1966 Dodge Dart

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Made some more progress this week. First after talking with some friends and one member on FABO that pointed out that my disc brakes should go to the front of the rotor and not to the rear. I checked with the local Dodge dealership and found that the brake calipers can be put on the front or rear since the spindles will go either way, however if they go to the back you may have to grind a little of the caliper bracket since it may hit the lower control arm and also if the caliper is placed on the front side the brake hose would not kink as easily and not rub anywhere. Then the best part of this past week is my friend thats doing the body work finally showed up and he fit and glued the left rear quarter patch panels in place. I also painted the drive shaft and installed the new u-joints. This will allow me to mount the slicks this week and make sure I have plenty of clearance on both sides then I can set the rear angle to the saddles and at that time I can weld the saddles to the rear housing. Not sure I can get this all done this week but I'll set that as my goal. Here are a few pics from this week.
Rod

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What did I get done this week. Well, this week I painted the arm rest supports and the pulleys for the front of the motor. In order for me to align the pulleys up front I had to press the hub down about 1/8". this should bring my belt alignment in. I didnt know you could do that until the engine builder showed it to me. Then I went to work to set the rear in its correct position. Centered the housing left to right, then started to find the correct rearend angle. I think I have it where it needs to be but just to make sure I posted in the suspension section before I do any welding. I will tach it in place then remove it from car to do a final weld. I plan on adding extra gussets to add strength. I brought the alignment plates up from my dads and positioned them so when dad has a free hour he can help me do the alignment. Things are still moving very slow but at least I am moving forward. I hope to get the interior work started this week. That includes painting everything inside, (paint work is so time consuming) installing the headliner, (1st time for this project) installing gauges steering column, carpet. I think that will take weeks! Ill keep posting progress. here are pics of this weeks work.
Rod

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Did a quick front end alignment today before I pulled the rear housing back out of the car for the welding of the axles. Hopefully the welder (my Buddy) shows up in the next day or two. Going to start putting the front of the engine together this week then move on to the interior. Seems like its taking forever!
Rod
 
Good news, friend came over tonight after work and he welded the perches onto the rear. Did a great job and I will post pics later this weekend. After he was done and left I repainted the housing. This weekend I plan on making the rear brake tubing and installing the housing back into the car. I will do a final check of the pinion angle then complete the rear housing with vacuum plates and axles, put drive shaft in and get the car down on the ground so I can start on the interior rebuild. Tonight I also made a decision to cut a little more of the k-frame in order to gain a little extra clearance for the oil pan. Pics coming this weekend. I just didnt feel comfortable with the clearance I had. I installed the Alt and brackets along with my water pump and pulleys. Looks like everything will line up so I can clean everything up for final painting before final assembly. Also installed the intake and carb and valve covers. Heres a pic of where I am at.
Rod

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Since the last posting Ive made some additional progress. First I decided to tackle the making of the transmission lines and the install of the trans cooler along with the cable for the Hurst shifter. Things went really well after I bought a new line bender that was of decent quality! I will need it when doing the brake lines along with the fuel lines. Grainger had some great choices for what I thought was a low price. Then while doing the flaring of the trans lines my 35 year old snap-on flaring kit just got to sloppy so I had to trade that in for a new one. Good news is that all my flares for trans and brakes should be good! Ive found both an upper and lower radiator hose to fit and installed them. I moved into the interior and started getting things done for the interior painting. Again as Ive said before I hate sanding so Im not having a lot of fun at this point. In order to make this a little easier I decided to remove the dash from the car. This saves me a lot of crawling around in the car which at my age isnt as easy as it used to be. Also it should make installing the gauges and speakers in the dash a little easier as well. I plan on putting in new wiper pivot gaskets while the dash is out. Not sure if there were any leaks there but why take chances. Another thing I have realized is that the doors are going to have to be removed in order to do this right. I dont want to go that far but its the right thing to do. Im gonna rely on those here at FABO to help realign when its that time. Heres some pics of progress.
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Rod
 
