My second 1965 Dodge Dart.

[65DartDD1]

I was able to confirm the routing of the trunk weatherstripping is correct. It runs below the lip at the bottom.

A convertible is on my list if I can find one I can afford. I also want a 2 door. Always looking for blue.

 

[Bills65Dart]

I was able to confirm the routing of the trunk weatherstripping is correct. It runs below the lip at the bottom.

A convertible is on my list if I can find one I can afford. I also want a 2 door. Always looking for blue.

Well, I was able to confirm it too, late last night. I found a picture from Ulf's Dart Charger restoration, trunk lid open, and the seal in place on his 1965 Dart Charger. The one in assembly line condition. It is found on page 122, May 17-2015 post, picture 015,jpg, the post just above Slantsixdan's post.

1965 Dodge Dart Charger

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

1 9 5

1 - 1 = Left manual o/s mirror
3 - 9 = Variable wiper w/ washer
8 - 5 = Stone shields


A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W X Y Z

2 0 5 5 1 3

AB (20) = 2225 cubic inch Slant Six
D (5) = Automatic
E (5) = Heater w/ defroster
Q (1) = A-M music master / economy
V (3) = Back up lights


S Q

C 3 0

December 30, 1964


NUMBER

214xx (Invoice number)


BDY

L33 (270 4 Door Sedan)


TRM

H1Q (Turquoise 5 and 6 / Cloth and Vinyl)


PAINT

JJ1 K (Light turquoise / Medium Turquoise Metallic.



This is how far I have been able to decode it. That Invoice number, Trim and Paint, I am not so sure about that. The invoice number I mean, it is right, but I have no invoice to check it with. The Trim, that is as detailed as I get it, as it is now, it is some kind of cloth, most likely not original, and the vinyl is most likely not original color either.

The Paint code, it is correct, but the second J, and the 1, I have no clue what that means.

All the other number is correct as far as that is how the car is now.

The SQ, I assume that is the date of assembly, almost a new year eve car.



Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

It looked better with new tires, and white side. To me that is, well it is not an entirely must, but it is like the dot over the "i". Like something is missing if it is not there.

Got them from American Tire here in Santa Rosa. Nice place to deal with.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

One of the first things I repaired was the windshield wiper switch. I was surprised that is not made new anymore, even if you can find NOS ones around, but since my budget is not the highest, I desided to open the contraption and see what it looked like, and if I could do something with it. The switch on my car is for cars with variable windshield wipers.

As the first couple of pics shows, it is rather easy to open. The edge that is pressed in is easy to push out with a regular screwdriver if you are a little careful. Then you need a soldering iron, and it can not be too small either because you need to heat up the housing pretty good to make the solder melt.

When that is over, I held the metalhousing in one hand, and the bakelite end in the other, and separated them carefully. There are parts in the metal housing, and there are parts in the bakelite part too, and it is a pertinax plate in between. You can use my pics if you want when you open it, but if not, I suggest taking plenty of pics. The pertinax plate is not symmetric, so it will fit only one way. Pertinax is an old material that was used a lot in electronic things until they started using fiberglass. Pertinax was used for printed circuit boards in radios, tv's, and at least the 1965 Dodge Dart has it in the back of the instrument panel.
It is nothing wrong with the quality of Pertinax, and now at the age of 54, it is as good as it was when new. I have no idea if the fiberglass plates will hold as long as that.

I did clean the pertinax plate with rubbing alcohol before putting it back in place.

The switch has been lubricated with some kind of grease, at least now at the age of 54, the grease was light brownish. Can not tell how it was when new, or what kind of grease it was. Or if it actually was lubricating oil that was now hard.

Before I opened the switch, i turned the shaft to zero, or windshield wipers off. This way, when I opened the switch I could see what the neutral position sort of looked like. And I noticed that position as I lifted the pertinax plate out of the switch. Don't forget to take pictures.

