65 Dart Wagon Conversion to a Sedan Delivery
I finally finished cutting up the other Dart and got the wagon in the garage. A little history on the wagon in in order - I won it off eBay when I placed a bid just for the heck of it - and won it! It was supposed to be a running, driving and stopping LA car so the plan was for the wife and me to fly out and drive it back. In the end I had to have it brought back to here in VA via a transport company. It was a slant 6//904 wagon and the only option it had was power steering, not even a radio! I did drive it from where the transport met me back to the house. It has sat in my lower driveway for nearly 10 years while life, work and a 65 Dart convertible and other stuff I was very slowly working on got in the way. I have a Mopar buddy who happens to be an expert body/paint guy who looked both the wagon and the convertible over recently and said do the wagon - it's in much better shape. So the convertible has slowly been cut up when I had time and now the wagon is in the garage.
When I got the wagon, the original plan was to swap the running gear out for a 340 I had bought. I was corresponding with another member who asked about the slant. Since the plan was to 340 it and make it look like a 273 HiPo, the slant and transmission got yanked and sent back to CA with the member's father. I did remove both the front and rear wagon seats as well as the carpet - the seats were absolutely trashed and I had other plans for the interior anyway. With a good portion of Santa Monica beach sand in the car, I removed the carpet and found front and rear floors in bad shape - totally rusty and with holes!. And then the car just sat there while I bought stuff to make it my wagon, which is where were at now.
Here are the basic plans for the wagon,:
Power plant - was going to be a 340 I bought but eventually changed my mind to do a built slanty with either triple SUs or triple Webers then changed my mind again to do a 273/235. Its a 66 motor I bought off of eBay. The transmission is the 65 833 that came behind a 273 from a Barracuda I parted out.
Rear End - 8.75 with a 3.23 Sure Grip and disc brakes with a 76 A Body cop car sway bar (rear end is already built).
Front End - Completely rebuilt front end with 73-76 LBP disc brakes to match the rears, 73-76 UCAs, LCAs with 65-72 sway bar tabs, a Hellwig front sway bar and HD torsion bars (have all parts waiting for the install).
Interior - 66 Barracuda buckets with a B Body buddy seat and 66 Barracuda rear fold down seat; new foam and seat covers of course. Legendary did them in the 66 Barracuda pattern but used the 65 blue color. New blue carpet to match the seats (have all the stuff to make this happen). Dash is going to be from a 66 Barracuda with a Dakota Digital conversion in the instrument cluster. Its on hand and ready to install once the dash is finished with a couple of custom touches and painted.
Im still kicking around wheels - 15 inch steelies painted body color with dog dishes or J Body 10 spoke aluminum wheels. I've got a set of 4 14 inch chrome road wheels that I'd love to use except I don't think they'll clear the rear discs. We'll be checking it later.
Repair the floors with the new pans I installed in the Dart 20 years ago. I saved them from the Dart I cut up. Minor rust repair on the drivers side inner fender and weld all the extra holes closed. Remove the Dart 270 trim and fill the holes for that clean look. Ive acquired a tailgate with a power window and a factory roof rack. The car will get re-painted in the original white.
I would like to add factory air.
While I was working, I tried to buy as much as I could to follow my plan (or changes thereto!) as I am now retired and have a limited amount of extra money. The restoration wont be quick as the old legs dont work too well anymore and life still goes on - you guys that are married know all about this!
Here are a few pics and I will be adding more as I go along.
View attachment 65 Dart wagon 004.jpg
View attachment 65 Dart wagon 005.jpg
View attachment 2015-06-04 15.53.06.jpg
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View attachment 2015-06-05 11.00.10.jpg
View attachment 2015-06-05 10.59.49.jpg
I finally finished cutting up the other Dart and got the wagon in the garage. A little history on the wagon in in order - I won it off eBay when I placed a bid just for the heck of it - and won it! It was supposed to be a running, driving and stopping LA car so the plan was for the wife and me to fly out and drive it back. In the end I had to have it brought back to here in VA via a transport company. It was a slant 6//904 wagon and the only option it had was power steering, not even a radio! I did drive it from where the transport met me back to the house. It has sat in my lower driveway for nearly 10 years while life, work and a 65 Dart convertible and other stuff I was very slowly working on got in the way. I have a Mopar buddy who happens to be an expert body/paint guy who looked both the wagon and the convertible over recently and said do the wagon - it's in much better shape. So the convertible has slowly been cut up when I had time and now the wagon is in the garage.
When I got the wagon, the original plan was to swap the running gear out for a 340 I had bought. I was corresponding with another member who asked about the slant. Since the plan was to 340 it and make it look like a 273 HiPo, the slant and transmission got yanked and sent back to CA with the member's father. I did remove both the front and rear wagon seats as well as the carpet - the seats were absolutely trashed and I had other plans for the interior anyway. With a good portion of Santa Monica beach sand in the car, I removed the carpet and found front and rear floors in bad shape - totally rusty and with holes!. And then the car just sat there while I bought stuff to make it my wagon, which is where were at now.
Here are the basic plans for the wagon,:
Power plant - was going to be a 340 I bought but eventually changed my mind to do a built slanty with either triple SUs or triple Webers then changed my mind again to do a 273/235. Its a 66 motor I bought off of eBay. The transmission is the 65 833 that came behind a 273 from a Barracuda I parted out.
Rear End - 8.75 with a 3.23 Sure Grip and disc brakes with a 76 A Body cop car sway bar (rear end is already built).
Front End - Completely rebuilt front end with 73-76 LBP disc brakes to match the rears, 73-76 UCAs, LCAs with 65-72 sway bar tabs, a Hellwig front sway bar and HD torsion bars (have all parts waiting for the install).
Interior - 66 Barracuda buckets with a B Body buddy seat and 66 Barracuda rear fold down seat; new foam and seat covers of course. Legendary did them in the 66 Barracuda pattern but used the 65 blue color. New blue carpet to match the seats (have all the stuff to make this happen). Dash is going to be from a 66 Barracuda with a Dakota Digital conversion in the instrument cluster. Its on hand and ready to install once the dash is finished with a couple of custom touches and painted.
Im still kicking around wheels - 15 inch steelies painted body color with dog dishes or J Body 10 spoke aluminum wheels. I've got a set of 4 14 inch chrome road wheels that I'd love to use except I don't think they'll clear the rear discs. We'll be checking it later.
Repair the floors with the new pans I installed in the Dart 20 years ago. I saved them from the Dart I cut up. Minor rust repair on the drivers side inner fender and weld all the extra holes closed. Remove the Dart 270 trim and fill the holes for that clean look. Ive acquired a tailgate with a power window and a factory roof rack. The car will get re-painted in the original white.
I would like to add factory air.
While I was working, I tried to buy as much as I could to follow my plan (or changes thereto!) as I am now retired and have a limited amount of extra money. The restoration wont be quick as the old legs dont work too well anymore and life still goes on - you guys that are married know all about this!
Here are a few pics and I will be adding more as I go along.
View attachment 65 Dart wagon 004.jpg
View attachment 65 Dart wagon 005.jpg
View attachment 2015-06-04 15.53.06.jpg
[AT
View attachment 2015-06-05 11.00.10.jpg
View attachment 2015-06-05 10.59.49.jpg
