The Other 68 Dart Resto Project

[flyboy01]

Ok, I decided to have a little fun instead of doing bodywork all the time. I already had my gauges, so I wanted to see what they would look like in my dash. I started by fabricating a panel that fit out of cardboard, after I got a shape I wanted to see how the gauges fit so i cut circles out of carboard to check the fit. THis is what I came up with, I am going to make it out of 16ga steel later.

 

[flyboy01]

A little more progress, I got the roof sanded and blocked smooth this weekend, I fixed a little bit of rust pitting in the pass rain gutter (no rust through), I filler in the holes from the "DART" letters on the pass side quarter, I did the driver's side a while back, and I welded in a patch or the lower rear quarter.

Ever wonder why you get rust in the lower quarters in most mopars? In the south, there are many rust free cars, as min is, however, those little trunk pan extensions trap a lot of junk. Here is what I found after I cut out the metal for a patch. It looks like a piece of 3/8 fuel line that has been rusting in there for years.

 

[gerty]

The panel and gauges will look fantastic! Are you going to be able to use your stock light and wipers switches? Good job on the rust repair as well!
Bob

 

[70dart]

gauges look bitchin' you are doing some nice work there! Hope mine turns out looking as good!

 

[flyboy01]

I got all the holes welded up yesterday, it took me 4 hours to weld all the trim holes from the rear wheel wells back on both sides. Now I just have to grind them flat.

As far as the dash, yes I will re-use the stock switches, I am thinking about blending the sheetmetal in the dash to try and make it look as stock as possible. (as stock as aftermarket gauges can look)

 

[flyboy01]

I'm still working at it. I have 85% ofn the left and 75% of the right rear quarters done. Got them smooth and rebuilt the fender lip (note: when welding up trim holes, the heat will warp things :-( ).

I ground out some old filler that had a few pinholes that went down to bare metal, probably some drops of grease when they laid it on many years ago. I replaced it with Evercoat after prepping the surface.

A lot of welding, did I mention I hate welding up holes? Oh yeah, be careful, you can do some warping when doing this, dont ask me how I know!

Sanding in all the creases and contours is a *****! I have spent 2 weeks getting these areas just perfect. A little more sanding to do and I'm done.

Here is the drivers side, it was a lot less work, because of no rust and cleaner, better welds, also I did not warp the wheel lip from welding like I did on the passenger side.

 

[flyboy01]

I also got the 383 back from the machine shop Monday, I threw all the parts on it to take a picture.

Specs:
71 383 block
Bored .030 to 4.280
Lifter bores honed
New cam bearings
All new freeze plugs
Deck checked for flatness
Cast crank, stock rods.
10:1 Badger Cast Pistons (9.5:1 assembled)
452 heads 88cc
Performer RPM Intake
Carter Carb (unknown CFM, anyone know how to check this?)
The rest is undecided.

 

[redfastback]

what is the carb # on the front of the baseplate? cast crank?? i thought that all 383's were forged.

 

[flyboy01]

All 2bbl 71 383's and starting the 400's were cast in 71. I am going to check the carb # tomorrow.

 

[black betty]

Looks like your car will be bitchin!

 

[flyboy01]

The block was degreased by my machinist, the heads were soaked in Evaporust, the oil pan was soaked in Purple power, and the timing cover had pitting, so I soaked it in Evaporust and primed it with Rust Encapsulator. I assembled the pieces, wiped down everything with wax and grease remover, I then used a propane torch to go over everysquare inch of the engine, burning off all the grease and solvents left over. I primed the whole engine in Duplicolor primer, then I sprayed in in CHrysler Blue.

 

[daves66valiant]

Looks great. I guess you have not stroked that 383 yet. Will be nice when you're finished. Progress is good.

 

[flyboy01]

the stroker is going to have to wait. I am just going to assemble it as a stock 383 with a hotter cam. I have more ambition than cash.

