1974 Dodge Dart Sport rebuild

[TF360]

Seat looks great! Any new foam in there? Man your moving.

 

[Builderguy]

Seat looks great! Any new foam in there? Man your moving.

Rear seat foams were in great condition, no mice issues. I did clean up the frames and applied a rust stop over any affected areas. I did use "Poopf" on the foam as a precaution, but I didn't smell anything. Cheap insurance, I guess. The front seats, on the other hand, will get new foam.

 

[mpgmike]

You chose a Ford back-drop to show us your new back-prop?!?

 

[Builderguy]

You chose a Ford back-drop to show us your new back-prop?!?

Sure did, I thought everyone owned at least one Escape. With about 5 million of them sold, they are everywhere. LOL

 

[Builderguy]

Finished the framing to hold the intake filters in place. Built one door but then ran out of lumber. Time to start cutting holes for the exhaust fans. Radiator is back and was perfect until I bumped into the corner and bent a few fins. Not a problem, just another situation. @#$^$#@%
This rebuild is starting to add up to a little more than I expected. Luckily, only major things left are the trans, some large (not expensive) parts from DMT, tires, and the BC/CC. I was hoping to stay under 20K for all the parts and pieces, not sure if that is going to hold! We will see.

 

[Builderguy]

Spray booth doors are done! Still need to put the fans in and wire them up, but I got sidetracked with bumping into the engine stand all the time. Decided to do a little motor work.
This is as good as this ol' boy can get cross hatching with the tools that I have available. Slight scratch still there but you can't catch a nail on it so I am going to leave it. What do the Amish say, "Only the Lord is perfect." Still can't figure out the Platypus! Must have been a joke. Take this Darvin!

 

[Builderguy]

Working late. Trying a repair to the mouse damaged headliner. There is about a 1 1/2" hole and a much bigger area that was chewed up. Mixed up some sawdust and wood glue to see how that works. The headliner is pressboard so the wood glue mixture should work. The push pins are there to hold the headliner tight to a flat form on the bottom side. A little worried that it will shrink as it dries, causing issues. We will see. Also got the front arm rests dyed. Started on prepping the suspension parts for paint.

 

[Captainkirk]

You are workin' it like a house on fire! Loving the progress!

 

[Builderguy]

Took the morning off doing, you know, stuff. Took the afternoon off to go watch womans college soccer, my oldest son is the coach. Did work the night shift and got the LCA's primed. I will paint them as soon as I figure out what color they are supposed to be. LOL

 

[Builderguy]

I am going to use the original pistons, so I had to clean them up. I used to have a blaster that I only shot baking soda thru, but I sold it. Not a fan of mixing baking soda one day and Black Beauty the next. Bought a small one from HF, we will see how it does. Works just fine and did as expected. Got the pistons clean save a small amount in the back corners of the ring grooves. I used a pic to clean the groove a little better and then blasted again. There is still a very small amount in the back corners in a few spots, but these rings have plenty of back clearance so that should not be an issue. They will rotate without a problem. After soda blasting I rinsed them off well and then to make double sure the soda was gone, I soaked them in a bucket of water for an hour. Any leftover soda will dissolve in the water and not leave any film on the surface. Pull them out and air blast them dry.

 

[Builderguy]

As for the headliner, that repair is not working as well as it should. The glue is very slow to dry and it is shrinking. I am moving the headliner around to try and get the repair to dry flush with the interior surface. In addition, the best quick release tape I have, did not release as it should have. It pulled up some of the interior side material. Not a big problem as I was going to paint/dye the panel anyway. More worried about matching the texture.

 

[Builderguy]

Hold on a sec, that headliner repair just might be working after all. I braced it up to force the patched area to lay flat. Now that more of the glue has dried, it seems pretty solid. GO FIGURE! I will check again tomorrow, but for now it looks acceptable. Texture it, paint/dye it, and call it done. No wait, the last pic is the next area that needs a repair.

 

[Builderguy]

K-Frame needed some attention. Blasted it and found out it got banged around in the last 50+ years. I straightened out what I could reach and then noticed a tear. Welded that up and applied a couple coats of primer/rust stop. Still needs a coat of epoxy and a finish coat of satin or matte black (I can't remember which, but I will look it up) pretty sure it is, OKAY I am not sure, hell it could be semi-gloss. Anyway, it (and all the other suspension parts) will get their proper color coat.

 

[Captainkirk]

Pistons look good! K-frame as well. I had mine powder coated. Looks like some bracing was added to yours in the arcs?

 

[Builderguy]

Pistons look good! K-frame as well. I had mine powder coated. Looks like some bracing was added to yours in the arcs?

Yes Sir, for the front sway bar.

 

[Builderguy]

Could not catch a break on the brakes! I got the piston out but it is a little roughed up. A new piston is $33 but when I looked at the caliper, it is also messed up. I will save the originals, but for now, I ordered up a new aftermarket set. Less than $100 and no core charge. It will be fine as this car is not numbers matching and is not $80K, heck it is not even $40K, all it needs to do is stop as it should. Perfect!

The rotors and drums are still the original pieces, just made better!

The bridges, are also original

K-Frame is primed and painted with a Satin Black. Maybe should have been a little flatter. I looked into it and found that some were flat and some more of a satin finish, different suppliers I guess. If it continues to bother me, I can always spray a matte clear on it.

Ran out of places to hang parts from. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

LCA's also got their finish coat(s) of paint.

I will give it another day or so to dry and then put the front suspension back together.

 

[Builderguy]

Little better picture of the LCA's

 

[Builderguy]

I did not forget about the spray booth. A little close every day, just too many plates in the air right now to only focus on one thing.

 

[Captainkirk]

Looking good, sir! Keep in truckin'!

 

[340six]

Looks great. I keep have Dejavu. But it has now been 20 years this month since my car got paint

 

[Builderguy]

Starting to look like the booth might become permanent. Added 4' to the outside
bottom to protect the plastic. It would not take too much more to wall up the whole thing????
Still need to add a man door somewhere with a containment room. Probably right by the MoPar sign.

 

[TF360]

Think you got it rite with the Satin Black on the K-Frame

 

[Builderguy]

K-frame is done for now. Car fits in the booth. Little bit of cleaning, little bit of hanging white foam board, little bit of hanging lights, little bit of sanding, little bit moving the ladder out, and I can start spraying the final primer on the body. This is a good thing as this is taking far too long!

 

[Builderguy]

For all intents and purposes, the spray booth is DONE. At least the Secretary of War has proclaimed it done meaning, "finish the damn car already!" There is also a new list out.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

[mygasser]

if you have any more plastic sheeting (and time) it's worth sheeting over any exposed areas of stud work in the booth as they'll collect dust as is.
neil.