First time working on a car

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Americanstandard

Active Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
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Location
Bay area
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.
VBttK.jpg

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.
SmfyH.jpg

Said album http://imgur.com/a/JCUIB#0

Here she is after some polishing, this is two weeks before dying on my drive way..
ogmQC.jpg


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.

p9lT7.jpg


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.
 
From the pic's doesn't seem to be in to bad shape, you didn't say what you paid. Sometimes you can get a running slant cheap. Welcome to the site...check out slant thread.. check parts for sale section if you're looking for parts. Lots of great people/help avail right here on this site.
 
Welcome! That looks like a pretty nice car. Older cars like this are always a learning experience. Don't give up on it. There are a lot of folks on this board with tons of information and you will find there are always those who are anxious to help.
 
Welcome to the site. Looks like you scored a nice car that just needs a little work. I'm sure she'll perform for you once you get all the bugs worked out. When you decide to go big block, there are quite a few of us here that have experience with that. You can also check out bigblockdart.com as well.
 
Welcome. I see you are all over the pics! Good start. You are at the right spot for support and information.
 
You'll get plenty of help, here. You have a factory service manual? MUST have. You can download a 70 manual from "MyMopar":

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

Direct link:

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/servicemanuals/1970_Plymouth_Service_Manual.zip

The above is Plymouth, but the Valiant stuff is pretty much the same. Only problem with this manual is you'll have to learn to diddle with the page numbers, as the viewer numbers don't follow the Mopar "dash" numbering.

I see that you don't have air conditioning, so this should be a pretty basic car to work on. What you have here, is the modern day equivalent to a "Model A" (Ford,) easy to work on in their day.
 
nice ride and welcome. to keep the cost down do the work your self, other than the machine work. buy a manual for the car use this site and you tube has lots of good info. for the picker or hoist harbor frieght you can get one for $300 bucks and that might even cover shipping to the front door
 
Welcome looks like a nice complete project you got get ready for making mistakes and a great learning experience. As someone said before you are in the right place for relay good information.
 
Welcome to the site, good looking project you have there.
You came to the right place, lots of help and info on here.......just don't be afraid to ask!
Don't get impatient and start wrecking things anymore, a lot of these parts are hard to come by.
If you get pissed off, walk away and stomp around if you need to.
 
Welcome to FABO, Americanstandard, from SoCal. Nice looking Dart you found - need more pics!
You've got a great learning experience in front of you but you picked a great car to get started with. Like 67Dart273 said, basic transportation back when new.
BTW, I do the same with my change, except I don't save the pennies. Every night when I get home I put all the "silver" in a big jar and separate any pennies. I always make a point of only taking 4-5 pennies with me every morning when I leave the house and use them when making a purchase so I only get "silver" in return. I also never use any "silver" change I may have gotten from a previous purchase during the day if I make another cash purchase. You'll be surprised how quickly this can build up. Last time I took the time to count and roll, I ended up with about $300 after about a year and a half.
 
Price: 1500. Spent a least 2k on top of that (haven't had the heart to actually tally my receipts).
Found a sweet deal that I couldn't pass up. '71 440 long block. Needs a carb, water pump, manifolds, and a nice rebuild. 600. Trying to figure out how to get her home now, she's at a shop with my name on it.

Here are a few more pictures :)
http://imgur.com/a/OfEAy#0

Haven't been on top of my scrap book, but here are a few high lights from the album
Custom trunk liner (couldn't find an after photo for some reason...)
sN2f5.jpg


Tried some #7 on my buddy's power wagon
EWyOy.jpg


Depth comparisons. Conditioned the trunk, hood, and roof first, sides and smaller pieces were last. Drop two clay bars doing the sides :(

From:
u6QMy.jpg


To:
CKPvU.jpg

P33pR.jpg

DuZFb.jpg


Really hard to notice, unless you look for it, but she has tiger stripes on the roof.

Saw some sick cars while picking up the 440 at a fab shop. They make k-members (3k O_O )
They told us the Charger is Mike Kroeger's
Engine... +200k
RJ8FL.jpg

http://imgur.com/a/TdHrc
 
Also, thank you for the warm welcome. Going to try to get the dart back on the road in a few days after Christmas by rebuilding the 6. The 440 is going to sit in the garage while I piece parts :3

Edit: Hmm. Looks like posting something big requires approval.
 
Also, thank you for the warm welcome. Going to try to get the dart back on the road in a few days after Christmas by rebuilding the 6. The 440 is going to sit in the garage while I piece parts :3

Edit: Hmm. Looks like posting something big requires approval.
Welcome to FABO.Most new members are moderated with their posting the first couple weeks.FYI.You,ll get lots of help here as most of us have been in your shoes at one point,just didn,t have the help of the internet back then.Enjoy the learning process/:grin:
 
Welcome to the site, good looking project you have there.
You came to the right place, lots of help and info on here.......just don't be afraid to ask!
Don't get impatient and start wrecking things anymore, a lot of these parts are hard to come by.
If you get pissed off, walk away and stomp around if you need to.

I agree. I just need to be gentle

And with Tom Waits in your siggy. I agree with that too.

Did you happen to see Tom Waits recently? He's getting very old. Saw him at Shoreline in Nor Cal around 2010 at the Bridge School Concert.
 
Howdy from Hadlyme,...Good car,...You would spend twice that much here in New England just to get that car...
 
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