The Brick, 1972 Dodge Dart Custom

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BlackBrick

BlackBrick

The Cult Mechanicus
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
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Location
Phoenix
6/6/10

The project starts.


Okay so the goal here is to build a classic daily driver for less than $5000.

Here is what has been spent so far:
The car - $1200
Body and primer - $250
Replace trans pan gasket - $50
Total - $1500

Ordered parts:
Fuel Sender unit - $80
Front and rear shocks - $80

Total with these parts - $1660

Proposed spending:
Window Tint - $200 (optional at this point)
Air conditioning repair - $300

When I got underneath the car to look at the fuel lines to order the fuel level sending unit, found that the leaf springs are shot and that the rear shocks are leaking fluid. It's always best to remember that a project car is always going to have things creep up that are not expected. Best to just handle them as they are found and just move on with life.
Fun part is picking the car up tomorrow evening and then hitting emissions. Should prove to be fun. This thing runs like a rabid rabbit, and handles like a dream.
 
Just in case anyone is wondering, I am back dating the posts on this as I have a little running blog with the stuff I've done on it, more for me than anyone else.
 
6/10/10
Woohoo - Driving it everyday!
Passed emissions with flying colors. Tags cost $20!

I installed the Sunpro SuperTach II the other night. Actually pulled the fuse block out and installed it like factory. Pretty clean install and mounted pretty nicely to the A pillar with the provided fitting.

Measured the Ash tray opening. At 6.5 inches wide, it will be too small for a Sunpro Multi Guage Kit, so will go with the single pods instead. The guages, oil pressure and water temp, will be larger and more closely match the SuperTach. Side by side, the two mounting plates measure just over 6 inches, so the install will look pretty clean. And the best part is that the wiring for the light is already there.


Going over to my buddy Gene's house. He has a pair of donor Barracuda's at his place. May actually score some springs out of the trip, plus will be installing the parts that need to go underneath! Shocks, tranny pan gasket, and fuel sending unit will be in, and then Friday night we head to Paul's for the AC fix.


Depending on the amount of cash left over after the AC repair, may invest in some new springs. If not, then i will just try to steal a set off of the parts cars.....


Get to adjust my tracking in spending - Total with these parts - $1610. Installing the trans pan gasket myself to save the $50.
 
6/17/10
Transmission woes
Well, forward progress is continuing on the Brick......

The evening in Gene's driveway was amazing. I had honestly forgot how much fun it was to wrench with the OFB.
We did a quick underside inspection of the car. The upper and lower ball joint boots are shot, but I'll swap them out when I get to changing out the front end for disc brakes. We pulled the front shocks to replace them. Under the light scaled rust on the shocks, we discovered that they were from a Kmart Car Care Center.....as car as I know, the Kmart Car Care centers were all converted to Penske Service Centers in late 1999, and have all been either closed or changed to Sears Car Care centers. So that means the Shocks were at least 10 years old. The rear shocks were Monroe Gas O Matics. Swapped them all out for Gabriel Heavy Duty front and rear.

Working on the trans pan, we found that the bolts were just finger tight. got a good 4 turns on each one and then set them to the proper torque. Trans leak issue resolved? Found out later - not so much. Either leaking from the Speedo gear housing or neutral backup switch or maybe even the front pump seal. The front pump seal is most likely NOT the issue as the fluid is pooling at the back drivers side, more than likely, it's the speedo gear housing. It's cool cause it is just an o-ring. Swapping out the o ring on the neutral safety switch too, just to be sure. Found that the metal trans cooler lines were resting right on the crankshaft pully, so did a minor bend job, and then wire tied them to the radiator -k member support. Waiting on the transmission mount to make it here so I can get that installed after the leak issue is resolved. Going poly on that one.....

Wiggle test on the driveshaft showed that there was some pretty significant play in the U-joints. Not surprised because they are probably 38 years old. Grabbed a set of new ones to go in once I get the trans leak issue fixed.

We tried our damnedest to get that fuel tank out, but no dice for us. No air tools really eats when trying to get it all loose and free. Good thing my mother in law's mechanic, Paul, works on classic cars. He was able to get it down and swap it out before working on the AC for me. He is finishing the R134 conversion and getting it all charged up for me.

Should have it back this weekend so I can get it back to Kaiser, the paint guy, for the last 2 coats of black primer and ghost flames.
 
7/12/10
The Brick is home!!!!
Well, the Brick has returned home. After a 3 week "vacation" to the Paul Spa, it has returned.
Here is a list of what was done. Mind you, most of this was not planned, as parts were breaking as we were fixing other things.

