1967 Dodge Dart GT daily driver build

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So, quick update. I’m waiting on my 8 3/4 3.73 sure grip to arrive so I pulled out the old 7 1/4 rear. I’ve been cleaning up the underside of the car, going to spray it before the new rear goes in. I might even drop the gas tank and weld up a couple small patches in the trunk while I have everything out.

I’m also cleaning up and painting some smaller items like the spring hangers. My Espo 6 leaf +1 springs with poly bushings/shackles arrived. Going to pair them with my Hotchkis rear shocks I have sitting here.

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Nice. I need to clean up and paint the underside of mine as well. Just sold some other toys so I can pick up some more parts. I eventually want to go to a 8 3/4 as well but for now, the 7 1/4 Suregrip will do. If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for your rear end?
 
Sean Officer said:
Nice. I need to clean up and paint the underside of mine as well. Just sold some other toys so I can pick up some more parts. I eventually want to go to a 8 3/4 as well but for now, the 7 1/4 Suregrip will do. If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for your rear end?
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Sure Sean. I spent 2k for the complete A-body 8 3/4 (489 case, 5 on 4.5 pattern, 3.73 suregrip) with 11.25 disc brakes, everything new or freshly rebuilt shipped to my door. I was looking at redoing the brakes on the 7 1/4, so I figured it was a good time to do the swap. Once I get the 8.75 in, I know that it’ll handle my 360 stroker I’m going to build.
 
Hey guys. So while I have the rear end out, I decided now would be the time to cut and weld some of the rust damage in the trunk. I’m pretty lucky on this ‘67, as far as rust goes. However apparently water was leaking into the trunk and I’d say over 90% of the rust on this car is located here. I figured I would just replace the trunk floor pan, however it seems like the damage is actually on two separate parts of sheet metal. I posted a separate thread asking for advise here: 1967 Dart trunk area floor pan question

On the bright side, I pulled my gas tank and it looks pretty good. Other than rust damage on the pictures I mentioned, everything else is under the car is cleaning up really nicely. If anyone has any advice on trunk repair or gas tank restoration let me know!

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Hey FABO. I haven’t gotten as much done as I’d like on the project. I’ve been busy knocking out online college classes (before my GI Bill expires) and dealing with a new baby girl (born in March). I did get my 8 3/4 suregrip rearend. It’s just sitting here in the garage waiting for me to finish cutting and welding in the trunk.

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Quick update on the trunk. You can see the original rust damage, the area I cut to patch, and the weld job. This was my FIRST attempt at welding. I know a lap weld would have been easier, but I wanted to try to patch it with a butt weld. Over all I’m pretty happy with the result, and I learned a lot. Once it’s painted with POR15, it’ll look good enough for a daily driver. I’m planning on spraying the bottom side with POR15 rubber undercoating.

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Looks great for a first time sheet metal repair. Congratulations on the new baby girl, and thank you for your service. I am always jealous when I see someone buy such a nice car near me. Keep up the good work.
 
What a darling little girl. March is a great month to be born! Great job on the welds too. I hope I can do that well my first time around. It's probably coming soon. GI bill eh? Which branch? I was Navy myself. Retired after 23 years. I should probably grab some pics of my latest Dart escapades this afternoon.
 
Sean Officer said:
What a darling little girl. March is a great month to be born! Great job on the welds too. I hope I can do that well my first time around. It's probably coming soon. GI bill eh? Which branch? I was Navy myself. Retired after 23 years. I should probably grab some pics of my latest Dart escapades this afternoon.
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Hey Sean. I was in the Army, 13 years total active and reserve. Was planning on doing 20, but got wounded by an RPG during an ambush on one of my tours. Still, no regrets.

Welding: if I can figure it out, anyone here can. I think it’s 1/2 knowing the process and 1/2 the art of doing it. I’m still figuring out both!
 
I spent my time over there floating off the coast. I can't imagine what it would be like on the ground. Much respect my friend.

Cherish this time in your daughter's life. In my opinion it is one of the best. My youngest of 3 (all daughters, damn radar!) graduates high school in 3 weeks.

I have been studying the process and fortunately my neighbor is a welding instructor with the local ironworkers union so I will have an experienced set of eyes to tell me when I am ******* it up. Lol.
 
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Hey FABO. It’s been a while since I did an update. Progress on the ‘67 GT has been going really slow due to having another surgery and more medical issues. Luckily I’ve made more progress in that area than on the Dart!

I’ve finished patching the trunk area. Just need to plug weld a few small pin holes, and grind everything down to look nice.
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This is one example of the pin holes that I punched, cleaned up with a file, plug welded and ground down. Pretty happy with the results considering I’m still teaching myself how to do all this.

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I did a little more work on the Dart recently.
Seeing that I had this rust damage in the trunk that I was repairing, I knew water was leaking in from somewhere… most likely the rear window. I was also suspecting that the Dutchman panel had been replaced by a previous owner long ago. So I decided to pull the rear window out and check to see. Sure enough, I’ve got bad rust in my lower window corners. I also noticed that the Dutchman panel had been replaced previously, and during that “repair” they cut the old one off the rear package tray and didn’t weld the new one back to it. In fact, they had hacked the tab/attachment point off to where they couldn’t be welded together. So I ordered a new Dutchman panel and some new inner lower window corners. I plan to fabricate the rest.

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I cut out most of the old Dutchman panel. Now I have more room to work on the welded pieces attached to the left and right quarters. You can see in the photo the hack job they did to where the rear package tray attaches to the Dutchman panel. Luckly most of this car has proved to be very solid, except for this poor repair job. Anyone do this type of repair before? I’ve see a few only posts on FABO about it.

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