1972 Canadian H-Code 340 Dart Swinger Special Resto - Finally started!

[Swinger340Canuc]

I had exactly the same problem with my quarter panels and after I gave up on moving them any further forward there was only two options left, alter the quarter panel or alter the edge of the trunk lid.

It would have been a many hours of work and messed up a lot of the inside that I had done and warped the top of the quarters so I chose to grind the edge of my trunk lid back to the gap I wanted and cooling the weld with air as I went welded up the edge and finish it with a mini grinder and sander, you can see by how little damage this did to the primer that it had no effect on the trunk lid skin as far as warping and it took an hour or two compared to many hours and filler and nobody would know it was a problem. Just remember that you have to remove enough knowing the weld itself will build it back out some.

Hope that helps you out Red383.

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

WOW! Looks awesome.

I don't know why I stopped getting email update notices....You sir have been busy! Wow! Paint! Now comes the "fun stage" Looking great

Thanks guys, its a bit of a milestone that I'm really glad to be at.

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Your Swinger's looking great. Wish I was that far.
I do have another quarter panel install question if you don't mind. On the AMD quarter at the front corner of the deck lid, the gap gets really tight. I was wondering if I should make a slice in the top of the panel at the green line, and tap that metal over to open up the gap? then weld it back up. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks

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You may have to clamp the trunk lid skin down to the rest of the inner if it should separate slightly till you get a couple of tack welds but I don't believe I had that problem.

 

[Red383]

Great thanks. One more since I have your attention...
In the rear window channel corner, I placed my molding on to check fitment, and the new AMD quarter is coming up short. How would you close this gap? I was thinking about tacking a filler rod in there to close it up, like I saw someone do on their door edge. What's your opinion.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[67GTConvert]

Just got caught up with the latest updates and wow,that car is going to look amazing as it goes back together.

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Great thanks. One more since I have your attention...
In the rear window channel corner, I placed my molding on to check fitment, and the new AMD quarter is coming up short. How would you close this gap? I was thinking about tacking a filler rod in there to close it up, like I saw someone do on their door edge. What's your opinion.

Thanks a bunch.



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It might be possible to fill this area with steel but that's a really awkward area to grind and shape it nicely, you might fill the straight area by welding some steel rod on there since its easy to grind to what you want but I would fill the corner with ALL METAL and I just might fill the whole space with it. This is not an area that flexes or moves and ALL METAL has some flexibility and unlike polyester body filler its waterproof but if you caulk this area well before painting the water should never get to it anyway.

 

[Red383]

Thanks again for the pointers.

 

[cliff guinand]

I don't know why I stopped getting email update notices....You sir have been busy! Wow! Paint! Now comes the "fun stage" Looking great

HEY DANNY!!!!!!!
Wow, leave the country for 3 weeks and look what happens! Wow buddy, that's looking awesome. And Dave, yeah, what's up with FABO, seems if you aren't on it for a few weeks it doesn't give you notices.
Was talking with Kev and said there were pics so checked it out, nice. And yup, next summer, blue, orange and yellow time.
Oh, and just in case you thought I'd 'checked out' of Mopar Muscle while in Switzerland, here's proof I didn't. Bucket List box checked off - Woot. Woot. It was an awesome experience shaking up the Suisse landscape with this bad boy (thanks to Tim Ogi).

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

HEY DANNY!!!!!!!
Wow, leave the country for 3 weeks and look what happens! Wow buddy, that's looking awesome. And Dave, yeah, what's up with FABO, seems if you aren't on it for a few weeks it doesn't give you notices.
Was talking with Kev and said there were pics so checked it out, nice. And yup, next summer, blue, orange and yellow time.
Oh, and just in case you thought I'd 'checked out' of Mopar Muscle while in Switzerland, here's proof I didn't. Bucket List box checked off - Woot. Woot. It was an awesome experience shaking up the Suisse landscape with this bad boy (thanks to Tim Ogi).
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Holy smokes! Someone knows how to travel Europe and turn heads at the same time, looks like you had a pretty good time. Got her into paint so thats the most laborious part done, still tons to do but mostly clean work. Love to see a bunch of the 340 Specials to make the Mopars at the Mall show next summer, that would be a great gathering.

