69 Dart 340 Swinger

[George R]

I prepped and painted the undercarriage yesterday afternoon. Temps here were close to 50 so I was able to work with the garage doors open.

I used a semi-gloss acrylic enamel to replicate the factory coating and sprayed it with an HVLP gun. This is an LA built car, and they left the factory with a black paint on the undercarriage; no body color except for overspray from the body color paint.

Thanks for lookin!

George

 

[340sFastback]

That body work on that car looks great. I stripped my trunk with a wire cup on a 4 1/2" angle grinder. Worked very well and fast too.

 

[Dodgenut64]

her underside is very clean looking. I think gold with a black interioir looks cool, its on my top 10 list of possible colors for my 64. Heres a pic with it on a 65 with gold on gold

 

[George R]

Well, I'm about ready for color.
Here it sits as of today. When the weather breaks, I'll shoot another thin coat of self etch, then spray color the following day, with clearcoat right after that. I'll allow the appropriate amount of flash time between coats.
Also included are some of the sub-assemblies that have been restored.

 

[George R]

More...........

 

[George R]

More................

 

[AdamR]

Looking real good George !

 

[71DartGuy]

Very nice George. Cant wait to see some color on it.

 

[416stroker]

George. Looking sweet! Like they say, it's all in the prep work as to how it will turn out when it's painted. Looks like you've done a fine job. One thing I noticed that you might wnat to think about. Make sure you trim that air cleaner stud down especially if you're going to run a taller than stock intake. Sure would hate to see a dimple in that nice looking hood. I had to trim mine down so that it was slightly above the top of the air cleaner. Didn't need all that extra height anyway and plus it gave me some clearance between the hood! Just something to think about!

 

[Dodgenut64]

Youve been bizzy. Lookin good

 

[thestover]

Nice retoration work,when you are finished I wish you could do mine. Cant wait to see the finished product.My 69 340 car needs lots of underbody work as most canadian cars do eh. Thanks Steve

 

[rebeldart]

No rotisserie ? Must have been fun working under that thing. The one shot of the inner fender well, looking up through to the antenna hole and hood hinge ... that's just plain sick, should be a law against restoring to that detail ! IF I had all the bestest tools to make it easier, I'd do the same (way too anal ) I've told the Mrs that just knowing it's there (slight rust/dirt/undercoating,ets) bothers me, even if I can't see it nor will anyone else EVER (rolls eyes with arms crossed and goes back in the house). Beautiful job 'bro. I'm finishing my 70 340 clone then looking for a 68/69 and'll be doing a big block "toy". My 67 was all numbers 273 HiPo 4spd and I told myself I was done with the fretting over correctness for a plastic trophy or two (but if I came across your car and saw an opportunity to make a little, Id do the same).

 

[b67cuda]

Very nice dart George - that is a super clean body - Where in Pa did
it come from?
Looks awesome cant wait to see your pretty pictures!!

Bill

 

[reno340]

I really think I would rethink not taking care of the pitting in the trunk. It would be much easier to fix now than after you have painted the car. It would not be a lot of work to do now and would make a big difference. By the way, Beautiful work on a beautiful car!!

 

[George R]

Thanks guys,
416 Stroker-
The air cleaner stud sticks up that way because there is no filter element in it. I just have the lid sitting on the carb to keep dust out, but thanks for the concern!

RebelDart-
Nope, no rotisserie man! I looked into renting one, but the guy never got back to me so I figured the hell with it! Painting under the car was OK, I just had to keep the cup full. As for the inside of the fenders...well, I figured since they were already off the car I might as well do 'em up!

Bill-
I was emailed in response to a "wanted" ad I placed on BBD by a guy in Scranton who bought the car from one of his employees. The kid who owned it took it apart and then gave up after bodywork. He then sold it to his boss, and the boss sold it to me. If the kid never took it apart I wouldn't have been able to afford it to I'm kinda glad he did it!

Reno-
I might make the pits go away. I'm ready to shoot the car right now, but the weather is not so I might as well take the time to do it like you said.

Thanks for ALL the comments guys! If you have any questions or ADVICE, please post it!

