunday I got up bright and early and started back on the brakes. I was still thinking I was on course for completing everything by Sunday night. I got the brake distribution block off and cleaned up. I took the master cylinder off to compare it to the new one before I did a bench bleed. I used the syringe method of bleeding and it worked very well. One syringe full front and back and it was cleared of bubbles.
If I haven't made it clear before, let me restate, my garage is small. In 21 years I've never actually parked cars in it that were in use. I organized it before this job and it was still organized chaos at best. No matter how I tried to clear space it is cramped in there. I rolled the car partially out the door so that I could at least walk around the front end. The floor was poured in 4 slabs sections and it is separating and cracking and generally no fun to try and work on. It was built in 1910 and was obviously for Model Ts at best. The lighting isn't great either. This whole weekend I bet I spent 25% of my time looking for parts or tools that I "just had." Which brings me to the first bit of frustration.
I got the distribution block cleaned up and reinstalled and started hooking up lines. The right front brake line was tricky but I was able to fish it in there without needing to remove much. I hooked up the remaining lines and installed the master cylinder lines, then the master cylinder. All I had left to install were the little bits that go between the front rubber hydraulic hose and the wheel cylinders. I had taken all of the parts out of the box on Friday night and straightened out the long lines, and I had hung the shorter ones up on the peg board. But now I couldn't find them anywhere. I never did. I looked for over and hour and finally decided to just take the lines off of the spare hub assemblies that were in the trunk when I bought the car. They were in much better shape than the originals but the line was still seized in the fittings. 2 hours later after much soaking and light torching I had usable brake lines.
It was getting late. My girlfriend was on her way home and we were supposed to have relaxing night by the firepit with wine and snacks. I was filthy. Luckily she was late getting home. I thought I had everything buttoned up so I started trying to bleed the brakes.
Now I had never done this extensive of a brake job on an older car and bleeding brakes was usually a team event, but I had purchased a vacuum bleeder kit so away I went! A quart, yes 1 qt. of brake fluid later, I knew something was wrong. I still had air in the lines. Plus the manual vacuum pump was starting to fail from all of the brake fluid. Frustrated, filthy and tired, I shut down for the night sad that I hadn't completed my weekend mission.
Had a nice night by the fire and went to bed thinking about what was wrong.
To be continued.
So I started working Saturday morning it was very nice last weekend, high hopes abounded. I had a list of things I was sure I could get done. IN hindsight I actually achieved quite a bit.
The first thing I realized was that I was not going to just put this car back together without making things prettier than I ever planned on. Still not a restoration by anyone's definition but I was definitely cleaning things and painting more things than I thought I would, but this car is surprising me each time I work on a new area. It really is a solid car. I don't know how it survived this well in Iowa. Maybe it was the formidable undercoating she's wearing. Anyway, on with this chapter's story.
Here was my list, I had from 8-5 on Saturday and all day and night Sunday to work on it.
-Prep Front Drums for paint
-get filler on sail panel
-Gas Tank install
-Penetrating fluid everywhere
-front shocks
-Front brake rebuild
-Clip Distribution block free and clean
-bench bleed master cylinder
-remove all brake lines
-remove and install brake MC
-install brake lines
-bleed
-install starter
-change oil
-if time, begin work on floor rust & seatbelt mount
I got the front drums cleaned up and ready for paint. While I was there I cleaned up the little sheet metal shield along the lower left frame rail, and also the gas tank straps. I used some rustomleum hammer finish spray can that I found while cleaning up the work area. So I also repainted the rear drums. While all that was drying, I rebuilt the front brakes, hardware, shoes and wheel cylinders, just like the rear got. Packed the wheel bearing and replaced the bearing seals. Got it all put back together. Things were going well.
I started removing the brake lines, which was fairly easy, I wasn't messing around with getting the fittings off because everything was getting replaced. The new brake lines were close but not exactly what I needed but I was able to coax them into some gentle and some drastic new configurations. I'm not sure what vehicle Inline is using for the template but it wasn't mine. The worst one was the rear axle line for the left side. The fitting was almost 180 degrees off from where it needed to be. Maybe mine had an aftermarket tee back there. The main rear line wasn't too bad but it missed hitting the brake line clips due to some unneeded bends. I just got the rear lines ran when I had to head off to my night shift at the restaurant. I was rushing so there weren't any pictures during that time.
I got home early Saturday night so I did some body prep for painting the roof. I got most of the trim off and the rest of the vinyl top stuck in the crevices. Never did get any filler on the joints yet, but I got more glue off the main roof area.
Sunday I got up bright and early and started back on the brakes. I was still thinking I was on course for completing everything by Sunday night. I got the brake distribution block off and cleaned up. I took the master cylinder off to compare it to the new one before I did a bench bleed. I used the syringe method of bleeding and it worked very well. One syringe full front and back and it was cleared of bubbles.
If I haven't made it clear before, let me restate, my garage is small. In 21 years I've never actually parked cars in it that were in use. I organized it before this job and it was still organized chaos at best. No matter how I tried to clear space it is cramped in there. I rolled the car partially out the door so that I could at least walk around the front end. The floor was poured in 4 slabs sections and it is separating and cracking and generally no fun to try and work on. It was built in 1910 and was obviously for Model Ts at best. The lighting isn't great either. This whole weekend I bet I spent 25% of my time looking for parts or tools that I "just had." Which brings me to the first bit of frustration.
I got the distribution block cleaned up and reinstalled and started hooking up lines. The right front brake line was tricky but I was able to fish it in there without needing to remove much. I hooked up the remaining lines and installed the master cylinder lines, then the master cylinder. All I had left to install were the little bits that go between the front rubber hydraulic hose and the wheel cylinders. I had taken all of the parts out of the box on Friday night and straightened out the long lines, and I had hung the shorter ones up on the peg board. But now I couldn't find them anywhere. I never did. I looked for over and hour and finally decided to just take the lines off of the spare hub assemblies that were in the trunk when I bought the car. They were in much better shape than the originals but the line was still seized in the fittings. 2 hours later after much soaking and light torching I had usable brake lines.
It was getting late. My girlfriend was on her way home and we were supposed to have relaxing night by the firepit with wine and snacks. I was filthy. Luckily she was late getting home. I thought I had everything buttoned up so I started trying to bleed the brakes.
Now I had never done this extensive of a brake job on an older car and bleeding brakes was usually a team event, but I had purchased a vacuum bleeder kit so away I went! A quart, yes 1 qt. of brake fluid later, I knew something was wrong. I still had air in the lines. Plus the manual vacuum pump was starting to fail from all of the brake fluid. Frustrated, filthy and tired, I shut down for the night sad that I hadn't completed my weekend mission.
Had a nice night by the fire and went to bed thinking about what was wrong.
To be continued.