In the metal housing, there are 2 major parts, well maybe we can call it 3 major parts. There are two parts with gears that has to be mounted the right way, and then there is the axle shaft. The part that sits on the axle shaft can not be mounted wrong. There is only one way to put it. The problem is the other part with the gears, how are they suppposed to be in relation to the part that sits on the axle shaft. It has gears too.
Then, when you turn the knob, because these gears makes them connected, both these parts go together. But only to a certain point. Then the part on the axle shaft with gets out of the gears on the other part, and that part will be standing still while you turn the knob and changing the speed of the wipers. Then when you turn the knob back, the gears will start interacting again, and work together. That is why it is so important that you get them together right.

I used one of these redish kind of cloth or what they are called that plumbers use to clean up copper pipes before soldering. I rubbed it over the contact points to get rid of oxydation on the copper. All the parts I cleaned well, and all the hard grease in the metal housing I loosened and wiped off, and put a piece of paper through the hole for the axle, and cleaned that too.

The contact points in the bakelite part got the same treatment, and be aware that the switch has a push in function for the washer too. It was not difficult to find out which parts belonged to that function, and I used 1200 sandpaper in between, and pushed the contacts lightly together and pushed the sandpaper back and forth to clean it up.

On my car the water tank and washer pump is missing, so I have not been able to test that function yet.

After cleaning all the contact points, I used white lithium grease on the axle shaft, and in the bottom of the metal housing and the movable parts. But not on the contact points. On the contact points I used CRC 2-26.

Since I had so many pictures it was easy to put back together, and then I pushed the edge in as it had been and got the switch closed properly.

Put it back in the car, and I already knew that would be an issue since the wires does not have one large socket, but several of them. So, I marked them how they were supposed to go before I took the switch out of the car. Glad I did, because if not, I would have been worried I did not get it right.

 

[Bills65Dart]

Here is a few more pics.

I do not say I did this repair correctly, or that everyone else should do the same. But, it is a good description of how I did it.

In the bakelite part there is a little loose part, and when it is in the right position it can not be lifted up, at least not supposed to be possible. There is a little hook on the end that prevents that. But, if you turn it around a bit, it will come loose and you can take it out. The end of this part is the part that is soldered to the housing and that you need to get loose before you take the switch apart, but you must not forget to solder it back on to the house after you has assembled the switch. I cleaned the solder surfaces well, and used a little new solder, and it ended up as good as new in that regard.

The switch is not that difficult once you get it out. Just remember, take pics unless you don't want to use mine.

If I for some reason should get problems with it again, I will buy myself an oxygen/acetylene torch, and heat the copper parts that is possible to get loose and add silver solder to them, just a thin thin layer. silver will make the contact points work better, and they last for a long time. But so far, I am not going to do that.


Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

The inner tail lights (on the trunk lid) that had no lights was easy to fix. They only needed new light bulbs, and then they were good as new.

The back up lights I have not been able to bring back to life, but I have not done a whole lot to make them work either. One bulb was missing, the other was blown, and I put new ones in, but still no light.

The left front parking light and blinkers, I opened the glass, and managed to get the bulb out. But it was hard to get the new bulb in. And when I finaly got it back in, there was still no light. I took the bulb out again, and measured in the bottom of the socket, and there was no 12 volts in sight. The cord on the back side of the lamp was neatly tucked behind the bumper, and not at all connected. So, when that was done, at least I had power in the bottom of the socket. Still no light though. I had to use sandpaper in the socket where the bulb is grounded or get it's minus. I had to work quite a bit that until the bulb got a good contact and the parking light came on. And then the blinkers came on too. On the right side the parking light worked, but not the blinkers, and I replaced the bulb, but no more light because of that.
So, I measured in every connection all the way back to the switch, and that is where the issue was. In the switch itself.

