Brian's 67 dart
All the while I was working on the dash in the evenings, the good weather Saturdays were spent on the body.
A few quick comments on the basic body (the rolling chassis with all removable pieces off the body) as it arrived from the previous owner. The body had been taken down to the bare metal and primered from the windshield back. The engine compartment, firewall, and the cowl were still the original dark red. The floor and trunk had been stripped and sealed.
There were two problems with the cowl area: some surface rust in a couple of spots and 4 bent or twisted strips in the cowl vent. No a very big problem for most folks, but Im not most folks. The first weekend after the stripping and priming the engine compartment, I stripped the cowl area to bare metal. I wanted to get a good look at the rust and make sure that it was no worse than I had thought it wasnt. There was some slight pitting with plenty of good metal left. Treated the area with some rust treatment and applied a thin layer of filler to smooth the area. Sanded a while and removed too much filler. Applied another thin layer and then sanded it off again. Did this once more and didnt sand quite so much this time.
My theory on body work is that you have to have some natural aptitude for it and I dont! I am stubborn and a bit of a perfectionist, so I will keep at it till it looks decent but it takes me sooo long.
The next weekend saw the application of sandable primer and block sanding of some of the cowl. A lot of sanding and a lot of primer (see previous paragraph). My brother-in-law walked over and make some comments which launched some more primer and sanding. Septembers first weekend brought a sore arm and good dose of disgust with my lack of abilities for body work.
The next weekend, my BiL (Brother-in Law) and I attacked the strips in the cowl vent. It looked like someone had put a screwdriver between 2 sets of strips and pried them apart from each other and then turned the screwdriver sideways and pushed one high and its twin low. Getting them close was no big deal, getting them right was! Pulling the low ones up with a belt and pushing the high ones down with some gentle persuasion got things a lot closer. But
it didnt make them flat nor straight. You couldnt deform or gouge them the only repair would be to cut the vent out and weld in another entire vent. It took a days worth of gentle pulling, pushing, and clamping to get them straight. Everything looked good till you laid a straight edge across the vent strips, some a little high and others a little low still. After pulling the straight edge off, you could see the offending strips when looking sideways across the cowl. My BiL swore that he would point them out to passer-bys if I ever showed the car. Two hours later, even my BiL was satisfied. Primered the entire cowl and block sanded looked good!
I was worn out! I decided that the next weekends would be devoted to the engine. This would allow me to attack the body later with a better attitude.
Remember the 340 I could get for a song? I had paid the song and still had no 340, but I had acquired a bunch of excuses; he wasnt there when I went by, hes on vacation
. . I pushed the issue and got a promise of resolution by the next weeks visit to our shop. Next Friday rolled around and bad news arrived it had set out all winter with water in it and cracked the block. I wasnt born yesterday, but Booby had always been honest with me and I am a customer who has spent thousands of dollars on his truck. Ok, fine, I still want it. Next weeks visit was even more smelly. It had been hauled off for scrap metal by mistake. Now wait a minute! Are you telling me that a guy that owns a junk yard let an engine worth its weight in gold freeze and break and then hauled off a set of heads, intake and exhaust manifolds, windage tray, etc that could easily bring a grand or better for junk price? The song was returned with apologies. I have raised two boys, sounds like a story they would have tried to pull over on me I didnt believe it then and I didnt buy it now; but I let it drop. There are hills to die on and this wasnt it for me. I am not sure what happened but I suppose that someone had bragged about having a 340 and when asked what he would take for it, gave a figure but didnt expect anyone to buy it. When Bobby arrived with money in hand, the 340 wasnt there.
I had gone and picked up the 273 and the 904 the week before and took them up to the shop. Now I had to find a 340, a task I didnt look forward to.
It is mid to late September now. I have some pics but will need to scan them in.
Brian