 

[flyboy01]

OOPS! It looks like I goofed up. I did not realize that Chrysler had 2 different engine blue colors. I noticed after it dried that it did not look right, after checking I figured out that I should have painted it Chrysler Engine Turquiose, not Blue. Well, I am going to get a couple of cans and spay a couple new coats of paint over my blue "primer"!

 

[flyboy01]

More progress last weekend. I have the rear quarters done and blocked smooth, roof blocked and smooth, both doors blocked and smooth, drivers's door jamb is smooth, just need to finish sanding down the cowl panel and passenger door jamb, I am going to pull the door to do that since I am repairing the hinges with a pin kit.

Unfortunately, I started sanding down the trunk, and found some problems. After f*ing around with the trunk alignment for about an hour, I determined the the trunk lid had been bent in the past and the driverside of the lid had been smashed down from probably somebody jumping on it and the back edge was pulled out about a 1/4 of an inch from the pass side. ???

I know from the original owner that the original trunk lid had been hit from behind and was replaced with another one. I guess the replacement had been tweeked as well. It was repaired, and the repair was very smooth, except that the trunk lid is flat on one side and has the original crown on the other. After doing some thinking, I bought a come-along and managed to bend the back edge back, hoping it will bend the lid back also, but the top did not change. I might try to fix it with some filler, or I will try to find another straight smooth lid (probably impossible). I know I saw a few up in a junkyard in Denton, but I am willing to bet the yard want premium $$$ for it. Another option is an AAR fiberglass lid, which is $350, but truck freight would probably be another $150.

A final option is to just paint the lid as is, since I am painting all the panels off the body anyway, I can always paint a new lid later, and basic black is not too hard to match.

A final note, I have 95% decided on a paint scheme for the Dart. Since the panels are now smooth enough for it, this is what it will be:

 

[Granny's Duster]

You are doing a great job Flyboy! I live in Denton, and I have been restoring a 75 Duster. Rocky Mountain Dashes makes a instrument panel that is real close to what you designed in cardboard. I have one and there is a picture of it on this website.

 

[flyboy01]

Cool, you gonna be at the show in Garland next weekend? I was hoping to have my car there, painted, but the progress has been slow. Still hoping to make the Nov Lone Star Shootout in Houston.

 

[flyboy01]

I gave the trunklid my attention today. I decided to take a 24" straightedge and check to see how bad and where the trunklid was bent. I found out that the trunklid was actually ok over all but the far left 8". Obviously sombody had sat on or stood on it to bend the whole left edge down. The shape of the lid (flat) did not match the fender (crowned).

I was trying to figure out how I was going to bent the whole trunklid back into shape, when I had an idea. I grabbed my lineman's plier and a paintstick and started bending the lip of the lid up to match the fender. As you can see, I used a paintstick to check the level. The orange marks I mad with a sharpie told me where to bend and how much.

I finally got the shape to match the fender perfectly. Once done, I filled in the trough left with body filler, I will sand it all off tomorrow and see how it will turn out.

 

[flyboy01]

Day 2 of the trunk project.

Here is what I started with, I stripped the side of the trunk that had the flattened section. The light areas were high spots. I have already bent the enge of the trunk lid to match the fender line. I then re-alighned the lid to sit high on the hinges so I dont dig into the fenders while sanding.

First layer of filler.

ARGH! I hate the dust, it gets everywhere. This sanding board is the best $10 I ever spent at Harbor Freight. I only used Evercoat filler, I use the Featherlite on the first layer and on bigger areas, I use their glaze on smaller areas or second layers, its thin, so it is a lot easier to spread. I got the Durablocks at English Color and Supply, a very good paint supply store in the DFW area. All my sandpaper is from Eastwood.

Sanded down with etching primer applied.

First layer of filler primer applied.

I like using a contrasting Red filler primer for the final layer of sanding with 320 grit, it seems to be a lot easier to see low spots.

Here it is, project complete. Its now ready for Sealer, then paint.

