My second 1965 Dodge Dart.

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Today I got a Chrysler Parts book for 1965. Thick book, lot of parts, covers all Chrysler products. Very nice. Old and brittle, but a treasure to have. I bet a new production would not have these nice pictures either.

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Not been doing much lately due to a cold, but been reading a bit in my parts manual. It is comprehensive, and will take some time to study enough to be confident with it.

But I am not entirely dead either, today I got a little roll of Nitrile rubber that I am going to make a new gas cap seal for. And also a piece of rubber to place under the battery.

Does anyone know how long the battery hold down bolts are supposed to be ? I bought a new clamp with two new bolts, and wingnuts, but the bolts where very long, and I had to cut one of them, but they are still so long that it looks odd. And where the bolts painted, and the wing nuts ?

While up at Home Depot for the roll of rubber I also got new screws for the right front armrest I am mounting, the one that was missing. The screw dimension seems to be 1/4" x 1 1/4", galvanized, pan head for Philips screwdriver.
The armrest has a crack where the screw is supposed to sit, so I plan fixing it with epoxy, and then fabricate a little metal plate and drill a hole in it so it hopefully will hold better.

Bill
 
Here is the old speaker and speaker frame. As you can see, under the speaker frame is a fine mesh. I have bought new speaker fabric at Jo-Anns, and will glue it under the frame before I mount the speaker under that again. On top of the frame is supposed to be something too. And from what I could find it must have been some kind of foam seal. But the sun obviously must have ruined it, and it was more or less gone. I have cleaned the frame, and painted it gloss black, as it was painted when it left the famous assembly line. A picture will come of that a little later.

The speaker is as you can see in the picture, completely toast. It is a more or less regular 6"x9" speaker, but it is not very deep. It is a little difficult to just buy a new speaker of whatever type. One of the reasons is that they tend to be a bit taller, and that means they can reach down in the heater controls that is just under it. The one I bought is maybe a 1/4 inch deeper, and I really hope that turns out ok.
However, the biggest issue is that most modern speakers has tweeters that sticks up in the middle, and would be too high. And the other issue is that most such speakers comes in a 2 pack, and you only need one.
I was able to find a speaker that comes only in one, and here is a link to it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001RNNX76/?tag=joeychgo-20

I have no idea about the quality of it, neither mechanical or electrical quality, and I have no idea how it will sound either. But, I assume it will sound as good as the old speaker when that was new. Or maybe even better.

It was cheap, and if it works out, I will be more than satisfied with it. I know it is not the original one, but I felt the old one was beyond what I want to repair at this point. But, I am not going to throw it away. It is possible to get new speaker cones and surrounds for repair. Usually not that expensive either. I have never replaced a cone before, but I have repaired my two larger surrounds for my home stereo. It just takes a little time. Both mine got very good, so I am not afraid of trying that if I have to. I have not tried to hook up the speaker to a working radio, but I have tried to hook up a 1.5 AA battery to it, and it kicks and make noise when I do that.

Bill

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New speaker, old frame with fresh paint, and also the frame placed on top of the frame, the holes fits perfectly. Need to find some screws because the old ones does not fit in the new speaker.

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Today I am back to the steering wheel, I have sanded the spokes where they are connected with the hub, and where the most extra epoxy was. Now I need to sand a bit around here and there, and I also need to go and get some car bondo, there are a handful of places I need to fill up a little. Tiny small places, almost like I could have just let them be, but I am going to irritate myself for ages if I don't fix it properly.

Bill

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So, it is either my left or my right lower control arm, yeah, it has be one of them, where the bumper is missing. And according to 1965 Dodge Dart Charger post #336 the bumper was changed, and I can only find the newer one.
Now, what do you guys think, is it possible to buy the newer one and cut it off so it will look like the older one. And what is the implications of doing so ?
 
Yesterday, maybe it was wednesday I went to Homely Depo and found some black foam rubber seal for whatever it is made that seems to fit on top of the speaker frame, it is 1/4" x 3/4", so I think I will cut that in two and use it. It has adhesive on one side. I also found new screws I can use between the speaker and the frame since the old screw does not fit the new speaker.
I also found 1/4"x1 1/4" zinc coated pan head screws for my armrest.

And, today was one of the best days of them all so far when it comes to the car. Since it had only three armrests, I had to find a fourth one. I found it on ebay, but not in the same color as the other ones. The other ones have gotten new vinyl on, same vinyl and color as the seats have. Now, I look up upholstery places here in Santa Rosa, and picked one, which I did not find, so I went for number two, and found. And they had close to a yard of vinyl laying from a Chevrolet they had done a job on. And this is, I mean it is really a 100% match. Both in texture and color. What was the chance of that. Paid $20.00 for it, and I am happy as a clam. So, now I can fix that too, and polish the lids on the ashtrays in the back.

