Gerahead's 71 Dart

[gerahead]

a lifelong painter freind told me to cut and buff the day after painting with 2k. it is still hard/cured but not fully 'set', it gets harder and harder the longer it sits making the colour sanding similarly harder and harder. how many body shops wait months after applying paint before cutting and buffing? errr..... none.
your car so of course your choice but personally i don't like making things hard for myself if i don't need to.
neil.

My delay is largely due to the changing weather here (high temp by Sunday predicted to be barely above freezing). It has been unseasonably warm here this Fall, waiting for me to finish, no doubt! LOL! If not for that, I would be doing it sooner than this for sure. I don't enjoy the extra work either, but I am not after a glass smooth finish. This is going to be driver, so getting it looking good is fine, don't need perfect. Thanks for your interest!

Jim

 

[gerahead]

The pace has slowed since the weather has been shifting. I have been stripping down the seat frames to clean them up so I can bring them inside to work on the upholstery over the winter. I am amazed by how much corrosion has taken place on parts that (in theory) have been sheltered from the elements. Between a wire wheel on an offset grinder and my little hand held HF sand blaster, I got the frames cleaned up and painted. If there was any previous doubt about my anal retentive side, I have officially entered that group! When I stripped the old covers from the split bench back, the hardware holding the seat back release mechanism and the metal tabs that retain the headrests were pretty heavily corroded.

Who else would bead blast these parts, wire wheel the cable mechanism and then clear coat parts that will never again see the light of day! . . . and then on top of that, I fired up the buffer and polished the heads of the screws back to a shiny chrome finish! L8r!

Jim

 

[gerahead]

While I want to do the right thing on my project with respect to part replacement/refurbishment, at the same time, I want to be conscious of where and how I spend. In that light, I thought the cost of the upholstery installation kits were insanely expensive. So instead of spending almost $600 on the materials, between JoAnn fabrics and Amazon, I found everything I needed for under $100. I mail ordered all the foam in order to get the sizes I wanted. When delivered, the foam had been compressed as tightly as mechanically possible and wrapped in cellophane. The thicker foam was okay when released from its cocoon, but the 1" foam stayed compressed along the edges and some folds in the middle of the sheets, even after several weeks after unrolling. Being obsessed with stuff like this, I went looking for a way to "relieve" the areas that were crimped. Many video queries mentioned that steam would refurbish upholstery foam. A quick search on FB Marketplace identified several garment steamers nearby that were under $30. I picked one nearby advertised for $10 and figured I couldn't go wrong with that. It worked marvelously! In a period of about 15 minutes, I was able to remove all the deformation in the foam and returned it to like-new appearance. Being the eternal skeptic, I was thrilled with the outcome. Since we won't see the sun here in the tundra until about May, I also have a means to smooth out any wrinkles in the covers after I install them!

 

[mpgmike]

Pictures are worth a thousand words. I'm excited about what you did. Did you take any pictures, before/after? If so, please share.

 

[gerahead]

mpgmike,
I did not take any before/after shots. I thought about it, but didn't think anyone would be interested. I guess that's what I get for thinking! In the absence of that, I thought that I would try to recreate what I had to deal with. I clamped the foam between a couple of rulers along the edge in an attempt to show what it looked like.

In the original state the edge between the rulers was squeezed to a sharp edge in some areas, almost as if it were a piece of bread dough that had been cut with a pair of scissors (if that makes sense). After I steamed the edge, it returned completely to the shape it was right after it was cut.

I hope this helps! Thanks for checking in. L8r!

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Time to get caught up with progress on the project. Over the winter I have been working on installing the new seat covers. For the most part, it has gone pretty well. I took many pix of the original covers and how they were installed before I started tearing the old covers off to help with the new ones. It came in really handy since I referred to them many times. The rear seat and the front base went pretty smoothly and turned out really well, I think.

The front seat backs have been a bit of a struggle. I did the passenger side first and when sliding the cover over the frame, a busted a stitch on the outside edge. The Legendary vids warned of this and I was being very careful in rolling the cover right side out, but at the bottom, the cover is so stiff that it tore in spite of my diligence. Once the cover was fully installed (but not stapled together yet) I wasn't really happy with how the top part of the cover was filled out. The original foam padding was molded with a pocket that slid over the top of the frame and the Legendary vids don't show it padded that way. Before attempting the driver side, I figured that I could cut and glue the foam padding to form that same sort of pocket with a flat sheet of foam. I was able to pull that off and reinforced it with a strip of muslin to hold it in place. With the cover installed, it filled out the top of the seat much better. Then I realized that there was something sharp pushing out from the frame. It's not a hog ring so I have to pull the cover pack off to see what it is, grind it down, repaint and recover. I also had to acquire some additional materials to repad the passenger side and recover it. A local shop was able to stich up the tear in the seam from my first attempt.
I decided to start at the rear of the car to start replacing parts so I dug the fuel/vapor lines, filler neck and vapor filter out of the shed to clean them up. I spent an entire day with a brass wire wheel on a drill and ScotchBrite pads cleaning the parts so that I could clear coat them! I think it turned out to be worth it in the end, but it was a pain in the a$$.

Before and after - lots of dirt and undercoating, but very little corrosion thankfully so they cleaned up really nicely and I know they will fit properly.

The fuel lines are like wrestling a pig to handle while cleaning them because of their length. I was able to just hang them between a step ladder and my parts hanger to paint them.

While digging the parts out of my shed, I had my first real "ah ****" moment. A couple of brackets were lying in the pile that didn't have any labels on them. I was very intentional about bagging and tagging everything when I disassembled the car, but somehow, these didn't get tagged and I had no idea what they were for! The were covered with oily dirt and grime, so i figured they were from either the engine compartment or near the transmission. Thank God I bought a set of the Faxon books last year. I thumbed through the chassis manual and found them! They go from the bottom of the bellhousing area to the engine block. Crisis averted! Now as soon as my shipment of parts arrives, I can start slapping some of this stuff back on and then repeat the process on the brake lines. L8r!

