65 Dart Revisited II

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toolmanmike said:
Wow Jerry,, you sure are getting a lot done and you sure do have the skills. Looking great.
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Hi TMM. One might think that I have the skills. I prefer to say I work my way through these restorations with the help and advice of/from a great many talented members. As I have said before...FABO, a great place to be. Finding the parts, a question answered in just a few hours, encouragement, and the compliments, surely, with this kind of help....and the effort, we can keep these great cars on the road for future MOPAR generations to enjoy. Lets just not go out and wreck them like we did with the first ones we had. Yes, I am guilty of that....I buried a 65 Dart Charger into a 61 Chevy Impala back in '71. I will be much more careful with this one. Thanks. Jerry
 
If I remember you are nort east of me. I would love to stop by and meet you when we vacation at the lake this summer if my schedule allows.
 
toolmanmike said:
If I remember you are nort east of me. I would love to stop by and meet you when we vacation at the lake this summer if my schedule allows.
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Hi Mike. Absolutely, a time to compare notes would be great. I can give you my address and phone via PM. Thanks. Jerry
 
sgrip65 said:
Hello Members. I did get my rear side glass installed which was a bit of a challenge.....read the directions first, and take good notes. I did not do that. Anyway, the two door hard top does not use that lift triangle piece as the sedan does shown in pic Window Lifts II, 001. That is where I ran into a bind, and I had to do some additional research....but there it was under 2dr HT rear glass right in the FSM. The 2dr HT uses a lift bar on the rear side glass as shown in the pic marked Rear Glass Lift Bar 001 and shown installed in pic #Gas Tank and Rear Side Glass 004. I also installed the gas tank. Just a note, install the gas tank first, then install the filler tube as it is near impossible to do it the other way around. As well, be sure the sending unit wiring is not tucked up under between the top of the gas tank and the trunk floor before tightening the J-Hook.....yeah, that is what I did x**$^^^-. I had to loosen the J-Hook from the gas tank strap to get it back out. Nobody else would do that, I am sure...just me. Seems I make a bunch of extra work for myself. Tomorrow, I am going to start assembling the doors. BTW, I bought a jack instruction decal from Classic Industries a while back. Would anyone know the OEM spot to place this decal? Thanks for the information and for following along. sgrip65

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Hello Members. I had mentioned Auto City Classics in Isanti, Minnesota.....Denny. This is the company where I bought my windshield. I think it is worth a phone call to this company if you are looking for a windshield as, off the shelf, they are reasonable.....although shipping is always a killer. I took a pic of the windshield....is the green tint and the green shade at the top anywhere near OEM? Pic Enclosed. Thanks for the ongoing input. sgrip65

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sgrip65 said:
Hello Members. I had mentioned Auto City Classics in Isanti, Minnesota.....Denny. This is the company where I bought my windshield. I think it is worth a phone call to this company if you are looking for a windshield as, off the shelf, they are reasonable.....although shipping is always a killer. I took a pic of the windshield....is the green tint and the green shade at the top anywhere near OEM? Pic Enclosed. Thanks for the ongoing input. sgrip65

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Members. Thanks for following. A a bit slow in the progress, but the 65 Revisited is still on schedule for the June 1st maiden voyage. My wife and I began assembling the doors yesterday. Tool Man Mike pointed me to a great set of gills/vents which I bought some time ago on EBay. They polished up very nicely, and they had no chrome bubbles. These were a great find. Anyway, here are a few pics of the doors as far as they are for now. Still need to mount the doors to the body....I learned a trick from a local body man who drills small holes in the hinges into the body, and, also, the strike plates. When re-installing the doors and the strike plates, the doors and strike plates can be relocated exactly where they were initially lining up the hinges and strikes using the same small drill bit. I will say, however, that the hinge material is hard hard stuff to get through. The new door handles came from Classic Industries as the old ones were a bit peppered having a few years on them. It is nice to have all of the stainless and aluminum polished while doing the assembly.....the assembly moves a bit faster when one just has to go to the shelf to get the need part....ready to go. A few pics enclosed, and thanks again for following. sgrip65

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SSVDP said:
Wow!
What a great build!
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Hi Rich. I do appreciate the comments. Lots of work, but lots of fun work as well. Beyond that, getting to meet some great people here on our forum. Thanks. sgrip65
 
