The Yard Dart, a Reclamation. '64 Dart GT Ragtop

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MrSurly

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A ragged Cyclops stared blankly from the web page. What the heck IS that? Well it IS a Mopar. I have been looking for a cheap Mopar project. The rest of the pics provided did not help much, this thing is butt-ugly. Clearly someone had started work on it (sanding/stripping/grinding) and then abandoned the project to rot. The fact that it was a convertible made me look deeper into its eye to see if there was good reason to take this on.
I was surprised to find some surprisingly cool goodies hidden under the little darling.
The owner tells a familiar tale of life interfering with plans, resulting in the project he started in earnest, languishing for a decade. Importantly, in the beginning he had spent some serious coin on components and as those were all in good shape and /or in storage as-new, the project became much more appealing.
The car itself appears surprisingly solid, lower quarters shot, of course, but the rest, even the pans seem pretty solid. The metal is pretty straight except for the rear valance. The troubling areas are where the steel was bared ten years in the past and the elements have attacked. I still think it's fixable.

Here's the part (actually parts) that convinced me to jump in: included in the deal:
(installed) RMS AlterKtion cross member (K-frame)set up for 3rd gen Hemi
Flaming river steering rack
Coil-Over shocks
front disc brakes LBP
Flaming river Stainless Tilt Steering column
Flaming River mahogany steering wheel
(installed) 8-3/4" rear 3:23 with LBP Moser axles
Nordskog Digital dash LCD panel
Some of the trim has been re-chromed or refurbished.
Edit: new cross flow aluminum radiator for the hemi swap

As you can see, there's a fair fistful of dollars in parts included.
I also already had the wheel and tire setup on hand that I hope to use.

Tremendous inspiration has been gleaned here at FABO, especially from the threads of Chuckbizkits, tincup and many others. Wish me luck!
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Kudkos for anyone that would tackle such a project. What flavor will you go with? Autocross,street strip........??
 
All that info and your not going to tell us what he wanted for it?
I spilled about the 63 Dart GT I found last week. :D
Personally I think it's good information for others to know what things go for on average.
 
Fair question. It was listed online at $3134.
He was willing to do some trading so it worked well, I think.
The parts are worth more than the car, obviously but the whole package doesn’t “present well”, making it tough to get interest.
 
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MrSurly said:
Fair question. It was listed online at $3134.
He was willing to do some trading so it worked well, I think.
The parts are worth more than the car I’m sure, but the whole package doesn’t “present well”, making it tough to get interest.
Click to expand...

Best of luck, Sir Surly.
 
MrSurly said:
Fair question. It was listed online at $3134.
He was willing to do some trading so it worked well, I think.
The parts are worth more than the car I’m sure, but the whole package doesn’t “present well”, making it tough to get interest.
Click to expand...

It takes a special type person to do this kind of even just assembly of supplied parts, that's for sure.
You might have seen this one we looked at.
The first three pics were some that were posted in the ad on craigslist, and the last pic is what it looked like when we got there.
He said he had everything but a top for it in his shop.
He wanted 3,500 for it as is, but I pretty much told him his so called running and working engine and trans were just cores if that since they were out of the car now, and we passed.
If he would have said 2,500 I might have taken the time to verify what he had and take it.

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I've got a ton of decisions to make about so many aspects of this, it truly is a clean slate.
I think I’m leaning toward a very stock appearance, all the chrome trim etc.
just fat tires, stance and sleeper performance. The interior will have a custom dash/console/AC but probably retain very stock seats.
Looking at the other builds on the site, clearly there will be extensive mods to the tunnel and minitubs plus, no doubt, a bunch of rust repairs.
It should be fun!
I already have the tires and wheels (275/40-17). Since i’ll have to tub it even for these, I’ll go ahead and build I t for 305s like Chuckbizkits did.
The rear is already in there but has no brakes at all so I’ll need to decide on those pieces. The front of course has discs.
I’ll need to sort out many details, mainly what engine and trans.
That will depend on what pops up at the right price.
Preference of course would be a 6.4 and a manual... budget will likely dictate a 5.7/auto from a high mileage pickup.
We’ll see.
At this point there are many many pieces missing.... it’s an adventure in the making.

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Don’t you love when they post ‘file photos’ in their ad?
That one is in way better condition for sure. That’s actually the first non-GT convertible I’ve seen pics of. I’m noticing the differences in some trim bits.
(I finally noticed it's a '63 which accounts for some differences)
How bad is the interior in the actual car? Where is it located?
Of significant note, all the parts that came with my car could all quite simply be moved to another. If I could get a car in that condition for cheap enough, I would simply swap parts to the other chassis.
Of course, another line of thinking is this:
if you’re taking on a project that already will entail media-blasting, mini tubs, reworking of the tunnel, significant mods of the engine bay, relocating or replacing ALL of the suspension, all the drive line, heater-AC systems, fuel tank, all wiring harnesses and new interior and top.... will it make much difference which donor you start with?
 
