''I'm going to fix it up someday'' The resurrection of a '74 Dart Sport......

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Dartnut

Don't hate me because i'm beautiful
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Southern Alberta
Well.......
We've all heard this statement, ''No, it's not for sale, i'm going to fix it up someday.'' On cars and barns it's a staple of the website.
THIS IS NOT A RESTORATION, IT"S A RESURRECTION!
There will be lots of pics of this build, and questions or comments are welcome.
Why this car? It's like one of those things that always sits in the back of your mind year after year, i really should do something with it some day.
I got this car in Fernie, B.C. on May 8 1986. I paid a dollar for it. The original owner bought it in Calgary, Alberta. It has 100,157 miles on it. It was a pretty typical build Dart Sport with a 225 /6, column auto, full wheel covers, wheel lip mouldings, drip trough mouldings, power steering, radio and heater, remote chrome mirror and not much else. The head gasket was blown and the original owner pulled it apart and couldn't figure how to put it back together. He said i could have the car if i took off the power steering box, rear tires, and headlights. I jumped at the chance and did that then flat towed the car to Cranbrook, B.C. where i lived. I had to pay a dollar for it because i wasn't related to him. I was 23 at the time i got it and i'm now 50.
I had big plans of putting a 440 in it with Pro Parts headers etc. but never did anything with it so it sat in the open and weathered.
I moved on to other projects, thinking i was going to fix it up someday.
This is not a rare car nor is it a particularly desirable one for that matter in it's new as bought form. But there is something about it that i have always loved about it, so with some discussions with some friends of mine and some careful planning i decided that now is the time to start building it.
It's not going to be fancy or tricked out with the latest gizmos or anything like that. It's built to be a reliable rain or shine daily driver with driver quality parts and a lot of good used parts that i've accumulated over the years.

First, i want to thank some friends of mine that were pivotal to this build.
- R.J. who without his shop, truck and trailer, hard work, patience, made it possible.
- Ken H with his restoration advice and some parts as well.
- George (gdrill on FABO) for helping work on the car and lending some key parts.
- My brothers who have always been behind me on the build.
- Doug and George in the machine shop of Silver Automotive in Lethbridge as well as Chris in the parts department for doing a lot of stuff at a moment's notice.
- And last but not least the wives and girlfriends of all of us who put up with our car hobby.

So, i'll get on with it, here's the victim as it sat a year or so ago.......

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The color of the car is KG8 which is also known as Deep Sherwood Metallic.
I fell in love with the color, so it's staying that.
My plans for the car are to make it a 360 4 speed, power steering, standard bbp discs, sway bar, modify a B body rear end to fit, and some gears like 3:55 or 3:91 sure grip. It will have rallye wheels, dual snorkle hood scoop, black factory style stripes on the hood, and white up and over stripes down the side. Basically i want to make the car look and drive similar to a factory 360 4 speed '74 Dart Sport.
 
Here's some pics bringing it home last year to start work on it.
We changed the driver's fender and door as well as the lower door hinge, that's why the original door wouldn't close!
 

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So we cleaned and painted the floors, and really went over the car on a hoist to really access the project. I needed a driver's floor pan, trunk floor center pan, and the exterior i'll deal with after it's running and driving. All of the frame rails, inner fenders etc. were good except some surface rust. The trunk floor looked bad but the only rest through was underneath the bracket that holds the gas tank on. There was a factory ''rubbery'' coating similar to light undercoating or seam sealer that peeled off in sheets on the whole surface. Ugh!
 

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And what's a project car without good parts cars?
The hang 10 was a k member front suspension etc. donor. (318 car)
The '75 red Dart sport was a slant 6 4 speed OD interior, wiring, and lots of other little things.
Both cars were VERY rusty. :wack:
And both will be absolute chicken bones when finished.
 

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looks good. I always like to see more sports being saved

Thanks.
Your car has given me a lot of inspiration as well.
I like them all, but the Dart Sports are my favorite A-body, followed closely by the '71 Demons! :cheers:
 
Here's my engine donor, a 77,000 mile '80 Chrysler with a 360.
It's very rusty and has a blown up 904 tranny, it won't even move under it's own power!
But it runs great though (lean burn and all).......Paid 125 bucks for it 12 years ago.
 

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Love this build. I will keep my eye on this one. If you didn't have to swap the fender and door I would say paint under the hood a nice and prety then leave the outside for a later date. The patina on the paint is cool.
 
Then the floor pan on the driver's side along with the bucket seat support plates taken out of the red parts car......
Ground the welds, seam sealed, cleaned up the floors and painted with Tremclad.
 

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right on moving along well!! my first mopar was the same car 225 and brown my friends called it diarrhea cause it looked like **** but ran fast lmfao. i had the 225 built pretty well.
 
Looks like a great project...and you have some nice parts....subscribed.
Im sure it wont be long and you'll have it Nice..and smooth.

I too have really grown to like the 73+ cars...I feel like they have alot going on for them right off the bat....like Electronic Ignition, PS,PB, Large Bolt Pattern on the V8 cars,..ect.

Here is my 74 Dart Sport 318 daily driver
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Right on! glad to see you starting one of your projects...always had a soft spot for the sports and like the idea of what you are doing to it because it is exactly what i would have done to that car.
Good work so far bud i will be tuning in to this one.:happy1:
 
have fun with your build. that makes 2 of us, I'm reviving my 67 cuda it's been sitting since 1990.
 
Thanks everyone!
My objective is to have under 5 grand into it finished not including the parts that i already have.
Don't look for any fancy mile deep paint jobs here, it's going to be just a good driver!
 
So, out with the old and in with the new.......
Front suspension, steering, and engine compartment.
The car used to have 9'' drum brakes, slant 6 torsion bars, and slant 6 k member from the factory. the front steering linkage was cobbled together with some '68 and up odds and ends just to make the car steer good enough to get onto the trailer and to move the car around.
I used the spool mount V8 K member, steering linkage, brake spindles, lower control arms, sway bar, prop valve, and power steering from the rusty hang 10. The upper control arms were original to the green car and the rotors and torsion bars came from my other parts cars. Everything was sand blasted, inspected, self etch primed, and painted. All suspension wear parts were changed with new stuff including pitman and idler arms.
 
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