Stuff replaced:
A/C charged and blowing cold!!!
carb rebuilt
resealed transmission
fuel pump
fuel filter
air filter
PCV valve
ignition coil
ballast resistor
spark plugs
Accel plug wires
battery

This Friday leads me to Gene's where we are going to do motor mounts, trans mounts, and u-joints.

Front end will be more fun. UCA's coming from Joe in Georgia, with ball joints already there, and then the bone-yard spindles and will be ready to get the front end together. Need to completely rebuild the front end! Will also be looking at doing the pressure valve upgrade from the latest Mopar Action magazine, stiffen up the power steering.
 
8/26/10
Yep, I am a slacker
So I have slacked off as of late. Posting at least, and due to some untimely needed dental repairs, had to take a break on working on the Dart. But there is some stuff to post about cause it's cool.

Got the Trans leaks almost all sorted out. Input lever seal is leaking, but I will get that one squared when I drop the pan to add the shift kit.

Dropped in the new Transmission mount, all the while cleaning up the trans crossmember.

The u-joints were another story. After letting the drive shaft soak for 2 hours in Liquid Wrench, it took another 2-3 hours of beating on the u joint caps to get them out. After getting them out, I found that they were stamped "1971 Detroit" and the OEM stamped part number on them.....Best I could do to cross reference the number showed that they were the STOCK U JOINTS.......Keeping the nicest looking one around. Tack welded the end caps on and I am having a belt buckle made from it.

Drives smooth as hell now. Just got to get the motor mounts in. Maybe get over to Joe's again and use his driveway. Get those done, and then see what else I can pull off on the cheap this weekend.

It's looking like I will have to do some front end work before I have the cash scraped together for the disc swap on the front. Hopefully get some time in the local bone yards this weekend too.
 
10/4/10
Getting ready for the front disk swap
Two weeks ago I grabbed up the parts for the front disc brake swap. Grabbed the majority of the parts from an Aspen.

Parts I grabbed:
Spindles
Adaptors
Calipers
Proportioning valve
Upper Control Arms (from 73 Dart)

Took them and cleaned them all up. Rotors mic'd out and do not seem to ever have been turned. Will have them turned by a brake shop as I get closer to the swap. Pulled the bearings and they are in great shape. Cleaned all the old bearing grease out and soaked them in brake parts cleaner. Bearing races are in great shape too. Measured the brake pads, have only used about 1/8th of the thickness used so cleaned them up too. Calipers pistons move freely and the seals are pretty pliable. Upper control arms are in great shape and the old ball joints were already removed. Cleaned off all the hard parts and sprayed with some Krylon Caliper paint. Burned through a can for all the hard parts.

Ordered all but a few parts this past weekend for the swap. Ordered all but the brake lines and the UC bushings.

Going to try to re-use the camber adjusting bolts and tie end rods.

We'll see how this all goes.

Maybe this afternoon, I can get over to Joe's and install my last 2 Sunpro guages, and get some step by steps on that one.....
 
10/11/10
Next weekend is the big weekend!
So I have the last of my parts delivered, picking up the 8 1/4 and BBP wheels next Friday and then the work starts.


Got the UCAs, spindles, calipers, and rotors cleaned up, painted and ready for install.

So here is the plan for next weekend:
Friday
Friday is final prep and take down day. Take the Brick to Dunbar Spring in Phoenix to have the leaf springs addressed. Then it is off to Jim's to grab the 8 1/4 rear and the BBP wheels and to Gene's to grab the compressor, air tools, and sand blaster. Stop by discount to order the tires, and then it is to Joe's house for the work to start. Getting the front end soaking in Liquid Wrench as we get the spring seats on the 8 1/4 rear removed and new ones welded on. Sand blast the BBP wheels and then prime and spray in a nice gunmetal gray color. By this time, the LW soak should be good and we can get in and start the tear down. Separate the upper and lower ball joints and throw all of that into the corner to go to the scrapyard. Take out the UCAs and make sure the entire area is cleaned up and ready for the install.

Saturday
Go to Discount with the refinished wheels and get the new tires mounted, including using one of the old tires as a spare. Grab some breakfast and back to work. Get the new bushings into the new UCAs and then get them installed into the car. Now install the new upper ball joints and get the spindles installed. Seat the lower ball joints and we are 1/2 way there. Mount the rotor and then the calipers and pads. Hook up the new brake lines and mount the wheels. Drop the front end and then start the rear. Drop the 7 1/4 out and get the 8 1/4 in and then tighten it all up to torque. Install the new master and the prop valve, and then bleed the entire system. Road test and then get the front end aligned.

