Long story

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64drtGt

Slant Six Lunatic
Joined
May 26, 2008
Messages
499
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16
Location
Greeneville,Tn
You guys about lost me after my car tried to kill me and I lost all faith in it for a while. I wanted to sell it so bad but no one was really interested so thankfully here it is a three months later and I have regained my interest in my demon spawn I mean dart.

What happened to me was I spend the month of august dropping in a running slant six in place of my old smokey six, painted the engine bay rattle can flat black to at least have it one color, and had the engine all nice and pretty red. It was my first engine swap ever and I feel it went rather smoothly it all went back in fine seemed to run great altho I did have a bunch of left over nuts and bolts :-k seemed like it was running good so I went and tagged it. Sure I didn't have turn signals and only one brake like that was operated off a toggle switch but I could drive it on the back roads I was happy. Drove it to the local hang out one night it was running amazing I was happy as a pig in mud started to go to a friends house and it lost fuel to the carb I thought no biggie pulled my fuel filter apart and cleaned it (on going problem with my car) and she ran fine to his house as I pulled it apparently some trash didn't get filtered and clogged my idle passages in the carb so I had to limp it home two footing it the whole way. I got tired of it for a while and parked it out front for a day or two and decided what the heck im going to get this Holley off a 86 318 I have and just see how it runs well boy was I surprised it ran great tad rich but seemed like it had more power better response the whole nine. Decided to take her for a test spin around the block and got to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill started a right turn stepped on the gas and the door decided to fly open with me following it right out onto the road. I don't know which hurt worse hitting the pavement in shorts at 15-20 mph or the fact that the entire time i was rolling down the road I never lost eye contact with my car until it slammed into a house. :banghead: I jumped up and went to look at the car before I even realized I had road rash from my ankle to my ***. Lucky I just got a flesh wound and all that it did to the car was get the bumper, RF fender and headlight bezel. I can probably fix the fender.

/End Long story

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Glad your ok man. Sh#t happens, as long as your ok, stick with it. The joy of that car is worth more than future regrets.
 
I know what you mean, I too tried to screw around in a car that worked great but got away from me. It took me 2 months to fix it, but it now runs better than ever. I'm glad you decided to keep it.
 
Sorry to see the mess of your frontend.This is why seatbelts were invented,to keep you in care and control of your car and safety:violent1:.Your lucky thats all that happened,somebody could,ve seriously got hurt.Good luck finding another one of them rare headlight rings.
 
I am normally against seat belts but I think in the case of any car that has the old style door latches I will defiantly wear them lol.

Step 1 Fix door latch issue
Step 2 Seat belts
Step 3 Body Work.
 
64drtGt said:
I am normally against seat belts .
Click to expand...

You need to throw that thinkin' in the garbage can. There are a TINY fraction of accidents where seat belts are worse than NOT having them.

I am living proof.

Over 10 years ago, I was having health problems which we won't go into

EIther I had some sort of seizure or other problem, or fell asleep. The truth is I don't remember. I remember nothing in my mind of the accident.

My 87 Ranger extended cab was going down a two lane highway, some 50 mph. I sideswiped a truck/ trailer rig, bounced down the side of the trailer, and did a "head on" into the REAR TRAILER AXLE which was KNOCKED OUT OF IT'S MOUNTS The only reason I "know" this is because that is what the ISP and witnesses have told me.

The truck was completely destroyed except for the bed, which is now a trailer. The impact bent one rear wheel, and broke the 5 speed transmission housing, and removed the starter from the engine. The frame ahead of the box was severly bent, and the cab was compressed about a foot or more. The front end of the truck was virtually unrecognizable.

The left front wheel was about where the floor and clutch/ brake pedals had been. The steering colum was bent forward, collapsed. (No air bags in that vehicle)

The "hit" REMOVED the left front tire from the wheel as neatly as if you'd used a tire machine. The tire was not usable, but "looked" as if you could remount it.

It broke my left leg, which now has a permanent pin from my knee to my ankle, severly twisted my right leg/ knee, broke my left wrist, and did some minor damage to my face.

It bruised up my internals, and recovery was a *****.

NEVER AGAIN after that can I run, nor jump, and must be very careful how I walk, not to twist my ankles and knees. Arthritis has now severly complicated that issue.

IF I HAD NOT BEEN WEARING my belt, I WOULD BE DEAD

Even the few years after that which I had with my Mom before she passed on, made living through that hell worth the trouble it still causes me.