 

[dmoore]

HEY DANNY!!!!!!!
Wow, leave the country for 3 weeks and look what happens! Wow buddy, that's looking awesome. And Dave, yeah, what's up with FABO, seems if you aren't on it for a few weeks it doesn't give you notices.
Was talking with Kev and said there were pics so checked it out, nice. And yup, next summer, blue, orange and yellow time.
Oh, and just in case you thought I'd 'checked out' of Mopar Muscle while in Switzerland, here's proof I didn't. Bucket List box checked off - Woot. Woot. It was an awesome experience shaking up the Suisse landscape with this bad boy (thanks to Tim Ogi).
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Wow dude! Scenic in every aspect! I'll bet the locals enjoyed that one!

 

[cliff guinand]

Wow dude! Scenic in every aspect! I'll bet the locals enjoyed that one!

Wow, what a ride... I was blessed with the opportunity to this, in a place I've only dreamed of doing it. Prior to going to Switzerland, I asked and arranged with Tim on FaceBook (Facebook Mopar friend) to meet up in Interlaken where we went ripping up and down the lakes and thru the villages there in the alpes. What a blast. If you want to witness a bit of video that I put together, visit and like my - burnouts hotrod wear - page on Facebook - you'll get a kick out of it. I know I sure did, haha. C

 

[dmoore]

Wow, what a ride... I was blessed with the opportunity to this, in a place I've only dreamed of doing it. Prior to going to Switzerland, I asked and arranged with Tim on FaceBook (Facebook Mopar friend) to meet up in Interlaken where we went ripping up and down the lakes and thru the villages there in the alpes. What a blast. If you want to witness a bit of video that I put together, visit and like my - burnouts hotrod wear - page on Facebook - you'll get a kick out of it. I know I sure did, haha. C

 

[STR-14]

Cliff, Cliff, Cliff, you stood in front of the car.............smh.
and where is Diane?

HEY DANNY!!!!!!!
Wow, leave the country for 3 weeks and look what happens! Wow buddy, that's looking awesome. And Dave, yeah, what's up with FABO, seems if you aren't on it for a few weeks it doesn't give you notices.
Was talking with Kev and said there were pics so checked it out, nice. And yup, next summer, blue, orange and yellow time.
Oh, and just in case you thought I'd 'checked out' of Mopar Muscle while in Switzerland, here's proof I didn't. Bucket List box checked off - Woot. Woot. It was an awesome experience shaking up the Suisse landscape with this bad boy (thanks to Tim Ogi).
View attachment 1715092005[/QUOTE

 

[cliff guinand]

Hey you, how's things? I'm standing proud, large and in charge in front of it! Haha. And Diane's back at the hotel but she video'd me and Tim leaving, she was pretty excited (ask Susan to show you on FB). When I got back we went paragliding - yikes!

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

I haven't gone to sleep on my project but I thought the grubby messy work was done, Well not quite. Forgot about the rather grimy job of getting my engine back to the original appearance.

The worst part is getting that old orange spray bomb paint off, and damn its really stuck on the steel parts of the engine, I must have done a pretty good job back in the day. So out comes the dreaded Aircraft paint stripper and a number of coats and mess that that entails,

Not fun but that's the worst part of the process,

This engine only had a couple of thousand miles on it when I parked the car so it's really a fresh rebuild but 30 some years of starting it occasionally and not really getting it going left quite a bit of carbon build up and gunk so I'm this far in I just pulled the heads and check the cylinders and clean up the messy crap and confirm everything looks alright and clean the heads and mating surfaces,

Also took my new leaf springs apart and sent them off to the powder coater to get a much better paint job then what was on them so hopefully I'll get those back this week,

Some small progress but better a little then none, the march goes on.

 

[CudaChick1968]

... Also took my new leaf springs apart and sent them off to the powder coater to get a much better paint job then what was on them so hopefully I'll get those back this week,

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Some small progress but better a little then none, the march goes on.

It's just my own two cents from years in the powder industry, but leaf springs are one of those "touchy" things you should only trust to a VERY experienced coater. Leaf springs have Delrin liners in between each leaf, a specialized (usually Teflon) item that does not hold up to the heat required to either outgas the metal or to cure the powder. Without them, you end up with too much room in between the leaves (which just gets bigger once the car is on the road) and ultimately creates a hazard both for the driver and others on the road. Imagine cruising down the highway at 70 and one of your leaf springs just decides to fall apart ... yikes.

