1974 Dodge Dart Sport "Hang 10"

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S.Rodney

"Hang 10" owner
Joined
Dec 17, 2016
Messages
57
Reaction score
44
Location
Quebec City, Canada
Hey fabo,

During a 2013 evening, a friend of mine and her father were riding with me to my home and, while her father and I didn't know eachother much, she knew I was into classic cars... and her dad had some (old 40's Plymouth, 80's IROC-Z Camaro, 74 Dart Sport, etc.). So, she initiated a discussion about that and we were mostly talkin' about the Dart. I thought It was a shame that car wasn't still on the road and I offered to help him restore it.

Fast Forward a few months later: He was diagnosed with Brain Cancer and died shortly after... :(

Knowing he didn't want to sell it, I didn't even mention the car to his daughter, simply resigning myself on a lost opportunity (out of respect for the man's wish to leave it in the family).

In mid 2014, she called me and offered the car for 1000$ (canadian dollar). I had it towed from the barn, inspected, bought it, sent it to a bodyshop to rebuild it's subframes and the trunk and worked on it whenever I could (which isn't much) to clean the fuel tank, change filters, wipers, rebuild the carter BBD...

June 2018, I got fed up of still not being done with the big stuff (brakes, exhaust, engine running badly, etc.) So, had it towed to a local performance garage and asked them to make it roadworthy. Nothing fancy... no chrome, no repaint, I just wanna roll with it.

I'll use this thread as a "restoration journal" for the car. Will still ask questions in the proper forum sections. Pictures will come soon ;)
 
Looking forward to it.
I have a 76 with the hang 10 also. I recovered it after giving it up 25 or so years ago.
So now its back in the family,and to be put back on the road in the next couple years.
 
October 25, 2014 : the day I met her...

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October 17, 2015: She's back from the bodyshop.

Upgrade to the rear suspension: Calvert Racing Split-Mono Leafs (stock height)

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Pictures are nice..... keep them coming.

That’s a new looking windshield washer reservoir!

Has it been a Canadian Dart all its life or was it imported years ago by her father?
 
June 18, 2018: I'm fed up... while I don't have the facilities to work the way I'd want... Tried to do the rear brakes, the parts guy didn't give me the right ones... Wasted lots of time on mundane things... I kinda lost morale. Then I suddenly get a shitload of money (3 years worth of pay raise caus they didn't pay me enough from the start) and 3 months of working 70h a week... I cleared all my debts (except mortgage) and saved the rest for her... She's goin' to the local performance shop.

My mom's a CAA Premium member... I have the car towed for free from Ste-Anne-de-la-pérade, QC to Quebec City (where I live).

Work I've done so far: Changed all filters, cleaned the fuel tank, rebuilt the Carter BBD, Replaced the old munroes by brand new napa shocks, Tried to redo the rear brakes... all in like 4 work days...

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Same day... Inside the shop... there's another Dart...

The owner wants to trade engines... his 340 for my stock 318. FABO and I agreed on keeping the 318.

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Ahhhh, I remember that thread about potentially swapping the 340 for the 318..... good decision in the end.
 
March 28, 2019: It's her turn.

One of the few performance shops in town closed and the one I've sent my car to was already swamped in cars. We agreed on storing her for the winter and start working on it in spring.

Work done so far: TTI Exhaust (h-pipe) system, restore the exhaust manifolds, rear brakes done.
Work still to be done: Front Brakes (wilwood), fix hole in the floor (will be done in a bodyshop), do a complete mechanical inspection so I can register it.

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Does it have a 7 1/4 or 8 1/4?

Looks like some of the interior Hang 10 bits are in decent shape (dash panels and seats)?
 
That’s a new looking windshield washer reservoir!

Must have been changed before I got it.

Has it been a Canadian Dart all its life or was it imported years ago by her father?

The car was bought by the last owner's aunt in 1974. She then sold it to her brother... who gave it to his son... who refused to sell it to me (caus he wanted to restore it) and his wife agreed to sell it to me half-price after her daughter told her I wanted it but couldn't ask out of respect for the ol' man.

Fender tag does say it's built in the old Hamtramck factory but it's always been "owned" in Canada.

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Does it have a 7 1/4 or 8 1/4?

8¼. Will know the final gear ratio when the mechanic gets to it.

Looks like some of the interior Hang 10 bits are in decent shape (dash panels and seats)?

It doesn't look that good (the back seat has a moldy look) but I haven't cleaned the interior yet... so I don't know the extent of the damage.
 
Yup built in Hamtramck plant for the Canadian market (C) in the 3rd most bottom row just before the A63 code (which is the Dart Hang 10 code).

Scheduled production date was April 3, 1974! It’s turning 45 next week!
 
April 11, 2019: I ordered the Wilwood kit #140-15468, 4x Bassett Racing Wheels 15x7 (DOT Legal D-Holes), 4x BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Sport (205/65R15) for a total of 3000$ (~2250 USD)

Since the car is on the ground, I took a few pictures of the Exhaust Manifolds and new Distributor Cap/Rotor and Ignition Wires.

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Cool restoration. I found this sad hang 10 In a salvage yard here in Colorado yesterday. Was a sunroof car with folding rear seat.

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August 5th, 2019: The bodyshop that will fix the floor is right besides the performance shop (no towing !). The owner called me with a "I've got a bad news" voice... Most of the floor has to be removed/replaced. I've told him to replace as much as he has to.

There's the AMD 400-1267 floor pan (gave him the info) that'd be great for that...

With that said, here goes my hopes of driving it at least once this summer... :(
 
Cleaned up stock wheels i found on the web. Also the center caps and trim rings.
Doubled the value.
Its worth $3.00 at least now.
$3.09 now that i got the trunk open. :lol:
 
I know the feeling of not having a good space to work on your toys (or not enough space).
 
29-01-2020: The car is, once again, at the body shop (a different one).

I have massive holes on driver side floor (seems my seat was mostly held by the carpet...)

When the shop owner removed the seats and carpet, he noticed the Transmission Tunnel was bent at many places (between the seats). He then started inspecting the body and... his conclusion is that the car has been hit hard. In fact, so hard the rear of the car is kinda bent around an inch or so to the right

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Kinda like that (exagerated).

The whole quarter panel on the right is pretty much bondo and THICK... you knock on it and it's not resonating at all, as if it was concrete.

The door/quarterpanel spacing isn't the same on both sides (wider on driver side), the trunk lid spacing is tighter on the right... the car's bent.

I'm not giving up on it but I'm kinda depressed...

Still the shop owner told me that it's an easy (but expensive) fix. Remove both quarterpanels, straighten the car, put quarterpanels back (except the bondo one...)

I don't have the budget for it right now so we'll fix the floor (gonna buy a brand new authentic floor pan) and rework some of the fixes the previous body shop botched...
 
12-02-2020: Ordered a front floorpan to replace the whole thing and, while we're at it, ordered a torsion bar crossmember as well. The current one was rotten and "repaired" by the first bodyshop I sent the car to a few years ago (to rebuild the trunk, rear suspension and fix the subframes/crossmember). Since those repairs are sloppy at best (and wouldn't pass mechanical inspection), we're gonna do it properly...
 
04-06-2021: Floorpan arrived in July 2020 due to COVID complications... it was in a very bad shape... crossmember was missing as well. Body Shop didn't accept the shipment as is and got a refund. Ordered again elsewhere, it finally got there in October 2020.

So the work began very slowly (as our government closed everything non-essential) in March 2021.

The repairs should be done around next week...

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