Project Munin/68 Dart

-
bentdart47

bentdart47

FABOlous
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
151
Reaction score
157
Location
ca
Hello All,

Last time I checked in I was just finished with my GTS front coil over conversion and was in the process of reinforcing my front end with J bars and a tower brace. There's a long list of other mods I've done like US car tool weld in sub frame connectors, torque boxes and front core support. My ultimate goal with the car is geared towards autocross/road race.

Just recently I received my GTS 4 bar with watts link rear suspension. I will share my build here over the next weeks. I plan to first mini tub my car to allow for wider tires then to install the GTS 4 bar and new custom fuel tank. There's also a small list of reinforcement mods I want to do while I have things blown apart.

20160826_103057.jpg


20161214_152841.jpg
 
So first things first. With the car nice and level on jack stands as high as I am comfortable I will begin the tear out. Tank, diff/springs, exhaust...

20161107_171614.jpg


20161108_162254.jpg
 
This must be some sort of rare inner wheel house air duct option! Since this is my first mini tub I went ahead and just purchased the US car tool kit. I figured I'll shave a few hours off the fab and fiddling time.

mini tub.jpg
 
Here's some early fitting. I'm using sheet metal screws to get a temporary handle on things. The the mini tub "kit" took some real work get it to conform to the inner wheel house. I would just roll my own sheet metal inserts if I were to do it again.

mini tub 2.jpg
 
Here we are after I have everything where I want it, welded both inside and out. That is followed by more fitting just just to make sure and lastly I pulled them again to seam seal what I could out of the car. Just a preliminary measurement gives me room for 325s although I'm just shooting for 305s in the rear for tire balance with the 285s I run up front.

mini tub 3.jpg


mini tub 4.jpg


mini tub 5.jpg
 
Are the black inner wheel wells original or new from ...? Also, did you do any mods to the trunk lid hinge bracket that mounts to the inner wheel well? I see most guys cut it off and weld to the top of the inner wheel well in a different location than the original location. Unlike how yours still looks like it will be original location.
 
Yes I forgot to mention I ordered new AMD inner wheels houses after I found my original pieces to be a little thin from rust. I trimmed the trunk bracket just enough so I could get the wheel house over the 3" or so needed. It will weld in the same approximate location.
 
Ok, welded in, seam sealed and undercoated. I also applied a coat of rustoleum stop rust primer in the trunk area just for now. I have plans to cut out the trunk floor for a 30 gallon fuel tank in a short while so I don't want to apply a finish to the inside area just yet. Next up is the GTS rear suspension part of the build.

mini tub 10.jpg


mini tub 7.jpg


mini tub 9.jpg
 
Very cool!

I'm thinking about tubing mind, thanks for the pics.

The 68 is my favorite year dart.
 
Thanks, I have plenty of room for the tires shown below now. My max tire size before was a 245. Here I am playing with the GTS rear suspension.

20161231_090157.jpg


4 link.jpg
 
This is taking some time making sure everything is perfectly square. I'm glad I leveled and squared up my car really well when I first raised it to begin work. The brackets and all the hardware look great. I did begin the first of the welding today with the lower/upper link brackets that weld to the frame rails.

20161216_172438.jpg
 
Ok, with the front lower and upper link brackets fully welded on the frame I took the extra step to seam seal and hit it with rust stop before undercoating it. Next on my list was to set up my upper and lower rear link brackets. These attach to the axle housing. The lower link brackets are a bolt on deal using the old spring perches while the upper link brackets are weld on. The upper link brackets also set up the watts links and the sway bar. I made sure these were perfectly centered on the axle housing itself at the exact same distance apart my front upper link mounts measured center to center at. They also need to be clocked at the same degree relative to one another. It was a a lot of measuring and measuring again followed by some light tack welds, more measuring... They came out great though. Getting the axle under the car will allow me to measure for wheels, excited about that for sure.

20170128_172532(0).jpg
 
Here I am with the diff under the car just getting the links attached. I'm checking for pinion angle and setting the diff set back, all of this is fully adjustable. I'm also able to set the anti squat characteristics of the car. I will set the diff about 3/4" further back from stock to center the wheels in the car a little better. This will also determine where my watts support will go in. I can only rough estimate where I want my links angled at this point. Every car is going to be different so a little trial and error in my future....
20170129_122444.jpg
 
Awesome build will build following! Might steal your idea with the front air dam design it looks really good, Im currently stiffening the body up in my build thread too.
 
Thanks guys, wheels on order! I'm going with a 18" front 19" rear. I chose the VMR 810 in gun metal. They are flow formed which shaves a ton of weight as opposed to a standard cast wheel, about 20% from what I read. We shall see!

VMR 810.jpg
 
Ok.. With the diff set back where I want it now I turn my focus to the watts support. The watts support and links will limit the diffs side to side movement under the car to an exacting degree. The kit itself calls for a weld in watts support but given the fact I run a dana 60 I'm going to fabricate it into a bolt in and out deal. I don't want to work around the watts support when I need to get into my rear end for rebuilds/gear changes... This is just a quick and dirty mock up after I figured out my inside to inside rail distance and welded the brackets on. After I get a fixed position on the watts support I will go ahead and order the new fuel tank. The watts support does interfere with the stock gas tank location. I plan on cutting out the spare tire carrier area and utilizing the entire area frame rail to rail for the gas tank. 30 gallons plus would be nice!
20161229_131833.jpg
 
I needed to find a solution to securely bolt the watts bar in between the frame rails without collapsing the frame. These modded 1/2" threaded weld nuts were my solution. They will support the frame rail internally when I tighten the watts support bolts down. These will be welded in with that exhaust hanger hole also filled after mock up. I'm also going to build the upper coilover mount into the watts support bar after I get this step sorted.

20161231_153857.jpg


20161231_160846_1483340419685.jpg


20161231_160853.jpg
 
The first pic is the detail on the now modified watts support. It will bolt in with two 1/2" bolts into the side of the frame and one 3/8" up from the bottom. I added some gusseting for strength. Rear anti sway bar arrived as well. The anti sway cross member welds in frame rail to rail 2nd pic shows mock up. last pic shows the mess under my car!

20170116_100139.jpg


20170116_121640.jpg


20170116_172042.jpg


20170129_141903.jpg
 
Wheels! 19X10.5 45mm offset rear with 305 30 R19s with plenty of room, 18X9.5 38mm offset front with 285 30 R18s.

Exhaust!

20170210_171006.jpg


20170119_092149.jpg
 
Man! It's coming together nicely! You're not wasting any time either and those wheels look awesome! Keep up the good work man! Also I love that black on black tail stripe!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top