1969 Dodge Dart Swinger clean up

[dadsbee]

Wire brushed some crud off for a better look at the battle scar repair. Can't decide to go with it for history or fix it. Still signs of assembly line markings in Yellow.

Amazing what you can see when you put new peel offs on the glass and clean the lights !

Rear axle brake line splitter cleaned up.

...and clear coated with Tremclad anti-tarnish.

A couple hours of blasting in the morning.

..and a few more hours of blasting in the afternoon.

Out of the blasting cabinet and into the T-9 Boeshield. 8 rear axle U bolts and 16 nuts to choose 4 nice sets from.

 

[dadsbee]

New studs and nuts for the leaf spring front hangers. Out of the package and through the T-9 dunker.

Refurbished axle bump stops. Mounting plates media blasted then coated in T-9. The rubbers were soaked in 100LL for a night which stripped them of all undercoating and gooo, making them look like new.

Back in place on the car. A quick shot of undercoating around the brackets will blend them right back in.

Dipped the front leaf spring hangers in Flat Black.

Leaf spring hangers hung in front of the baker.

No guessing center this way. Broken shock stud in the chuck and marking the back side for center to drill it out to 5/8" for new studs. NO I didn't turn on the lathe, turned the chuck by hand...

True center marked.

Replacement shock mount studs to bolt on.

Brake backing plates degreased.

..and more stuff in the cabinet. It never seems to end..

 

[fran blacker]

Surprised you didn't drill and tap shock plate. Then cut shock stud so a little sticks out and weld stud in. Saw that shock plate in the lathe on fbbo. Came here to see what's up.

 

[dadsbee]

If I had a 5/8 fine thread tap I just might. Haven't cut the old stud off yet, just marked for drilling. Bolted them on on the Bee, no sign of them coming loose and if your crawl under the car to see the retaining nut I may just drive over you!

 

[dadsbee]

Fuel tank straps going back on, trying to get an afternoon of work in without leaning over the blasting cabinet.

Weird how the A body is done opposite direction to a B body, but what ever holds it on I guess!

Centering holes, that I marked yesterday, drilled part way into the shock mount stud from the back side and then the broken stud cut off

Step drilled, with final size 5/8". I purposely cut off the broken studs leaving a proud boss, to give a nice flat surface for the replacement studs to sit on.

"Boss" ground smooth with just enough to act as a flat washer.

Test fit of the replacement studs after clean up.

A quick blast again in the cabinet to clean up scuffs and grinding marks, and then dunked in my Semi-Gloss paint mix left over from when I painted the K frame.

Pinion snubber plate blasted and then T-9'd.

 

[dadsbee]

Pressing in the new front hanger studs.

Last one in, repeat for the other hanger.

Amazing what pops out in the blasting cabinet.

Figured I'd wire wheel the housing to get the main crud and then, hopefully, just give it a quick blast before paint.

My shop safety note. This is after about 25 seconds of wire wheeling even with my window exhaust fan running. Fresh air hood on before I continue.

 

[dadsbee]

My redneck dust extractor ready to go for tomorrow...

..and neat that my cheap spot welder arrived on Purolator about 10 minutes after I noticed that the right fender to headlight bucket's spot weld had let go. Can just get the unit up in there to weld it.

 

[Machmeter1]

A pleasure to read your posts - hats off! Maybe the temperatures get better and you can clean the axle housing outside.

Cheers Wolfgang

 

[4spdragtop]

How do you like the PA spot welder?

My redneck dust extractor ready to go for tomorrow...
View attachment 1715695592
..and neat that my cheap spot welder arrived on Purolator about 10 minutes after I noticed that the right fender to headlight bucket's spot weld had let go. Can just get the unit up in there to weld it.
View attachment 1715695593

 

[dadsbee]

Probably a piece of junk.. but it works..

 

[4spdragtop]

How muchee?

Probably a piece of junk.. but it works..
View attachment 1715695641

 

[dadsbee]

Was on sale for $189.99 vs $259.99 and free shipping to boot. My Purolator freight shipping was $100.64... PA covered the first 100 bucks!

 

[dadsbee]

A couple short zaps and they're one again.

Worked pretty good, even with the paint and grime.

Leaf spring lower shock brackets came out nice, dipped in Semi Gloss and heat baked. Installed the new shock studs for the last time.

That's it for today, got too many projects in the oven at once..

 

[dadsbee]

Just in from Florida, more parts. Easier than fixing the bastardized lid that's on the car.

