1970 Dodge Dart
I got this car early this spring, She was in pretty rough shape mechanically. It had seats out of a jeep halfway bolted in it, a chopped up rally dash with damaged gauge clusters, an automatic shifter console sitting on the floor with a shoddily "bolted down" Rusted out B&M Shifter and nothing worked, No lights, no turn signals, no gauges, car wouldn't go into park, leaked oil, transmission fluid, and coolant. the exhaust consisted of 2 muffler pipes dangling/dragging on the ground attached directly to the headers. Had the wrong radiator in it, dash wiring and under engine harness was a total cobble job, starter wasn't bolted down, and the bell-housing was missing 2 bolts. Brakes barely work at all. When it comes to the body, the car wasn't awful, needs some quarter panel work behind the wheel wells, and the car had lots of dents on the front and rear valance as well as the fenders. Hood was slightly bent, headlight bezel was cracked up, no carpet, headliner was just plain cardboard, and the floor had some minor Swiss cheese. very dirty, very musty, but VERY fixable.
Before i go any further I'm going to highlight my goals for this car so there's no confusion. This car was originally a slant 6 car and is not numbers matching or anything special like that. I'm not trying to make a show car, and I'm not going for a 100% Factory nut and bolt restoration. My goal is to make this car look like it could have looked in 1970 if the owner had done some custom work to "make it his" I will not be douching it up with modern stuff that doesn't belong, but I'm also not shooting for 100% accuracy. I Just want to capture the spirit of a time long past in my own unique way.
For long windedness sake I'm just going to do bullet points from here on out of things ive completed and let the pictures do the talking.
-Installed new transmission and B&M Quicksilver ratchet shifter
-Ripped out the junk jeep bucket seats and non correct console and replace with a Nice Condition Bench Seat
-Removed the chopped up Ralley dash and replaced it with a Dash that I refurbished and painted up to look like new.
-Removed the old discolored rotted out windshield and cracking rubber seal and wire brushed the channel out and sealed it in preparation to put in the new windshield and fresh rubber.
-Totally redid the wiring from the ground up both under the hood and under the dash. The under the hood was a nightmare, total spaghetti cobbled up with stuff that god knows what it went to. This was the single most time consuming aspect of the whole deal, and was the one major major hang up hindering progress.
-repaired/replaced a damaged tire
-rewired up the electric fuel pump and eliminated the atrocious looking "glowing rainbow missile switches" that were there originally.
-Eliminated the push button start run around and installed the proper neutral safety switch so the car would start off the key.
-Bolted down the starter that was just kind of dangling down with 1 bolt in it and a frayed tore up wire kinda stuck on it.
-Added a Body Ground to the battery under the hood.
- Acquired all the parts i was missing to make it a complete car.
- I'm currently doing some body work on a new hood, 2 fenders, and a door to get them ready for paint.
- Fixed transmission hose leak, oil leak, and coolant leak.
- Fixed the windshield wiper arms that were locked up and nonfunctional
-Installed Flowmaster 40 series true dual exhaust with 2 1/2" Pipes
-Upholstered the cardboard headliner with foam backed perforated vinyl
-Added an aftermarket smaller diameter, less dished steering wheel
-Removed the old worn out non functional heater box
- Fixed Headlights(high and low), Turn Signal switch, 4 ways, and brake lights all 100% Functinal
-Tuned the carburetor to get it running smoother
-Replaced the 8 inch air filter with a larger 14" one
Next thing on my plate is to reinstall the windshield so the car can sit without getting flooded and then i can go to work replacing some misc stuff under the hood, doing some floor pan repair, and then lots of sanding and priming the body sheet metal. Gonna start with the front end since i have all good parts that don't need any welding or major body work, then ill move back to the quarters and get those fixed right with new sheet metal. The car will eventually be Painted Sublime Green with a Black dual scooped hood and black vinyl top. Black bumblebee stripes on the rear.