I ordered a brand new NOW switch, and when I got it, I opened the old one, and flipped off the cancellation cam and saw how easy it was. So, I ended up buying a new cam, and kept the switch, just used the abrassive plumber cloth to clean up oxydation, and sprayed it with electronic cleaner from CRC, and lubricated it with CRC 2-26, and put it back together, and the light worked like brand new again. So, the NOS switch is not continuing being NOS in case I need it at some point.

But, I ran into a problem doing this. The new cam is a little different from the original one. I would say it might be better, it has more material where the rod goes thru it to move it. The result is that the screw that goes through all this come a little higher. Not a lot, just a little.
The non original much smaller steering wheel has a much wider copper ring on the underside of the steering wheel. This is the copper ring that transfer power from the column to the steering wheel for the horn. The ring has so large diameter that when I rotate the steering wheel it comes in contact with the screw I mentioned a little while ago that is a little higher up now. And the horns went off like crazy. In one position of the steering wheel the horn was on all the time. So, I had to pull off the wires from the horns. Now I can hear the horn relay go on and off all the time when steering. But that is not a public issue, non are disturbed by that.

I so look forward to have an original steering wheel on so this problem can be solved. Well, it is a steering wheel from a 1964 station wagon.

When you look at the new cancellation cam, you can see the the part in the middle where the screw goes is thicker than on the old cam. The new one is a part from Standard Motor Products.
I also ran into another problem with the new cam. If I tightened the screw, the blinker arm becomes very hard to move. And when I had it loose enough the screw would loosen over time. So, I put Loctite blue light screw lock on the arm, so the screw sits well now, and everything works fine.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

The right rear wheel that had a missing wheel bolt was fixed a while ago. It was totally missing, it was not broken and the part in the flange still stuck there. It was gone. I got a new bolt at NAPA auto parts, but it was a little longer than the stock one. It was so much longer that I would not get it in from the back side. I loosened the plate that holds the bearing, the one with the 4 holes. And pulled the axle a little out, but it was still not enough. So, I cut off the bolt a little. I cut it off so much that it became the same lenght as the original ones was, and then I managed to find a spot after rotating the flange all over the place to check it out where it could work. And finaly, with a little nudge with a hammer, I got it in, and used the nut to pull it out a little by little. The last part I got out when I had the rim on, and could tighten the nut properly. And, I remembered to tighten the bearing plate too before mounting the brake drum and the wheel.

I do not have pics of this repair. The drum had been removed before, so that was an easy task. One of the bolts on the left front wheel that is loose is a worse task. I will probably take off the entire hub.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

I am sure most people, especially here in the US find it kind of boring that someone care for a 4 door car. And with an inline 6, and not a V8. Some Americans do like 4 door cars, and some are ok with the inline 6 engines too. My first vehicle, that I sort of half refuse to call a car was a German Audi from 1969, an Audi 75 Variant. A station wagon with only 2 doors and no windows. A nightmare for people to get in and out of the back seat. And a night mare for my wallet, an air filter cost in 1980 around 100 dollars. And I will leave it at that... I was so fed up with the car that I refuse to call it a car, and therefor consider my second vehicle a car, and that was the 1965 Dodge Dart station wagon I had.
And had all the fun with. All the long nice trips, short trips, winter, summer, no matter what. So, I am partial to station wagons, and 4 doors, and 6 cylinder engines. But, I do understand people do not like them much, well, let me have my 4 doors and station wagons, and the others can have the 2 doors.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

My engine did not want to start and run right away, it worked fine, the next time it did not. So, back to troubleshooting. I found that the little pot that take off the choke was leaking. So, some people say, oh, don't worry about it, just adjust the choke entirely off, and pump the gas pedal. It will soon run fine. Yes, that works too. But, a few dollars later, I had a new pot from Standard Motor Products, and it was put on the carb. and the choke adjusted and the car behave so much better. Imagine that, something works again.

