1970 Swinger 340 Hemi Orange 4 speed

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I got the bracing put in today so I can begin cutting out the torsion bar crossmember and frame rails. I basically made some bracing to keep the rockers from moving in/out once everything is cut out and they're tied into the temporary subframe connectors so it should be sturdy. I also ran a brace up to the roof. Since the rockers are done and everything is solid from the a pillars back I don't have to worry about bracing the door openings again.







Three hours of fighting with the upper control arm bolts... I ended up cutting the bolt on one and it still fought me!






Tomorrow I will get all the suspension off and hopefully start cutting the front clip off. I am going to be working on it as much as I can now, so I will update often.
 
I been waiting patiently. Now I got something to look forward to. Glad to see you back at. Just don't burn your self out working on it. I will be lurking.
Jim
 

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Yeah it's nice to be out in the garage and working on it again!

I enjoy working on the car, so I shouldn't burn myself out! How is your car coming along, Jim?

I got the rest of the suspension out today (except for the drivers side upper control arm, both bolts are seized solid inside the bushings and need to be cut) tomorrow I will start cutting the front clip off! Once the clip is off I will repair the lower firewall and then prep for the new clip to go on... Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

I will begin sandblasting and painting all these parts and assemble it all with a new PST rubber rebuild kit and put it aside.. This is the stuff I enjoy most on building a car. Rust repair and bodywork is tedious and it would be nice to take a little break on it and rebuild the suspension.






Now that's rust!
 




Here is some of the rust damage I'm glad to be getting rid of!


Pop riveted together!




The pile grows!


Tomorrow I will get the rest of the frame rails out and torsion bar crossmember.
 
I was going to ask if you were going reuse the original 70 radiator support but I guess not.
keep up the good work
 
[/
muddacres said:
I have been working on allot of small stuff that don't require money. I did get the a pillar welded in.
Jim
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Well it's good to hear you're still plugging away at it!


davescuda said:
I was going to ask if you were going reuse the original 70 radiator support but I guess not.
keep up the good work
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Why is that? It was all damaged and bent from an accident plus it doesn't retain any vin info. The rad support on my new clip is identical in everyway to the original one. Thanks!
 
Glad to see you're still plugging away at the Dart. Your Dart is going to be better than new once its finished. Take some time and rebuild something shiny and pretty, it takes away from the rut of cutting, grinding, and welding. Keep up the great work!
 
This has been a great thread to follow:cheers: You will have a great car when its finally finished, I applaud your efforts and talent!

Dave,
 
ef8340 said:
hey your Z bar mount is still on your frame rail incase you missed it
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Thanks for the heads up.. I have to remove it still, I also have to remove the upper control arm from that rail as well.

813Demon340 said:
Glad to see you're still plugging away at the Dart. Your Dart is going to be better than new once its finished. Take some time and rebuild something shiny and pretty, it takes away from the rut of cutting, grinding, and welding. Keep up the great work!
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Thanks! I cannot wait to be done with the metal work and start on the bodywork! I am going to take a little break once the clip is on and rebuild the front end. I already ordered new pads, rotors, bearings, calipers and a few other things.. Next I'll order the PST rubber front end rebuild kit.

COdartman said:
This has been a great thread to follow:cheers: You will have a great car when its finally finished, I applaud your efforts and talent!

Dave,
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Thanks Dave! It's been a real challenge, but it's satisfying seeing it come together slowly.

I got the torque boxes out and the rest of the frame rails out today. Somebody wants the torsion bar crossmember so I never took the sawzal to it.. I will remove it without damaging it so it will take longer. I will take it out after Christmas.









I have to carefully remove these torque boxes and repair some rust on them, sandblast them and re weld them on the new clip once it's on my car.
 
I got the torsion bar crossmember off and started prepping for the new clip. Tomorrow I will continue grinding and hopefully test fit the new clip!











I added some plates to the inner rocker to locate the torsion bar crossmember when the old one was still in the car, so the new clip has a reference when I install it. I have lots of markings to go off of to put the new clip in same spot as the old one,so hopefully everything will lign up first shot.
 
340sFastback said:
Excellent work!
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Thanks!!

Well today I welded up all the holes in the frame rails/crossmember (ones from the floor pan being drilled out) and ground them all down on the bottom side and finished prepping the clip for plug welds. I managed to wrangle the front end on myself with the help of creepers and a stool and it pretty much fell into place! I have a few minor adjustments to do and fitting of the fenders before any welding, but it came together better then expected! As usual here are a bunch of pictures.









Here's my alignment tabs I tacked on before I removed the original crossmember. There's no way of going wrong with these. I also drilled for 5/16" plug welds to where it meets the rockers.


Also using these inner fender to firewall brackets it leaves no room for error.


Here I just set the fender on the car to give me an idea of where everything is at... Gaps look to be perfect, but I will bolt the fenders to the clip before I do any welding.


Nice and tight to the firewall.


I also had reference marks to where these frame rail to rocker splash guards go.
 
Thanks guys! Yeah its been quite a challenge and all this rust has set my finished timeline way back, but it's slowly coming together. I'm starting to weld the front clip on today.. Hopefully this weekend it will be done!

Some parts showed up today. Calipers, bearings, wheel seals and dust caps (they look to small, I'll have to compare them)
 
Ahhh-this is what I've been missing! Great updates Randy, glad to see all the pics--sucks on the rust, but as usual, you've remedied those issues. Still tuned in
 
Randy,

Nice timing on the KH brakes - I just started to disassemble mine.... were those the correct dust caps after all? Mine are pretty bad so I'll need a pair too.

Wonderful thread, thanks for all the details and photos!

George
 
You've got some great skills. Keeping up with the big dogs.
Might have to give you my Dart for the needed metal work. LOL.

Keep up the great work, been enjoying watching this thread.
 
George,

They are the wrong ones. I ordered them from rock auto under 1970 Dart 340, so I assumed they were right... I will do more research and find the right ones.

Thanks!

WRB426 thanks for the compliment! Haha I've been thinking about doing some side jobs, but not until this car is done.. This one is a big enough headache as it is!



I have the passenger side of the clip all welded on and it took the entire day measuring and making sure nothing moved. The fender is completely bolted on and the fender to door/rocker gap is perfect.

I also have the drivers side torsion bar crossmember welded In and the rest of it screwed and clamped in place. Tomorrow I will finish welding it up, it's too late to make noise now so I stopped. I added some extra welds to the inner rocker for strength too.











 
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