Sunday
Hopefully this will be a recovery day.....and maybe cruise the strip on new rolling stock.

After this, hopefully, a few interior goodies, floor shifter, Oil Pressure and Water Temp gauges and maybe even a stereo system, and then give my wife a break....
 
There, all caught up. I normally post to the blog as soon as I can while things are fresh in my mind, but being a Graduate student, parent and husband sometimes doesn't allow me to. Hopefully, during next weekends big work fest I will get plenty of pictures taken and can post with some pics to go with it.
 
Pics are forthcoming this weekend. Will hopefully have tons to post with the weekend's projects.
 
Well, It's Saturday night and I am sore as hell. Spent 1 good and 1 bad day working on the Dart.

Day 1

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Ran up to Dunbar springs Saturday morning to get the leaf springs repaired. Big fat no go. Springs are too rusty.....$350 he says. Out of my budget so I will order SS springs from Summit in 2 weeks. Then off to Discount to order my BFG TA Radials. Got the guy to beat Jegs price on them. Ended up paying $76 a tire for 205/70/14! Those will be in on Tuesday.

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Grabbed Gene (65cuda) and we headed to Jim's to grab up the rear end and BBP wheels. Jim had a 8 1/4 for me that has 3.23 gears in it so scooped that up and headed to Joe's (nice flat driveway, with a car port to work in) Above is Gene and I setting up "shop".

Went to see if the donor rotors could be turned......Nope. I had mic'd them before, but failed to notice that one side of the rotors had more wear than the other. So to Autozone to track down the parts. Was lucky to not have to order any, as 2 stores really close by had the parts I needed. Get back to Joe's and start the tear down.

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Lifted the front end and pulled the tires. Found that the Brick has 10" drums.....Gene is going to use the steering knuckles on his Cuda when we actually start working on it.

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Here is Gene working on removing the drum setup on the passenger side.

If you are faint of heart, speed past the next pic. Found a big crack while working on the passenger side. Think we can fix it?

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I will skip the normal details as there has been other posts about removing the drum brake setup.

Here is the empty wheel well.

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We called it a night right there as it was pretty late and we were both pretty beat up.
 
Holy crap those pictures are big.....I will scale down the pics so they can be all seem without scrolling.

**re-edited the pics so they should all show on 1 screen**
 
very cool if i didnt live in hell hole michigan id have one like that
 
Okay so to explain why I said a bad day and a good day working on the Brick:

On the way to Dunbar, downtown Phoenix, my AC started to not work. Figured out that the pulley must be shot, as when I engage the AC, the pulley makes a high pitched squeeling and it blows hot air........I'll fix that later. Not summer in AZ means drive with the windows down.

Second reason is because I could not get the springs done, have to wait to put in the new rear. No sense in doing it 2 times.

Third is because we got such a late start because of having to run down parts. Having to do that means we didn't get started until 3pm, and I had been going for 8 hours already.

Anyways, on to day 2......
 
Day 2

Okay so day 2 started with Soccer practice with my daughter. Couldn't miss that, but got back to Joe's at about 11 am. Gene was no where to be found (sleeping) and I decided to go ahead and get started.

Using a 5 inch bolt, 2 sockets, 2 washes and a nut, I was able to get the upper control arm bushings "pressed" in.

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Things were going great until the UCA slipped and hit me right in the beanbag........which my friend caught on camera.

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After a little persuading, the UCA went right in, was able to get the cam adjustment bolts in pretty quickly.

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Installed the upper ball joint and then assembled the knuckle/adapter/lower ball joint assemble with the brand new grade 10 hardware. Gene showed up and started to work on getting bearings packet (grease gun sucked big time) and we hung drivers side first.

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Mounted the caliper and setup the brake line. Had to take a file to the mounting tab for the hose, as the hose end was bigger than the drum brake one. Bolted it all up, set to torque and then checked clearances. Wheel will move max with no binding, no grinding, and nice and tight.

Was going to finish up the install but somewhere between my place and Joe's I misplaced the bearing seals.......Dammit...SO I have to run those down tomorrow so I can get those installed and have the wheel well part of the install all done. I will then be mounting the Prop Valve and the Master Cylinder.

Today was a much better day......kind of. :)
 
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