The only difference between the old and the new one is that the new one has a straight tube for the hose, while the old one has a bent one. The result is that the hose has to be a little longer. I needed a new one anyway. I wonder a little if I can take my adjustable wrench and bend the tube like old one are. Or if that will damage the tube. I have not decided yet. The carb is the Holley 1920 carb. I think.
I have not had the carb open yet, so I don't know if it is dirty inside or not.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

Since I had no 1965 steering wheel to restore, just that 13.5 inch aftermarket steering wheel, I had to do something. I went to a nearby junkyard and picked one from a 1964 station wagon. Same steering wheel. A little different horn button emblem. And it had no horn ring. But, horn rings can be found many places on ebay, so that was not so hard to get. It is a little bent, and it needs to be polished and straightened and it should be fine. Not sure how to straighten it, maybe someone who read this have a tip to give.

The steering wheel I found was cracked a lot, even hairline cracks.

For the hairline cracks I have used Loctite 420. It is a very thin crazy glue, and in the moment I press a little on the bottle and it comes out where the crack is, it goes all the way into the crack and hardens. On the little wider crack, I used regular crazy glue, and for the biggest cracks I used Loctite Heavy Duty Epoxy, Quick Set. The last one worked fine, except it hardens so fast that I did not have time to so many cracks until it was too hard. But, I had and still have plenty of it, so it was not an issue making another chunk of it for more cracks.

Since I have never restored a steering wheel before it has taken a lot of time. I have watched youtube movies and used some of their tips, and used some of my own ideas. Among other things I felt using a Dremel to remove excess epoxy was not the best option for me. I have one, and tried it, but felt I had more control with a regular file.

Since the steering wheel was cracked, I had it sort of in my mind that it would be very brittle, and that maybe pieces would fall off just by me handling it. But, I am surprised how strong it still is.

The cracks goes around the steering wheel ring, but it was also a lot of cracks on the outside of the ring that went length wise. A lot of these length wise cracks were the hair line cracks I mentioned earlier, and it was very convenient to be able to fix them with that Loctite 420. I may look for another old cracked steering wheel to have as a spare.

I have sprayed the steering wheel with primer, but not taken a picture of that yet. It showed quite a bit of not to good sanding, so I need to sand more, and fill up a very few places with a little regular bondo, and I should be able to spray more primer on, before I spray the paint and clear coat.

More pics will come, and text update of how it goes. And a final picture of the result. It is rather rewarding to get things done, a little by little.


Bill

 

[SSVDP]

Looks like you have a great car.

 

[Bills65Dart]

Looks like you have a great car.

Thank you very much. I already like it a lot. Can't wait to take it out for a little longer trip

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

Not much being done, I got a cold and too lazy for car work.

But, I got a brand new 1965 Dodge Station Wagon brochure yesterday, so I have been admiring that.

Then, all the trim in the front of the car was gone, the one on the edge of the hood, and the candy canes. The light bezels were there. A while ago I got the trim for the hood, and a couple of days ago I found a set of used and in much need of TLC candy canes. I hope I will be able to restore them to a decent shape.

I am also expecting a complete Chrysler Corp parts manual for 1965, very curious about what I will find there.

Bill

 

[SSVDP]

Just in case you really wanted a station wagon there’s this:
[FOR SALE] - 1966 Dodge Dart Station Wagon $6K

Im not sure how far it is but it has had a lot done to it already.

 

[Bills65Dart]

Just in case you really wanted a station wagon there’s this:
[FOR SALE] - 1966 Dodge Dart Station Wagon $6K

Im not sure how far it is but it has had a lot done to it already.

Well, it seems to be in the bay area somewhere, so that is not the biggest issue. But not looking for anything right now, and then it was the wrong year too.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

I struggle a little finding screws that holds the instrument panel to the dashboard. I am missing one or two of these. Might buy #8 x 1.25" pan head screws and grind off the head some and paint them black.

