Slow, Driving Rustoration 1972 Dart

[DusterDaddy]

Not for nothin but this guy painted this bay with the 318 in the car and the engine bay looks stellar. If the motor runs strong isn’t burning oil and the trans shifts well and is quiet, why not go that route? Freshen up the 318 with a cam and some swirl port heads add an intake, carb and dual exhaust then paint and interior....


1972 Duster Project - Back From The Pasture

 

[dartnlo]

Not for nothin but this guy painted this bay with the 318 in the car and the engine bay looks stellar. If the motor runs strong isn’t burning oil and the trans shifts well and is quiet, why not go that route? Freshen up the 318 with a cam and some swirl port heads add an intake, carb and dual exhaust then paint and interior....


1972 Duster Project - Back From The Pasture

I think I'll eventually pull the engine to change gaskets, seals and paint the engine and k-member. I don't know how much performance stuff I will ever do. Mostly anything that will make it get better gas mileage and more reliability.

I've been busy this long weekend doing rust repair on the floor. I've got all of the rust cut out and new sheet metal fabricated and ready to weld tomorrow. I practiced welding on Friday. I welded up a patch in the rear wheel well where the seat belt mounts. I haven't welded sheet metal since 2003. By the time I'm done I'll either be much better at welding or an expert at grinding.

I have Monday and Tuesday off. I'm hoping to have the interior ready to go back in by Tuesday.

I'm using auto body seam sealer, but I'm also going to either under coat or truck bed-liner the entire floor and paint it. Any recommendations?

 

[BrianT]

After cutting out the bad metal and welding in patch panels, I took a wire wheel to my whole floorboard and then brushed on a nice thick layer of rust encapsulator. It took almost two weeks for it to finally cure (especially in this weather) but when it did, it was rock hard. I had to pull the carpet back up last summer and not a hint of rust under there. I also threw down some sound deadening material to keep the heat and the drone from the exhaust from coming up through the carpet. It really helped in the summer. Funny how these little projects seem to snowball into bigger ones?

 

[dartnlo]

Funny how these little projects seem to snowball into bigger ones?

Literal snowball today! I thought the snow and wind were coming in later today but nope, woke up to howling wind and blowing snow.

 

[BrianT]

It came roaring in here about two hours ago. I had the Dart out yesterday and we're gonna get 5-6" of snow today. Blah!!!

 

[dartnlo]

Floor pan project:

I had 2 days of great weather, then 1 day of horrible weather, then one day of cold but sunny weather. Finished up this morning with the painting and sealing. It definitely could have looked better, but it will be covered with carpet by next weekend. I am confident it is sealed up.

I used:
2 cans of VHT rust convertor
4 cans of rustoleum rust restorer
3 cans of rustoleum bright green
1 can of F3 paint
1.5 spools or welder wire
3 - 12" x 24" sheet metal
3 propane refills
6 pots of coffee
2 cut-ff discs
1.5 wire grinder wheels
1 tube of 3M Body seam sealer
1 tube of dynatron seam sealer (external seams)

I took about 200 pictures and narrowed it down to 53.

Starting with the view about 2 months ago when I pulled the carpet:

 

[dartnlo]

Next up, the initial wire brushing phase. I would wire brush once, spray VHT rust convertor on it, let it dry, 2 days later I would wire wheel it off again and spray it again.

 

[dartnlo]

So this is where I started off on Friday about noon. It was about 65 out and sunny so I pulled the Dart out about halfway so I had plenty of room to cut and weld. I was glad my dad came by to check my progress. I was cutting all of the patches with a cut-off wheel. He suggested that my band saw might be easier. I didn't think the wood blade would work but it did! Save me a lot of time and spark showers. Finished up most of the welding Saturday night and celebrated with a cigar and a Jameson.

 

[dartnlo]

Sunday we had a little blizzard that I thought was coming much later in the day. I woke up at 9 to the sound of high winds and snow hitting the window. I quickly got clothes on and got the wheels back on and the dart back in the tiny garage. I set the Honda out under a tarp so a I had more room than usual. A little welding to do but it was mostly grinding and priming.

 

[dartnlo]

 

[dartnlo]

By late Monday I was ready to paint. I only had one can of F3 color so I used a bright green rustoleum satin first. This picture doesn't show very well but it looked a little like Sublime compared to the rest of the car.

Rustoleum Rust Restorer

Like I said earlier, it's pretty... pretty ugly but it is way better than it was and is covered by carpet. I sealed the underside patch areas this morning and I'll be undercoating those spots later this week.

Cheers!

 

[dartnlo]

Has anyone had any trouble with stockinteriors carpet with mass backing and factory AC? I can't get the carpet to slide under the bottom of the AC system housing. It's great looking carpet but am I going to have to loosen the AC case somehow? Is that much of a job?

 

[Clelan]

The bolts through the firewall can be loosened off and you can likely lift it enough to slide the carpet under.

Cley

 

[dartnlo]

The bolts through the firewall can be loosened off and you can likely lift it enough to slide the carpet under.

Cley

Thanks! That was easy, loosened one bolt and was able to wiggle it around enough to get the new carpet and pad unde there!

