My Swinger, Doing whats needed to drive her.

[73 Swinger 8]

I bought this 73 Dart swinger, Just want a fun car to drive again

 

[Mike440]

Any more info on the car? Or any specific info on the stuff your going to do to it..?

 

[73 Swinger 8]

No rhyme or reason just picked floors as my starting place

 

[73 Swinger 8]

The cars an original 318 auto, 904(rev is dead) w/ 7 1/4. Has a/c bench seat(repaired by previous owner). Quick paint job by prev. owner(I'm sure there'll be surprises under it). Standard rust in floor pans and trunk. Right now I want to patch her up get motor running and rolling. Then I'll move on to upgrades.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Grabbed the wire wheel, brush, Some Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer, air snips and primer.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

I welded down some floor patches , treated primed and sprayed with under coating..

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Received my Hurst Promatic Shifter new on Ebay for $99, thank you SB69GTS for the heads up great deal. Next I'll have to find some buckets and maybe a console to go with it..

 

[zac_F71]

^ I plan to buy one of those for my Demon as well! (Hurst Pro-matic)

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Well because of my budget I picked up seats off CL, $50. They're not originals but they are from a Dodge. I'll have to fabricate some mounts for them

 

[zac_F71]

Nice! they have the same overall shape of the factory high back buckets.. - I bought a pair of those from a Duster that have really decent upholstery for $250 local to me so you saved a good amount

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Thanks, I purposely looked for non headrest seats with that old style look. Just got lucky on the price. Those black ones in your thread look in great shape.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

I bypassed the amp gauge and rerouted the alternator wires. Then I installed a headlight relay kit. Sorry for the blur.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Fixed most of electrical damage but may need wiper motor if I can't rewire mine.

 

[zac_F71]

I have LOTS of good wiring from 70/71 Darts.. enough to wire one whole car.. all in decent shape PM if you're interested..

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Working on interior I'll have more pics tonight. On a side note, back when I had my first Dart, my buddy had a Duster. We would spend many a night at his fathers shop working on our cars. Well I get a call from him and find out he just bought a 73 charger project. Both of us Moparless for 20 plus years and bam back into mopars. I guess it's in the blood....or it's that midlife thing....

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Here's the one good pic of the door panel re-installed after painting. I'm impressed with the rustoleum Vinyl paint. No cracking or flaking during install. It even feels like factory vinyl. Only time will tell how well it holds up.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Pulled the rear bumper, to remove the bumperettes. Wound up disassembling the whole bumper assembly to deal with the rust. Also looks like I'll need tail light housing.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Cleaning up bumper brackets, rusty tail light housing.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Got a dash bezel and carbon fiber insert from a fellow member. Cut out holes for gauges and need to add lights and wiper switches. Also need to figure out blinker lights and other idiot lights.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Got the shifter mounted. Working on console so it fits cleanly. Also finishing up steering column mod. thanks to xMOPARx "How To Articles".

 

[73 Swinger 8]

finished the steering column. Waiting on marker lights so I can finish dash up.

 

[zac_F71]

NICE work on the column - mine didn't turn to to well LOL call me impatient - I'll probably drop it back out of the dash and refill/ paint it so it looks a little nicer

Here is a real good question.. where is the rest of the shaft on the engine compartment side of the column??

 

[73 Swinger 8]

NICE work on the column - mine didn't turn to to well LOL call me impatient - I'll probably drop it back out of the dash and refill/ paint it so it looks a little nicer

Here is a real good question.. where is the rest of the shaft on the engine compartment side of the column??

It's laying in my garage. it separated when I pulled it. I'll have to replace the plastic connector(part of the collapsible column feature) in between the two. I did rebuild the rag joint though.

 

[73 Swinger 8]

Getting the dash back together.....now if I only had a running motor, working transmission and a decent rear end....

 

[zac_F71]

What's up with the dash pad? Is that the pic or?