Brian's 67 dart
Saturday morning arrived and it was time to start, but where and with what? A wise fellow had once told me that he had always picked one thing and stayed on it till it was completely done, then moved on to the next thing until it was all done. Made sense to me.
I decided that on weekends I would work on the body and would work on the sub assemblies in the evenings during the week.
Keeping with the one thing at a time theme, I decided to start at the front of the car and work my way back on the body. Ran a long extension cord out to the car and chucked a wire brush in my drill. Stood there for a second and sorta took it in then fired up the drill and started cleaning the front of the radiator support. I had finally started!
Cleaned the radiator support and most of the engine compartment that day. Didnt find any hidden damage under the paint, even the area under the battery box was solid. Shot some primer on the bare metal, closed the tent and called it a day.
Felt a lot better about everything and I could actually see something I had done. I guess sometimes the hardest part is just getting started.
Went out to the workshop after supper Monday night to begin work on the subassemblies. Grabbed the dash and set it up on the workbench, set a couple boxes of different sized baggies and some masking tape & markers beside it and began to tear it down.
The dash pad was a mess, the defrost vents were trashed, the speaker was history, and everything was faded and not too attractive. Took notes of what I needed and went back in the house.
The restoration of the dash took me about a month, but it would be about 3 months before it was completely reassembled.
Drove down to Year One and picked up: a full body bumper kit (this contained bumpers for the ash tray and glove box door); the glove box liner; defrost vents; and ordered a 69 dash pad. (Why a 69 pad and not a 67? Remember the lesson about the 67 being a year unto itself? The 67 used a pad unique to itself and no one reproduces it. Just Dashes will recover yours, but there is a good bit of down time and it is expensive. The car was getting a 340 engine anyway, so a year correct restoration was already out of the cards. Would this now be called a resto-rod?)
One of the regrets that I have about my dash work was the fact that I used spray cans for the primer and the Satin Black paint. Its not that it doesnt look good I am quite pleased with the way it looks its the longevity that I am worried about. Wished I had painted it with a paint gun. I have never used a paint gun, and to be honest, I am a little nervous about using one. I cant paint worth a hoot. :sad9:
I took the cluster apart and cleaned the gauges and painted the needles with a light coat of Testers model car paint. (Cant use much it will weigh down the needles a little.) Did the same with the radio face (and also cleaned and lubed the knobs and tuner).
Cleaned all the bright metal with very fine steel wool and tested all the switched with an ohm meter.
The plastic molding that runs the length of the dash and frames the cluster and radio was the most difficult for me to do. Cleaned them well with a plastic cleaner that prepares it for paint (from Year One). Taped off the black parts and painted the chrome parts with NAPA Chrome paint. Let it sit for 3 days and removed the tape from the black and then taped off the chrome. The chrome paint held up well under the tape, I wasnt sure the black would so I painted the chrome first the new black paint would never be taped over. The taping took some time but it was worth it. The few things I had to touch up were done with model car paint and small brushes.
I am sure someone has a better way to do the letters under the switches there has to be a better way. I used model car paint with a tooth pick to put the paint on. Anyone want to share here?
I found a new speaker on Ebay and a new A/C mode switch at NAPA.
Assembled the dash and installed the wiring harness for it. The dash pad would be a few more weeks away, but the dash still looked good. Set it up on the work bench, popped open a Diet Pepsi, climbed up on my stood and just admired it.
On the roller coaster of feelings, I was on top of the hill.
Brian