Start of a Dart
Here's what still makes my head spin... Great looking engine on work truck just meant to take loads to the dump and pick up parts yet your dream car the 69 Dart doesn't get this treatment?
The Dart will get the same treatment or better, but first I need to get it road worthy and then I need to figure out what I want to do with it. Stick or auto, SB or BB, buckets & console or bench, etc. Once I drive it for a while I'll know where to take it. Until then it will remain an ugly little red-headed step child.
I understand the logic behind the pickup truck engine restoration. I am OCD too.
Well I'm not OCD by any stretch, but my original plan became a victim of mission creep. I bought the truck knowing it was a non-runner, likely from a bad timing chain. That turned out to be the case, so I figured I'd just replace the chain for $100 or so and be done. Then I took off the oil pan and saw where the grubby pigs had been living since 1982. The valve cover was the same. The entire engine, inside and out, was a filthy crusty mess. So I figure I'll just refresh it with new rings and bearings, but the bores were out of round so it's time for a bore job. Then the head was cracked so I had to take apart the filthy grubby Volare engine to scavenge parts to build the truck. And then everything needs painted for protection and so it goes, and goes, and goes. What I thought would be $100 and two weeks has turned into $2500 and five months, and I'm not done yet. However, I'll have a completely new engine and refreshed everything else when I'm done. The truck will likely outlast me. :D
And the other factor, I like working in the shop. This is the first time I've built an engine, and I hope I get it right. If nothing else this is good training for the Valiant and the Dart when their times come.