70 Dart Swinger Restorationish

[pyrogen007]

Decided to go with Roll-bar & Chassis black, this is a driver not a show car.

 

[pyrogen007]

Y'all that posted photos of your projects, thanks! Gives me motivation and its cool seeing others doing what I consider the worst part of this hobby, rust removal and body work.

 

[crackedback]

Nice work,

Pull the front shocks and finish priming the shock tower under the hardware...

 

[pyrogen007]

Good call, I haven't painted the engine bay yet and I still have to remove the old /6 suspension for the new/restored V8 stuff, I am planning on doing suspension mounting points and the front frame rails while the K frame/front suspension is out.

 

[340sFastback]

Nice work getting underside cleaned up and painted. You are lucky to have a car that solid to start with.

 

[Lift&Move]

Good on ya...that's nice and clean!

 

[pyrogen007]

Eventually I'll have the whole underside done like that. not sure what to do about between panels and inside the "frame rails" most folks on the YT use some kind of encapsulator. Been looking at them, haven't decided on which one to get, Eastwood's platinum rust encapsulator looks promising.

 

[mygasser]

something like waxoil inside any cavities will protect those 'blind' areas. they have a long thin application tube with a 360 degree nozzle on the end. you push the tube in as far as you can then spray while slowly pulling the tube back out. repeat all along the chassis etc etc.
neil.

 

[CFD244]

Great Job

 

[pyrogen007]

Got to work on the Dart a little more Sunday, the angle grinder almost got me and I ran out of primer so I didn't finish. Just a mix of wire wheels and media blasting.

 

[pyrogen007]

One layer of primer before I ran out.

 

[pa340dart]

Subscribed
Keep up the good work.
What media are you using for blasting?

 

[pyrogen007]

Black aluminum oxide from the local HF, they claim its 70 grit. I hate the mess but it does a good job.

 

[72dustervs]

Looks good , nice work , on the headliner I used legendary interiors , they make an ABS headliner , plain or with colored material covering , mine was a duster so unsure if they do one for a Swinger or not , its a lot of work , some have to trim for the fit , it looks good but was not an easy job , of course I did not have help and its a 2 person job

 

[pyrogen007]

I looked into Legendary Interiors, I might have to reach out as I didn't see the abs headliner backer for the Swinger/2dr hardtop, hopefully they still make it.

Finally got back to the Dart, primer arrived and then it rained, ugh. Doing this in my garage without proper dehumidification so I had to wait for humidity to drop below 65%, so Friday got the primer knocked out.

 

[pyrogen007]

Also after waiting the proper amount of time, got the black paint sprayed. got started on the area between the "frame rails" but no photos yet as I didn't get far before having to clean up and stop for the day.

 

[72smallairparticler]

A little out of sequence but, about half way through the firewall rust removal I took a quick ADHD break to clean/organize my work bench and work on cast iron transmission parts. This is Nov of 2024, I basically get a weekend here an there or maybe a random week night to mess with it.

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Genius move to spray stuff in a box. Wow I love that trick. Wished I would have done that during my “paint everything” phase

 

[str12-340]

I just ran across your thread. It brings back lots of memories from 2020-22 when I did all this to my low rust 1970 Dart GT. Just great to follow your progress. Just to let you know that there is a light at the end of your tunnel here are pics from 2020 to 2022. This all led to a 13,000 mile road trip mostly on 2 lane blacktop in 2023-4.

 

[str12-340]

By the way, you might think now if you want to install any frame improvements. I used stuff from US Car Tool - frame connectors, torque boxes. If you think you ever want to do this do it now... Because otherwise you will have to pull the whole interior to do the welding to the floor pan. The other one is installing anchors in the floor if you want 3 point seat belts. I had to pull the back seats, side panels, carpet and insulation to be able to weld anchors in the floor. If you want info on any of this send a PM.

 

[DartGTDan]

Nice work!

 

[pyrogen007]

Was about to update this and saw some new posts that I wasn't notified of, geez. Those are some really nice looking car! I can attest to the hard work that it takes. Recently just spent 1+ days getting between the "frame" rails. I didn't take any of the progress photos, just the result so I'll repost the "before and after" so the after looks more dramatic, lol. I'll say this, I used a paint stripper wheel, 2 different wire brush wheels, media blast and rust dissolver on this section, it was a lot of area to cover.

On a separate note, I ordered some Hotchkis Sport leaf springs a couple of weeks ago because I got to thinking, it made more sense to have new suspension rather than 56 year old slant 6 stuff. I have received those and already transferred my rear bushings and 1/2 in relocation kit to the new springs. @str12-340 I completely agree, I am researching DIY subframe connectors as I would rather do square tube since I don't have a rotisserie and I ordered the front/rear torque boxes this morning in fact.

 

[Kendog 170]

DIY subframe connectors as I would rather do square tube since I don't have a rotisserie and I ordered the front/rear torque boxes this morning in fact.

I used rectangular stock. Spot welded to rear floor pan as well.

 

[pyrogen007]

I used rectangular stock. Spot welded to rear floor pan as well.

What size did you use? Thanks in advance!

 

[Kendog 170]

I'd have to measure it's been so long. 1x3 I think.

 

[str12-340]

Spot welded to rear floor pan as well

This is so important and so few folks do it. Incorporating the sub frame connectors into the unibody makes a huge amount of difference.