1963 Dart 170 2 Door Post Resto
Not much progress as of late. Wife was wanting to get some welding practice (yes, I have a wife that enjoys welding...lol. And she's actually pretty good at it), so we picked up a 4x8 utility trailer to clean up and sell. That was the plan any way. Got it cheap so that was good. After hammering at it a bit the frame was so bad there was noting salvagable on the trailer but the lights, axle, upper rail, and tongue. Fortunately it was cheap enough that the other parts were worth it so we got new metal and completely rebuilt it. Just a few finishing touches and its out the door.
Got a few more parts for the Dart too. Had a rear side glass clip break on me during install. I soaked it in evaporust to clean it up and as soon as I tried to install it it snapped. It wasn't rusty before so I am wondering if evaporust makes spring steel brittle. The same happened to the hood spring. Either way, I needed a new one and discovered quickly that this clip was only used on the 2 door sedan. Could not find one. Then I found some type B circlips on an RC car website that looked the same so I took a chance and ordered them. Wound up being exact matches. Got that installed last night.
Got the lower valance installed and adjusted. Just have to tighten up a couple more bolts, add a few of the small freshly painted brackets and then it's ready outside for final sand and color. I think I am going to reassemble most of the dash area before final paint so that 1, Less chance of scratching my freshly painted car and 2, frees up a lot of currently used floor space. Still hoping to have it done by the end of July.
Got my billet gas cap ordered as well. Not interested in doing all this work only to have fuel spill all over the side of my freshly painted car.
Also got my custom front bumper back from chrome. All I can say is WOW! They did an amazing job. Had a couple of minor imperfections that they took care of before chrome and it is beautiful. No waves in the finish at all. You can't tell where it was cut and joined or where I filled in the bolt holes without looking at the back. That and they got it back to me faster than promised. Told me 5 - 6 weeks (which is WAY better than the 10 months to a year and a half every shop up here told me) and got it back in my possession in about 4. Would highly recommend them. Super nice to deal with. It was done by tri city plating in Elizabethton, TN. Pictures don't do it justice.
Can't wait to get the car painted now and see it installed against the nice new green paint. More to come
Not much progress as of late. Wife was wanting to get some welding practice (yes, I have a wife that enjoys welding...lol. And she's actually pretty good at it), so we picked up a 4x8 utility trailer to clean up and sell. That was the plan any way. Got it cheap so that was good. After hammering at it a bit the frame was so bad there was noting salvagable on the trailer but the lights, axle, upper rail, and tongue. Fortunately it was cheap enough that the other parts were worth it so we got new metal and completely rebuilt it. Just a few finishing touches and its out the door.
Got a few more parts for the Dart too. Had a rear side glass clip break on me during install. I soaked it in evaporust to clean it up and as soon as I tried to install it it snapped. It wasn't rusty before so I am wondering if evaporust makes spring steel brittle. The same happened to the hood spring. Either way, I needed a new one and discovered quickly that this clip was only used on the 2 door sedan. Could not find one. Then I found some type B circlips on an RC car website that looked the same so I took a chance and ordered them. Wound up being exact matches. Got that installed last night.
Got the lower valance installed and adjusted. Just have to tighten up a couple more bolts, add a few of the small freshly painted brackets and then it's ready outside for final sand and color. I think I am going to reassemble most of the dash area before final paint so that 1, Less chance of scratching my freshly painted car and 2, frees up a lot of currently used floor space. Still hoping to have it done by the end of July.
Got my billet gas cap ordered as well. Not interested in doing all this work only to have fuel spill all over the side of my freshly painted car.
Also got my custom front bumper back from chrome. All I can say is WOW! They did an amazing job. Had a couple of minor imperfections that they took care of before chrome and it is beautiful. No waves in the finish at all. You can't tell where it was cut and joined or where I filled in the bolt holes without looking at the back. That and they got it back to me faster than promised. Told me 5 - 6 weeks (which is WAY better than the 10 months to a year and a half every shop up here told me) and got it back in my possession in about 4. Would highly recommend them. Super nice to deal with. It was done by tri city plating in Elizabethton, TN. Pictures don't do it justice.
Can't wait to get the car painted now and see it installed against the nice new green paint. More to come
