havensole
Well-Known Member
I realized that I was placing a lot of this work in my welcome forum post so as this work progresses I figured this would be a better place for this discussion.
For those that didn't read my welcome post, here is a little bit of info. My wife and I were looking to rent a house in the city her job was relocated to (only about 20 miles away), but the rental market there is terrible so as a solution she decided it was time to finally buy herself a car. Up to this point I have always taken/picked her up from work or she has taken public transportation. Classic cars have always been big in her family and we've almost always had one. I have my 2006 Mustang as a daily driver and a 1967 Ranchero as my project car. We have always liked to stay away from the "traditional" classics so it was time to start looking.
We had a lot of options to look at but ultimately came down to wanting an old A-Body. We were getting ready to go look at a 65 and then a 70 Dart but before we left I decided to do another quick search of craigslist to see if anything new popped up when I found this beautiful 66 Dart. I called the guy right away to see if he still had it and he did, but was out of town for the day. He would be back in town the following day and said to call then to setup a time to look at it. We went ahead and checked out the 65. The car ran great but had a ton of cancer. My wife kind of wanted a beater and I've worked on a lot of cancer with my 67, but ultimately we just couldn't agree on a price. We then tried to get ahold of the guy with the 70 and after playing phone tag for a few hours we started heading out to his place. On the way there though he called and said he had just sold it. Deflated we headed home. There was still the 66 to see the following day but we were both feeling like we weren't going to find anything at that point.
The next day I called the guy with the 66 and arranged a time to go see it. We rolled up to his shop and there it was amongst a bunch of other classics in various forms of restoration. Turns out that the guy exports classics to other countries and this 66 was supposed to go to a guy in the Netherlands, but had recently backed out of the deal and he needed to get out from under it. We spent a little time walking around the car just in awe of how pristine it was. The paint is a little faded, and the interior is faded as well, but no dents, no rips in the fabric. He popped the hood and we could see that it had been sitting for a long long time. It looked as though no one had ever cleaned the engine bay. He went to turn the engine over and there was no hesitation. He just turned the key and it cranked over. He told us that he had replaced the gas tank, changed the float and rebuilt the carb. He also replaced the battery and did a few other things. The asking price was $3950 and really worth every penny to us. We offered $3800 just to see if we could save a few bucks and he accepted. He had ordered a new set of tires, which were included in the price, and was just waiting for them to come in. So we left the car at the shop and just had to wait a few days for them to come in and get installed.
That was Sunday and we picked it up last night, Wens. He replaced the idle arm and did a rough alignment. He told us that the brake pedal wouldn't pop back up all the way after being depressed so the brake lights would stay on. Not a big deal. Just meant that I had to pop the pedal back up all the way with my foot. I wasn't really comfortable taking the freeway so we took the streets. The car ran well but felt a little sluggish, but pulled to the right, the speedometer and dash lights were dead, and the idle was a little rough. I got home and then went to the parts store to grab as much as I could to give the car a much needed servicing. I did an oil change last night but it was getting too late to work on the other stuff.
I got up this morning and changed the thermostat, plugs, cap, wires, air filter and belts. I tried to change the rotor but the parts shop gave me the wrong rotor. One big thing I noticed while changing the oil is that oil was coming out of the #5 spark plug tube seal. When I pulled the boot i was surprised to find that there was no tube there and the last person to change the plugs just used a piece of hose over the plug to protect it, poorly. I also noticed while I was under the car that the motor mounts are pretty much toast. Driver's side looks easy enough to replace but I still need to figure out the passenger side. It seemed like everything was going well and I took it out for a test drive. The car felt great and things were going great until I was a few miles from the house and stopped at a stop sign. The car just died. I tried to turn the engine over and it turned back over but died shortly after. I gave it a little more gas at turn over and it seemed to be ok. I got to the next stop sign and it happened again. Luckily I was only a couple of stops from the house at this point so I just repeated the process until I got there. At that point it was time to head to a BBQ so I just figured I'd work on it tomorrow. My brother in law suggested that I put the old cap on as head had had a similar problem once upon a time.
When we got home i put the old cap on and went to take it for a test drive to make sure things were ok. I got in the car and turned the key and...... nothing. I checked a few things and still nothing. Battery was dead. Confused I hooked my jumper battery to the battery and immediately noticed a red light coming from the back. Apparently when I got home before the BBQ I forgot to pull the pedal back out and the brake lights were on the whole time, killing the battery. I let the battery charge for a bit and tried to figure out what was going on with the brake pedal. Thought it might just need some lubrication, but nope. If anything that made it worse. For now I have a bungee cord pulling the pedal up. Going to take the car in for an alignment on Sat. so I'll have them check the pedal out too.
That's pretty much it at this point. I was hoping to take the car to work tomorrow, but with the issues it is having I will wait until we get the brake pedal fixed and alignment done.
