First time working on a car
Hey, I'm new to working on cars. I recently came across a 1970 Dart, and knew it was for me. A buddy of mine helped me check it out and it looked fine... little did I know it was going to lead to a project and a learning experience.
So, I counted all the change I had.
This took about a couple of hours of counting and rolling, but I ended up with $50. Felt like a little 5 year old.. but hey, not bad for a years worth of change.
The rest of the money was to come from a paycheck and a bonus. The hard part was anticipating if I had enough money on the bonus. It was going to be taxed at about 40%, so I spent days wondering and hoping I would have enough to go through with it.
Here's an album of the listing, pretty much how I got her.
Said album http://imgur.com/a/JCUIB#0
Here she is after some polishing, this is two weeks before dying on my drive way..
So, she friggin over heats on the freeway going home. That should have been a huge sign. We thought it was the black oil and brown coolant that was the problem. Little did I know that it had a bad head gasket and pretty messed up valves.
The original trunk mat was ripped, so we just made our own floor boards and added a piano hinge for the spare tire area to lift up for access. I'm still looking for a thick rubber liner to trace and cut out a much more improved trunk liner, but nobody sells rubber material cheaper than ordering an OE trunk mat (both around $50).
Tune up, new alternator, (about one week later) new starter, then still a nagging coolant pressure problem. Thought it was a t-stat, but it opened fine.
Basic fixes, no repairs http://imgur.com/a/fNBdE#0
Had fun with learning how to set the point, was easy putting the alternator on, belts, and starter, but that coolant acting crazy prompted a flush.
Looked up how to restore single stage metallic enamel, so spent a lot of time trying to get depth back on the paint...
All done by hand: Wash, wash, clay bar, Meguiar's #7 x 8 coats, Meg's swirl remover, #7 x 3, wax.
http://imgur.com/a/Jr9r5#0
I have been able to get a little decent shine, but I am waiting until it stops raining to redo it again. I kind of sort of followed this article:autogeek. The exception being I didn't have a garage to do it in and tons of free time. Each time I polished her was after a shift at night, usually after a lot of condensation on the body. I've been able to get the paint somewhat conditioned, but I still need to wait for the rain to stop to do a better job and then seal it in.
The sad part.
I suspect that the previous owner flipped it on me in a disingenuous way.
The car "did" run, I suppose, but not very well.
I bought it knowing that the radio was out, but didn't realize that he clipped the lines and made it impossible to know how to reconnect the lines without someone telling me how to do it. He did put in speakers in the back, but they aren't connected either.
Also, didn't realize that the car came with more than just lights illuminating the speedometer.. until I spent 3/4 days redoing the lights. Had 7/8 sockets with bulbs, one 194 and the rest were 158s.. 1 was on the wire harness, 3 with a broken clip. 3/4 days later, and some pent up frustration, I smack the dash and caused a hairline crack on the perfectly straight dash. So then I repaired it, but it looks like someone stuck brownish black gum on it.
She's lit! However, at this point, the head gasket blew. The Dart was nice enough to take me home before resting on the driveway. The cylinder head has been removed. Got it cleaned, checked for cracks, magnaflux ($65), and straightened ($75). Bad valves. 2 cylinders with rust, no obvious damages. Lots of carbon build up on piston heads.
I'm wondering what's the best way to get away with leaving the machine shop with as little to do as possible so that I can do the rest myself, hence why I joined this forum. I could have easily left the car with them, said it's their problem and bill me afterwards to the tune of 3-3.5k. I will probably have them reseat the valves, perhaps hone the cylinders, but first thing's first...
I just got a stand. I need a hoist to pull the block out, but so far, this has been an interesting and fun learning experience. I hope the rebuild goes smooth once I find a hoist. I plan to rebuild the 225 slant 6, but also take from what I learn through this experience to build a 440 for a swap someday.
Thanks for checking out my post, and if you can reply with links for rebuild kits and instructions/pitfalls to look out for, I would be greatly indebted to you.
