1970 Dart 340

[ab7fh]

Back in the late '70s and early '80s I owned a 1972 Dodge Dart which I drag raced and drove on the street.

Well, I got the itch to get back into racing:burnout: Our new house is only 3 miles from the Speedworld racetrack and I can faintly hear them running the cars from our house every weekend. That was just too much for me to bare, so I decided to get back into drag racing.

A couple weeks ago I bought a 1970 Dodge Dart off of E-bay. The car was located in New Jersey, a mere 2500 miles from home I decided this was the right car for me mainly because I really needed to get out of the house on my own for a couple weeks and this was just the excuse I needed;)

The car is going to be stripped and repainted. It will get new quarter panels, at least one rocker, one floorpan, new door hinges, fiberglass hood, bumpers, and most likely trunk lid as well.

The new color will most likely be orange, but it just may end up being red, like my old one. Plans for it include at least 500HP and an automatic transmission. I'm not sure if I'll be running a BB or SB yet. I plan on ditching the torsion bar front suspension for an AlterKation K member with coilovers.

The rear end in the car right now is a trussed Mopar 8 3/4", with a three link suspension and coilovers.

 

[Scamp71]

Sweet lookin' Dart, keep us updated on the progress!

Now about that two week road trip to go get a Mopar...thats the kind of things I dream about!

 

[70dart]

Awesome project, solid too, great find!

 

[7demon2]

is that an original sublime swinger? it looks like it may have been. if so are you sure you really want to change the color?

 

[ab7fh]

It is an original Sublime 340 4 speed. However it will have to be the next owner who restores it to it's original color. I'm going to paint it a color I like a whole lot more.

 

[ab7fh]

Latest progress:

I'm just replacing the section of floor that is bad. I didn't see any need to cut out so much good metal. I've got the perimeter cut and a few spot welds drilled. Slowly, but surely...

Cleaning up the surface rust on the firewall.

 

[daves66valiant]

nice project

 

[ab7fh]

Not a lot more progress, but it sure was a lot of work

 

[gts340]

Cool car. Keep us updated on the progress. I have almost the same car but mine is a 3 speed (same color) I'd like to restore it, but no time or money for it right now.

 

[AdamR]

Looks good. Did that gas cap fit ?

 

[OneOfMany]

Looks like an excellent starting point, wish mine needed as "little" to get 'er on the road. I agree that you should paint it the color you like, but.. I sure like that color. That green "grows" on ya. :thumblef:

 

[ab7fh]

Looks good. Did that gas cap fit ?

Yep, sure did. Thanks!

 

[ab7fh]

It's been a week since my last post and all I have accomplished was scraping all the dirt and undercoating from the bottom of the passenger compartment. YUCK! Tons of work on something no one will ever see.

The good news is there haven't been any surprises.

I only have a few hours to work on it each day. Our day time temps have been around 110 degrees and all I have to cool the garage with is a portable swamp cooler. First thing in the morning it's 80 degrees in there, but it climbs quick!

 

[65s]

That's the way to do it man, just get the car and jump right in or else you'll sit staring at it forever and never start!

 

[340sFastback]

Nice job cutting out that floor. Are you going to butt weld the patch in?

 

[Johnny Dart]

Gotta love the 70 Dart !!!!!

 

[hemiduster]

Nice project, looks like your doing it right. Working on a 70 Swinger with my 15 year old son right now. Good luck.

 

[ab7fh]

Nice job cutting out that floor. Are you going to butt weld the patch in?

Yes, that's the plan. That will be my practice for the quarter panels which also need to be replaced.

 

[340sFastback]

Yes, that's the plan. That will be my practice for the quarter panels which also need to be replaced.

Are you going to use the old cut out metal as a template to cut the new metal to size? I am going to be doing the same repair on my car but I am thinking of going all the way up to the fire wall seam and then all the way over to the rocker panel to minimize the butt weld seam. Very interested in your progress on the floor repair.

Last winter I butt welded a spare tire well panel in. If your interested detailed pics are shown in this thread (you'll have to scroll down):

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=14983&highlight=trunk+floor

 

[ab7fh]

Update:

I've got all the undercoating off the car from the rear axle forward. After scrapping off the heavy stuff, I used a hand held wire brush dipped in metal cleaner to dissolve the rest of the undercoating. So far I've only done that to the underside. The wheel wells still need to be cleaned.

Test fit of the drivers floorpan. I ended up removing the majority of the old floorpans.

All four pans removed.

Ladder bar mount and subframe connector.

As it currently sits...

 

[340sFastback]

That really looks good. Thanks for keeping us updated and looking forward to seeing more pictures of the progress.

 

[ab7fh]

Here's the latest:

I've been repairing messed up sheetmetal in the center floorpan. By the looks of it holes were drilled for three sets of bucket seats. Some of the holes were ripped. I just cut the junk out and fabbed up some patches.

The last two photos show an area that was hacked up to make room for fenderwell headers. They removed part of the support structure and never did anything to reinforce the area. That's what I did. I boxed it in, so it will still provide clearance but still be strong.

 

[ab7fh]

To those who have welded up panels before. Is this as far as you would go with filling and grinding?

If that were on an outer body panel would it be ready for putty and finishing?

I've never done this stuff before and could use all the tips I can get;)

 

[ab7fh]

Bump...

Can anyone good with body work answer the question in the previous post?

 

[AdamR]

Looks good to me. I like to use fiberglass reinforced filler seal up the pin holes.
Lead or body soldier work work good to but I wouldnt go that far for the floor boards.

When its all done paint it with some Zero Rust or Rust Bullet.