 

[Dartsun]

Sweet 65 looks great. I admire your work Bill. Dustin

 

[Bills65Dart]

Sweet 65 looks great. I admire your work Bill. Dustin

Thank you, that was a nice enouragement.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

I had a little bad luck with the dome light lense. The light was out, bulb had said bye bye, and I got a new one. When taking out the lense, I managed to break one of the tabs off. Again Loctite helped me, and I glued the piece off after taking the light out and turn it upside down so the tab fell out.
Now I have a good light in the coupe too. Which was sweet.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

Thank you.

Last thing first, I have not been able to enjoy driving it much.

No, it was light turquoise, and the color on the car now it not a 1965 Dodge color at all. I have contacted the seller about it, if it would be possible to get in touch with the former owner and ask what color was chosen. But, the seller has remained silent on that question. I have a similar issue inside, the blue vinyl on the seats and armrest pads, it is no 1965 Dodge color, and I need a little piece for the missing armrest I have bought from ebay.

Yes, I don't know how to fix the back up light lenses. I have looked to see if I could find just the lenses, but no luck so far. Maybe I just need to find some white lenses from whatever, and cut it fit, get the red lenses out, and glue white lenses in. Can not find anyone who sell just white lenses for the 65 Dart.

Bill

Let me correct something here. I said it was not a 1965 Dodge color. I should have written it is not a 1965 Dodge Dart color. I don't know if Dodge had it for other cars in their line for that year.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

I know this thread is about my second 1965 Dodge Dart, but I have two pictures of my first 1965 Dodge Dart Station Wagon that Ulf Andersson took in 1989 when he was visiting. And think they sort of belong here too, just to remember how it all started.

The station wagon was at that point not in use anymore, and was having a miserable life in the garage among all other stuff that was there. Today this is something I am not very happy about, and I wish I still had the car.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

Now, to my fuel gauge and temperature gauge. I did not notice this problem with the temperature gauge since I was only driving the car from the street and up in the driveway. So it was not getting warm.
But, the fuel gauge was all over the place, it was 1/4 full, half full and 3/4 full depending on the mood of the car it seemed. I had no indication what was wrong with it, I just noticed that it did not show the same amount of fuel from time to time when I started the car.
Until it one day was dead. No fuel at all, and that is when I discovered the temperature gauge was not working either. It was one of the days I was having the engine run for quite a bit to adjust the carburetor.

I took off the instrument panel, and took out the fuel gauge. Never opened one before. I went online and learned a whole lot there, about the built in voltage regulator and how it worked.

I ordered small new rivets for the gauge face, and taken apart I could see that the wire from the "I" screw to the regulator bi-metal was burned off and touching the housing. So, the instrument did not get any 5 volt at all. The wire to ground was fine.
And because of this, the temperature gauge did not get any power either. I was very lucky the wire to the gauge was the one that got shortened. This way both the fuel gauge and the temp gauge just lost the power entirely, and it did not end up being a case where they got too much voltage.

Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the fuel gauge when modified.

It is possible to get a new wire and re wire the old gauge, I have figured out what kind of wire it is. But, it will take time, and is a lot of hassle. Now, other cars in the Dodge line had a separate voltage regulator and not one built in to the fuel gauge. But, they were quite expensive and the way people had solved the problem rewiring things and messing up I did not feel too good about. So, I made my own solution.
However, this was a more complicated matter than it really had to be, but I did not know that at this point. So, I made a solid state solution that I put inside the fuel gauge sort of to keep the rest of the instrument panel original. I was advised against it, that it was not possible to make it work. Still, at Vintage Chrysler electrical repairs and updates (part 2) I found some info that made me think it was doable to put what i needed into the fuel gauge and keep it looking original from outside.

Due to some health issues I have I came to realize that I am not a very good solder anymore, when I really try to keep my hands still they start shaking. It was not like that before, so it ended up being a horrible challenge soldering all the small components inside the fuel gauge. I now realize that is a part of my profession and former life I might have to say good bye to.

