1970 Dodge Dart

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Yeah it did. Haha
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A rainy afternoon in the garage. I thought for sure we were going to have to buy new glass for the car all the way around. All of the glass was covered in a thick milky white haze patina from 50 years of sitting around being neglected. I tried hot soapy water and glass cleaner ext but nothing would even scuff it. I even tried mineral spirits and all it did was make the haze even thicker and worse. Did some asking around and found an old auto detailers trick which worked like a charm. With some elbow grease and good tunes in the background My glass looks as close to brand spanking new as possible. I Couldn't get the old decals off, so I will probably just buy brand new ones and cover them up. Super super happy and saved myself a lot of money.


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What's the secret?!
 
Since the last project update, got the rear windshield, and driver side door glass/weather striping installed.
Next up doing the same thing on the passenger side.
Also wired in and installed the backup camera. Will be fabricating a under dash console to house the backup camera display unit.
I will also be installing the headliner and starting door panels once all the glass on passenger side is complete.



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Busy morning today,
Installed the insulation on the roof and then the freshly upholstered headliner beneath of it.
Got both sun visors installed, and rear inside trim that helps to hold headliner up.
Also installed rear door panels and driver side A Pillar cover.
Once the glass on the passenger side is done I can start upholstering my door panels and get those installed too.
Also need to finish the bezel for the center of my dash to surround my headlight, wiper switch, and charging port.

Forgot to add, I didn't do sail panels yet because I'm buying brand new ones.
Figured the beat up old ones aren't worth reupholstering at this point.




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Got some more interior work done today.
Ripped the dry rotted cracking original vinyl off my door panels and reupholstered them with some brand new black snake skin textured vinyl. I figured the snakeskin would break it up a bit and make it not look so plain since I don't have sewing skills to do fancy pleats and such. Should be a nice clean look when installed. I will also be doing the back door panels and Rear seat delete panel in this same material.



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Finished up and installed all my custom dash bezels, and installed passenger windows. All glass is done, door panels are upholstered and ready to go on this week.

We also got the intelitronix electronic speedometer sending unit calibrated and working correctly.

We decided to break from the norm and go for a fun test drive. The car will allegedly leave burning streaks of rubber everywhere she goes
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I'm a happy camper.

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More upholstery shenanigans.
Got the sail panels wrapped in fresh crushed velvet to match headliner, and installed them.
Also wrapped rear door panels in snake skin vinyl to match my front door panels.
Haven't installed any door panels yet.






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not only did we get all the visual stuff done but we replaced almost every single mechanical aspect of the entire car. New wiring bumper to bumper, all new lights, new gauges, new steering everything, new brake everything, new cooling system everything, new fuel system everything, all new rubber and gaskets/weatherstripping everywhere, rebuilt motor rebuilt transmission, all new suspension except leaf springs. Only thing not touched mechanically was the reared and its getting done too.
 
Little bit of fab work today...I had installed a floor mount gas pedal from jegs in my 70 Dart but the angle that the pedal set was totally atrocious, it sits at such a cocked back screwy angle its impossible to even give it half throttle.
If you want something done right ya gotta do it yourself...so being a knifemaker/metalworker by trade I hopped on my CAD program and drew up a design for a custom Gas pedal which I could mount on a wedge shaped bracket to change the angle of the pedal from canted way back to sitting just short of perfectly vertical making it much easier to switch from using Brake Pedal and throttle pedal without having to reposition your leg.
I machined the pedal out of 1/4" thick piece of billet aluminum. The finished pedal weighs 5 ounces. It's a bit on the large end but I have never liked those tiny little gas pedals so I made mine 2.5" wide X 7.5" tall. Perfect for my Sasquatch boots.
I still need to do one more modification to the plate itself, I want to chamfer all the holes to give them a dished look, this will shave a bit more weight and give the pedal a more 3 Dimensional look. I also am going to add a strip of rough textured skateboard tape to the middle unskeletonized section of the pedal to keep the foot from slipping when working the throttle.
Once i Install this one I will be making a matching one for the Brake pedal as well.
#builtnotbought


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The Long rocky road to the Mopar Nationals is getting shorter and shorter!

Here's my tentative "To Do" List of all the stuff I want done before I head up to the Nat's

I know I won't get everything on the list done in this horribly hot humid weather but the important must have's will be outta the way.
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Got some more stuff knocked off of my list.
I fabricated a matching brake pedal to go with the gas pedal and got them both installed in the car.
(Pardon the metal shavings and dirty carpet)

I also got the driver side Trim all finished as well as the driver side mirror install.

We went to do ball joints only to find out the upper control arms were F*^CKED.
Bought a new set at Jegs that were advertised as specifically made to fit a 1970 A body with 73 style fron disk conversion...
The fact that they didn't fit because they had the smaller 1970 style ball joint instead of the larger 73 style determined that was a lie.
Called Jegs and they wont have another set in until Wednesday so i get to drive 120 miles allover again for another part that probably won't fit.
It's been a nightmare trying to work on something else someone cobbled up so badly. Half the sh1t on this car has been a mix match of various years makes and models all cobbled up. Super frustrating considering the car is once again un-drivable and back on jack stands with the Nationals less than 2 weeks away...

Also, lower ball joints probably haven't been changed since 1970, even with heat they absolutely will not come loose.
Gonna have to cut the bolt heads off.

One step forward, 200 steps back.




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Built a simple under the dash mounted center console.

Early on in the build I had decided I wanted to have a back up camera because as we all know, muscle car mirrors from that era were basically useless, and I did not want to mess up 2 years of progress backing into something the day i finally got to drive her so here we are.

I purchased a backup camera that I liked, but upon arrival the unit was way way bigger than I thought it was so mounting it to the windshield like a GPS unit like I originally wanted to was not going to be possible.

Around the same time I got the camera we decided that we wanted speakers up front instead of just the Kickers in the package tray so the under dash style center console was the perfect remedy to both problems.

Go easy on me, this is my first time ever building something like this and while I am a skilled Knife maker, woodwork is NOT my forte' But i feel like the finished result will work just fine in my daily driver build.

I made the skeleton of the console out of wood, which has been upholstered with the same snake skin patterned vinyl that I used on all my door panels. Everything is held together with wood screws which I Will end up painting black after its all said and done.

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nice build. are you going to do anything to add grip to the peddles? i'm wondering how slick those will get with wet shoes
 
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