Wow, been over a month since I posted any updates. I find myself working on the car most week nights after work then when I come in to post progress I sit in my lazy boy chair, place the laptop on my lap and start my update. Then I find myself waking up at somewhere between 2:30 - 3:30 but not making a post so off to bed i go.
Well tonight I will try to bring you up to date. Ive removed both doors and completed sanding the passengers side both inside and out. Also removed all locks, handles and linkage from that door. Next was to remove the paint from the door jambs. That wasnt fun but the passenger side is done and I hope to complete the drivers side this week. Since the dash is out I prepped it for paint then gave it a CC/BC spray finish. Im fairly happy with the way it turned out. My gauges are in but I still need to add my new speaker grill kit and fabricate a mounting system for the glove box radio! l painted the dash trim parts and installed my Hurst emblem on the glove box. Gave it a custom look to match the gauge section. This week I also hope to spray the dash pad with the dye to match the dash. While I was painting the dash I sprayed the steering column along with the interior covers for just under the rear windows. Im learning how to sand and buff out my painting mistakes as I go! My friend and body man is supposed to fix the front windshield area so I can install the dash once I finish assembling and fabricating it. I need to paint the roll bar and rear interior area before that assembly can happen. so as you can see there's a lot of work to be done in the interior plus I have to cut and install the aluminum between the back seat and trunk area.
With so much to do and spring coming fast I know my time will be limited so Ive moved my projected completion date from sometime in 2015 to sometime in 2016! Here are a few pics from the dash work
Rod

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For any 65-66 Dart owners, I am still looking for the 270 trim that goes under the Passenger rear window that would be in good shape. I was fortunate to have another member send me a drivers side but havent located a passenger side yet. Heres a pic of what I am in need of. If you would have this piece or any other trim for a 66 please contact me.
Thanks Rod

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Nice work....keep posting and those Picx coming...This car has been on my radar for a while....
Btw, which rear tire you end it UP using? you mention a 295 at the begining, but then i see a 275? Thanks. Gilberto
 
Sb449valiant, Yes I did end up going with the 295/50R15. I am using a 10" wheel with 6.5 back space. Once mounted I have about 1/2" of clearance at the wheel wells and about 1" on inner tub. I will probably cut the lip of the fender well slightly to make some additional clearance. Thanks for asking, was starting to think no one was reading my thread! lol
Rod
 
Wow, its been 4 months since I posted to this thread. One of the reasons its been so long is because there are very few hours in the week to get any work done. I have gotten to complate a few things since then but its very limited. Ive installed the proportioning valve for the disc upgrade and made the lines going from the master cyl down to the valve. Also I did the line from the valve to the Right frt wheel. Since there are so many people that have said during tech insp they were told about the line going across the firewall I decided to run it in front of the trans cross member. Made a clean install but a difficult run! I still need to do the Left frt and the line to the rear.
Now I have also installed an aluminum barrier between the trunk and the passenger compartment and I am almost ready to paint the interior and getting ready to move on the doors and jams.
Now my biggest issue I have in front of me is the body man hasnt shown up all summer to work on the car. I talked to him last week and listened to all his excuses so Im hoping he gets his butt to work on it now.
Hopefully I will get to post more work completion here in the next few weeks.
Rod
 
Heading into the 3rd week of September and not much progress since I posted in August. I was able to put a 2 part epoxy paint on the underside of the car between the frame connectors. I did the POR15 and I can say it wasnt the easiest to work with. Its also not going to be a smooth surface but it looks good from 10 feet!lol I've gotten all my fittings to run my fuel line and I did a smoke test on the tank Thursday night and all is good. So I plan on painting the tank early this week and then getting it installed so I can run the piping to the front of the engine compartment. Then the plan will be to get the interior painted so I can reinstall the dash. My goal is to have that done by the end of September. Then in October fire this motor up. I'll post some pics this week since I got the old laptop fixed. I was never abe to figure out posting pics with this Chrome notebook. Thanks for following.
Rod
 
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Finally got my old computer back so I can post some pics to go with the updates. Here are pics of the brake piping so far. I spent a lot of time bending this piping hoping that it turned out ok. Sometimes I think its a waste of time but it should last forever since it will be kept inside and not driven in the rain unless I get caught in it. As you can see I mounted the proportioning valve on the inside of the frame just below the drivers floor. It makes it very difficult to install the upper lines but they will fit. Also I put the heat wrap on much of the lines because of the closeness to the head/exhaust pipes. I dont know if that will deflect heat from the lines but it cant hurt. I still need to run the one line from the cylinder to the valve and a line from the valve to the rear of the car.
Rod
 
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Here are the pics of the bottom that i painted using the POR 15 2 part epoxy paint. I found this very hard to work with and it doesnt lay down as well as their chassis black or engine enamel does. I brushed it on but may try spraying it when I finish the underneath outside of the frame rails.
Rod
 
Got to meet Rod and see this one myself today. Great guy with a very cool build. Lots of attention to details. look forward to seeing it come together.
Keith
 
It's fun to scroll through your progress. Nice work! tmm
 
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Started on the fuel system this week and this was my first thought. When I was thinking this thru I called summit and they recommended keeping some rubber hose between each piece however it looked terrible and didnt fit in very well. So tonight I changed course and ended up going this way.