Anyway, the result was fine, I got 5 volts on the A screw on the fuel gauge which was what I was after. The fuel gauge worked, and the temp gauge too. Until the next day, and all was dead again. I thought to myself, did the guys who advised against it get the last word in this. I took the instrument panel out, and the fuel gauge, and it was no doubt, the 7805 was dead, even if I had soldered in a 1 amp fuse there and the 7805 can handle more than 1 amp. I did not want to bother too much with it, so I used a separate 5 volt DC - DC regulator I had, which is protected from all kind of things. Took out everything from the fuel gauge that I had put in, except the 1 amp fuse.

I cut the wire that goes to the "I" post on the fuel gauge, and wired in some longer pieces that goes to the new 5 volt regulator, and out from there it goes to the "I" terminal on the fuel gauge. So the wire is just cut, and the end with 12 volt goes to the IN on the regulator, and the end that goes to the "I" on the regulator is connected on the regulator 5 volt out terminal. And then the regulator has two ground wires that I stuck into an eye which I connected under the nut that holds the parking brake handle. This way I did not have to do any modifications to the wiring on the back of the instrument panel, except I removed the capacitor there. Put it in a Sandwich bag in case I need it later.

The new regulator is adjustable, so I adjusted it to 2-3 volts, and turned on the ignition switch. I measured the voltage, but the fuel gauge did not show anything. I started the engine, and ran it until the engine was warm, and then it showed a very little reading. So, I adjusted up the voltage to 4 volts and now he fuel gauge started to move a little. Up more, to 5 volts and I have 1/4 tank of fuel, and the temp gauge shows more or less what I consider correct temperature. Drove the car back in the street and went in. Too hot for me outside to continue working.

Next day comes, no fuel, no temperature. What on earth is going on I thought to myself.

Well, I am a big fellow so I struggle getting under the dash, but well, I ended up under the dash anyway, then hard to get out. LOL. But, being there made me see what the problem was. And had been all along.

When the instrument panel is out, you can see two metal tabs that holds the entire harness under the dash. Well, someone has been in there messing, and had pulled them down. So, the right tab is located just where the A screw on the fuel gauge is, and was making an excellent connection to ground. And ruined the gauge in the first place, and ruined the 7805, and made the 5 volt DC-DC regulator go down too.
The tab is painted, but there are some scratches so when I drove the car out in the street, it obviously vibrated a little and made the connection. Which was not excellent at all, for the gauges.

I took the instrument panel out, and lessened the burden on the tabs and got them pushed up and out of the way.

I have also got back all the lights in the instrument panel, cleaned and removed all the oxide on the copper, and lubricated it with CRC 2-26.

So, now it works wonders, and I have not had any more issues with anything in there. The last picture here shows the instrument panel after I removed the capacitor that was connected to the fuel gauge.

However, I have the speaker and radio out, and consider the speaker junk, the paper cone is toast and only a little part of it is left. I have gotten a new one, but that will come in a separate post.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

If someone wants a more detailed picture of whatever they see, send me a private message, and we can exchange e-mail addresses and I can send the original picture that is in full size. The pictures here are reduced in size.

Bill

 

[Bills65Dart]

The next project with the car is to repaint the upper dash recess. The paint is supposed to be Suede Finish, but I do not have that, and I have not found any paint store around here who make that kind of paint finish. But, I have got a description of how to do it, using talcum powder.. However, I have the right paint color mixed with very flat clear coat, so I am going to use that and be done with it. The reason for not making my own Suede Finish is that the windshield is in the car, and it will be a hassle to spray anyway because of the little room. So, I feel it is a bigger chance I might mess up things if I spray with the "home made" Suede Finish, and I would not like to have to do the job twice.

I look forward to having this done, and at the same time paint the defroster vents in the same color, medium turquoise. Then I can mount them back in place, and I can mount the speaker in there too.

Bill