69 Dart 340 Swinger Street/Road Race build

[black954]

I wanted to document the resurrection of my Dart. I have lusted after it in my parents garage for the last 40 years and just recently it became mine. I have a pretty ambitious build that I am aiming to be driving by this summer. I will be going in phases as time and more importantly money allow. The first step was getting it out of my parents garage. It actually rolled really easy and I could push it into my trailer without any problems. I will mention I removed the original 340 and 4-speed when I was in high school 24 years ago. The car is extremely solid with the only real rot being in the drivers rear quarter and a little on the passenger quarter. I'm not going to really do anything to the body until much later on, years more than likely. Right now, i'm concentrating on getting the chassis sorted and complete as a roller. Then I will figure out the engine build and go from there.
Currently, the rear end is out stripped to the bare housing. I am going to weld on a Moser back brace and inboard the leaf spring mounts for tire clearance. I have a new Yukon center section coming from Doctor Diff with forged caps, forged 1350 yoke, new posi unit and 3.55 gears as well as new axles to go to 5x4.5BP and his Cobra disc brake kit. Also, I will be welding in subframe connectors and then painting the undercarriage and engine bay satin black.

 

[black954]

More progress. The floors are super solid! It was weird though, the seam sealer under the carpet all fell right off so I will have to reseal the seams.

 

[black954]

I have the "weaker" 741 diff, but I won't be running it anyways.

 

[roccodart440]

What size tires are you planning on running on this road race build?

 

[black954]

What size tires are you planning on running on this road race build?

That i'm not sure on that yet. I'd like to run 17"s but it seems to be popular to run 18"s for tire selection. I'd like to keep the car squared so the front end will really dictate the tire size. I will most likely trim the fender lips or even remove the lips and weld back in round bar to gain as much room as possible.

 

[halfafish]

 

[krazykuda]

You have a good base to start with... Will be nice to see if when it's finished...

 

[abdywgn]

NICE!!!
(if you get tired of seeing it in your garage...)
At least you'll finish it. Looking forward to progress reports. Bob

 

[DentalDart]

Awesome car! It looks great. Do you have your trunk trim?

That vinyl top trim looks to be in great shape, and I have a soft spot for vinyl top cars.

 

[black954]

Awesome car! It looks great. Do you have your trunk trim?

That vinyl top trim looks to be in great shape, and I have a soft spot for vinyl top cars.

Thank you, I’m partial to vinyl tops as well. It’s in great shape though it has shrunk in spots, but not bad. There’s a melted spot from a drop light in the back, but nothing I can do about it. I do have the stainless trunk strip but none of the badges. My dad though it was cool to debadge it 50 years ago and now it will cost me hundreds to replace them lol.

 

[black954]

I made some progress on the housing tonight. Got the Moser truss fit and welded out. I had to shorten each end 1” for when I move the spring perches inboard. Tomorrow I will install the subframe connectors and possibly the inboard spring kit.

 

[black954]

An end to a busy weekend. Spent about 6 hours installing the subframe connectors today. 2 of it was fabing and welding the tube on the driver side for the parking brake cable, but I think it was worth it.

 

[black954]

A little more progress. I always liked the large high mount filler on fabricated diff housings so when I found a Holley weld on filler kit for $30 I said screw it. I started on the inboard leaf spring kit last night. I should have more progress tonight.

 

[Red Stripe]

Looking real good! I like the filler tube you added on.

 

[black954]

Looking real good! I like the filler tube you added on.

Thank you, I know it's not a necessity but I really like it LOL.
I got my parts in from Doctor Diff yesterday. Complete differential, 5x4.5 axles, and disc brake kit with parking brake cables. I'll have a busy weekend for sure and I should have a lot more progress pics next week.

 

[black954]

Made some more progress today. Installed the inboard spring mounts and got them welded out. The US CarTool kit is really nice to work with. I was pretty stoked to get the parking brake cable bracket welded back to the original location.

 

[abdywgn]

Looks great!
when can I bring mine over?

 

[black954]

Looks great!
when can I bring mine over?

Thank you. As soon as it’s off the lift, you’re more than welcome to bring it over!

 

[black954]

Spring perches relocated and final welding complete on the housing.

 

[black954]

Got the rear end finished up tonight. Installed the Doctor Diff 11.7” disc brake kit, BBP axles, and complete Yukon differential. Plus I bent up SS brake lines and installed the parking brake cables. All I have left is to paint the pinion snubber and U-bolt plates and it’s all ready to go back in. This weekend I will hopefully get the underside cleaned and painted so I can get the rear of the car buttoned up.

 

[mosleyme]

Consider doing torque boxes as well.

 

[black954]

Fortunately, the Swinger 340’s came factory with torque boxes so I lucked out. I will be stiffening up the front fender supports and shock towers when I move to the front end.

 

[black954]

Small update today, I got the U-bolt plates and pinion snubber painted with the same black Steel-it and I made a pinion snubber reinforcement plate out of 4130 and welded it in. I also primed all the new steel I’ve installed with etching primer. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get the underside cleaned and painted with the rust converter.

 

[black954]

More progress from this weekend. I started by degreasing and scrubbing the underside of the car for 3 hours. Then, my son and I fabbed up bucket seat mount plates from more 4130 plate and welded them in. Lastly, I was able to get etching primer on the remaining bare metal and then painted the underside. I used Eastwood rust converter on the surface rust and then coated the rest with Eastwood extreme chassis black satin. You can tell I’m not a painter because I figured the dust mask was the only safety gear I needed LOL.

 

[F21]

They call it a dust mask for a reason you need a respirator ha ha Ha Looking good though