Well, it's not done by any means but I was able to drive it Friday night. After dinner with the guys and walking up and down the closed off downtown street for our city's cruise-in, I decided to go cruising around town and get to know my new Mopar. The list grew a little and the order of the items needing addressed were rearranged, but it's out and I can't wait to keep putting miles on it.
1974 Dart Sport
- Thread starter QMopar
- Start date
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Driving my car last summer was fun but scary at times. The bushings are shot and there’s definitely an alignment issue. We started tearing it apart and will address the cracked upper control mounts as well as install a sway bar. A buddy found some used CPP on Craigslist so I’ll be installing those too. Might do a couple other things if time & $$$ allows.
Test fitting the Hellwig bar
Test fitting the Hellwig bar
I ran it by 72bluNblu and he said it was fairly common so much so that there was a service bulletin:
So my buddy helped me weld them up last year but with everything off he made a plate that will tie everything together. Here they're all cleaned up:
And here it's done with the plate welded:
Really looks nice and shouldn't crack again. Thanks to 72bluNblu for the heads up that this is a common problem.
I tried the CPP upper control arms and could not get them to work. I bought them used on Craigslist so I don't know what part number they are or what they are supposed to fit but they didn't work for me. So this happened:
Slid right in (with a slight amount of nudging) and can't wait to get the rest of the bushings installed. That's the latest!
So my buddy helped me weld them up last year but with everything off he made a plate that will tie everything together. Here they're all cleaned up:
And here it's done with the plate welded:
Really looks nice and shouldn't crack again. Thanks to 72bluNblu for the heads up that this is a common problem.
I tried the CPP upper control arms and could not get them to work. I bought them used on Craigslist so I don't know what part number they are or what they are supposed to fit but they didn't work for me. So this happened:
Slid right in (with a slight amount of nudging) and can't wait to get the rest of the bushings installed. That's the latest!
Forgot to post pics of strengthening the LCAs. Obviously, this happened before the above pics. Following the lead of Jim Lusk, and his video on YouTube, we cut the weld on the bump stop mount, squeezed the two halves closer together to take up the slop, and re-welded the mount. Only had to do this to one side. One side had the collar, the other didn't - this is the one without the collar and it had more slop. Once we did this, I couldn't install the bump stop nut with a socket through the middle of the LCA. It compressed it that much. I had to use alternate means to secure it but the torsion bar hex is much, much better and matches the other LCA in movement.
So, the previous owner installed a B&M shifter and I'd like a floor shift steering column. They can be pricey (for me anyway). I wondered if I could just cut off the offending column shift nomenclature and display. Searching the forum I found "Modifying Auto on the Column Steering Collars - NO Welding Required!!" by 360Scamp. I figured I go ahead and 'practice' cutting and grinding the PRND21 on my spare column. Here we go!
Before:
Two hours later:
More grinding and sanding and priming and painting resulted in this:
Certainly not perfect but totally acceptable for me - the Dartster is just a driver. Now, I gotta finish this thing so I can actually drive it!
Before:
Two hours later:
More grinding and sanding and priming and painting resulted in this:
Certainly not perfect but totally acceptable for me - the Dartster is just a driver. Now, I gotta finish this thing so I can actually drive it!
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