1970 Dart Swinger - father and son project

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marksmopars

marksmopars

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Hi folks, pretty new here and have begun a project on a 1970 swinger with my son. He found it out in the field, we dragged it home and the project has begun.

We removed the interior which was intact but had been redone by an amateur and it showed. The car looks pretty good with some rust in the lower rear quarters and on the bottom of one fender. The grille is out of a 72 and is busted, the bumpers are bent and the valences are squashed but repairable. Also some damage to the driver side quarter/door area and the quarter window is busted. After taking out the interior we found some rust in the drivers floor and at least one small spot on all three other passenger foot-pads, but this is pretty minor as the frame is solid. The drivers rocker is rusted also. The trunk is solid and the area under the hood is also rust free, these had some problems there.

The engine is intact and reportedly a rebuild which was never run - it turns over and cranks when we put power to the starter, no radiator for the slant six beast. The tranny is a three on the tree and part of the linkage is missing, as is the driveshaft. But hey, only 96,000 miles on the car! The drive train is all 6 banger, little 3 speed doesn't even have mounts for a floor shift. Rear is a 7 1/4 with drum brakes all around. I like 340's, but don't have extra's and would need to change everything, so just looking at maybe running the 6 at least at first.

We purchased the car for $250, which seems reasonable. We don't have much money but we do have skills. We have some tools also so will be doing this as a low budget affair. We went to the local metal dealer and purchased a 4'x8' piece of sheet metal for making patches and fabricated replacement panels for the lower inner and outer quarters and have mounted them for fit check. Looks pretty good so far and is where we are today.

I have included a few pictures, though not great they show our challenges. I would love to hear your thoughts out there, please feel free to chime in on anything related or not, I look forward to more as this progresses. Next time will post pic's of our home made patches!
 

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poor car :/
Well I am sure you will make it look good in the end can't wait to see
 
Ambitious project! Definitely beyond my fab skills. Looks forward to following your progress. Welcome to the board!

What are your plans for the car?
 
Lots of work ahead for you guys but the father and son bonding will be worth it. Can't wait too see what you guys can do with it. Any plans for a the drive train?
 
Glad to see another father/son project wish there were more kids interested in these old cars. Show us some more pics of what you have done already. We love to see people making panels doing stuff on the cheap.
 
Welcome aboard! That's a 72 grille on there, so you can get an early start on your shopping list. Good luck on the father/son deal, it can be enjoyable. My son wasn't really interested in the car projects, but my daughter dove in head first when we were working on her 72 Mustang. L8r

Jim
 
All - Lots of great input from this group, please accept my thanks. I did know it was a 72 grille, seems the 70/71 is pretty hard to find especially for a cheap skate like me! We plan on getting this thing on the road, will use the original /6 drive train for now and concentrate on seeing if we can get the body work completed in a satisfactory way. I spent a number of years doing auto-body work back in the 70's so this is just like stepping back in time for me. I am teaching my son as we go, hoping to at least develop an appreciation for the effort along the way. I am a big fan of the 340 and I have several mopar big blocks set aside which is a thought as well, maybe we will resurrect the 413 sitting in the corner, that would be interesting? My son wants a driver so that may be a NO, but for now our plans are get it on the street by springtime. I'll get some pics of the progress and see if we can post regularly, learning a lot from the lessons you have all had, glad to be a part of this great group.
 
Not bad at all. A friend of mine just paid $1800 for a car in that sort of shape. No dents, but worse rust in the quarters/wheel lips. Non running 318, brakes seized, etc.
 
Looks like potential to me! Couple of deep bruises. Thats where I would start,getting those deep dents pulled out,and then new 1/4 panels.

AMD makes the best sheet metal if you are planning on buying any.

That looks like a 71-2 grill.
 
Awesome - appreciate it greatly. You are not far away. I think for now we are good, but let me know if you are going to be in the area as i always like to BS about this stuff!
 
Buy a straight door, you will need it to aligin the 1/4 panel edge up and the 1/4 window.
Father and son projects are cool.
Doing a duster with my 11yr old it will be his first car
 
Thanks for saving that dart. Doesn't look that bad to me. You should see the dart sport that I am doing all of the metal work on right now. Both sides look like that.
 
I have taken a few pictures at the urging of FABO members and am posting them here. what we have is patches for both rear quarters on the bottom. I have pictures of both sides with the new patches held on with screws as fit check, ready to weld in place. I tool one off so we can see the inner patch, note that we even formed the bead rolls so it will look factory once we finish, though I used a 5 lb maul, not a bead roller. If you look close you will see that I used a flanger to prepare the quarter to receive the new patches, I have found that it creates a barrier to assist in controlling any warpage which the welding wants to create. When I worked in the body shop back in the seventies we used to braze these in place. I have access to a wire feed now and think that produces better results, but will practice on the floor boards to see if I can weld good enough to pass, if I don't think I can then I will braze them as I know I can make that work. Also did some work with a porta-power on the drivers quarter and door, I think I can save these as have fixed worse. We ground the lower drivers quarter because it had bondo in it and I thought it was rusty, turns out it was bent, which we will fix. (remember - no money but we have skills!) Also included a picture of the drivers floor pan after removal, this is gonna be much harder to fab because of the complex angles. I think either need to make it in multiple parts or , please no - BUY a part! Many of you have indicated there are decent repo parts available. But how can I pay $500 for quarters when I paid $250 for the car? Besides I like being married and id I bought quarters for this car that might be in doubt! Besides this is a budget build and I really like that approach to life, something to do with being a farm boy that makes it real hard to pay someone to do something I can do myself.

Anyway, here are the pictures as promised, included a few pictures of my T/A motor ready to install, recently ground the bumps off the bump stick, expensive hobby and darned hard way to learn about oil composition. I included the pics for two reasons, one is my son says to just drop it into the dart, the second is because I saw somewhere a pic of 3 deuces that just looked wrong, center carb was out of position, and the guy was saying he could not fit air cleaners onto it. The aircleaners don't fit because something is messed on the manifold! Also, took the manifold off so you can see what a T/A intake looks like when you grind the "bump" out of the intake port, this is why the pushrods are crooked so the ports can be made bigger, they are the same size as any other 340 out of the factory. Anyway, thanks to all for the great support out there.
 

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Nice! How did you form the ribs in the trunk floor extensions?
 
All you mopar fans out there, I need your opinions. I need a radiator for this beast and have found some aluminum units out there for under $100.00, good for /6 only, but that is our starting point. The question is have any of you utilized this equipment and what was your experience. I am trying to find if it is good stuff or just more junk, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
What's that hiding under the cover in the background of the first pic in post #16? L8r

Jim
 
Nice project you have and what skills you have. I'm sure it will turn out great. What color will you go with?
 
gerahead said:
What's that hiding under the cover in the background of the first pic in post #16? L8r

Jim
Click to expand...

Jim - That would be my T/A challenger which you see in my avatar. I have a few older mopars, that one is my prize cost me $1,050.00 and I did not know what T/A meant. I did know what a 340 4 speed was though. More proof that god loves me.
 
65dartcharger said:
Nice project you have and what skills you have. I'm sure it will turn out great. What color will you go with?
Click to expand...

Haven't gotten to that point yet, though it has a dark blue trim on some of the interior and my son likes that. We have some time yet to make that decision. We will need to redo upholstery also, lots of decisions to make - fortunately we are receiving lots of ideas and moral support here. We are open to your suggestions!
 
Question, why put a V8 in there and make it nose heavy when there is a perfect slant under the hood to buile power off of?
 
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