1967 Dodge Dart 270

Sean Officer · May 1, 2021

Hey all. I started posting in the new members area last week when I bought the car and figured it was time to move my posts to a more appropriate place now that the car is home and work has begun. It is a 67 Dart 270 with the 273 2bbl. I am the third owner. The previous two were father and son. My wife and I got it as a project car to work on together. Car is mostly original. found some body work that has been done. fender replaced and a couple of riveted patch panels on the passenger quarter panel. Not sure about the mechanicals yet. We know the engine is not seized. and the brakes don't work. The E-brake however does, amazingly enough. Started simple.....cleaning all the mouse **** out of it, cleaning some of the glass to see what condition it is in, and started a test area to see if the paint is savable. So far so good on that front. Washed it with Dawn, took the oxidation off with comet, and it is now soaking on Meguires #7 overnight. I will try a few more applications of the Meguires tomorrow before trying Wizard's shine master polymer sealant. If the paint comes around, I will hit the rest of the car. Also going to start wrenching tomorrow. Pull the plugs and soak the cylinders down with Marvel Mystery Oil and degrease the engine bay before we get too deep into it. I am ridiculously excited so if I approach "wall o' text" levels....sorry.

70dart340 · May 1, 2021

You're now the owner of a piece of history. Plenty of good people here to help you. Congratulations.

Dana67Dart · May 1, 2021

67 is by far the best A Body.

The GT trim package was clean and doesn't detract from the body lines like the 68 or 69 GT trim does.

It was the start of the entire 67 to 76 dart / duster line.

Far more attractive then Barracudas or Valients

65dartcharger · May 2, 2021

Great project! On this website there's a ton of knowledge. Good luck with it!

abdywgn · May 2, 2021

Nice looking project for you and your wife! Car is plain and simple...no p/s,p/b or a/c to get in the way. Meguires is good stuff. I had purchased a Dart from a friend that looked like it was Rustoleum damp red primer. I used a bunch of their products to revitalize the paint. PO came over a few weeks later and wondered how I painted it so fast. Told him what I did and he shook his head and said he would have kept it if he knew he didn't need to paint it. (BTW, paint was a "firemist red". very brilliant in sunlight).

jaws · May 2, 2021

Dana67Dart said:
67 is by far the best A Body.

The GT trim package was clean and doesn't detract from the body lines like the 68 or 69 GT trim does.

It was the start of the entire 67 to 76 dart / duster line.

Far more attractive then Barracudas or Valients

mygasser · May 2, 2021

Dana67Dart said:
Far more attractive then Barracudas or Valients

that's a matter of taste, maybe add an 'imo' to that statement, lol.

Sean Officer · May 7, 2021

Hey all,

Still in the investigation and planning phase. We have found quite a few things that need to be addressed. It needs a new rear crossmember and bumper, floor pan, and rear leaf spring bracket on both sides. not sure how far up the frame the rot goes. Gas tank is pretty banged up but there doesn't seem to be any holes that we have detected. will probably replace it anyway. We are not going to go full restoration right off the bat since neither of us has experience on all areas we would need to. We decided to start simple for now and are refurbishing the brake system as I took an unexpected first cruise down the driveway yesterday while moving it out of the garage to wash it. I know the service brakes were not working but the e-brake was providing enough resistance to keep the car from easily moving when on a flat surface. Not so much when 3000 lbs of steel is rolling down a slight decline. I think this is the first time I am thankful for the mud hole at the end of the driveway. Been doing studying up on the work I need to do. Will get some pictures of the work in progress once the parts get here.

Dana67Dart · May 7, 2021

Good plan (IMHO

)

Sean Officer · May 7, 2021

So figured out why the e brake stopped working. My wife found a section of the cable laying on the garage floor. Oops. =)

Dartswinger70 · May 7, 2021

Drive it the way it is for a while once you tear them down for resto they may be off the road for a while.

Sean Officer · May 7, 2021

Definitely plan on it. We are thinking we want to make it mechanically sound prior to going full resto with it.

Sean Officer · May 9, 2021

This is our plan of action so far. I am posting it here so hopefully if someone sees something wrong or some way we could do it better, they will let us know =). We are very new at this. We greatly appreciate your input.

10" drum brakes completely shot. Full rebuild required. Parts on the way. Disks in the future.
Rear cross member badly rusted out. Needs replaced.
Rear bumper badly rusted out. Needs replaced.
Suspension Upgraded. Looking at Hotchkis TVS System and some stiffer torsion bars.
New wheels and tires. Looking at 15" wheels with 265/60/15 tires
New Shocks all the way around
Fuel tank dented and prefer replacement
Test and fix electrical system.
Engine needs tested and rebuilt if necessary
Exhaust rusted out and needs replaced. Thinking headers and Flowmaster American Thunder header back exhaust.
repair leaking rear differential? Not sure if it is actually leaking as the brake line above it is.
Needs full floor pan replacement.
remove and patch panels on passenger quarter and repair
Patch drivers side quarter panel
Need to remove undercoating and reapply
Prime entire car until ready for paint
Carpet needs replaced.
Seats need new upholstery
Drivers side window rolls up wonky
overall body prep
fresh paint

I am sure this plan will not survive engagement with the enemy but it's a start.

