68 GTS Resto

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dart4forte

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Well, I thought I would start a thread on a car I purchased after the 1st of the year. Originally I was looking for a 70 340 Swinger and have been for several years. So, in January up pops a 68 big block GTS on the A body site. This is another "I gotta haves". I immediately PM'd the owner. No sooner than I PM'd the owner the posting was dropped by the mods for having a phone number and e-mail address attached which is against the site rules.

Anyway I sent several PM's to the OP and finally they were answered. What he had was a 68 big block/auto GTS with the original engine and trans as well as a good build sheet. The car has been sitting in his garage for over 20 years awaiting a resto that never came. With the cost of raising a family and the economy he decided the car needed to move.

So, through many e-mails and phone calls and scanning of pictures I finally purchased the car. Again a special thanks to MOPARTS member Satilite73 (John) for doing a lookover on the car.

I just received a call from the transporter and he should be in Yakivegas sometime late afternoon/early evening on Monday 2/11.

For those who may be interested I'll be posting some pictures of the car when it arrives and continuing a documentation of the resto similar to the thread I started back in 2006 when I started on my 64 Dart post car.
 
Here's some pics of the car being loaded up last week.
 

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SWEET RIDE!!! Welcome to being a "real" Big Block A-body owner!!!!!
 
It's here. Arrived here at 8 in the morning. We got her off the hauler and began checking it out. First concern was the top. As it turns out, not too bad. Just a few pin holes toward the front of the top. Trunk looked real good. As expected it needs quarters. Overall pretty good find. Now we'll get busy striping the car down to start on arresting the rust.
 

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Taking lots of pics. Started hunting the documentation today. I recovered the broadcast sheet from the back of the rear seat. It was marked with the #2 so maybe there's a #1? Also recovered a printout on the driver side floor. It's 8.5X11 titled "Vehicle Traveler"

At the top of the sheet it has the sequence #, shipping order, and vin.

Another strange thing we found was it appears that the rear pumpkin is unmolested. Has the round Suregrip tag and the ratio tag showing 3.91. The broadcast sheet shows Suregrip and 3.23.
 
The 91s could have been a Dealer install. Cool car, I like the color combo.
 
Engine is out
 

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Starting tear down then engine goes for freshening
 

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Car is completely stripped. Looks like it has been hit in the rear at some point in it's life. The passenger side rear quarter is complete bondo. Looks like it was sculpted with globs of bondo shoved behind to reinforce. Pretty much how body shops back in the 70's and 80's did things. Here's a pic of the piece I dug out. It even has someone's glasses imbedded in the bondo.

Should bee getting sheet metal soon. Going to start on the top first. A few more years under that ragged vinyl top and the roof would have been toast. It will need a lot of work but it's saveable.
 

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Heater box and wiper motor are next.
 

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nice find! i am doing the plymouth equivalant, with my big block formula S. you should have better luck with yours thou. alot more parts are avalible for darts. i had a hardtime finding sheet metal for mine.
 
nice score , i remember seeing the forsale post on the car , glad you got it
 
Nice car! You putting the Vinyl top back on? I myself like them.



Yes, the vinyl top is going back on. The fender signals will not. Not on the build sheet. I'm still trying to figure out the wheel/hubcap issue. Build sheet doesn't specify. I may just go with painted steel wheels and dog dish caps.
 
Yes, the vinyl top is going back on. The fender signals will not. Not on the build sheet. I'm still trying to figure out the wheel/hubcap issue. Build sheet doesn't specify. I may just go with painted steel wheels and dog dish caps.

Cool! I just picked up a Scamp that is pretty clean and it has an F4 or F5 Green vinyl top and the paint is F8 Ivy Green. Doing a power plant transformation when it gets off the truck.
You can see pics of it in the link thats in my signature below.
 
Cool! I just picked up a Scamp that is pretty clean and it has an F4 or F5 Green vinyl top and the paint is F8 Ivy Green. Doing a power plant transformation when it gets off the truck.
You can see pics of it in the link thats in my signature below.

Saw that, really clean car. My 64 Dart is my playtoy. It's pretty much done for now. i'll drive it this summer and maybe flip it next spring. I just finished putting 1 3/4" fenderwells on.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=13755&page=20
 
Got the manifolds shot blasted yesterday. Buddy of mine who owns a flow bench did some flow testing. We were quite surprised. I'll post those results on another thread.

We tore the engine down today. Had a few surprises. Engine is .030 over. Bores really look good. The rings were really tight as far as tension. We'll fix that with some low tension rings. The camshaft is a mystery cam. It has one number, 970600. No other markings.

I need to see if I can polish out the valve covers. They are really scratched up.
 

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Got the manifolds shot blasted yesterday. Buddy of mine who owns a flow bench did some flow testing. We were quite surprised. I'll post those results on another thread.

We tore the engine down today. Had a few surprises. Engine is .030 over. Bores really look good. The rings were really tight as far as tension. We'll fix that with some low tension rings. The camshaft is a mystery cam. It has one number, 970600. No other markings.

I need to see if I can polish out the valve covers. They are really scratched up.

Try evaporust on those valve covers. Nice project!
 
Can't wait to see the flow tests on the manifolds!!
 
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