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I apologize for screwing up the pic uploads.
I also received (reportedly) the proper radiator for the Hemi in the early A-body
 
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Doesn't matter what you start with when there is that much being changed. You still have to media blast the whole car for paint anyway, Rusted panels, mods, etc.
 
The Yard Dart took its first elevator ride; I took a good look underneath and frankly it’s not as bad as I expected. A few small perforations in the front of the front pans, none elsewhere. Of course, once I determine the media blasting method and complete it, there will be many more. I have run into an unexpected issue with the front end; I’m already aware that the wheels I want to run (the wheels I *have*) are a bit too wide at 9-1/2” and the offset is perfect for the appearance and fender clearance but it means the backspacing (6”) is too much.... the AlterKation‘s upper control arm shape is a rather large hoop design and this limits the steering angle.
The forward placement of the steering rack also leads to interference with the tie rod and the wheel. The tie rod issue I can fix, the control arm is another story.
So, I’m already at dilemma #1. That didn’t take long, did it?
I really like these wheels and I REALLY don’t want to put skinnies on the front.
Im curious if others have run into this or similar issues running the AlterKtion. I have a call in to RMS just to see if they happen to have any workaround for silly-wide wheels.

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Looking at the interference has me looking hard at the control arm setup and the angles involved.
The RMS upper control arm uses the stock pivot points and adjusters, which is a pretty cool setup in its simplicity.
The problem I’m running into with the wide wheels is that the RMS upper is a wide hoop, a big “U” shape and is wider than a stock upper control arm which is more of a 'V' shape.
The pivot inclination (which is stock) makes this hoop high in the front and frankly, unnecessarily in the darned way.
Also evident is that the stock rebound bumper is no longer in play. (I hope the shock has this function built in)
The suspension is currently hanging at full droop. No further droop is possible as it’s limited first by the shock and second (shock removed), by the ball joints’ max angles.
So, considering my options, I'm formulating a plan to modify this.
The pics will help the understanding I hope.
My plan (unless y’all talk me out of it) is to pie-cut the front of the hoop at the upper ball joint, reattach it.
In the picture, I’ve applied a piece of red tape to indicate the pie-cut. The effect will be to angle the front of the hoop downward to gain clearance for wheel; this can be accomplished without changing the geometry of the setup at all. The other end of the rotated piece is simply a threaded connection at a Heim joint. An unexpected benefit to this operation is that it’s possible that the hoop would now actually contact and therefore utilize the stock rebound stop! That would be a win-win.
This entire suspension will be removed and disassembled for painting anyway.
Since the mod would not cause a geometry change or create other interference that I can foresee, I can’t think of a downside... any thoughts?

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EDIT: I just had another possibility pop into my head... I note that the rear of the arm is welded at a downward angle.... and now I'm wondering if the upper arms are by chance installed *backwards* meaning this one belongs on the driver's side?.... hmmmmmm
 
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MrSurly said:
A ragged Cyclops stared blankly from the web page. What the heck IS that? Well it IS a Mopar. I have been looking for a cheap Mopar project. The rest of the pics provided did not help much, this thing is butt-ugly. Clearly someone had started work on it (sanding/stripping/grinding) and then abandoned the project to rot. The fact that it was a convertible made me look deeper into its eye to see if there was good reason to take this on.
I was surprised to find some surprisingly cool goodies hidden under the little darling.
The owner tells a familiar tale of life interfering with plans, resulting in the project he started in earnest, languishing for a decade. Importantly, in the beginning he had spent some serious coin on components and as those were all in good shape and /or in storage as-new, the project became much more appealing.
The car itself appears surprisingly solid, lower quarters shot, of course, but the rest, even the pans seem pretty solid. The metal is pretty straight except for the rear valance. The troubling areas are where the steel was bared ten years in the past and the elements have attacked. I still think it's fixable.

Here's the part (actually parts) that convinced me to jump in: included in the deal:
(installed) RMS AlterKtion cross member (K-frame)set up for 3rd gen Hemi
Flaming river steering rack
Coil-Over shocks
Wilwood front disc brakes w/ LBP
Flaming river Stainless Tilt Steering column
Flaming River mahogany steering wheel
(installed) 8-3/4" rear 3:23 with LBP Moser axles
Nordskog Digital dash LCD panel
Some of the trim has been re-chromed or refurbished.
Edit: new cross flow aluminum radiator for the hemi swap

As you can see, there's a fair fistful of dollars in parts included.
I also already had the wheel and tire setup on hand that I hope to use.

