Arizona Swinger

[bmaudlin]

Thanks for the good comments guys!! Spending this weekend installing door glasses and quarter windows, window fuzzies and door rubbers. One of those not so glorious jobs, but a necessary evil that needs to be done even in Arizonas' sunny and moderate climate! I was sure to mark all the locations, especially of those quarter window adjusters, before the disassembly process was complete. Wish me luck as those new rubbers never seem to quite fit as well as the OEM ones. Ben.

 

[bmaudlin]

Some weekend and Monday night work. Managed to install the door glasses.....I've taken those vent windows out so many times, it's become second nature. Found out the vent windows and door glasses need to go in as a unit, with all of the front door window plastic guides and all.

Also attached the hood front trim and finally managed to put all of those wires, etc. through the firewall holes, so now no empty holes to the inside!

Also managed to install the gauge cluster, and under dash wiring. Still need to route some more wiring and hook up some loose wires, but I've had enough for tonight trying to see where things go reaching around under the dash with both hands and a small flashlight held in my mouth! Daylight will make the job much easier! Ben

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Lookin good. You wanna make me one of them clamps for the retainer?

 

[bmaudlin]

Looks like the body lines are pretty well set, and all bolts and fasteners tightened down. Will have to go back and 'touch up' some small spots that always seems to chip, but nothing major.

Also got the under hood wiring at the firewall all connected, with just some minor connections to be made.

Steering wheel and adapter hub installed. Ben.

 

[gerahead]

Ben,
Did you have to replace the plastic pieces and the clear mylar-looking strips on the front edge of the door glass? Do you happen to have any photos of how they all went together. Mine got damaged when I took the glass out (unlike your advice, I took them out separately from the vent windows). I am not sure what all I destroyed. Thanks. The latest pix look great! L8r

 

[bmaudlin]

Ben,
Did you have to replace the plastic pieces and the clear mylar-looking strips on the front edge of the door glass? Do you happen to have any photos of how they all went together. Mine got damaged when I took the glass out (unlike your advice, I took them out separately from the vent windows). I am not sure what all I destroyed. Thanks. The latest pix look great! L8r

I had to replace the plastic pieces and the front clips. Purchased them from Dante's for about 130.00 dollars plus shipping. I'm sure they were less than 20.00 from the dealer 'in the day'!! After two or three times of pulling the vent windows out I finally figured out how they went together......would have been helpful to have a 'how to' sheet with the new parts, but none came with the parts.

Once you place the mylar looking strips on the front end of the window, I took a proper size Phillips head screw driver and punched the two holes in the front edge of the window. Found it easier to punch one side and turned it over and punch the other side, rather than punching through from one side to the other. Then install the white plastic guides on both sides of the hole. Lay the flap of the mylar over both sides of the plastic clips, then have someone help you guide the mylar strip into the groove of the long vent window channel. Slide it in carefully until it bottoms at the top of the channel. I found it easier to install by spraying some WD40 or similar product into the channel prior to sliding the mylar strip in.

This will turn into a two man project as you need the extra hands to install the combination vent window/door glass assembly into the door shell. Carefully install the lower part of the lower adjuster into the door opening, then the front of the vent window into the front of the door opening, and not allowing the door glass lower slide or the vent window to make contact with the paint of the upper door shell. You will have to remove the door weatherstrips (fuzzies) to remove or install as they interfere with installation.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the installation, as it was a very tedious job to install with another person helping, and not scrape, scratch or drop something! Ben.

 

[gerahead]

This is a great help, Ben. Thanks. I'm not sure how many sets of the parts I would have destroyed in the process of figuring that out. L8r

 

[bmaudlin]

A little afternoon and evening work! Managed to install the headlights, grille and headlight covers, as well as the lower valance and the front bumper assembly. Everything fit and adjusted properly without much problem. Bumper was another story as it had to have multiple adjustments to get the proper depth towards the grille, as well as proper angle, up and down and side to side adjustments.

I know a lot of you like to black out the core support as per original, but I decided to leave the support body color since the grille is painted black per a 71 Dart, and seeing the body color through the grille opening does not bother me.

Hopefully we'll be able to color sand and buff the car this next week. Taking a few days off after Thanksgiving, so I hope to get a lot of the trim, emblems, scoops and interior pieces installed over the long weekend. Ben.

 

[bmaudlin]

any body got a picture or comment on where the front park light ground wires are attached to the core support? I've looked and looked but found only holes on the ends of the latch support, but I can't believe they would have attached ground wire on top of the latch support where they would be obviously seen and easily disturbed. Any help or pictures would be appreciated. Ben.

 

[HemiPar]

The wires go thru large opening in the core support right behind the lights. they attach to a hole about 7 1/2in below top of support on both sides of radiator (when installed). Bolts thread into the support. I will try to find the pic i used when putting mine back together. Hope this helps.

 

[HemiPar]

found a pic of my frontend and circled where they go.