 

[dartnlo]

I have everything back in the interior except the front seat. I deleted the seat belt wiring. Anything I need to know there? Will the light always be on? I'm bringing the bench in the hose to start sewing up the tears in the driver's seat. There were only two smallish holes there before I drove it home from Iowa. I should have sat on a towel I guess. I'm also going to try and beef up the seat as I kept sliding to the the left which also probably helped rip the seat up. I found that I had to sit more toward the center to stay in place.


This song will be playing the first time I take my girlfriend out for a ride. She hasn't been allowed to ride in it until I get the interior up to snuff. This should be happening on the first dry Sunday we have here in KS, currently under flash flood warnings.

 

[BrianT]

Will the light always be on?

Not if you reach up and twist the bulb out? lol Big Cake fan here in KC btw

 

[dartnlo]

Not if you reach up and twist the bulb out? lol Big Cake fan here in KC btw

I currently have the inst cluster half way out checking on the non-working fuel gauge. I have a KC friend that seriously wants us to start a Cake Tribute band when I get moved up there.

 

[dartnlo]

I have the interior back in, waiting on cluster light sockets, they came in but were the wrong size. I'll post interior pictures tomorrow. I finally did a tune-up today after getting the Pertronix Ignition installed. New spark plugs, idle mixture set, vacuum leaks plugged for now. I had been experiencing hesitation on anything more than very easy throttle and it would cough and die. Tried to test the vacuum advance and found out that the diaphragm must be shot. It wouldn't even develop a vacuum there, which was obviously one of my leaks. I set the timing a little advanced and it takes off much better now but still boggy on full throttle take off attempts. I managed to do a little one-legger in my driveway today lol. Here is a video of the engine starting and idling after the tune-up.

 

[dartnlo]

So after work I took a little 20 mile cruise. I can definitely tell the difference with the Pertronix ignition, mostly because the points really weren't in good shape, when I took them out I could see corrosion that I didn't see in the dimly lit car wash bay in Iowa where I worked on the car. The cold starts are a huge improvement. I think I'll bypass the ballast resistor, regap the plugs, advance the timing a bit, and see if it runs better or worse.

Just setting the timing helped a lot too I'm sure. Also I had never adjusted the idle mixture screws on the new carb, they were all the way in, which explains the bad idling and stalling I guess. The engine feels overall smoother now. On a cold start I can hear some valve train ticking but it lessens as it warms up. I'm excited to see how it runs with a vacuum advance installed. Right now I have the line disconnected and plugged.

It's fun to drive now, I can definitely see dual exhaust, a new intake, and a four barrel in its future. Mostly just because it sounds like the engine is trying to breath but can't lol. Lord knows it already has enough pep to get me in trouble in town now.

 

[dartnlo]

Pictures from the interior install. Hard to get decent pictures. I re-butly roped the body plastic before putting side panels back on. I did some "repairs" on the front seat to make it looks slightly less ragged or at least hide the seat foam. I love the new carpet. This will do until I can refill my bank account. In the two months since I got the car home I've already spent more on parts than I paid for the car. Worth it!!!

 

[dartnlo]

It was a bright sunshiny day today so me and my sweetheart took a trip about 20 miles West of town to a little town called Arlington, KS. We had french toast, jalapeno biscuits and gravy, loaded breakfast burritos and coffee. The Dart performed as perfectly as she could without a vacuum advance and I got 16.7 smiles per gallon. We did a little photo shoot outside Cara's Cafe & Pizzeria.

The Dart makes Genevieve look tall

I looked as goofy as always.

 

[dartnlo]

Looking through old boxes this weekend I found the last known picture of my first Dart that I bought in 1988. This was in 1990, sitting engineless, no interior, thinking she was getting a restoration.

 

[Dartfreak75]

Man you have made alot of ground! I really like what your doing. It looks great!! Keep up the good work.

 

[dartnlo]

Vacuum advance installed, finally bypassed the ballast resistor, and she's running better. I need to add some timing then she should running great. Also after bypassing the resistor, the fuel gauge works now? Unrelated but hey, that's cool. Especially since I ran out of gas with my girlfriend on Christmas night on the way home ... after I assured her that everything would be cool... Also that happened about 15 miles after being pulled over for no tag light. The cop's first question was: "So what kind of car is this?" He was even driving a new Charger.

 

[dartnlo]

Well it's looking like the Dart is getting parked for the winter now. I flushed the coolant system because the coolant had this orange stuff in it. The smell of it didn't ring any bells. I thought it was some kind of coolant sealer so I did a prestone flush on it, and after about 100 miles, it's back, not as bad but it's back. Also I noticed that the trans fluid is getting milky. Yep, trans cooler leakage.

So I really didn't want to park it right now for anything long term but at bare minimum I need to get a new radiator in it, flush the transmission, flush the coolant again, and see what's up. I reckon a transmission replace or rebuild is in its future from what I've read. As far as noticing anything in the transmission going bad I haven't noticed any slipping or noises. I drive like a quintessential little old lady though.

So any suggestions on radiators? Is there any benefit of a Champion 3 row vs a spectra from rock auto? There is about $70 difference between them. $220 shipped for the Champion and $150 for the Spectra.

I've never had overheating issues so far with the stock. The biggest performance upgrade I have planned someday is dual exhaust and a four barrel.

Can I use an external trans cooler instead and keep this radiator?