PLEASE WEAR YOUR BELTS

You could not PAY me enough not to.
 
64drtGt said:
I am normally against seat belts but I think in the case of any car that has the old style door latches I will defiantly wear them lol.

Step 1 Fix door latch issue
Step 2 Seat belts
Step 3 Body Work.
Click to expand...

Why would ANYBODY be against seat belts? :wack:
If i was your parent/spouse/brother/sister/aunt etc. i would have tanned your *** for this........:violent1:
The car is not important at all, what about you and or someone else that could have been seriously hurt?
Please make the car safe before you drive it next time.
I know enthusiasm can get the better of us all sometimes, but wow!
I'm glad you are o.k., and it took a lot of courage to tell us all about this.
Good on you for manning up.
Now don't let it happen again! I know that you learned your lesson.
We all love and need our members to be well and safe.
Rant over,
Tom.
 
I am now living 500 miles away from the car so I am biting my nails waiting until I can bring it up here and tear into it. I'm probably going to rewire the whole car, put in some bucket seats out of an aspen I have, install the lap belts I have had in the trunk for the past two years :banghead: and start in on the body work.
 
As Homer Simpson says, "DOH!"...Seats belts...LMAO...

Bill S.
 
I have a 64 Dart GT with a 340 4 speed 3:90:1 gears . One day I was frusterated with a tailgater and came to a stop at a stop sign and when I took off boiling both tires off ,fish tailing and just showing my frustration WHILE NOT WEARING MY LAP BELT WAS THROWN INTO THE PASSENGER SEAT AND DRIVING THE CAR DURING THE FISHTAILS HOLDING THE WHEEL WITH THUMB , POINTER , AND MIDDLE FINGER I CANNOT BELIEVE I DIDN'T ROLL OR DITCH IT!!!!!! ALLWAYS WEAR A SAFTY BELT !!!!!!! I did go home and change my underpants ! LOL
 
Oh yeah I have a couple of front fenders with brackets for sale. P M me if your interested . I am not on the computer every day but look forward to your reply.
 
well, I'm glad you're still here with us, but how in the heck do you not hang onto the wheel when the door pops open???
note to self...go out and check out the door latches on my Dart...

I have an unusual perspective on seat belts, I have an Uncle who has run a towing service my whole life, and I was around it fairly often. I can honestly say that if you are in a huge wreck you want a seat belt, otherwise they aren't much help, in fact I have seen cars with almost no damage that were tagged "Fatality" and it usually meant they had their seat belt on and it killed them. I can go into the details of several if you want, but believe me there are ways that a seat belt can kill you with very little other visible damage.
I will list one or two. on Christmas Eve many years ago an accident occurred where a BMW was T-boned at about 30 mph by a Toyota truck. the truck hit right in the driver door and rolled the floor pan of the car up like a scroll tightening the seat belt until it cut the driver in half. if she hadn't been wearing her seat belt, she would have suffered a broken arm and maybe some ribs but would have been thrown across the car. another a passenger in the rear seat was killed by his lap belt in a 15mph collision. rather than sliding forward into the back of the front seat, his hips were held still and he whip lashed into the front seat with only his head breaking his neck instantly.
so what kind of seat belt were you thinking of installing? next time you buckle that lap belt, take a look at the steering wheel, and decide if you'd rather hit it with you chest, or your head. again, if you're going 80 use the belt, if not maybe re-think it.
 
37fleetwood said:
well, I'm glad you're still here with us, but how in the heck do you not hang onto the wheel when the door pops open???
note to self...go out and check out the door latches on my Dart...
Click to expand...

I had just pulled out from a stop sign and was making a right hand turn at said stop sign when i decided to stomp on it alittle to see how it was running with the new car and only had one hand firmly on the wheel because i was turning it so when the door popped open the force just rolled me right on out.
 
Many years ago I had a 64 GT and my girlfriend borrowed it and the door popped open and darn near tossed her out. She married me anyway - so now its 40+ years later and I just bought another 64 GT; maybe I should check the latches on this one, too! I've gotten used to having her around...
 
Thumpower said:
Many years ago I had a 64 GT and my girlfriend borrowed it and the door popped open and darn near tossed her out. She married me anyway - so now its 40+ years later and I just bought another 64 GT; maybe I should check the latches on this one, too! I've gotten used to having her around...
Click to expand...
Yup just like a good dog you can get attached to them. lol
 
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