1963 Dodge Dart 270 Convertible for the Wife

Jim Kueneman · Oct 27, 2019

Installed the ashtray

The dash panels where not bad but the rest is new so, mask off the chrome and shoot it with SEM Silver (which is what Frank painted the plastic parts with).

new glove box liner, glove box door and the dash parts installed.

The originals where dark turquoise but I sort of like the aqua from the OER Aqua plastic rattle can.

The cluster is not really done I just bolted it together to see what it looks like. Need to install the decals on the gauge faces, bead blast the housing and general clean up.

This is a '64 radio and plate but there are very few people who will ever know

In the sun...

CLASSY!

Jim Kueneman · Oct 27, 2019

I now see why they moved the fuse box to the left of the column in '65.... '64 was the last year for the push button.... This '65 harness will need a bit of customization to work that is for sure...

And the here is how a PB transmission works for you youngsters! The white paint was applied with a needle and toothpick. You can scrape any unwanted paint off with the toothpick after it drys.

The bedroom is now 2 boxes of parts LESS than it was this morning with all the dash parts gone! Progress!

Jim Kueneman · Oct 27, 2019

66Dvert said:
I went to lowes and got some of the rubber shower pan stuff. (grey rolled up. some of it is .090 some is .060 or millimeters thickness) I used 2 layers wiht contact cement bonding them together and to the back of the housing. worked really well

steering wheel is coming along well also. dash looks good. are you going to satin the top?

Maybe, up to the wife.... We only did a tiny bit on the Duster and it is fine.

66Dvert · Oct 27, 2019

Jim Kueneman said:
Maybe, up to the wife.... We only did a tiny bit on the Duster and it is fine.

I got spoiled on my top of the dash being a satin(and 2 toned also using on the top tan colored side..... well "baby" powder 17 grams per ounce in gloss) no glare what so ever. Now If I could figure out how to do it on my darned 92 truck I'd be a happy camper. . but yours is looking really good.

Jim Kueneman · Nov 1, 2019

Another round of body glaze, sanding and epoxy primer done. Color tomorrow....

Stephen Hotz · Nov 1, 2019

Looking nice Jim.

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Gonna let it dry for a few days then hit it with the SPI Universal Clear with some flattener in it to kill the shine for durability.... The close ups are where the cracks and gaps were. Close enough for government work...

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Well... well here is 2 hours wasted....

Bought a new heater control plastic housing and cables from a FABO member since my plastic housing was broken. Decided to just use those cables....

Taped up the chrome ready for the bead blaster..

All blasted and like new. Also lubed them up so the move with no pressure.

Polished up the chrome..... Anyone with a '63 may see my mistake....

All ready to install....

Son of a bugger.... These must have been '64 cables..... They don't match the dash controls.... Guess I get to do this all over again tomorrow with the original '63 cables..... Anyone need a nice set of reconditioned '64 cables.....

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Ready to finish the column since I got the NOS coupler and the rebuild kit from DMT...

NOS coupler.

Column rebuild kit from DMT note these are for '66 and up so some of the parts won't work.

So here is one difference. The early couplers are square and don't have the bulges on the sides. I opted to blast/paint and reuse the original retainer as it fits much better. The seal has the bulges but you can pinch it in.

Knocked the pin out with socket for a backer and a hammer..

Punch to get it the rest of the way out.

In goes the new one but I used a brass punch so I could not damage the pin.

Perfect.

One the left is the rebuild kit so the retainer spring is the only thing that is different on the early cars so you have to use the original spring.

On goes the seal. When your done the seal should be 11/16" from that alignment hole.

Spring on.... in the wrong position, don't do this, read on....

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Early couplers are not idiot proof so you CAN assemble it like this BUT it will have a TON of play.... This is WRONG.

This is CORRECT....

Slide on the new coupler.

Here is how I pinch down the retainer and bend the tabs with a hammer.. I use these to later pinch the tabs around the lip.

Other end. Dress the shaft with a file to get the burrs. The new bearing should NOT go on hard..

3/4" deep socket was perfect to tap it on.

Install the rubber sleeve and then the snap ring.

Fish the wires with a piece of wire..

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Those bolts are neat. They have a square head that grabs into the tube to hold this piece on the tube. Snug them down and slide the shaft home. A little lube helps, it should just go in by hand.

Remove the snake..

The back cover slides up and is held by 2 screws.

Slide the switch in and the plate holds it in..

In goes the lever screw. This can come loose so don't be shy with the screw driver or add some blue loctite.

Now when the wheel is done we can put it on.

Stephen Hotz · Nov 2, 2019

Nice job and good info. Have you considered possibly moding that column to be collapsable for safety?

