1964 Dart restoration start

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realpank

realpank

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Hi everyone,

Just bought a 1964 Dart GT Coupe and I'm looking for extraneous tips on restoration. Body is all good metal and fixing holes and getting body in shape is not an issue. Just looking for those "special considerations" that you may have come across when you started. Slant six car.

Also looking for a what to order for the replacement carpet and a good place to buy. I'd love to be able to pick up in Detroit without shipping or buy in Ontario with free shipping(have looked at NOS)

And a referral for a place to purchase a headliner.

Thanks in advance, I look forward to meeting 64' owners and discussing specifics.

Chris
 

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Thanks for the replies,

I have everything that goes with the car for trim etc. Pic show car ready for body/prime.

Just looking for specific tricks/problems that might have come up when others were starting their resto's on 64' Darts.

I will need a new headliner and carpet so if any contacts on that would be great. Again, pick up in Detroit or Ontario.

Chris
 
robertob said:
Nice grille and headlight rings are tough to find. So are tail light lenses.
Click to expand...

My headlight rings were trashed, so I bought a set of only halfway thrashed ones (they were still squashed). I used one of the companies that used to advertise "trim and pot metal restoration" in the front of the Hemmings big yellow catalogs. This was 1998, and it cost $110 per side to fix, but they are beautiful. My tail light lenses have glued-up cracks. They look pretty rough...
 
I work on a 64 GT and have a few suggestions for the budget restorer of a driver. My comments are mostly specific to a 64 GT.
If you plan to keep the stainless double side molding you will need to replace the plastic clips. Instead of buying them for several dollars each (you need like 60) look up the molding clip for a 1980's era VW rabbit. They take a little finesse but work great. Most of the rest of the clips I have found pretty available. That stops a lot of rattles.
The chrome flakes off the dash and radio bezels. Having them professional re chromed is hard to prioritize and a big expense. Take them off and apart from the clear plastic gauge covers and paint them with chrome paint. It won't last forever. But, I bet you will be happy with the time and expense. One thing to remember is that those chrome- look paints will turn cloudy if you try to clear coat them. Us a plastic primer and then usually one coat.
While you have the dash cluster out unplug the main connector carefully and clean the pins and sockets. Get a good quality spray contact cleaner. Also clean the fuse contacts. Bad grounds cause all kind of problems. Also if you replace the dash bulbs don't increase the wattage. The extra heat melts the blue covers and warps the circuit board. Also clean or replace the foot switch for the high low beams.
If you have the intermittent brake light problem it is likely the turn signal switch. That is an expensive part but luckily available again, thanks Dan and Ray. Before you do that clean out all the sockets and consider soldering a ground wire on for each of the tail lights. In general clean connections before you replace. A dremel with a small wire brush is handy.
On things like the tail lights and headlight rings (and everything else) keep the old ones even if you find new ones. There are folks who can roll pretty bad wrinkles out of the lightweight metal of the headlight rings. Same on the tail lights, glue them wash them gently and they will look pretty good. The reproductions are just too expensive for me to enjoy on a driver. If you are missing only the center chrome ring on the tail lights an aftermarket stainless gauge bezel from a semi truck accessories site work great and look better than the plastic. Glue them on with hot glue or silicone in case you need to take them off.
Look on this site or other early abody sites for upgrading the electronic system and then put in a good ignition. Be careful about running a big stereo amp until you do an upgrade.
Last thing Remember new parts can be bad from the get go. Buy good parts and learn how to check things out before you just throw in new parts. A lot of very cheap parts fit these cars. You get what you pay for.
 
Take your time, don't set any schedule that will just frustrate you. If you run out and buy retail from Year One, etc, you will soon have $10K into a $4K car. I got the headliner for my 65 Dart ~$70 on ebay from someone who changed their mind on color. Might have been ebay for my carpet. rockauto has them for $120. Big parts are best on your local craigslist since shipping is a killer. NOS parts show up all the time on ebay. I think there are more new parts out there than cars that haven't rusted away.

Try to take everything apart once. Nothing has frustrated me more than having worked around something that I later ended up taking out anyway. It is usually easier to strip the whole interior to a shell. Label everything in zip lock bags and take many photos. I saw a neat carburetor rebuild on youtube from a professional. He has a camera setup that takes a photo every 10 sec as he disassembles one.
 
Thanks guys, greatly appreciated,

Just what I'm looking for.

Lucky: I don't suppose you have a link for the Semi-truck gauge bezel do you, I am missing the interior ring on one of the tail lights.

Cheers
 
Classic Industries doesn't carry a whole lot of parts for these cars. I have spent oer a year looking for everything to get mine restored and I just recently gave up and decided to trade it off to a guy in Austin TX for a 47 Jeep CJ2A with the original flathead motor and trans. The taillights will run around $500 for a pair I may be able to help you out with the front grille the guy trading for mine is only wanting the trans and a few other parts, but he decided to take the whole car cause I'm tired of looking at it. Oh and the interior will run you over a thousand for everything.

I wish you the best of luck with your restoration and you can always check out slant6.org as well, people tend to sell off parts for these on there as well.
 
Hi I'm also new to this . I have a 64 Dart Gt, I need help replacing the rear leaf springs, are there any other dodge or ply cars that use the same leaf springs. The other thing I'm looking for is the 2 rods that go to the carb on the 273 V8, think there called take down rods. Thanks for any help Rick
 
A a few cheap fixes:
1) Before you fix the floorboard and carpeting, do the headliner first.... and get a wiper seal kit (http://www.engine-swaps.com/Pages/ProductsYear/63.66aBody.html) to lessen the amount of water that will leak in on your new installation.
2) Remove any stale gas if the car has been sitting. Take your time gently taking the engine out of hibernation. Take the carburetor apart and clean it.
3) If it has all drum brakes, they are marginal at best. At the very least buy new wheel cylinders (cheap), bend your own lines, and get a dual chamber master cylinder to replace the single one (go to rockauto and order one for a '68 model). Your car will be much safer.
 
realpank said:
Thanks guys, greatly appreciated,

Just what I'm looking for.

Lucky: I don't suppose you have a link for the Semi-truck gauge bezel do you, I am missing the interior ring on one of the tail lights.

Cheers
Click to expand...

It will take me a bit to look them up.

You are looking for a 3" light bezel usually called a cab light

Like this
http://www.bigrigchromeshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?page=BRCS/PROD/LGCL/UP30508-3

I trimmed the screw mounting tabs off and glued them.

I will double check the molding clip number and send you a link.
 
Hi it took me over 5 years to do my 64GT as it has been a real project because when I was doing mine nothing was easy to find. I started my project in 1994 did not finish it until 1999. here is my 64 GT it was the first early a body with fuel injection. was in HOT ROD maz nov.1999

Have fun with the Dart
 

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