70 340 4-speed dart - talk me off the ledge
i bought this dart with intentions to restore, or at least do the bare minimum to make it the ultimate beater.
its a legit 340-4 speed and mostly complete, nicely optioned car but has serious rust issues. worst parts are the t-bar cross member and lower front frame rails, firewall is moth-eaten and the hood under bracing is swiss-cheese. also a tree or something fell on the drivers rear 1/4 and gave it and the trunk a healthy speed-dent. also every panel possible on the car has some form of rot.
structurally the inner rockers, a pillars, roof and rear rails are relatively sold.
my delusional fantasy is to patch the rails/floor/firewall and get it going again with a mechanical re-do, but then reality sets in, and its looking like it might need the entire rails and cross member replaced which is more than i can tackle time-wise right now.
thoughts? ideas? talk me off the ledge, i really want to do something with this car, but don't want to take it apart and have it sit in my garage for a years. my next step is to get it on the lift and see what its going to take to fabricate some frame patches
i bought this dart with intentions to restore, or at least do the bare minimum to make it the ultimate beater.
its a legit 340-4 speed and mostly complete, nicely optioned car but has serious rust issues. worst parts are the t-bar cross member and lower front frame rails, firewall is moth-eaten and the hood under bracing is swiss-cheese. also a tree or something fell on the drivers rear 1/4 and gave it and the trunk a healthy speed-dent. also every panel possible on the car has some form of rot.
structurally the inner rockers, a pillars, roof and rear rails are relatively sold.
my delusional fantasy is to patch the rails/floor/firewall and get it going again with a mechanical re-do, but then reality sets in, and its looking like it might need the entire rails and cross member replaced which is more than i can tackle time-wise right now.
thoughts? ideas? talk me off the ledge, i really want to do something with this car, but don't want to take it apart and have it sit in my garage for a years. my next step is to get it on the lift and see what its going to take to fabricate some frame patches