Sean Officer · May 18, 2021

We started replacing the brake system this past weekend. I am replumbing the whole car as the lines were questionable. Have 3 of the 4 drums rebuilt at the moment and have the rear plumbing done. Also waiting on the swage cutting tool to get here to separate the hubs from the front drums. Master cylinder is also bled and ready to be installed. Have a new proportioning valve on the way as the old one had a fitting that I couldn't get out without ruining the valve.

Sean Officer · May 28, 2021

Got some good work done the last few weeks. Finished rebuilding the brake system. Ended up having to get a new proportioning valve as one of the fittings was jammed right in there. Got the basic ignition stuff replaced. Cap, rotor, plugs, wires, voltage regulator, and ballast resistor. Those last two started smoking when we were testing for spark. Got the carb completely rebuilt. It was actually in pretty good condition, just dirty. Got a temp gas tank rigged and got it up and running. Sounds like it's got a lifter ticking and possibly a rod knocking as well. It is also leaking oil from the rear somewhere. Even with all that, after 37 years.....IT'S ALIVE! There is even a mouse nest strewn across my driveway. Evicted!

jaws · May 28, 2021

Check the oil sender for your oil leak.

Sean Officer · May 28, 2021

jaws said:
Check the oil sender for your oil leak.

Thanks for the info. We will check that out tomorrow. We are already talking about a rebuild with the lifter noise and the oil leak. I want to get it on the road and blow the dust out of her but need to get the gas tank checked out first. It was drained before it was put in storage and is pretty dented up. I want to be sure there are no leaks and that the fuel line is in decent shape. The wife wanted to go get an engine stand and hoist and pull it today to get a better look at things. (she is an engine girl). I need to do some more research on what all we would need to do to get the proper parts. Stuff like taking it to a machine shop to get all the measurements we would need. Haven't looked into the cylinders yet to see if there is any serious damage yet. It is definitely burning oil but I am hoping that is from sitting so long and 5 days of the cylinders soaking in Marvel Mystery Oil.

Sean Officer · May 28, 2021

And on a little different note, we are considering upgrading the performance if we do a rebuild. I am assuming we will need to upgrade from my 7.25 rear end to a 8.75 if we are going to go for around 250 HP. We are looking at domed pistons and the "302" heads with a cam tailored to the engine components we are going to use. Also want to try to get ahold of either the intake from a charger/commando engine or the Eddy LD4P intake with a 4 barrel carb. Headers and dual exhaust as well. This is going to be a street car. I am also aware of the arguments for a bigger engine but really want to keep the original block.

jaws · May 29, 2021

273s will clatter a little, they have solid lifters. New gas tanks are cheap, so just replace it and fuel lines. Just make sure you save your old lock ring on the sender, new ones are junk.

Sean Officer · Jun 2, 2021

Thank you for the info Jaws. She sounds much better after about 2 hours of idle time with MMO in the fuel and oil and a VERY short cruise. But alas, we checked the oil sending unit, distributor, and back edges of the valve cover gaskets and that is not where the leak is coming from so we are pulling then engine for a rebuild. Picked up an engine stand today and grabbing an engine hoist from the local equipment rental place tomorrow or Friday and hope to have it out by the end of the weekend. The wife has a Jeep event to go to Saturday so we'll see. Ordered a copy of "HOW TO REBUILD THE SMALL BLOCK MOPAR" and will dive deep once it gets here. Shouldn't need it to get the thing apart though, just in making sure it goes back together correctly.

VintageRacer67 · Jun 2, 2021

Sean Officer said:
She sounds much better after about 2 hours of idle time with MMO in the fuel and oil and a VERY short cruise. But alas, we checked the oil sending unit, distributor, and back edges of the valve cover gaskets and that is not where the leak is coming from so we are pulling then engine for a rebuild. Picked up an engine stand today and grabbing an engine hoist from the local equipment rental place tomorrow or Friday and hope to have it out by the end of the weekend. The wife has a Jeep event to go to Saturday so we'll see. Ordered a copy of "HOW TO REBUILD THE SMALL BLOCK MOPAR" and will dive deep once it gets here. Shouldn't need it to get the thing apart though, just in making sure it goes back together correctly.

I love it Sean. I have an old beat up ‘67 I’m working on too. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Sean Officer · Jun 2, 2021

Thank you. I just checked out your dart. Beautiful car. In much better condition that mine...for now =). Kinda wish I was still in cali, if nothing else for the lack of rust. I will definitely keep tabs on your progress. Just don't be too surprised if I steal some ideas from you. =)

Sean Officer · Jun 13, 2021

Got the engine and transmission out today. Will probably get to really tearing it apart next weekend. Looking to do a DIY hot tank after i get it apart and scrape the bulk of the gunk off.