Like Father, Like Son: The Story of my 1970 Dodge Dart

Mpacker, heres some of the best advice I can give you as far as how I am approaching these projects I have. What I have done for both my stalled out 67 cuda project and my sons 69 cuda we are working on is I sat down and made detailed lists of everything both cars need. The lists are on the bookshelf in clear sleeves in a notebook binder in the shop. Being sonny's car needed more, the list was obviously longer. I am not independently wealthy by any means either, so it all has to be done on a budget, with me doing the labor on as much as I can. I have the lists broken down to

unibody
Glass & related parts
exterior trim & weatherstrip
suspension & brakes
engine & cooling
transmission
rear end
electrical
interior hard & soft parts.

When I pick up something I need thats on the list, with a ruler and a red bic pen I make a line thru the item, so I dont end up forgetting and buying it again. Though it seems I collect parts at random for this project, i am always looking for the best deal I can find. When the opportunity presents itself with a screaming deal I get it long before i need the part. I have all the wiring harnesses years before we will actually use them simply because a good deal popped up that saved me hundreds of $$$. Ditto for the rest of it. I had the trunk floor, and main floor for about 2 years before putting in at least the trunk floor. The deal presented itself on each so I bought them. AMD Main floor is from summit racing black friday deal 40% off. AMD trunk floor from a fabo member for $200. Tamraz ran a christmas sale on AMD barracuda bumpers. I couldent pass it up $300 per pair shipped. I bought them for both cars even though I am years away from getting just 1 car done. You have to keep in mind that the prices on this stuff will always keep going up year after year with inflation. I think 67-69 cuda bumpers are now $275 each.

Personally the lists keep me focused on the hunt and allows me to prioritize. I have almost all the items needed for my sons car. Leaving engine and transmission internal rebuild items to purchase for last since mechanical stuff is a lot more common.

If you have a spare room in your house, maybe use that as a storage for new boxed up parts. Any parts like trim and chrome you buy new repop, always remove these from the box and inspect for any flaws before boxing back up especially trim and chrome. Check fitment too. I have gotten some ugly stuff bad chrome, didnt fit right etc that I had to return for an exchange. You only have a limited time to do that before your stuck with it.

Get on YearOne, Classic Industries, MrMopar.net , DMT, BEA Parts (retiring), Legendary Auto Interiors, Summit Racing, Jegs, Laysons Restorations, Tamraz Parts, AMD, Steele Rubber Products, Inline tube, and Rockauto mailing lists. This is just a few. Many of these places run sales specials for black friday, cyber monday, christmas, new years, superbowl sunday, easter, 4th of july etc. Also check here on fabo first In the interior parts, exterior parts, mechanical parts, brakes and wheels, and parts cars sections. I have gotten really good deals on stuff, and have sold rust free stuff like framerails from cadavers I have drilled apart, and plowed the money back into these projects.

Dont forget junkyards. I have a few good ones here. Lots of A body stuff interchanges with FMJ body cars up thru 1989. Including SAE body fasteners and clips. I have wanted to buy an M body chrysler fifth ave just as a parts picker car to leave in my yard. Ram Vans provide lower door hinges with bushings that can be rebuilt , and chrome door handles. Ram Vans and dodge pickups with magnum 5.2, 5.9 or 3.9 V6 provide nice denso mini starters that are plug n play. People use jeep liberty, and dodge nitro rear disc brakes on mopar 8&3/4 and 8&1/4 rear axles they are a bolt on swap with big bolt pattern axles. I went with steel rims off chrysler fifth Aves for a few reasons.

1 they are a 15x7 with a nice offset.
2 they are big bolt pattern which I converted both cars to
3 they will clear the bigger disc brakes.
4 old skool look.
5 they were unbelievably cheap. Junkyard sold em to me for $8 each lol.

The good thing about your dart is it's a lot more common than what I am working on, and it seems the aftermarket make a lot more for it than 67-69 barracuda making your search easier.

It all seems daunting especially since you didnt dissassemble the car. This makes it an even bigger jigsaw puzzle. Theres lots of guys here who can help you get it back into 1 piece. I hope to be one of those guys who can help. I have a photographic memory and know the order of reassembly on these things in a way to make it pretty simple. I know this is all a lot to read through and process.

Hope this helps you out.
Matt