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I enjoy reading about your progress.
There’s a lot of things to do but at the rate you’re going you’ll be driving it soon.
The trim around the headlights, the “candy canes”, are always dented & dinged; I hope you get yours to be presentable.
If there’s a Hobby Lobby nearby they may have some spray paint that might match and you could use it on the arm rest bases. Or an auto paint supplier might be able to mix you a good match.
This might help...

Paint Chips 1965 Chrysler Barracuda
 
Now, some say the vinyl above is not the same, different grain. But, tried to turn it a little around, and then it seems to match to me. Depending on where the light comes from it also changes a little in color.

I have no idea how long the vinyl have been in the car, if it changes any colorwise. The grain should not change.

Then my wife came home and has been moving it around this and that way and says they are the same, just depends on the direction and where you match them.


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I enjoy reading about your progress.
There’s a lot of things to do but at the rate you’re going you’ll be driving it soon.
The trim around the headlights, the “candy canes”, are always dented & dinged; I hope you get yours to be presentable.
If there’s a Hobby Lobby nearby they may have some spray paint that might match and you could use it on the arm rest bases. Or an auto paint supplier might be able to mix you a good match.
This might help...

Paint Chips 1965 Chrysler Barracuda

Thank you for your kind words. I have been a tad slow lately, and have to push the speed up a bit. The first is the steering wheel. Once that is in place, I feel comfortable taking it out for a longer drive. As it is now, I don't have any horns, in case something happens and I need it.
 
Now, some say the vinyl above is not the same, different grain. But, tried to turn it a little around, and then it seems to match to me. Depending on where the light comes from it also changes a little in color.

I have no idea how long the vinyl have been in the car, if it changes any colorwise. The grain should not change.

Then my wife came home and has been moving it around this and that way and says they are the same, just depends on the direction and where you match them.


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Can't say if grain is exact, but it's certainly close enough. As for color - it is definitely close as well. there's no way to tell online. It's tough to compare even when you have 2 pieces side by side. Put it on. Nobody will know. :thumbsup:
 
Can't say if grain is exact, but it's certainly close enough. As for color - it is definitely close as well. there's no way to tell online. It's tough to compare even when you have 2 pieces side by side. Put it on. Nobody will know. :thumbsup:

It changes here and there too, so over a square foot it is changing. As for the color, I assume the sun might do something to it too. And they say that two batches of vinyl are never 100% the same. So, unless I got a piece of what was used for my seats and other armrests there is no way it will be 101%. :D

I am satisfied, I am beyond satisfied. Now, if I could find the right color on the paint on the outside of the car, well, that would be awesome. I have ordered more paint chips for other Chrysler products to see if they have been nice enough to choose a Chrysler product color from 1965, just not for the Dart.

The guy at the upholstery company also said that since it was the arm rest pad, it would be very hard to see any difference compared to the seat, and armrest on the other side of the car. Which I guess is true.

Bill
 
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I have not been able to find any screws and nuts for fastening the Candy canes and hood molding. Does anyone know where I can find that ? Does not have to be NOS, but have to fit and work and be new.
 
I have not been able to find any screws and nuts for fastening the Candy canes and hood molding. Does anyone know where I can find that ? Does not have to be NOS, but have to fit and work and be new.
So I bought these. They work great and I got a bunch of them lol. You will need to get nuts but those can be had at any hardware store

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I have not been able to find any screws and nuts for fastening the Candy canes and hood molding. Does anyone know where I can find that ? Does not have to be NOS, but have to fit and work and be new.

Today I was looking in my parts book, and discovered something that puzzles me. Chrysler has one part number for the fastener screw, and one part number for the nut. When we took the molding of the hood at the junk yard, I will say it was an untouched hood. And it had the same fastener from one end to the other. But it had two types of nuts. It is supposed to be a #10-24 bolt on the fastener and the nuts on each end of the molding were regular nuts with a washer under. Have to look into that and see if I can get them cleaned up some for a picture. But, all the other nuts between those on the end was sheet metal nuts, those thin nuts pressed out of a piece of sheet metal. So, then Chrysler should have listed two types of nuts, but they don't do that.

The fastener itself does not look like a Auveco #2744 either, they do not have that long thin metal spring. I have to see if I can find that too. I realize the Auveco #2744 will fit, that is not the issue, just wonder why it seems to be a discrepancy between reality and the parts book.

So, where is the secret hidden here ?

Bill
 
On ‘66 Valiants I have also seen similar variations of different types of trim fasteners.
 
Picture of oe and a picture of the aftermarket. Picture of it installed into the trim.

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