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Stephen Hotz said:
Nice job and good info. Have you considered possibly moding that column to be collapsable for safety?

I was thinking about that as I rebuilt it. It won't get driven much so I doubt I will do anything.

Scamp Rhonda · Nov 2, 2019

Nice bit of info on how to keep that retainer in place and get those tabs bent down so it doesn't all come apart on ya. Sometimes those couplers can be pain in the ***. Thanks, Steve

Jim Kueneman · Nov 2, 2019

Scamp Rohnda said:
Nice bit of info on how to keep that retainer in place and get those tabs bent down so it doesn't all come apart on ya. Sometimes those couplers can be pain in the ***. Thanks, Steve

Yes they are!

Jim Kueneman · Nov 3, 2019

So I sucked it up and restored the correct '63 heater knobs and cables. What I also did is reinforce the crap out of the plastic housing. The original was brittle and cracked. This should make it sturdy....

The gauge regulator is inside the gas gauge on these old cars. Lets see what condition it is in...

Partially drill out the rivet then use a razor blade to pop it free. We want it to be able to press back in afterwards.

Just do one and roll it around. The regulator is on one the right. Gas gauge on the left..

Points seem to be in good shape so I will just restore it.

Tape off the face and very very lightly bead blast it...

Here is the ammeter gauge.

Make sure this connection is clean and tight...

Now time for some Mr Heater box decals.

I rolled the gas gauge face back and pressed the rivet back in. That is all it needs as the other once was still very tight.

Jim Kueneman · Nov 3, 2019

Put the decals on with a set of tweezer and then painted the needles with the same orange I painted my Coronet with....

All done. You can bend the tang at the base of the needle to set how far to the left it goes on the gas and temperature gauges. I set them not to be so far buried....

The circuits board was really bad. I flattened out the copper foil and then used my SPI Universal Clear and brushed it on to seal and lock in the foil.

A have no idea where I bought this but it has been in the garage for years. I used it to create a foam seal so the blinker/oil/dash lights don't bleed across in the center of the gauges..

Not pretty but it will work...

Here we go all done.

I installed the clips and nuts to hold the foil down. In a few days I will remove them and polish the foil where we need connections.

Bead blasted the dash end caps and painted them with OER turquoise plastic paint.

The top says on by having the "T" rotate in the slot the bottom has a screw..

Jim Kueneman · Nov 3, 2019

I will put the wires in the connector once I start the wiring of the dash and I am sure which order they go.

Couple of coats of Universal Clear with some flattener on the steering wheel this morning and its s ready to assemble this afternoon. Also polished up the horn ring as well as I could, it is very pitted..

I cleaned up the garage and the subassembly restoration stations so I could get the body in. It is time to get serious about stripping and welding the body....

3 Mopars + 3 Honda = too many cars!

trapster · Nov 3, 2019

Nice , I just used nail polish for my needles (gauges) the trick was finding the correct color.

Jim Kueneman · Nov 3, 2019

trapster said:
Nice , I just used nail polish for my needles (gauges) the trick was finding the correct color.

I just lucked out on the SPI orange.. It matched perfectly.... we used it on the Duster too.

trapster · Nov 3, 2019

Jim Kueneman said:
I just lucked out on the SPI orange.. I matched perfectly.... we used it on the Duster too.

Yeah but did it come with its own applicator

Jim Kueneman · Nov 4, 2019

Nice day and took the day off for other reasons. I was dreading this but now that I am over this hump the rest is down hill. I wanted this done first so the media would fall out through the missing quarter lowers.

Another day this weekend and the inside will be blasted and ready for patch panel welding and epoxy. Amazing how body lines make the difference. When I bought this I saw how nice the trunk was and figured the rest of the car was fine. Nice trunk but the wheel well and lower quarters are toast due to the trapped mud imagine that...

This weekend time to attack this and git-er-done....

Jim Kueneman · Nov 9, 2019

Got WAY more done that I was expecting! Picked up the LCA's from the machine shop where Dave changed the bushings and bead blasted them for me.

Then the wife and I got busy in the driveway stripping.....

. No photos but we found the original color of this car was the JJ1 Aqua like the interior! I still can't get her to budge, she wants LL1 dark turquoise.

Both sides are paint free now. Lot of elbow grease, Blackhawk abrasive "cookie" disks and a DA sander is all you need..... This was extra hard as it appears to have had a "restoration" along time ago and it had a skim coat of filler everywhere.

I expected this to occur tomorrow but I we had to remove the engine stand to get at the tail piece and do a good job. Decide to just drag out the blaster and blast this area as it was the worst place left on the car from all the overlapped body joints. I am glad they don't do this anymore, no wonder these rusted away...