1963 Dart 170 2 Door Post Resto
So, my wife and I after some discussion have decided that we are going to have to let the Dart go. The original reason for building it was so we could drive it daily in the summer and go to shows all over. After driving the Dart last year and only a little this year we found that the dart is geared poorly for any long drives (revs way to high on the HWY). Also, with the manual brakes and steering it is very difficult for my wife to drive it around town (a little wider tires didn't help either..lol)
I seriously thought about doing and engine upgrade and power steering/brakes, but the cost to do this (and the fact that it's a 63, which would require firewall modifications) we decided it was best to pass it along to someone else to enjoy as it is a solid Arizona car (didn't want to start cutting it up) and all original except color.
Therefore, I started to get it ready for sale this week. There was a couple spots on the cowl that started to bubble and one on the wheel well. The wheel well was easy to figure out. It got a stone chip and the moisture caused it to bubble. The cowl was odd. This is an Arizona car and was rock solid. I decided I wasn't selling it as is so I sanded it down to find the issue to address correctly. What I found was it was right at the edge of the lead seam where the cowl meets the pillars on both sides had a small seam in the lead by the edge of the metal that moisture got into when painting (must have missed it originally) and that caused the paint to bubble. Fortunately it was only surface rust as I caught it before it went any farther. I decided to grind it out until I got to a clean point (where the separation in the lead/body panel ended), clean it all good and apply new. Didn't do as good as factory but good enough. I filed it down and applied a very thin coat of fiberglass to clean up the slight imperfections. I use fiberglass as it doesn't absorb moisture and I find it does a much better job in the long run. Fortunately this only needed to be done on the drivers corner. The passenger it was on the surface so a quick clean and spray with epoxy and a coat of 2K and I was good to go. Same for the wheel well. There was a chip in the paint on the edge of the pillar where the drip rail stainless meets the pillar so I addressed that at the same time as well.
This was my first time ever trying to do a paint blend (hell, it was the first time I've painted a car) and I think it went very well. Read a bunch and learned how to create a "soft edge" with folding tape over so one edge doesn't actually contact the body. It worked really well. Just need to do a small bit of wet sanding and polish to blend it all in. Put on lots of clear too so it will hold up and be easy to wet sand/blend.
After this, I have to just clean and polish the entire car, do an oil change and replace the trunion boot (apparently critter like to chew on it when parked so it has a hole in it. Stupid soy based rubber). It only has about 2000km on the restore but I still plan to go over everything before putting it up for sale.
So, my wife and I after some discussion have decided that we are going to have to let the Dart go. The original reason for building it was so we could drive it daily in the summer and go to shows all over. After driving the Dart last year and only a little this year we found that the dart is geared poorly for any long drives (revs way to high on the HWY). Also, with the manual brakes and steering it is very difficult for my wife to drive it around town (a little wider tires didn't help either..lol)
I seriously thought about doing and engine upgrade and power steering/brakes, but the cost to do this (and the fact that it's a 63, which would require firewall modifications) we decided it was best to pass it along to someone else to enjoy as it is a solid Arizona car (didn't want to start cutting it up) and all original except color.
Therefore, I started to get it ready for sale this week. There was a couple spots on the cowl that started to bubble and one on the wheel well. The wheel well was easy to figure out. It got a stone chip and the moisture caused it to bubble. The cowl was odd. This is an Arizona car and was rock solid. I decided I wasn't selling it as is so I sanded it down to find the issue to address correctly. What I found was it was right at the edge of the lead seam where the cowl meets the pillars on both sides had a small seam in the lead by the edge of the metal that moisture got into when painting (must have missed it originally) and that caused the paint to bubble. Fortunately it was only surface rust as I caught it before it went any farther. I decided to grind it out until I got to a clean point (where the separation in the lead/body panel ended), clean it all good and apply new. Didn't do as good as factory but good enough. I filed it down and applied a very thin coat of fiberglass to clean up the slight imperfections. I use fiberglass as it doesn't absorb moisture and I find it does a much better job in the long run. Fortunately this only needed to be done on the drivers corner. The passenger it was on the surface so a quick clean and spray with epoxy and a coat of 2K and I was good to go. Same for the wheel well. There was a chip in the paint on the edge of the pillar where the drip rail stainless meets the pillar so I addressed that at the same time as well.
This was my first time ever trying to do a paint blend (hell, it was the first time I've painted a car) and I think it went very well. Read a bunch and learned how to create a "soft edge" with folding tape over so one edge doesn't actually contact the body. It worked really well. Just need to do a small bit of wet sanding and polish to blend it all in. Put on lots of clear too so it will hold up and be easy to wet sand/blend.
After this, I have to just clean and polish the entire car, do an oil change and replace the trunion boot (apparently critter like to chew on it when parked so it has a hole in it. Stupid soy based rubber). It only has about 2000km on the restore but I still plan to go over everything before putting it up for sale.