An original untouched OE wrinkle finish unsilenced air cleaner assembly and a pair of dent free '69 rocker covers.... that someone left in a sink it appears. More stuff to blast.

If only Black came in one shade.

Lid given a quick coat of paint to cover up a few bare spots but not lose the texture.

Rust Check Flat was the "shade" winner.

Nice refreshed factory finish without any work.

1969 breather scuffed and painted Semi Gloss.

Vacuumed out the frame rails today.

Finished up the wire wheel job on the axle housing, ready for media blast.

Figure I may as well do all the spring leafs that won't fit the blast cabinet and I can then just give a quick blast when doing the axle housing in a "tent"..

 

[dadsbee]

Having a blast again today. Rear axle brake backing plates loaded into the cabinet.

All cleaned up, as well as some wheel adapters I picked up to go from 4" to 4.5" bolt pattern and some misc items.

Was wondering why I was starting to eat more dirt, and then it became clear...

Fortunately I was proactive for once in my life and have spares!

It's BBQ season again...

Fakes the factory Black Phosphorous finish pretty darn close once it cures.

Hung to bake..

Back to those wheel adapters above, that I bought from a member here. Just want to show the importance of cleaning used items before putting them into use. I have a set of mint 4.5" bolt pattern Road Wheels, with fairly fresh rubber, that I was considering rotating onto the car to be more "year" correct so I bought this pair of adapters for the back and my fronts I can move the studs from 4.0 to 4.5 on the aftermarket hubs.

As received, looking good.

After blasting the crud off... not so good.

 

[dadsbee]

A better true colour shot of how the BBQ paint simulates Black Phosphate fairly well.

6 leafs done in the cabinet, 6 left to do outside when it warms up a tad.

Deja vu. Time to see if these rusty looking '69 covers will clean up.

Never judge a book by it's cover...

From ugly to the nicest pair of rockers covers I've probably ever had in my hands. Not a single dent.

They, like the last set, need new wiring tabs though. Getting good at this..

Tab off, note the hint of factory Turquoise paint remaining. 1969 only on the 340 engine.

Spot welds ground smooth, spot blasted to clean up, ready for new wiring tabs and paint.

 

[dadsbee]

Rocker cover wiring clip deja vu !

Three new clips ready to dip and weld into place.

Original dip coating cracked off, but I know exactly what it looked like for coverage.

An organizer tray is the perfect size for a dip tray.

That worked nice..

Should have bought one of these a long, long, time ago!

Wiring clip in place with two spot welds. (OE is one big one, about 1/4" in diameter)

Inside the cover showing spot welds. Just a quick trigger hold and makes a perfect weld.

Three new clips welded on and the big clip dipped. Paint tomorrow for this one.

One cover painted, PCV valve as well. Under the furnace heat outlet for the night.

 

[dadsbee]

Time to make some new leaf spring "interleafs".

26 gauge galvanized sheet. You can buy a LOT of these at Lowes for the price of one rebuild kit from a supplier. And I haven't had much luck with rebuild kits matching OE interleaf lengths.

10 interleafs cut out and drilled with a unibit for the bolt hole.

New vs old interleafs.

 

[scatpackbee]

Glad to hear the positive feedback on the Princess Auto Spot Welder.

I think I’ll buy one next time it’s on sale.

Any thoughts on manufacturing those valve cover wire tabs and selling on FABO...?

 

[dadsbee]

Any thoughts on manufacturing those valve cover wire tabs and selling on FABO...?

I'd have to find some more Stanley tool boxes to cut up!!

 

[dadsbee]

BTW, what on earth is the long "clip" for on the cover, was it to hold the fuel line?

 

[scatpackbee]

I read somewhere it was to protect the wiring harness from the exhaust crossover and choke well on the passenger side.

I might be mistaken....

 

[dadsbee]

Seems weird to take the wires up from the small clip and then back down, let alone that long tray that would retain more heat, but I guess it makes sense. Oh well, at least I have the correct covers now! LOL

 

[scatpackbee]

Seems weird to take the wires up from the small clip and then back down, let alone that long tray that would retain more heat, but I guess it makes sense. Oh well, at least I have the correct covers now! LOL

I remember researching at one time what that long clip was for since my valve covers didn’t have it. I think it’s a ‘69 340 only feature. My valve covers must be off a ‘69 318.

 

[Machmeter1]

BTW, what on earth is the long "clip" for on the cover, was it to hold the fuel line?

Vacuum line, I guess...
https://www.swinger340specials.ca/340-review