Hey, I'm new to working on cars. I recently came across a 1970 Dart, and knew it was for me. A buddy of mine helped me check it out and it looked fine... little did I know it was going to lead to a project and a learning experience.
So, I counted all the change I had.
This took about a couple of hours of counting and rolling, but I ended up with $50. Felt like a little 5 year old.. but hey, not bad for a years worth of change.
The rest of the money was to come from a paycheck and a bonus. The hard part was anticipating if I had enough money on the bonus. It was going to be taxed at about 40%, so I spent days wondering and hoping I would have enough to go through with it.
Here's an album of the listing, pretty much how I got her.
Said album http://imgur.com/a/JCUIB#0
Here she is after some polishing, this is two weeks before dying on my drive way..
So, she friggin over heats on the freeway going home. That should have been a huge sign. We thought it was the black oil and brown coolant that was the problem. Little did I know that it had a bad head gasket and pretty messed up valves.
The original trunk mat was ripped, so we just made our own floor boards and added a piano hinge for the spare tire area to lift up for access. I'm still looking for a thick rubber liner to trace and cut out a much more improved trunk liner, but nobody sells rubber material cheaper than ordering an OE trunk mat (both around $50).
Tune up, new alternator, (about one week later) new starter, then still a nagging coolant pressure problem. Thought it was a t-stat, but it opened fine.
Basic fixes, no repairs http://imgur.com/a/fNBdE#0
Had fun with learning how to set the point, was easy putting the alternator on, belts, and starter, but that coolant acting crazy prompted a flush.
Looked up how to restore single stage metallic enamel, so spent a lot of time trying to get depth back on the paint...
All done by hand: Wash, wash, clay bar, Meguiar's #7 x 8 coats, Meg's swirl remover, #7 x 3, wax.
http://imgur.com/a/Jr9r5#0
I have been able to get a little decent shine, but I am waiting until it stops raining to redo it again. I kind of sort of followed this article:autogeek. The exception being I didn't have a garage to do it in and tons of free time. Each time I polished her was after a shift at night, usually after a lot of condensation on the body. I've been able to get the paint somewhat conditioned, but I still need to wait for the rain to stop to do a better job and then seal it in.
The sad part.
I suspect that the previous owner flipped it on me in a disingenuous way.
The car "did" run, I suppose, but not very well.
I bought it knowing that the radio was out, but didn't realize that he clipped the lines and made it impossible to know how to reconnect the lines without someone telling me how to do it. He did put in speakers in the back, but they aren't connected either.
Also, didn't realize that the car came with more than just lights illuminating the speedometer.. until I spent 3/4 days redoing the lights. Had 7/8 sockets with bulbs, one 194 and the rest were 158s.. 1 was on the wire harness, 3 with a broken clip. 3/4 days later, and some pent up frustration, I smack the dash and caused a hairline crack on the perfectly straight dash. So then I repaired it, but it looks like someone stuck brownish black gum on it.
She's lit! However, at this point, the head gasket blew. The Dart was nice enough to take me home before resting on the driveway. The cylinder head has been removed. Got it cleaned, checked for cracks, magnaflux ($65), and straightened ($75). Bad valves. 2 cylinders with rust, no obvious damages. Lots of carbon build up on piston heads.
I'm wondering what's the best way to get away with leaving the machine shop with as little to do as possible so that I can do the rest myself, hence why I joined this forum. I could have easily left the car with them, said it's their problem and bill me afterwards to the tune of 3-3.5k. I will probably have them reseat the valves, perhaps hone the cylinders, but first thing's first...
I just got a stand. I need a hoist to pull the block out, but so far, this has been an interesting and fun learning experience. I hope the rebuild goes smooth once I find a hoist. I plan to rebuild the 225 slant 6, but also take from what I learn through this experience to build a 440 for a swap someday.
Thanks for checking out my post, and if you can reply with links for rebuild kits and instructions/pitfalls to look out for, I would be greatly indebted to you.