Tremendous inspiration has been gleaned here at FABO, especially from the threads of Chuckbizkits, tincup and many others. Wish me luck!
View attachment 1715207649 View attachment 1715207650 View attachment 1715207651
Click to expand...
Good Luck
 
Well, sometimes the best idea is to talk to the expert. I called RMS, and Mr. Reilly himself took the call.
VERY HELPFUL, friendly guy, lots of info. I explained a bit about the history of the Yard Dart and the AlterKtion from ten years ago. He mentioned the "old style" vs "new style" arms and asked several questions. For photo reference I told him about this thread; he went there and said "HAH! A friend of mine sent me pictures of the online sale post of this car!" he said his friend observed that 'you know you've made it when your suspension has been on the market long enough to make to the junkyard!'. I couldn't agree more! Hopefully, the wrecking yard has been forestalled for a while longer!
He went on to say that yes, these are the 'early style' arms and that no, they are not installed on the wrong side. He said they changed the design of these specifically to address the wheel issue that I am having. He agreed with my plan to cut and re-fit the hoop as described above. He added that if I used a truck style oil pan on a late Hemi that I could simply relocate the steering rack mount to the rear a few inches to fix the tie rod issue(!) Man, it just gets better!
I mentioned the obviously-not-Wilwood brakes; He told me that the brake calipers are GM pieces and the rotors are for a Granada. I'm assuming this was an economy brake package.
I love this community.
 
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Update: HEMI in Da HOUSE!!!
The Yard Dart project has gained a mill! I picked up this 6.1 today! I don’t know anything about gen3s yet so feel free to tell if I screwed up on this thing. The seller claimed he saw it run before it was pulled... but the yard dogs tore up a bunch of external bits when they yanked it. It looks exactly like they dragged it across the place with a chain!
Anyway, I gambled fifteen on it. At least it has the right bones for a build... if it actually doesn’t NEED one that will be outstanding.

It will turn over with a wrench but it has a bit of a “hard spot” (with the plugs out) that has me concerned. The valvetrain area is as clean as a pin; the plugs look normal (85k mi could be reflected in these plugs’ appearance) and are all gapped at .050. No water, no hammered electrodes, no indication of an actual problem yet. I need to get it on a stand, roll it over and take a closer look!

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I dug into this beast and have found a serious problem. It has dropped the exhaust seat on number eight. Piston destroyed, head damaged but (I would assume) quite repairable. I will get the head to a local machine shop to get their input. You guys tell me what the usual approach is for the dropped seat issue that I've read was common on the early G3s. If I'm correct that the failed seat area can be repaired, what is usually done to address the rest of the seats? Is the problem usually isolated to one cylinder?
Meanwhile, the bottom end is perfect and the oil changes were frequent, as it's all clean as a pin. The cylinder received two marks that are visible, but I can't feel them at all. No bore required.
Depending on what I learn re: the seat repair, I may proceed with everything stock. I *could* be tempted, though, by things like 426 stroker kits...

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Cool car and cool build!!! We are 1 hour or so North f Houston, may I asl what part of E Tx are you located. Smallish group of his mopar guys around here.
I admit to have built several 63,4, darts and 65 cudas.
 
barbee6043 said:
Cool car and cool build!!! We are 1 hour or so North f Houston, may I asl what part of E Tx are you located. Smallish group of his mopar guys around here.
I admit to have built several 63,4, darts and 65 cudas.
Click to expand...

I'm in Longview.
 
75slant6 said:
Cool car! Excited to see where this build goes
Click to expand...
Wow! It’s been almost two years!
It troubles me to have to say it but this project has been back-burner-ed all this time. No real progress in this time other than gathering a few parts.
Sadly I am forced to recognize some facts that I can no longer ignore. Due to age, health and a list of other reasons, I will not be completing the Yard Dart.
I have had to face the facts. I don’t have time for a scratch build. It just isn’t in the cards for me at this point.
I am going to put the project up for sale, the car with title, a ton of parts, a 6.1 Hemi, a T6060, even the rotisserie that I bought.
It’s a roller, 8-3/4 rear plus another 8-3/4 Sure Grip 3:23 that needs rebuilding. AlterKation K frame, Rack and pinion, discs, lots of stuff.
I’ll create an actual sale post later.
Dammit, it hurts to quit.
 
MrSurly said:
Wow! It’s been almost two years!
It troubles me to have to say it but this project has been back-burner-ed all this time. No real progress in this time other than gathering a few parts.
Sadly I am forced to recognize some facts that I can no longer ignore. Due to age, health and a list of other reasons, I will not be completing the Yard Dart.
I have had to face the facts. I don’t have time for a scratch build. It just isn’t in the cards for me at this point.
I am going to put the project up for sale, the car with title, a ton of parts, a 6.1 Hemi, a T6060, even the rotisserie that I bought.
It’s a roller, 8-3/4 rear plus another 8-3/4 Sure Grip 3:23 that needs rebuilding. AlterKation K frame, Rack and pinion, discs, lots of stuff.
I’ll create an actual sale post later.
Dammit, it hurts to quit.
Click to expand...
I feel your pain! Good luck!
 
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