Members. A quick update on my 65 Dart Revisited II build. I rolled the car out of the paint booth today, and I installed the Sure Grip differential which I harvested from the 65 Valiant Signet which I parted out. I installed new seals, gaskets and axle bearings in the differential, and the ring and pinion showed no wear as the Valiant had less than 60K on the odometer. Yes, I know, I have been told that I should have updated to LBP wheels with disc brakes, but I opted to build the car as the Dart Charger I had back in '71. I did, however, update the brakes to the 10 inch as opposed to the 9 inch that were on the Valiant. Thanks to Cosgig for the 10 inch backing plates and misc brake parts for the differential. Also, thanks to 65 Dartman for the instruction on the proper procedure on installing the doors, front fenders, dash and the windshield. It has been a while since I took the car apart, so the tutorial from Don was a great help. Also, a shout out to 65 Dartcharger for providing the final pieces to the puzzle with some quality parts to finish the project. Thank you Ulf for the help. As I progressed, I sold my defroster tubes thinking I had a good set, but, no, I did not. If your not too concerned about OEM, I took a piece of 2 inch DeWalt vacuum cleaner shopvac hose, and I used an exhaust pipe expander with a heat gun to stretch the ends to fit the heater pipes and the defrost vents. It turns out that the plastic fitting on the end of the hose which fits into the vacuum is identical in size to the pipes that come out of the heater/defroster outlets. This actually worked very well, and I have a set of nice looking defroster tubes for the build. Anyway, I do not think that I will make the June 1st date, but, now, it looks like July 1st. Thanks to all who have helped me through this project and to those who have followed along. I appreciate the help from all of the FABO members along this three year process. sgrip65

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sgrip65 said:
Members. A quick update on my 65 Dart Revisited II build. I rolled the car out of the paint booth today, and I installed the Sure Grip differential which I harvested from the 65 Valiant Signet which I parted out. I installed new seals, gaskets and axle bearings in the differential, and the ring and pinion showed no wear as the Valiant had less than 60K on the odometer. Yes, I know, I have been told that I should have updated to LBP wheels with disc brakes, but I opted to build the car as the Dart Charger I had back in '71. I did, however, update the brakes to the 10 inch as opposed to the 9 inch that were on the Valiant. Thanks to Cosgig for the 10 inch backing plates and misc brake parts for the differential. Also, thanks to 65 Dartman for the instruction on the proper procedure on installing the doors, front fenders, dash and the windshield. It has been a while since I took the car apart, so the tutorial from Don was a great help. Also, a shout out to 65 Dartcharger for providing the final pieces to the puzzle with some quality parts to finish the project. Thank you Ulf for the help. As I progressed, I sold my defroster tubes thinking I had a good set, but, no, I did not. If your not too concerned about OEM, I took a piece of 2 inch DeWalt vacuum cleaner shopvac hose, and I used an exhaust pipe expander with a heat gun to stretch the ends to fit the heater pipes and the defrost vents. It turns out that the plastic fitting on the end of the hose which fits into the vacuum is identical in size to the pipes that come out of the heater/defroster outlets. This actually worked very well, and I have a set of nice looking defroster tubes for the build. Anyway, I do not think that I will make the June 1st date, but, now, it looks like July 1st. Thanks to all who have helped me through this project and to those who have followed along. I appreciate the help from all of the FABO members along this three year process. sgrip65

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Hello Members. Again, thank you for following my 65 Dart Charger Clone Build. Slow going, as I said I hoped to be on the road by June 1st, and it did not happen. I bought a power brake set-up from 65 Dartman, and it took a bit of work to install the new double lines coming down from the M.C., but, I got it done. I bought the conversion kit for the dual master cylinder brake lines and distribution block from Inline Tube, but the lines needed to by bent around to make it work. Go figure. As well, the doors are now installed where the margins laid in very nicely.....again, a bit of work....but I did succeed. The door side glass and the quarter glass took some adjusting in order to have the rear of the door glass mesh with the front of the quarter glass, but got that done as well. I did buy a new roof rail seal from Steele, and that seal fit excellently....nice part. I did buy a 65 Dart/Coronet FSM, and that is a great help.....read the directions first, I guess regarding adjusting the door and quarter glass. Little by little I am still learning despite this being my second Mopar Early A. The next step will be to install the engine with the transmission bolted to it....from underneath this time using an engine dolly. Once that is in, then it is the dash, front carpet, and the windshield. Then, the front clip and the bumpers. I am closing in, and I hope to be a bit more frequent on my updates. My new goal for on the road is, now, July 1st. Thanks again for following. sgrip65