Jim

 

[Swinger340Canuc]

Looking good Jim but I’m worried I might not live long enough to see you finish this baby, lol, just yanking your chain. Not sure what your using to protect your bare metal parts, just want to let you know i’ve had great results with a product called Sharkhide, super easy to apply I just use a cheap microfibre cloth and wipe a thin coat on my bare metal parts. I do it every year while it’s up on stands maybe takes 45 minutes and it’s good for a year and I’ve had no rust on anything I’ve used it on.

Danny

 

[gerahead]

Hello Danny!
Jeez, I'm worried I may not live to see the end of the project! Thanks for the tip. I have been using satin finish rattle can enamel so far.

 

[gerahead]

Question for you guys on headliner installation. I have the style that has the bows slipping into a set of three holes at different heights in each bow location. The headliner was removed prior to me getting the car, so I don't know what the previous locations were. I have a set of bows from a boneyard donor that I marked for position when I removed them. How do I . . .
- determine the correct hole to install the bows, height-wise?
- do the bows all need to be installed at the same height?
In dry run, the center bow hits up against the roof when I use a set of holes that both ends of the bow will hold up in. Are they supposed to ride up against the roof and "flatten out" by design? I've done a headliner before, but didn't have this issue because I took the old one out. Thanks for your help! L8r

Jim

 

[gerahead]

Body panel question for you guys. I see that there is a set of splash shields shown for the 70-72 Darts that go somewhere under the fenders.

My car had 72 model year fenders on it when I got it and it did not have these splash shields. It had the plastic shields that fit between the cowl and the inside of the fender, but that is all that was there. Is my car supposed to have these? Where are they installed? Can someone provide a pic of how they're installed, if I should have them? Thanks.

Jim

 

[gerahead]

I have recognized a mistake I made in the process of this project. When I dissembled what was left of the car when I got it, I simply stored them away. What I should have been doing was to be restoring these parts and assemblies gradually up to this point. What I am now running into is that as I restore these components, I find that I discover the need to replace parts to complete the process. This then causes delays in the completion of those parts/assys along the way. While waiting for the needed parts, I now have several components laying around in various stages of restoration.
Many years ago I bought a bucket of EvapoRust in anticipation of need. Over the past week, I have been restoring the swing pedal structure, gas pedal, and e-brake lever assemblies. I am now in love with how that stuff works! These parts came out of their bath looking brand new! Most of the bare parts are getting a coat of satin clear to protect their appearance for the duration.

The black paint on the e-brake lever did not hold up, so I have disassembled it, bead blasted it and repainted it. The pieces will be going back together today after the paint has dried. This part of the process is very rewarding. L8r!

Jim

 

[gerahead]

I guess it's been a while since I posted an update. I took some time off in June to participate in the Sick Summer drag and drive event (I rode along, didn't drive) and had a great time. Then took a trip out of state for the 4th of July for a little get away. IN the mean time, I have been degreasing, bead blasting, priming and painting bits to reinstall them. The brake pedal assy has been completed and installed, gas pedal assy is in, trunk wiring harness tested, rewrapped and installed, e-brake lever completed, wiper linkage installed, battery tray installed, horns installed, grill support installed, headlight buckets installed and hood latch installed. I also installed the rear quarter window regulators, what a battle that was! Between the confines of the area, and the limited visibility, I had assembled the mechanism incorrectly and it was binding up. After lots of cussing, sheetmetal cuts and massaging leg cramps, I found the error of my ways and got it working properly. After that marathon, the other side went in within and hour! Yesterday a friend of mine stopped over and we (mostly him) got the vinyl roof installed. I still need to trim up the edges and glue them down. I am extremely happy with how it turned out and how it looks! I don't think I could have pulled it off without his help! It was a wrestling match in a couple of areas, but eventually we won!

 

[gerahead]

In the blink of an eye, the summer is over! There has been progress with the project, but it seems every three steps forward results in one backwards. I have checked out, cleaned and re-wrapped the engine bay wiring harnesses and replaced the battery cables. The differential has been rebuilt with new bearings, bead blasted and repainted. The heater box was dismantled, all the metal parts were bead blasted and repainted. The fresh air vent door was frozen and cracked near the lower hinge point. After several days in EvapoRust, the hinge freed up. I welded up the crack and ground it down, lubed it up and now it works great. The heater core looked to be in good shape, not visual evidence of coolant leaks anywhere. I had the heater core checked out and it leaked like a sieve! The new one didn't fit great where the inlet/outlet tubes come through the side of the box, but it'll work. The wiring for the windshield wiper motor had started to deteriorate, so I sent it off to get restored since I couldn't find a new replacement. I sent it to David Bass and was impressed with the results. It was 10 days from when I dropped it as the post office until I had the restored assemble back in my hands and it looks great!
Before:

After:

A couple pf weeks back, I stopped into the shop that will be doing the machine work on my engine. Good thing, I found out that they are about 4-5 out! So over the last couple of days I have torn it down, deburred the block and will be dropping all the bits off today to get into the queue. It looks like it hasn't been molested internally since new and didn't appear to be in bad shape for as long as it has been sitting, but appears to have been leaking from virtually every gasket possible! I have been playing with a liquid chrome product to replicate the long gone chrome trim on the dash panel inserts. It looks promising, but the pen style applicator I used doesn't work well for uniform coverage over larger areas. I just received a "bulk" bottle of the product that I am going to try to apply with an airbrush to try to achieve a more uniform surface. Results to follow. L8r!

Jim