I got this car early this spring, She was in pretty rough shape mechanically. It had seats out of a jeep halfway bolted in it, a chopped up rally dash with damaged gauge clusters, an automatic shifter console sitting on the floor with a shoddily "bolted down" Rusted out B&M Shifter and nothing worked, No lights, no turn signals, no gauges, car wouldn't go into park, leaked oil, transmission fluid, and coolant. the exhaust consisted of 2 muffler pipes dangling/dragging on the ground attached directly to the headers. Had the wrong radiator in it, dash wiring and under engine harness was a total cobble job, starter wasn't bolted down, and the bell-housing was missing 2 bolts. Brakes barely work at all. When it comes to the body, the car wasn't awful, needs some quarter panel work behind the wheel wells, and the car had lots of dents on the front and rear valance as well as the fenders. Hood was slightly bent, headlight bezel was cracked up, no carpet, headliner was just plain cardboard, and the floor had some minor Swiss cheese. very dirty, very musty, but VERY fixable.
Before i go any further I'm going to highlight my goals for this car so there's no confusion. This car was originally a slant 6 car and is not numbers matching or anything special like that. I'm not trying to make a show car, and I'm not going for a 100% Factory nut and bolt restoration. My goal is to make this car look like it could have looked in 1970 if the owner had done some custom work to "make it his" I will not be douching it up with modern stuff that doesn't belong, but I'm also not shooting for 100% accuracy. I Just want to capture the spirit of a time long past in my own unique way.
For long windedness sake I'm just going to do bullet points from here on out of things ive completed and let the pictures do the talking.
-Installed new transmission and B&M Quicksilver ratchet shifter
-Ripped out the junk jeep bucket seats and non correct console and replace with a Nice Condition Bench Seat
-Removed the chopped up Ralley dash and replaced it with a Dash that I refurbished and painted up to look like new.
-Removed the old discolored rotted out windshield and cracking rubber seal and wire brushed the channel out and sealed it in preparation to put in the new windshield and fresh rubber.
-Totally redid the wiring from the ground up both under the hood and under the dash. The under the hood was a nightmare, total spaghetti cobbled up with stuff that god knows what it went to. This was the single most time consuming aspect of the whole deal, and was the one major major hang up hindering progress.
-repaired/replaced a damaged tire
-rewired up the electric fuel pump and eliminated the atrocious looking "glowing rainbow missile switches" that were there originally.
-Eliminated the push button start run around and installed the proper neutral safety switch so the car would start off the key.
-Bolted down the starter that was just kind of dangling down with 1 bolt in it and a frayed tore up wire kinda stuck on it.
-Added a Body Ground to the battery under the hood.
- Acquired all the parts i was missing to make it a complete car.
- I'm currently doing some body work on a new hood, 2 fenders, and a door to get them ready for paint.
- Fixed transmission hose leak, oil leak, and coolant leak.
- Fixed the windshield wiper arms that were locked up and nonfunctional
-Installed Flowmaster 40 series true dual exhaust with 2 1/2" Pipes
-Upholstered the cardboard headliner with foam backed perforated vinyl
-Added an aftermarket smaller diameter, less dished steering wheel
-Removed the old worn out non functional heater box
- Fixed Headlights(high and low), Turn Signal switch, 4 ways, and brake lights all 100% Functinal
-Tuned the carburetor to get it running smoother
-Replaced the 8 inch air filter with a larger 14" one
Next thing on my plate is to reinstall the windshield so the car can sit without getting flooded and then i can go to work replacing some misc stuff under the hood, doing some floor pan repair, and then lots of sanding and priming the body sheet metal. Gonna start with the front end since i have all good parts that don't need any welding or major body work, then ill move back to the quarters and get those fixed right with new sheet metal. The car will eventually be Painted Sublime Green with a Black dual scooped hood and black vinyl top. Black bumblebee stripes on the rear.
