Working on a 71' Demon

Sounds like a great car, glad you are gonna spend some time on it with your dad. take it slow, read a lot here and you'll be fine.

I got my dart is High school too, 19 yrs ago.

There is a bunch of into on the site, and a bodywork/interior section that may have more of the info you need.

heres a few tidbits about your questions:
1 water leaks, I would assume its leaking from the windshield wiper arm gaskets, windshield gasket, or maybe event the drivers side vent, you may need to flow water over the top and crawl under the dash to see with a light...

2 your "dies cold" sounds like it may have a carb without a choke to help it run rich until its warm, many cars set up for racing don't. Depending on the carb you maybe able to put one on, or you may need a new carb. There are some great minds on here (not me) for carb tuning, so post up in the air/fuel section when you start to tinker if your dad needs help...

3 rear seats are easy to find on the website, or craigslist, but show us a pic of what it looks like now, the "flat" comment makes me think the seat mounts may be gone. (pics of rear seat back, bottom, and the tire wells from the interior) You can find front buckets/console, or front bench on the site as well, some may need recovered but there are many places to have it done, or by factory type covers.


JOE