1968 Dart 270

['69FuryConvertible]

Figured I'd share my friends '68 Dart 270 that I'm restoring for him.

Pull up a seat, this'll be a long one.

Mark and I have been close friends for well over a decade and a half, in that time he's seen me evolve in my skills in restoration and as a mechanic. About 2 years ago he asked me if I'd be interested in restoring his Dart for him. Knowing how important that car is to Mark, I was both humbled and honored to have been asked, so I agreed.

Now the back story on the car, it's Mark's first car, bought in 1979, driven all through high school, originally sold new in Toronto Ontario it made it's way to Milton Ontario where Mark bought it as a used car. Originally a 225 Slant 6, 904 Torque-flite, 7.25, 9" manual drum brake, manual steering, 14" full wheel cover wearing Dart 270 coupe. Mark drove the car daily and year round until the mid 80s, at which time it became his secondary/ summer car, in the early 90s Mark and some car club friends took the Dart apart and began getting it ready for restoration, it was media blasted and epoxied. Shortly after that, Mark hurt his back and had to have Surgery, the Dart became sidelined, he actually ended up buying another all original very clean '68 Dart 2dr post, and enjoyed it for many years, flashing forward through homes, marriage, divorce and unfortunately death, it brought us to 2 years ago and Mark trusting me to revive his long slumbering friend.

I went down with my truck and trailer and we assembled the suspension enough to get it to roll and out of the car tent it had been in for 15 years.

It was the start of the Dart's next lease on life.

Attached are some pictures of the day it came to stay with me, it in 1982, and the other '68.

Another installment tomorrow....

Nick

 

[domdart]

Good luck. I had a QQ1 blue 68 Dart 270 hardtop when I was a teenager. I love the trim on the side of the 270's.

 

[mpgmike]

Looks like the car the little ole' ladies were driving in the movie "Groundhog Day".

 

['69FuryConvertible]

With the Dart here in my shop, I began picking away at some of the sheetmetal.

Overall the car is very solid for a Canadian car, but it does suffer from the usual rot, a lot of little spots.

So I began cutting, forming, fitting and welding to repair that rust.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

Next I moved to a few more areas of rust, at one point around the early 80s a frame rail was replaced on the drivers side at that time the only one available from he dealer was for a 70s Dart, so I made a patch for each side and welded it in.

Mark wanted his Dart to be a 4 speed, so I converted it while here with an AMD hump.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

I also had to replace the door strikers and started repairing the inner fenders

 

['69FuryConvertible]

More rad support and inner structure repairs

 

['69FuryConvertible]

Finished my part of it and then took it to my friends Bodyshop.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

From there we decided the best plan of action was to grt the car media blasted to remove the old epoxy and any filler...not surprisingly we found more rust..

While it was out bodywork on the panels began

 

['69FuryConvertible]

Next the car got a coat inside and out and underneath with PPG CRE-321 Epoxy and body work began...a new trunk filler panel was sourced from AMD via National Moparts in Beaverton ontario.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

More new sheet metal and some colour, the car is going back to its original green, we seam sealed it with SEM DTM.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

We painted the front half of the structure and then began fitting panels.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

Bodywork continued, we're going with "Swinger" wheels and dog dishes.

 

[harrisonm]

Very nice work!

 

[purplehazenils]

Great job, good to see all that rust being fixed!

 

['69FuryConvertible]

While the car was at the bodyshop I began the drivetrain, Mark wanted a Roller LA 360, he ended up bringing me a '91 360 from a 1 ton D series truck, upon teardown it became evident that maintenance was seriously lacking and I ended up finding it was actually stuck, so I let it soak for a few days in marvel mystery oil and then began gently working it....I was able to get the rings free and disassemble it, the carnage was expected, I had my doubts, but I took it to the machinist I deal with...

 

['69FuryConvertible]

The machinist called me and let me know the block cleaned up and was still standard, as was the crank, the original #308 heads received a 3 angle valve job and new stem seals in addition to a quick skim.

Now was time to start collecting up parts.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

Upon inspection I found a damaged ring land on two pistons, so new pistons, I got the machine shop to remove the old slugs, put the ARP studs in and resize the rods, then I took em to work and used our bearing oven to heat the rods and assemble the new pistons, the brought em home and assembled them.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

I started cleaning up parts for it, installed the fresh cam and lifters, timed it and installed the new double roller, drilled, tapped and plugged the AIR holes I'm the heads, then put the heads on.

Around that time the new bumpers and door handles showed up.

 

['69FuryConvertible]

Around this time I came to the conclusion that the freshly recored '68 340 A body rad Mark had wasn't going to work with the '91 timing cover, so I took a trip to see my friend Nigel Mills at National Moparts, dig around the yard and found an early timing cover, brought it home, cleaned it up and swapped it, I quickly found a clearance issue due to the aftermarket replacement waterpump, so I clearanced the extra material and we moved on...

Some primer and some paint were next and that brings us to date, I still have some small stuff to do and then I'll clear the base I applied, based on the Autopar Mopar red...

 

['69FuryConvertible]