 

[flyboy01]

After finishing the outside of the trunklid, I taped up all the edges and covered the top with masking paper to protect it while I work on the bottom. I unbolted the lid and tried to lift it off by myself. HOLY ****! Thats a lot of steel in that trunk lid, two layers of heavy gauge steel! I tried to lift it while standing behind the car, no dice, I could not do it. Crap. I next hopped into the trunk and stood in the spoare tire well, with all my remaining energy (it was about 98F and I had been working outside for 4 hours) I managed to lift it off. I climbed out and almost tripped while holding it above my head, I managed to get it around the car to a table and set it upside down. I sanded down the bracking and any spots of rust I found. I then turn around, walked about 5 feet then heard a CRASH! Oh ****! I fell off the table on to its edge and slid across the concrete before crashing top down onto some screws, washers, rocks, etc. Right on the top of the lid, which I had been working on for 4 days, just after getting it perfect.


I ran over and picked it up, I pulled the paper off, there were some small nicks, scratches, and dents, it does not appear that anything major happened. I am going to have to block sand it again to make certain. But at this point I figured it would be best to just walk away for now.

 

[redfastback]

oh man. thats not what i expected to read. hope it comes out better than your first look at it.

 

[seventyswinger]

Hey flyboy I have been following your work from day 1 bodywork is the worst but one of the last steps to finishing hope your trunk lid isn't to bad.

 

[flyboy01]

Here is the rest of the trunk work, it was not original to the car and it had some seam rust. I sanded down everything underneath, made it ready for primer. I wire wheeled the rust out, scraped the old seam sealer out, I then coated all the areas with rust converter, I then sprayed it with black Rust Encapsulator.

 

[flyboy01]

My decision on what scoop to install on my Dart was made today when I found a brand new Hemi scoop at a swap meet this morning for $100. Here is how I installed it.

Like an eager little kid, as soon as I got it home, I had to set it on the hood to see what it looked like. ;D

First I made a mounting stud and base outline with a piece of cardboard. I set the cardboard with the flat edge across the front of the scoop, i used a rubber mallet to pop the holes for the studs, then I cut around scoop and had a perfect outline of the scoop with stud holes.

I first found the center of the hood and the center of the air cleaner stud, I marked these on the hood. I then measure the scoop and the hood and found the side to side center, I marked these on the hood with tape and a sharpie. I then looked on the bottom of the hood to find out where the studs will fall. The biggest consideration was the four rear studs, I had to make sure that they were no farther forward than big underhood brace. I also wanted to make sure the air cleaner would be centered in the scoop when I cut the opening in the hood a little later.

I set the scooop template in place and located the rear edge 3 1/2" from the rear center. To locate the scoop straight and square across the hood I measured in 13" on each side of the rear edge of the hood and marked it on some tape. This is important because the rear edge is curved. I them measured forward from those marks and came up with 26" to the front edge of each side. This made the scoop square. From this mark at 26" forward of the rear I measured across the hood, then subtracted the width of the scoop, then divided that number by 2, I now have exactly how far frome each side of the hood the scoop was, I marked this on the tape. I taped the template in place.

Now I set the scoop on the template to make sure I liked it.

I likey! ;D

At his point I marked the centers of the studs with the scoop in place with X's to make sure the holes were accurate. I took the scoop off and drilled 3/16" holes in the center of each stud location, and down through the bracing below. (by the way I hit 8 of the 10 holesnthrough the braces) I then used a stepped bit to open up the holes top and bottom to 5/16". The front two holes I actually cut out to 7/8" since they came thorugh the center of the brace.

I also drilled a hole where I measure out where the air cleaner stud should be. How close did I get? WHen I drilled the hole, the drill bit went down and hit the center of the stud and created a divot in the stud.
:toothy1:
:wav:
Yes, I know, please hold the applause until I finish! ;)

Here is the finished product, I still have to cut the hole for the air cleaner. I am going to use a K&N X-stream 11x4 filter and make a baseplate with some foam so it can seal against the bottom of the hood.

 

[redfastback]

looks awesome. are you going to use the little vertical supports lie the scoops on the ss darts? if the car is red, the scoop might look sick in black.