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Good work on the brake lines and door window adjustment. I notice that your upper door frames are body color! They should be whatever color your interior/door panels are. Might be kind of hard to correct it now with glass and cat whiskers in place.
 
65 Dartman said:
Good work on the brake lines and door window adjustment. I notice that your upper door frames are body color! They should be whatever color your interior/door panels are. Might be kind of hard to correct it now with glass and cat whiskers in place.
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Don. Yes, I know on the interior color. As you might remember, a group of local friends got together to help me out when I was ill. It is what it is, although not OEM, I thank those guys for keeping my project going. Appreciate the input. JJ
 
Hello Members. A bit slow on my work, but I am trying to do it up right. My latest accomplishments have been completing the engine along with building the dash. I am getting ready to do the install of the dash.....maybe tomorrow. The radio will be sent out to Gary Tayman for updating the AM to AM/FM with the aux plug. One to two weeks turnaround was the estimate. Anyway, here are a few pics of the dash with its bezels installed....the radio and heat/air are just resting in place until after the dash is in the car. Thanks to Glenn Baumann at G-Car-Trim for doing a great job on the bezel Restoration, and thanks to 65 Dartman for the lead on Tayman Electronics on building/updating the radio......saves hacking up the dash or hiding a modern radio. BTW, the dash pad is not a pad....I looked for a few years to find a reasonable used pad, but they are, virtually, non-existent. I bought a PVC cover from Classic Industries, and it looks reasonably close to an OEM pad, but it is not a pad. BTW, the PVC dash cover is adhered to the metal back of the OEM pad....the pad back which has the bolt studs fastened to it. I used standard construction adhesive which was rated for high temps as I imagine a black dash would get a bit warm while sitting outside. I stripped the old pad off of the metal core, made certain that the PVC cover fit to the metal core, and glued it on. I did use a series of spring clamps that had deep throats in order to be sure that the cover fit tightly to the metal core and, then later, to the dash itself. Enclosed are some pics. Thanks for following along on my dream car. sgrip65

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Members. Today, I installed the engine in my 65 Dart Charger Clone. You might recall that this engine was a stock 273 2bbl; however, we bored it at 0.030 over, reworked the heads with stiffer springs, valve rework, HiPo pistons, and a stiffer than HiPo stock cam from Jim at Racer Brown. Should not be long until this outlaw enjoys the road. I used an engine dolly where I rolled the engine under the front end. I found this much easier as I had installed Mopar engines before, and the top bell housing bolts can be very difficult to install where the transmission is installed after the engine is installed. Using a dolly where one installs the engine from the bottom, and, then, lowering the car from the top over the engine works well having adequate room for the complete engine. There is a few inches to spare on either side allowing room to have the steering gear and the exhaust manifolds installed on the engine; however, there is no room to allow for the alternator to be installed on the engine....this should be installed later as I had my alternator installed, but I need to take it off as there was not room between the frame rails to allow the needed clearance. My dolly was approximately five inches in height, and it took thirty four inches in space from the floor to the bottom of the radiator bottom mount rail to clear....this is with the RV2 compressor installed. I did discover that the transmission cross-member is different between a V8 and a /6 engine. I used a /6 cross-member which has one bolt, and the 273 uses two mounting bolts. Correct me if I am wrong on this....was this a standard. As well the double bolt rear transmission mount is a bit wider than the /6 cross-member space. Learn something new each day on this build. Enclosed are some pics for those who are following my build. Looks like the middle to the end of July at this point to be on the road. I will post an additional set of pictures for this work of installing the engine from underneath. Thanks for following. sgrip65