Future plans aren't for anything crazy. This is a daily driver for the wife so no massive performance boosts or loud exhaust. We were originally thinking of keeping the silver blue paint, but it already looks like someone tried to paint it a generic blue once which is already mostly faded away. Thinking maybe a rusted orange. Here are the specs:
1966 Doge Dart GT
225 Slant 6
Unknown Automatic Transmission
83290 original miles
Cost: $3800
Options: Factory A/C, Power Steering, Floor Shifter, Center Console and Bucket Seats
For those that didn't read my welcome post, here is a little bit of info. My wife and I were looking to rent a house in the city her job was relocated to (only about 20 miles away), but the rental market there is terrible so as a solution she decided it was time to finally buy herself a car. Up to this point I have always taken/picked her up from work or she has taken public transportation. Classic cars have always been big in her family and we've almost always had one. I have my 2006 Mustang as a daily driver and a 1967 Ranchero as my project car. We have always liked to stay away from the "traditional" classics so it was time to start looking.
We had a lot of options to look at but ultimately came down to wanting an old A-Body. We were getting ready to go look at a 65 and then a 70 Dart but before we left I decided to do another quick search of craigslist to see if anything new popped up when I found this beautiful 66 Dart. I called the guy right away to see if he still had it and he did, but was out of town for the day. He would be back in town the following day and said to call then to setup a time to look at it. We went ahead and checked out the 65. The car ran great but had a ton of cancer. My wife kind of wanted a beater and I've worked on a lot of cancer with my 67, but ultimately we just couldn't agree on a price. We then tried to get ahold of the guy with the 70 and after playing phone tag for a few hours we started heading out to his place. On the way there though he called and said he had just sold it. Deflated we headed home. There was still the 66 to see the following day but we were both feeling like we weren't going to find anything at that point.
The next day I called the guy with the 66 and arranged a time to go see it. We rolled up to his shop and there it was amongst a bunch of other classics in various forms of restoration. Turns out that the guy exports classics to other countries and this 66 was supposed to go to a guy in the Netherlands, but had recently backed out of the deal and he needed to get out from under it. We spent a little time walking around the car just in awe of how pristine it was. The paint is a little faded, and the interior is faded as well, but no dents, no rips in the fabric. He popped the hood and we could see that it had been sitting for a long long time. It looked as though no one had ever cleaned the engine bay. He went to turn the engine over and there was no hesitation. He just turned the key and it cranked over. He told us that he had replaced the gas tank, changed the float and rebuilt the carb. He also replaced the battery and did a few other things. The asking price was $3950 and really worth every penny to us. We offered $3800 just to see if we could save a few bucks and he accepted. He had ordered a new set of tires, which were included in the price, and was just waiting for them to come in. So we left the car at the shop and just had to wait a few days for them to come in and get installed.
That was Sunday and we picked it up last night, Wens. He replaced the idle arm and did a rough alignment. He told us that the brake pedal wouldn't pop back up all the way after being depressed so the brake lights would stay on. Not a big deal. Just meant that I had to pop the pedal back up all the way with my foot. I wasn't really comfortable taking the freeway so we took the streets. The car ran well but felt a little sluggish, but pulled to the right, the speedometer and dash lights were dead, and the idle was a little rough. I got home and then went to the parts store to grab as much as I could to give the car a much needed servicing. I did an oil change last night but it was getting too late to work on the other stuff.
I got up this morning and changed the thermostat, plugs, cap, wires, air filter and belts. I tried to change the rotor but the parts shop gave me the wrong rotor. One big thing I noticed while changing the oil is that oil was coming out of the #5 spark plug tube seal. When I pulled the boot i was surprised to find that there was no tube there and the last person to change the plugs just used a piece of hose over the plug to protect it, poorly. I also noticed while I was under the car that the motor mounts are pretty much toast. Driver's side looks easy enough to replace but I still need to figure out the passenger side. It seemed like everything was going well and I took it out for a test drive. The car felt great and things were going great until I was a few miles from the house and stopped at a stop sign. The car just died. I tried to turn the engine over and it turned back over but died shortly after. I gave it a little more gas at turn over and it seemed to be ok. I got to the next stop sign and it happened again. Luckily I was only a couple of stops from the house at this point so I just repeated the process until I got there. At that point it was time to head to a BBQ so I just figured I'd work on it tomorrow. My brother in law suggested that I put the old cap on as head had had a similar problem once upon a time.
When we got home i put the old cap on and went to take it for a test drive to make sure things were ok. I got in the car and turned the key and...... nothing. I checked a few things and still nothing. Battery was dead. Confused I hooked my jumper battery to the battery and immediately noticed a red light coming from the back. Apparently when I got home before the BBQ I forgot to pull the pedal back out and the brake lights were on the whole time, killing the battery. I let the battery charge for a bit and tried to figure out what was going on with the brake pedal. Thought it might just need some lubrication, but nope. If anything that made it worse. For now I have a bungee cord pulling the pedal up. Going to take the car in for an alignment on Sat. so I'll have them check the pedal out too.
That's pretty much it at this point. I was hoping to take the car to work tomorrow, but with the issues it is having I will wait until we get the brake pedal fixed and alignment done.
Future plans aren't for anything crazy. This is a daily driver for the wife so no massive performance boosts or loud exhaust. We were originally thinking of keeping the silver blue paint, but it already looks like someone tried to paint it a generic blue once which is already mostly faded away. Thinking maybe a rusted orange. Here are the specs:
1966 Doge Dart GT
225 Slant 6
Unknown Automatic Transmission
83290 original miles
Cost: $3800
Options: Factory A/C, Power Steering, Floor Shifter, Center Console and Bucket Seats