 

[bmaudlin]

found a pic of my frontend and circled where they go.

THANKS!! so very much! I know that when I disassembled this car I probably looked at those wires and thought to myself, as with a lot of other areas, 'remember this location, don't forget!'. But as with a lot of things, age and time cause one to forget locations! Ben.

 

[sublime green]

Thats a good looking car. Nice work, keep it up.

 

[HemiPar]

I had taken a bunch of pics when I took my car apart but could not find them. I had to look on my car to see where they went. then I found a pic that I could show ya. Glad that I could help.

 

[bad440]

nice work your cars coming out great!nice color scheme too,

 

[bvt69dart]

nice work your cars coming out great!nice color scheme too,

X's 2

 

[bmaudlin]

THANKS! for all the positive comments! Back in the 60's when I had my first Dart, a 67 270 model two door hardtop, I really liked those light green colors, and painted that car, which was originally gold, a green shade. I remember my first house had green shag carpeting and we had 'avocado green' appliances in the kitchen! Green was pretty much in back then. When I purchased this car I wasn't sure if green was the direction I wanted to go......maybe something a little more 'flashy' like one of those in your face yellow, orange or purple colors?! But I'm glad I chose the OEM two-tone green color with the multiple colored green interior! I doubt I'll run into many more like it at car shows. Ben.

 

[bmaudlin]

Well......bit the bullet and ordered those 3 Holley two barrel carburetors for the six pack set up! Now the only big ticket items left to be ordered are the radiator and shroud and paying for the seats being upholstered and the headliner being installed. Also waiting for the back ordered gas tank and a few other misc. parts.

Managed to get the quarter window regulators installed this PM! Sure am glad that I marked all of the bolt and guide locations before I removed them! The first one had to be taken apart several times to get everything in its' proper location. Second one assembled in less than 15 minutes! The only problem I had was with the aftermarket white roller that goes into the rear vertical channel. Diameter seems to be too big to slide into the channel. Had to use some 'creative filing' to get it to the proper diameter. Other than that and the need to generously lube all of the tracks when I have some daylight, everything is ready for the quarter glasses to be installed to their housings.

My mind still keeps going back to the fact that this car was less than 3,000.00 dollars new! I'll be lucky if this rebuild doesn't add another 0 to that figure! Even so, I sure am enjoying this! Ben.

 

[bmaudlin]

made a run down to Ace hardware and picked up some plastic tubing and also a piece of darkened sheet plastic used on a computer monitor to cut down on the brightness of the screen, and made the spacers and plastic washers to install the quarter window glasses to the rear regulators. Since most of the plastic parts used in quarter windows are over 35 years old, finding good used ones, especially here in hot Arizona, is pretty futile. Also had to make up the rubber bands that are used on the stop adjustments at the front and rear of the quarter windows. Found that cutting a piece of 5/8" heater hose cut to the proper length, stretches onto the stop and makes a very good replacement for the original, and probably will last quite a bit longer than the OEM. Making new ones worked quite well!

A couple of pictures of the quarter windows installed and adjusted. A little silicone spray and the windows seem to fit into the roof rail weatherstrips fairly well.

Also picked up some 'plasti dip' while at Ace.....have used this in the past on other projects, and it works well in doing rubber/plastic repairs. Its' original purpose was for dipping tool handles in the dip, letting them dry, and having plastic insulated handles. Case in point is the rubber piece that is located in the floor of the trunk that the fuel filler tube goes through. The rubber was pealing around the edges, so after being cleaned, and all of the loose rubber pieces removed, we coated the piece several times with the 'plasti dip' and the piece looks very presentable. Ben.

 

[76orangewagon]

Always a pleasure checking in on your progress, awesome attention to all the details. Keep up the great work !!!!!

 

[bmaudlin]

FINALY! down to some color sanding and buffing. We color sanded the entire vehicle with 1500 grit wet and dry sandpaper with lots of water. Followed that up with another sanding with 2000 grit paper.

Here are some pictures of some of the first of three buffings showing the roof and one shot of the 'A' pillar with both colors. Should really look good when the 'vinyl top chrome' is all in place separating the two colors.

Hopefully we'll get all of the buffing done soon, so I can spend a couple of my days off installing the scoops, emblems, etc. that I have been staring at in my office, and wanting so badly to install, can finally be installed! Ben.

 

[bvt69dart]

wow!

 

[turbodart68]

I have to say that this car is turning out to be phenominal!! Its such a unique A body.

 

[bmaudlin]

Three buffs with a no.1 compound, another buff with no. 2 polish and finally another buff with no.3 polish, its' first bath and rub down......now I'm ready to start bolting parts on for the last time! Sorry for the dirty tires, but we seemed to run into some dirt between the wash area and the shop. Tires still need a good scrubbing to remove that blue stuff off of the white letters anyway. Ben.

Colors are much more vivid in person......much more so than the camera shows......so much gold metallic in the main body color!

 

[hemitheus]

SO SHINY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loving it