Serj22
Well-Known Member
Well, I went to go buy another 4 door Dart, and was intending to part it out to the 68, but then the girlfriend wanted a cool car. She fell in love with it, and refused to get out of it the night I brought it home. She sat in it with her laptop, and stayed there for a few hours.
So I guess it's getting cleaned up and kept. It's a "nice" high option Dart Custom.
It has power steering, power brakes, discs up front, A/C and an AM radio that still functions; driving it is a 318 that's seen some use, but still runs pretty well. It burns a small amount of oil and the power steering seal leaks a bit, but other than that, it's a good car. It has been neglected though for what seems like its whole life. There's also a nice 8 1/4 rear in the back.
The owner before me already did the upgrade to HEI and did it well - heat sink against the unit too, as well as a high output alt. I bought it over in Tracy and made the drive back to the bay area without a single hitch, and drove it around the rest of yesterday and today. No issue.
It's seen better days, but she'll be nice again.
He mentioned the previous owner before him spray painted the roof white after he took the vinyl top off. That was apparent, and when water got on the roof, loose white paint washed down the back of the car.
So we took it to 7 flags and she scrubbed the piss out of it to get whatever else off of it. The water rinsing off the car was just black and brown.
We finally had the whole thing cleaned off, and all the loose white paint fell off. We took it home and i got out my nicest brush, some spot glazing putty - for a couple tiny tiny scratches in the metal, and then went to work. I got a nice white gloss brush coat on, and got another one on this morning after a quick 320 sanding on the previous coat. It looks nice enough, and after about 6 or 7 coats I'll 2000 gritt the whole roof, and then polish it out to one nice smooth finish. I utilize this method to paint engine boxes for boats, and they wind up pretty damn clean, and you'd think I sprayed them.
The engine bay was mostly just filled with dirt and grime. I didn't want to risk gunking it without knowing all that's going on with the electrical system, so we got out a ton of hand wipes and paper towels and went to work. We're about 25% of the way through the engine bay.
The idea behind this build is to not spend a butt-ton of money on this car, but wind up with a nice looking and working driver. There's no performance modifications in mind, as she's not into it, which is fine. It makes the 318 acceptable. I can have my fun in my turbo slant.
That's the other thing - she couldn't really get over the fact of how used to mirrors she is, so for a temporary resolution I found a $10 mirror at Pep-Boys and mounted it so she could see. It doesn't look awful, and I'd rather drill two holes in the car than have her crash it because she couldn't see something.
So that's done, and I wired in a modern radio and mounted it under the A/C. I'd rather not cut up the dash as it's in pretty nice shape. Ill run speakers similar to the hidden speaker brackets I have in my 68 Dart. They'll be mostly invisible I'm hoping.
The upholstery in it is also super nice. It's in great shape with no rips, tears, anything - just dirty.
The carpet is mostly trash, so that will be replaced eventually, and the headliner is missing. There's two bows in the trunk but I feel like there should be at least 4? Or did they only have 2?
Once i have the roof done and polished off, I think I might do a little light body work, weld some nails to a couple dents and pull them out, and then prep it and drop it off at Maaco or something for a $500 paint job on the body. We'll see. I still haven't decided yet.
She's heavily into a aquatic color we saw on a Chevy Nomad at a car show.
It was very similar to this:
I think it will be a nice little cruiser in the end. I'll keep everyone updated.
So I guess it's getting cleaned up and kept. It's a "nice" high option Dart Custom.
It has power steering, power brakes, discs up front, A/C and an AM radio that still functions; driving it is a 318 that's seen some use, but still runs pretty well. It burns a small amount of oil and the power steering seal leaks a bit, but other than that, it's a good car. It has been neglected though for what seems like its whole life. There's also a nice 8 1/4 rear in the back.
The owner before me already did the upgrade to HEI and did it well - heat sink against the unit too, as well as a high output alt. I bought it over in Tracy and made the drive back to the bay area without a single hitch, and drove it around the rest of yesterday and today. No issue.
It's seen better days, but she'll be nice again.
He mentioned the previous owner before him spray painted the roof white after he took the vinyl top off. That was apparent, and when water got on the roof, loose white paint washed down the back of the car.
So we took it to 7 flags and she scrubbed the piss out of it to get whatever else off of it. The water rinsing off the car was just black and brown.
We finally had the whole thing cleaned off, and all the loose white paint fell off. We took it home and i got out my nicest brush, some spot glazing putty - for a couple tiny tiny scratches in the metal, and then went to work. I got a nice white gloss brush coat on, and got another one on this morning after a quick 320 sanding on the previous coat. It looks nice enough, and after about 6 or 7 coats I'll 2000 gritt the whole roof, and then polish it out to one nice smooth finish. I utilize this method to paint engine boxes for boats, and they wind up pretty damn clean, and you'd think I sprayed them.
The engine bay was mostly just filled with dirt and grime. I didn't want to risk gunking it without knowing all that's going on with the electrical system, so we got out a ton of hand wipes and paper towels and went to work. We're about 25% of the way through the engine bay.
The idea behind this build is to not spend a butt-ton of money on this car, but wind up with a nice looking and working driver. There's no performance modifications in mind, as she's not into it, which is fine. It makes the 318 acceptable. I can have my fun in my turbo slant.
That's the other thing - she couldn't really get over the fact of how used to mirrors she is, so for a temporary resolution I found a $10 mirror at Pep-Boys and mounted it so she could see. It doesn't look awful, and I'd rather drill two holes in the car than have her crash it because she couldn't see something.
So that's done, and I wired in a modern radio and mounted it under the A/C. I'd rather not cut up the dash as it's in pretty nice shape. Ill run speakers similar to the hidden speaker brackets I have in my 68 Dart. They'll be mostly invisible I'm hoping.
The upholstery in it is also super nice. It's in great shape with no rips, tears, anything - just dirty.
The carpet is mostly trash, so that will be replaced eventually, and the headliner is missing. There's two bows in the trunk but I feel like there should be at least 4? Or did they only have 2?
Once i have the roof done and polished off, I think I might do a little light body work, weld some nails to a couple dents and pull them out, and then prep it and drop it off at Maaco or something for a $500 paint job on the body. We'll see. I still haven't decided yet.
She's heavily into a aquatic color we saw on a Chevy Nomad at a car show.
It was very similar to this:
I think it will be a nice little cruiser in the end. I'll keep everyone updated.