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I think this is much cleaner although I used a brass nipple in between the 2 parts. It raised it up higher and I plan on cutting a hole in the spare tire drop so I can put the pump about an inch into the trunk. This will allow another inch or 1 1/4" of ground clearance. The rearend housing is about 7 3/4" clearance and the pump will be just about 10". Should work out ok. Here are the pics and you can see as it sits I can go up just over an inch higher.

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Hope now I can start running the gas line to the front and back from the regulator to the return fitting.
Thanks for checking out the progress.
Rod
 
Rod,
took these pics of a 65 at Hershey today. Check out the vanishing rocker line... I like your idea better, to just go smooth up to the door (the heavy white line above it is just a reflection of the parking lot line.)
 

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Keith, Thanks for taking that pic. I didnt notice your post until I checked this thread tonight. Been busy just not enough on the car! Yea I think it will look better to make that seam just go completely away since the replacement panel doesnt have it.
Now heres my latest update,

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Hopefully those pics will post, my first time with pics using this chrome notebook!
Anyway I finally got the car totally down to bare metal and in primer. This included the interior. Then I put on the base coat of red and shot the clear coat. I may end up wet sanding the rear panel because the aluminum seem to get orange peel compared to the original sheet metal below the windows. Im happy with it tho because it will allow me to start assembling the interior now. My plan is to start on the dash and get that installed then do the wiring under the dash and into the engine compartment, hopoefully that will allow me to fire up the stroker that has been in for almost a year! Time passes so fast! I will try to do a little better posting updates as I will have more weekday evening time to work now that the grass has stopped mowing and the leaves are no longer falling!
Thanks for looking and hope to keep you entertained with progress this winter!
Rod
 
Got a couple of things done this week. First I installed the dash as a test fit and while doing this I changed the screws holding it in to bolts that are mounted in the dash so I can remove the dash if needed without removing the windshield.
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I also was able to cut out the bad section of the trunk and replace it with a patch piece I made.
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While I was welding I finished closing off some of the very small pin holes in the inner fender.
I also drilled the hole for the push bar for the shut off solenoid since battery is being installed into the trunk. I will need to make a bracket to mount the cutoff solenoid for the best working situation.
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Then lastly I picked out the rear tail lights assemblies I will be keeping. Actually I made 2 sets so I have a spare just in case something ever happens. This leaves me with 2+ sets to offer for sale which I will post later for sale. Once I picked the ones I would keep I took then apart and polished them up. Here are the ones Im keeping. Then I wrapped them up and put them into a box until I hope spring when it gets painted if I can stay on schedule!
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I also received the wire so I can rewire the engine compartment. I should have enough as the minimum amount was 100'. Got 8 different colors and some 10 gauge and 8 gauge as well.
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I still need to see some pics of someone that has put a headliner into their 66 Dart that includes the rear bow and how the springs hook in the back.
Next steps are the headliner, carpet, dash and wiring. get the console completed and installed. The biggest thing that needs done in the very near future is to start the engine. I will keep you informed as I go forward.
Thanks for following.
Rod
 
The Holidays have come and gone so tomorrow night I plan to get back at this thing. Since the last post I've finished the drivers inner fender and started on the passenger inner. I'm guessing that I will need 3 nights to finish up the inner fender. Once thats completed I will need to re install the rear housing and springs that needed to be removed to work inside the fenders. I bought the strut shocks for both the hood and trunk deck so they will be fitted and installed as well. Moving on after that I will be attempting to run the fuel lines and installing the regulator. I will update more in a few days.
Rod
 
Those tail lights look pretty slick. How did you polish them?
 
Toolman, Thanks for looking at my thread. As for the tail lights I completely disassembled all of them. Then I removed the metal from the lense. Then I wet sanded the lens with 1500, 2000 paper. Washed the outer housing in soap and water and once everything dried I took my 3" foam Air buffer wheel and polished all 3 components with 3m compounds. This included the lenses. Everything came out very nice.
Thanks
Rod
 
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