George

 

[AdamR]

George, Looks great. I gotta get up there and see it. Maybe Saturday morning ?

When it comes time to put it back together I'll give you a hand. Mine going to be painted with in the next month !

As for the trunk floor, I would just shhot some hi build on it and hit it with some red scotch brite.

Are you going to do under the carpet ?

 

[George R]

Hey Adam.
Yeah bud, I'll be workin on the car Saturday. Late morning would be best for me. My father comes on Satam for coffee &, but he's usually gone by 10:30 or so. If you need my number or directions, shoot me a PM.

As for the trunk pitting, I think I'm going to skim coat the problem areas with plastic filler and sand it smooth.

You're going to paint in this cold Adam? I figured I'd wait till the temps were about 60º or so. I would sure like to get that big job out of the way, but I'm leary about the temps so I'll wait.

George

 

[AdamR]

I'll be using a friends heated shop and booth. I'm swapping some work with him.

 

[rhinodart]

I am wondering why you think that the undercarriage was painted semi-gloss black? I have stripped a dozen 69 Darts and have never seen any with black undercarriages. I think it might be the anti-rattle pad between the trunk floor and the gas tank that made it look like it was painted black. Were there other places on the undercarriage that had black paint too? Also, the nuts on the upper shock mount are supposed to be painted body color, they were there when the body was painted.

Jim

 

[George R]

Jim,
Yeah, I found out about the upper rear shock mounts. I'll get those back in the car before paint.

The entire undercarriage was black primer from the factory. There was no undercoat (except for between the wheel tubs over the diffy and also the rear wheel wells) on the undercarriage at all. I scraped off 38 years of greasy dirt, and the factory black was still there.
This was a trait of LA built cars, and is supported by Rick Kreuziger, a noted Mopar restorer.

http://www.restorick.com/

Snoop around in his site; there is a reference to the black undercarriage somewhere in there.

Thanks for the tip about the upper rear shock mounts.

George

 

[George R]

Jim--

Here are a couple of pictures of the undercarriage after I cleaned it, but before I restored it.

George

 

[George R]

I got the last of the dash pieces the other day, and I assembled it on Friday. The am thumbwheel works, CV PLaters in CA did the plastic chrome, but the radio faceplate is an NOS piece. I repainted the gauge needles with flourescent orange paint, and tested all the small gauges. The inside of the ash tray was replated with an Eastwood Tin/Zinc kit, and the element was there when I bought the car. Can anyone tell me if the lighter knob is correct for a 69? It says LIGHTER on the end of the handle.

Just a side note; the dash speaker carries the same part number as the rear speaker of my 1990 Dodge truck. I just changed the plug, and it works and fits the dash correctly. There are two small cracks in the dash pad, but it looks good, and I guess it's better than a repro piece.

Thanks for lookin!

 

[Longgone]

I think your lighter knob should be the small more acorn shaped one without the script. I believe the one you have is for the lighter that`s located in the dash outside of the ashtray. I`ve got to say everything looks really nice, especially the dash!!!!

 

[George R]

Thanks Longgone. I kinda thought it was the wrong one because it hits the ash tray door when I close it. I'll have to look for the right one......if I only knew what the right one was supposed to look like! LOL
I just wish I didn't spend so much time restoring this one.

Here are the original upholstery pieces. I still need to clean the back of the rear seat, but all the rest of the interior is ready to install. I spent 2 days cleaning all these parts. Only one small tear in the front seat between 2 pleats, dead center in the seat. Oh well, they still look good for almost 40 years old. I'm surprised nobody cut holes for rear speakers in the package tray. I almost hate to put it in the car without rear speakers! LOL
I have a new headliner, new sill plates, restored kick panels, restored steering column all waiting for the weather! I still need to buy a rug, and some interior insulation for it, but all the hard stuff is done.

I can't wait to get this car painted so I can start putting some of these things back on the car. My storage area is getting kinda full!

Having a blast!

George

 

[thestover]

Nice job ,Want to do mine when youre done? There are some nice restos on this site. Nothing finer to me than a 340 dart swinger or gts.Im interested if you ever want to sell. Keep up the good work and post pics. It keeps us others with cars hope to get are cars like yours. Thanks Steve