New liners can be purchased but the aftermarket ones don't really have the best reputation. Do your own research before making a commitment. This is an older thread but not much has changed in the meantime. Leaf spring liner

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

It's just my own two cents from years in the powder industry, but leaf springs are one of those "touchy" things you should only trust to a VERY experienced coater. Leaf springs have Delrin liners in between each leaf, a specialized (usually Teflon) item that does not hold up to the heat required to either outgas the metal or to cure the powder. Without them, you end up with too much room in between the leaves (which just gets bigger once the car is on the road) and ultimately creates a hazard both for the driver and others on the road. Imagine cruising down the highway at 70 and one of your leaf springs just decides to fall apart ... yikes.

New liners can be purchased but the aftermarket ones don't really have the best reputation. Do your own research before making a commitment. This is an older thread but not much has changed in the meantime. Leaf spring liner

Thats good information Leanna, I did remove all the plastic sliders and took just the bare springs to the powder coater. In discussion with him we decided to keep the film build down since the springs flex a lot and a thick film would likely crack.

Interestingly I bought these from Chrysler and they only had the plastic sliders and no Zinc interleaf's like my originals,

I did purchase a rebuild kit that has the plastic sliders and the Zinc interleaf's so I'm hoping that with the powder coating and the proper rebuild they will be better then the way they came and will standup and not get rusty for a long time.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Good deal! I'd just hate to see ya get hurt sweetie. Sounds like you have a great plan and the right stuff to pull it off with. Keep us posted!

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Found some time today to keep working on my engine, after removing the pan that was on the replacement block that my car came with I discovered a clue that if this was the pan that was on my numbers 340 I can maybe give up the search for it, lol!

Looks like a connecting rod or two went a-wall and ***** slapped both sides of the block and the oil pan and then Homer hot glued it all up with some large brass puddles. I decided my time is free so I'd just cut out this mess and straighten this out and fix with some steel and reuse this pan,

Just need to remove the paint off the pan and clean up a few dings and I think thats the last part that needed stripping so should be able to start putting the engine all back together then get it painted.

 

[Dartnut]

Looks like the home version of Windows '76 on that pan.
Keep up the good work and pics as always!

 

[STR-14]

That would be Windows 72 V3.40

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Needed to take advantage of the nice weather today since its supposed to go away probably until spring and get the undercoating on close to the way the factory guys put it on (not quite as sloppy) so got to work and masked it all up and gave it a scuff with red Scotchbrite. Then I got out the RestoRick's undercoating that matches the factory stuff really well and put a couple of coats on. It's been my experience that since undercoating and or rock guard left in a raw state attract road grime and dirt and it tends to imbed and permanently make the undercoating look dirty so it's best if the product you used is rubberized and paintable that you put a black paint or coating on top of it. In my case I have some black Epoxy that should work nicely and not be too shiny and will allow the undercoating to wash off much better then if it was raw,

 

[dmoore]

Needed to take advantage of the nice weather today since its supposed to go away probably until spring and get the undercoating on close to the way the factory guys put it on (not quite as sloppy) so got to work and masked it all up and gave it a scuff with red Scotchbrite. Then I got out the RestoRick's undercoating that matches the factory stuff really well and put a couple of coats on. It's been my experience that since undercoating and or rock guard left in a raw state attract road grime and dirt and it tends to imbed and permanently make the undercoating look dirty so it's best if the product you used is rubberized and paintable that you put a black paint or coating on top of it. In my case I have some black Epoxy that should work nicely and not be too shiny and will allow the undercoating to wash off much better then if it was raw,

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S W E E T !

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Its been a difficult few months and I've lost some of my mojo for going out and working on the Dart but after getting screwed around for 9 weeks by the powder coater, damn I hate relying on someone else to get stuff done, I finally got my springs back and was able to put them both back together today,

I did remove the small leaf off my original springs that has the correct 340 part number and replaced the small leafs with them. Hoping the powder coat will last a really long time.

With that job out of the way I can turn my attention back to getting my motor back together,

ran out of time today but hopefully I'll get back out here more even thou December is a bit of a crazy month.

 

[A56]

Nice progress so far! That is a pretty clean looking car, I gotta come check it out one of these days.

I've been looking forward to you starting a thread on this car!!

I noticed a lot of 70's cars had the underside painted white, I was wondering why that was the "in thing" to do back then? All the pics of my dads friends cars from the 70's including his was painted white underneath.