1965 Dodge Dart Charger

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I sanded the porcelin part down to where it seems that contact will be ok all around it. I need to test it before I mount it.

Continmued with some glass beading. During this I found out that the rear cross member has two different type of bolts but the nuts with washer are all the same. The rear nuts that holds the rear transmission cushion is marked with three punch marks all around.

Finally the two bolts that holds the transmission cushion to the tranny is two different ones. Checked with my 4 door and they are same on both sides. LA plant might have run out of the same ones...!



The bol

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This has to be one of the most in depth restores there's ever been. Awesome work. Gonna be one helluva nice little car.
 
The last 2 65 A Bodies I've dismantled (a 65 Valiant and 65 Dart) have had the same bolts for the cross member (the ones with the H marking). The bolts for the insulator were the ones with the recessed are in the bolt head. The Valiant was a Detroit-built car while the Dart was built in CA.
 
Thanks for the nice comments guys. It's always encouringing.

Re the bolts Don I checked my partsbook but there is just one partnumber. Can it been two manufacturers? And one had not delivered in time! Does your have the marked nuts holding the insulator?
 
You sure find and point out some interesting details! I just checked my cars and all three Barracudas and the Valiant have the H type bolts for all four in the crossmember. Maybe someone replaced two of yours with regular bolts at some point?? The insulator bolts are all the recessed head style too. (although a couple havethe lip bent) Maybe someone put wahtever was laying on the floor at some repair job for your insulator too??

Anyway, thanks a bunch for posting your restoration details!
 
grimreaper and 65dartman, you guys put me on track again! Yeeeez, I forgot that I had two crossmembers from one Dart 270 wagon 65 built in LA and one member from a wrecked 65 Barracuda also built in LA. Both where assembled in Jan/Feb of 1965.

The front cross member is from the Dart wagon. Got the two different bolts for the and the nuts for the insulator with the marks.

However the member from the Barracuda had the same H bolts and a different style on the nuts. Some kind of self locking I guess.

The cross member as you can see was painyed inside out.

Any input in this matter?

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I've got a few extra crossmembers which I have sandblasted and repainted. I think (personal guess) the crossmembers were dipped into paint and hung to dry. All of the ones I cleaned had sags or runs like they had hung from one end while the paint dried. Most also had a blob of paint on one end like it hadn't quite dripped off yet. Or, maybe Mopar employed four year olds to spray their crossmembers so they got runs and sags:)
All three Barracudas and the Valiant have the tapered locking nuts on the bottom of the tranny insulator too.
 
Today I fabricated a new gasket for the master cyliner/power brake booster combo. Turned out great with the new nuts too. Now I just need the cap...!

I took the nuts and washers from my other cross member and they was in great condition. The nuts was black phosphate and the washers were silver cad from factory.

After glass beading they turned out just great.

The curved rubber mouldings that bgoes between the body panels and the rear bumper seems to have been yellow dichromated from the factory. Will try to cover the rubber and glass bead the steel plate. Hope it will work!

On the last picture I have shoot a picture with three bolts. The top one is the one that holds the rear resonator. The threads is 1" long. But how does the head looks like??

Any help is gladly appriciated.

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Started with the rear cross member. It was greasy, oily, dirty and everything else. BUT, it seems to be straight, no dings etc. After 30 minutes of water hosing this is the result.

Started with glass beading for 30 minutes and the paint peel off real easy. grimreaper you might be right. I found some evidence of hanging the cross member from left to right. At least on this one.

Will continue tomorrow and hopefully it will be done by then.

Which bolt of the two was for the insulator to transmission case?

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Glass beaded the rest of the cross member. Now it looks like new. Did some some markings from the manufacturer. MK 34. Does not know what it's for. After the paint with drips it looks great.

Painted the splash shield too. Sorry to spray something that looks like new. The bolts for the K-frame was in bad shape. After the first one was glass beaded I found some N markings on the head.

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Did shoot the last paint on the inner splash shield. I need to check in to my inventory of left side inner splash shields. On this car it looked like a wreck!!
 

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Does it really matter what's typed on the danged bolts? Nevermind.....I know the answer. LOL You do some fine work man. It's lookin great.
 
Good yoke. But seriously sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm doing! Why just don't putting it all back together and drive it. But no, reference restoation status! But it has taken my hobby to a new level.

I was concerned about the horn relay. I could not accept that the new relay I bought did not had the RBM mark on it. After a lot of searching I found a relay for earlier Mopars with the right marks in Canada. RBM. Yes! Will start to redo the horn relay tomorrow.

Did some glass beading on the K-frame bolts and the cover for the heater box. Turned out just great.

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65DC, your attention to detail is amazing.
You are going to have quite the product when you're finished with your build; very nice job, Sir.
 
Thanks for the kind words 340_dart_power.

Today I continued with the bolts for the K-frame. I will be done with them tomorrow.

The door striker is worse. They are worn out on the upper side so I need to get new ones. I will dig into that tomorrow. The spacer for the fan is shot too. I need a new one. Does anyone know how to get the shine in aluminium without rubbing the parts? Any help is very appriciated.

The rear end is another story. After bending it through the doors and get it over a large stainless steel zink I started to clean it with just a scraper. It peels off real easy but I need to get some more good cleaning stuff. Found some tabs and paint splots. Under the grease on the pinion carrier bumper I found out that they were not painted. I took off two bolts and under is the result how is was from the beginning. The process must have been as follows;

After they were stamped in a press they were put in a sand stone shaker to get rid of all the sharp edges. After that the bumper was added.

I will clean my support tomorrow to get in sand stoned later this week. The bolts seems to have been black phosphated.

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It almost looks as if the dip above the w was cast in when looking at the pic you have of the one with the o.
 
chryslerfat said:
It almost looks as if the dip above the w was cast in when looking at the pic you have of the one with the o.
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You're right. But it is abvious that I need to found better ones. I wonder how they look from St Louis built cars?¨

During the work this afternoon I found out that the breater on the rear end was yellow dichromated from factory incl the washer. The hat seems to have been zink plated.

On the same breather I found evidence of some kind of papertag that was probably removed from the factory during the assembly. Anyone ever seen this tag?
 

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The rear brake hose was orginal to the car. It had the markings DPCD stamped along with AC which until know is unknown for what it stands for.

I removed the bumper on the pinion carrier bumper and will get that to the company that sand stone them to like new condition. The bumper itselt is laying in the new cleaning stuff that I used before.

The rings that goes on the upper control arm bushing is glassbeaded. They don't look new but at least I know how they look. I need to find a new set. Anyone have a set for sale?

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Continued with the rear end. The shaft got off real easy and I found out that the only thing that's been changed is the brake shoes. The brake level is date coded. The brake shields are 10" marked and then there is a 3 digit code. Can be the manufacturer or it can be the end of the part#. Need to check that out tomorrow.

The bumper turned out great after the cleaning. It does even have the part# molded into it.

While working on the bench I found out that the two light switches both had some kind of stamps with 17. They are different, LA cars seems to have bold figures compared to Detroit built cars.

Then I found a Accessories anouncement sheet for the right side non adjustable mirror released Nov 11, 1964.

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Cool mirror info. I didn't realize they were available in 64. I bought a nice original one this summer. It looks good and is very functional. toolmanmike

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toolmanmike said:
Cool mirror info. I didn't realize they were available in 64. I bought a nice original one this summer. It looks good and is very functional. toolmanmike
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They are real cook but they are hard to find. I bought one in bad condition in 1992 and had it rechromed but I saved it when I sold the car. I have just seen mine and yours on the picture!
 
Ulf it´s right you need this parts with stamped W

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