69 dart build

[nwdart]

Here we go,the beginning of her transformation. 69 /6 nevada car been in wa.state 13yrs sitting outside tore apart last 10. got her nov 2011 ,started cleaning and cleaning trying to to come up with a game plan as if we ever stay on track. first pics, more to follow. nwdart

 

[nwdart]

It all started innocently enough because i had a lot of good parts around the shop left over from my 73 rallye challenger build,340 and 727 with 54k original miles,went 360/360 built727 in chally ,complete front k frame, went altercation,back when i was making decent money-miss those days!. also had the convo pros with bfg,s. so thats when the search began, little did i know what was ahead lol. my buddy had the dart with big plans but no garage. /6 was already gone, vinyl top was off,trim was all off and a case of spray bomb primer was on her. long story short my buddy had borrowed a crab pot puller from me 2 years prior and he wasn,t making any progress on the dart so i thru in a electric downrigger and the dart was mine. top pics are from day one. also would like to thank all you guys for your info and ideas. did not know fabo existed yet when i started the build, oh and how things snowballed. got the car in my shop and started inspecting everything and wow super solid. lower quarter pass. side was only rust thru on entire car where stuff had fallen in the trunk drop off. more pics.

 

[nwdart]

so this is my first 100 percent ground up build ,that never would of gone to this level had it not been for finding fabo. so started tearing her apart,sanding and sanding...... now i want to do the bottom of the car if going to this much effort. another friend has a homemade rotissiere that was formerly made to spin big boat molds and made out of 4x6 tube all 2 guys can do to stand 1 end up let alone move around. took a excavator to lift each half on to my car trailer and a come along hooked to my workbench to unload them. amazing what we will do! after fabbing brackets to bolt the car to the spinner had to jack the car up 42 inches to bolt everything together and wolla redneck engineering at it,s best.

 

[nwdart]

more pics of the adventure.also couple pics of the challenger at a lions club benefit/arm drop 1/8 mile taking out a new hemi that called me out,great fun!

 

[clinteg]

Looks like you have a good project on your hands. I too would probably not be doing some of the things to my 69 if it weren't for FABO either. This is a great site. Good luck on your project and look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[nwdart]

Looks like you have a good project on your hands. I too would probably not be doing some of the things to my 69 if it weren't for FABO either. This is a great site. Good luck on your project and look forward to seeing the progress.

thanks clintleg ,the ideas on here are dangerous lol .

 

[nwdart]

bottom is in great shape,carpet was gone already as car sat for years,couple pinholes pass. floor where spare parts were sitting. let the cleaning and sanding begin. took the whole bottom down to metal,boy that was fun. put eastwood rust converter on everything then rustoleum gloss black,looks great.

 

[nwdart]

got bottom of car looking nice,time to move on...not ! kept looking at the cute little wheel wells,have the convos off the challenger remembering thats how this all started.wheels were not going to fit. wolla my first mini tub. fabo info made me do it, shame on you guys! convo pros are 5x4.5 ,out goes the 7-1/4 ordered a 8-3/4 from mopar madness out of colorado,awesome guys. rick asked if i wanted it narrowed,walked me thru the process, spent a lot of phone time with me. ended up with it narrowed,1 piece axles, green bearings,spring perchs set, spring hanger relocate boxs and ss springs. first big purchace,

 

[nwdart]

my first real attempt at body work,as my challenger had one repaint in 88 and was still a 5 footer when i had it redone , sanded down to original primer and professionally repainted. well the dart is going to be 90 percent all done by me,as i am sure will need some help along the way. sanded down the surface rust on the roof, very small poc marks of rust . put por 15 on it, then epoxy primer and hi build primer,sand..sand..sand. on sides of car welded up all trim holes and fuel filler as fuel cell will be in trunk. fixed the rear quarter in three patch panels . tried making patch panel in one piece lot of movement it looked like crap.have a lot of respect for you guys that make it look easy! progress never seems to go fast enough, seems learning curve is a little bigger than imagined .but i am having a blast!

 

[nwdart]

pretty much have pass. side ready for final block . now back to drivers side, will it ever end. oh ya just started. keep on sanding ,have to bounce around a little to get away from just sanding. decided to start the mini tub,read up on it here and jumped in running. air cut off wheel and sawzall , removed inner wheelwell ,cut inner lip off to flush out to frame. installing spring boxs now also

 

[nwdart]

tubs are going pretty good, very happy with the results, not all done yet but close.

 

[nwdart]

what do think ! 1st pic is the factory indentation in wheelwell it was bugging me so i cut and smoothed it out.

 

[nwdart]

once i got going on spring locate , gotta do sub frame connectors, remember the snowball? have one welded in , shows in last pic. so that is where the project is at now ,more to come as time and cash allow. my next big goal is to get the bottom repainted (remember it was all done once) rear hung and breaklines run. make some casters for the front and get her back on the ground. the car is going to be painted burnt orange like the new challengers, so ordered enough to do bottom,trunk,jambs and engine bay. seems like a good place to learn. better get off my a.. later nw dart.

 

[nothingbutdarts]

Do you have any completed pictures of the Dart?? I know, it's an old thread!

Thanks!