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Members. These are some additional pics of the engine install as I installed the engine and the transmission from below the car as opposed to dropping it in from the top. In this way, the transmission can be mounted to the engine along with the steering gear, exhaust manifolds, and etc.....excluding the alternator which must be installed after the engine is in the engine well as there is not enough clearance for the alternator between the frame rails. I plan on connecting the engine wiring, installing the alternator, and completing the Waldron's Exhaust tomorrow. Thank you for following my build, and thanks for all the members who participated in assisting me with parts and advice along the way. Much appreciated. BTW, the engine dolly is for sale.....it has steel casters with 1.5 inch x 3/16" angle and a 2x deck. I will be taking it to the Nationals in Columbus....should anyone be interested. Best thing since sliced bread for installing an engine. sgrip65

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sgrip65 said:
I did discover that the transmission cross-member is different between a V8 and a /6 engine. I used a /6 cross-member which has one bolt, and the 273 uses two mounting bolts. Correct me if I am wrong on this....was this a standard. As well the double bolt rear transmission mount is a bit wider than the /6 cross-member space.
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I believe you are talking about 1 versus 2 bolts that secure the transmission mount to the cross ember? I have seen it both ways - 1 bolt on a V8 and 2 on a slant. In fact the trans cross member I removed from my slant-equipped wagon had a 2 bolt mount. It could be the factory used certain suppliers in different plants as my wagon was built in California. The same might apply to the spacing on the bolts that secure the trans crossmember to the torsion bar crossmember although All the trans crossmembers - both V8 and slant I’ve ever pulled all seem to have had the same bolt spacing.
 
65 Dartman said:
I believe you are talking about 1 versus 2 bolts that secure the transmission mount to the cross ember? I have seen it both ways - 1 bolt on a V8 and 2 on a slant. In fact the trans cross member I removed from my slant-equipped wagon had a 2 bolt mount. It could be the factory used certain suppliers in different plants as my wagon was built in California. The same might apply to the spacing on the bolts that secure the trans crossmember to the torsion bar crossmember although All the trans crossmembers - both V8 and slant I’ve ever pulled all seem to have had the same bolt spacing.
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Don. I just assumed that the V8 would require a stronger dual fastener. Thank you for the information, as your wealth of knowledge, on these Early A autos, continues to educate us all. So, the single bolt cross-member mount is adequate for the built V-8? Much appreciated. sgrip65
 
WOW, your dash looks great !! So does the car for that matter, you're doing an awesome job. Looking forward to see it finished.
 
66 Val said:
WOW, your dash looks great !! So does the car for that matter, you're doing an awesome job. Looking forward to see it finished.
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Hi 66. Thanks for the comments on the dash and the project. It has been a bit of a long project, but it is nearing the end. I am, as well, looking forward to seeing it finished, but it has been fun. Thanks again. sgrip65
 
Jerry! Your car looks stunning! I must admit that you have made great improvement on your car. Just love those defroster hoses! I will do a set for my hardtop. I hope one day to have a ride in it!
 
65dartcharger said:
Jerry! Your car looks stunning! I must admit that you have made great improvement on your car. Just love those defroster hoses! I will do a set for my hardtop. I hope one day to have a ride in it!
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Hi Ulf. Thank you for the comments. Indeed, should you ever pass through our area, we will, certainly, go for a cruise. We live within the Iowa Great Lakes, and this is a premier Vacation spot in the Midwest. You would be more than welcome. My completion date was estimated several times, but, you know how it goes. Currently, I am planning on the 15th of July. Thanks again. Jerry
 
What kind of a/c switch did you use on the dash board? I was wondering about the connections on the backside?
 
sgrip65 said:
Hello 65. Regarding the metal strip. I placed the front stainless roof trim prior to the vinyl installation marking a line which would be the leading edge of the trim...then I installed the vinyl to that line. I installed the clips over the vinyl, and I attached the stainless over the vinyl and clips. Be sure to use a marine grade or auto vinyl contact as I do not know if a standard Formica or Weldwood brand interior adhesive will hold up to the outside elements. Regarding sealing the gutter under near the roof rail, I sealed this area prior to painting, and I ran a bead over the vinyl at the joint of the pinch at the gutter. Careful with some of the seam sealer as I noticed some crazing of the paint after application. Thanks. Jerry
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Thanks for the idea Jerry. I will be using your instruction when I install the vinyl top on my car.
 
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